GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



show leakage of bees when loading, calk 

 them tight with cotton batting. Take a 

 good bundle of it along with you to use in 

 the same way in ease of emergencies which 

 may occur. 



Load the hives firmly on the wagon with 

 a liberal suj^ply of straw under them; and 

 when all are on have plenty of %-inch rope 

 so that you can have one strand passing 

 over the middle of each tier of hives. Draw 

 as tightly as possible, and fasten securely. 

 Then take more of the same size of rope 

 and go two or three times around the entire 

 load horizontally, and take one turn around 

 each strand of body rope and draw as tight- 

 ly as possible each time, and fasten secure- 

 ly, and I will guarantee with this method 

 of preparation in loading, roping, and side 

 lacing, that bees can be hauled for hundreds 

 of miles without loss of a colony if you keep 

 them supplied with water. 



Union Center, Wis., Nov. 18. 



ONE SUMMER'S BEEKEEPING 



BY OPIE QUEUE 



This is to be a little record of my first 

 year's beekeeping, so I shall start with the 

 \evy beginning and gradually lead up to 

 the grand finale which will be — but then, 

 that is anticipating. 



I started by buying from a friend a ten- 

 frame hive of beautiful gentle Italians at 

 a cost of eight dollars. I also purchased 

 one shallow super with frames and founda- 

 tion, ready for use, which cost another dol- 

 lar. The hive was placed nearly in the cen- 

 ter of the half-acre of ground that I call 

 my own. Here, in the shade of an old ap- 

 ple-tree, Mr. K., who ^had sold the colony 

 to me, opened up the hive while I stood at a 

 respectful distance from him. I Avas very 

 much suri^rised that he used no protection 

 whatever — not even a hat, and he was bald- 

 headed at that. Yet not a single bee at- 

 tempted to molest him, and so I became 

 bold enough to come to his side and look 

 on ; and I, too, remained unhurt. 



When all necessary work had been done, 

 and I had been shown some frames of 

 brood and bees and the super was in place, 

 Mr. K. left and my career began. Now, I 

 knew practically nothing of bees. I had 

 never in my life been within a rod of a 

 closed hive, and never, to the best of my 

 knowledge, within a mile of one that was 

 open. Quite naturally I felt some trepida- 

 tion as to the outcome of my venture. Yet 

 I was determined to learn all I could to 

 succeed and to make my bees pay for them- 

 selves., To that end I sent for the ABC 



and X Y Z of Bee Culture ; also for numer- 

 ous government bulletins and other pam- 

 phlets treating on bees. And while waiting 

 for these to arrive I had every one who 

 pretended to know any thing about bees 

 tell me about them. It would have been 

 better, as I was soon to learn, if I had first 

 gotten my books and had studied them, and 

 then bought the bees; also, if I had not 

 lieard quite so many people talk. 



It was the middle of June. Day after 

 day I went down to watch my bees at work. 

 They were busy from the first, as I could 

 see by their hurrying in and out of the hive. 

 Moreover, a delicious aroma of delicate 

 sweets came to my nostrils. The tempta- 

 tion arose within me to open the liive and 

 to peer into it. Indeed, though I had nei- 

 ther veil nor smoker nor gloves, the tempta- 

 tion became so strong that I could not re- 

 sist. At first I raised the telescope cover 

 just a trifle. When nothing happened I 

 slowly took it off. Then I partly drew off 

 the oil-cloth cover. Again nothing happen- 

 ed. I drew it off entirely, laid my hands 

 on the frames, took one out, then took them 

 all out, and nothing happened. Not con- 

 tent with this I took the super off entirely, 

 and drew some brood-frames out of the 

 lower chamber; and all the while not a bee 

 came near me. This was on the second day 

 after receiving my bees. It was all quite 

 natural. The bees, being very busy, were 

 also very gentle; and I, being a novice and 

 very timid, was vei\y gentle, and that is 

 why I got along so famously. 



As to the condition of things within the 

 hive, I was on this occasion very pleasant- 

 ly sur23rised. The foundation in the super 

 was jjractically all drawn, or in process of 

 being drawn. Indeed, I saw quite a little 

 honey in the combs. As the days went by, 

 the super gained noticeably in weight. 

 Seven days of beautiful weather and unin- 

 terrupted flow filled it completely. It had 

 the weight of a box full of lead. I tele- 

 phoned to a beekeeping friend in the city, 

 asking for advice. He told me to get some 

 more supers, frames, and foundation. I 

 asked when the new suj^er should be put 

 on. He said that he generally waited till 

 the combs in the first super were partly 

 capped over. 



The next day I got five shallow supers, 

 100 frames, two pounds of foundation, a 

 veil, a smoker, and a pair of gloves. Hav- 

 ing prei^ared one of these supers, I waited 

 for a sign of cappings in the first super. 

 Alas! day after day went by and I could 

 not find a trace of cai3pings. The bees got 

 lazy, and would not work. The brood-frames 

 contained numerous queen-cells. These, as 



