1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUETURE 



445 



A HOME-MADE SWARM-CATCHER. 



I am a heavy man. ti;? years old. and I never uo up 

 trees for swarms. About ten years atro I made a swarm- 

 eatcher which I have used ever since, and which is 

 very satisfactory. I can extend the pole like a fish-rod 

 when I wish to reach a swarm hitrh in the air. I have 

 reached swarms in this way over 30 feet high. 



Fig.3.1 rig.4. 



The illustration makes the construction sufficiently 

 plain. I will say. however, the hook is placed in the 

 loose hole in one end of the pole, so that by extending 

 this end of the pole up near the swarm, the hook can 

 be easily placed over the limb containing the swarm. 

 The pole is then withdrawn, leaving the hook over the 

 limb with a light rope leading to the ground. By re- 

 versing the pole I can now bring the swarm-catcher 

 directly under the cluster, and, by pulling on the rope, 

 shake the bees out into it. I use muslin supported by 

 the wire, as shown, to make the basket for the bees. 



Stouchsburg, Pa. W. F. POTTEIGER. 



[There ought to be some sort of cover to hold the 

 bees in the basket, or they will almost immediately fly 

 out again: otherwise the arrangement is very good.— 

 Ed. 



ed up as high as desired. It is important to brace ev- 

 ery thing solidly endwise, and there should be some 

 bracing for the crosswise motion also, although this is 

 not so bad. It is necessary to use strips 1 x3 between 

 the hives when tiering them up. 



When I used the box car the honey was about one 

 inch deep all over the ear floor when the journey was 

 over, and I lost twenty of the colonies. Since then I 

 hive used nothing but a cattle-car. 



Imperial, Cal. J. W. GEORGE. 



Much will depend on the time of year when a car of 

 bees is to be shipped. In most cases, perhaps a cattle- 

 car is to be preferred. The scheme of furnishing the 

 bees with water is excellent.— Ed. 



SWEET clover; CAN IT BE SOWN AMONG CORN WHEN 

 CULTIVATING THE LAST TIME? 



Mr. Root: — Replying to your query, June 15, I would 

 say I sowed >vveet clover and crimson clover in corn 

 about July 28 last year. It was not a fair test, as a ter- 

 rific storm washed much soil and seed away shortly 

 after sowing. The rest sprouted; but drouth prevented 

 summer and fall growth. The first heavy frost cut 

 down sweet clover; but crimson clover was not hurt, 

 and grew somewhat, and stayed green practically all 

 winter, but plants were very small. Its several roots 

 prevented heavitig killing, and it did well this spring. 

 Large quantity of sweet clover heaved and died, except 

 where roots were over 8 inches. When the tip remain- 

 ed in the ground it soon caught up with crimson clo- 

 ver in spring. It seemed that seed where pressed into 

 soil sprouted best. GENESIS Farm. 



Greencastle, Ind., June 25. 



HOW TO FIND BLACK QUEENS. 



I wish to amend lor, rather, add toi Mr. Doolittle's 

 method of finding queens. I have been requeening, 

 and still have several hundred to find, mostly black. 

 Mr. Doolittle's plans are all good, but these nervous 

 blacks will escape the most diligent search. Instead 

 of telling his readers to look into the hive on the ex- 

 posed side of the next comb he ought to have said, 

 " Take your wife along to look into the hive while you 

 look at the comb in hand." It greatly facilitates mat- 

 ters. Even then the blacks will sometimes escape. I 

 often place an entrance-guard on the entrance of an 

 empty hive, remove the combs ibees and alli, and 

 place the empty hive on the old stand, and shake all 

 the bees in front, putting the combs back into their 

 places in the new hive. Two or three hours later the 

 queen may be found, vainly trying to enter. A whole 

 row of hives may be thus treated without making any 

 attempt to find the queen by search. Then go back 

 and find the queens easily. Shaking is now recom- 

 mended, any way. 



Velasco, Texas, June 16. R. A. McKee. 



BEES IN GRAIN-CARS. 



Near my bees there is a switch where feed is unload- 

 ed from the cars for a feed store. Early in the spring, 

 before there is natural pollen, when they are unload- 

 ing some kinds of feed the bees are so thick in the cars 

 they bother the men much, as they fear them. They 

 work on the dust on the loading platforms at the store, 

 and are thick in the store, so they have to open the 

 windows to let them out. I have not heard of their 

 stinging any one. E. D. HOWELL. 



New Hampton, N. Y., May 5. 



WHAT KIND OF CAR TO SELECT FOR MOVING BEES; 

 CATTLE-CAR BETTER THAN BOX CAR. 



I have shipped many carloads of bees, and had trou- 

 ble but once, and that was when I shipped them in a 

 box car. I think your advice, Mr. Editor, on this ques- 

 tion, page 260, May 1, is wrong. For the average ship- 

 per the cattle-car is the car to use. A box car is too 

 close. I leave the bottom-boards on, but cover the 

 tops of the hives with wire cloth, and close the entrances 

 tight. If the hives contain brood I remove two empty 

 frames from one side and fasten the remaining frames 

 so that they can not shake around; then in the corner 

 of the top of the hive I fasten an oyster-can in the space 

 where the frames were removed, and put a small piece 

 of burlap to keep the water from shaking out. The 

 last thing I do after loading the hives on the car is to 

 fill these cans with water. Ordinarily this amount will 

 be sufficient for a two-days' journey. 



I always load the hives so that the frames are length- 

 wise of the car. Five ten-frame Langstroth hives may 

 be placed in a row across the car, and these rows tier- 



WIRE-CLOTH SEPARATORS NOT A SUCCESS. 



We went to considerable expense to put wire-cloth 

 separators in our supers — mesh about ,';, inch, with 

 standard two-beeway sections, and the bees seemed to 

 think they were new foundation of some sort. While 

 in many colonies they were used as such, in others the 

 comb was built crosswise and every other way; conse- 

 quently we had to cut out our first flow of honey. 



We are green hands in the business, and thought we 

 were following instructions of others who had tried it. 



Chipley, Fla., June 16. C. E. Pleas. 



SPLINTS ALL RIGHT IN UPPER STORIES. 



Referring to Dr. Miller's Straw, page 330, I have had 

 satisfactory results where splinted foundation was 

 used in upper stories, but met with failure when 

 placed in the brood-nest to be drawn out. 



Athens, O. J. C. ATKINSON. 



iPerhaps Dr. Miller can explain why it did not work 

 as well in the brood-nest.— ED. ] 



