502 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and transfer every comb in the hive before 

 he can begin to look for the queen, by my 

 method I seldom have to go to that trouble. 

 If the oiDerator will keep his eyes on the 

 bees on the ground, the chances are three 

 out of four that he will see the queen drop 

 when shaking off one or the other of the 

 ■combs, frequently one of the middle ones. 

 This accomplishes the object. He can pick 

 her up, cage her, or dispose of her as cir- 

 cumstances may dictate. The rest of the 

 combs, of course, need not be shaken off — 

 simply transferred with the adhering bees 

 from one hive to the other. It is needless 

 to say that the excluder is I'emoved as soon 

 as the queen is found. Any bees remaining 

 in the empty hive may be dumped with 

 the rest in front of the old stand. 



As I said before, the beekeeper with some 

 ex^Derience hardly ever needs to resort to 

 the use of the queen-sieve. Of the 45 or 

 46 diseased colonies, all blacks, from which 

 I had to take the queens, about 40 I had 

 caught and caged at different times, before 

 I ever attempted any shaking-off opera- 

 tions without the use of the queen-sieve. 

 The other five or six bafHed my skill. In 

 spite of repeated attempts I was unable to 

 find them; and as a last resort the accom- 

 panying scene describes my final success. 



Another instance where my method prov- 

 ed successful was away from home. Our 

 bee-inspector had found at a neighboring 

 amateur beekeeper's yard four diseased 

 colonies, and had instructed the owner that 

 he must either introduce Italian queens or 

 annihilate his bees. In his consternation 

 this beekeeper came to me, saying, " Mi'. 

 Greiner, I can send for the queens, and 

 possibly introduce them ; but I can not take 

 out the old queens. Could you not spare 

 the time to perform that little operation for 

 me ? " Then he added, " You know I use 

 the Hoffman frame in my hives, and it is 

 such a terrible job to manipulate them. I 

 actually can not do it." 



What could I do but promise? 



A few days later, taking out (or, better, 

 trying to take out) those four queens form- 

 ed part of my day's program. I had no 

 queen-sieve to fit his hives; but as I had 

 been reasonably successsful with my own 

 bees I trusted to luck and proceeded with- 

 out that commodity. The first hive I open- 

 ed was comparatively new. Follower and 

 frames were easily taken out, and I was 

 fortunate enough to find the queen on one 

 of the first combs. But not so with the 

 other three. They were so stuck up and 

 glued together that it seemed next to im- 

 possible to dissect them. When I finally 

 did gain access to the combs the continued 

 prying and jarring had aroused the bees 



to such a state of nervousness that finding 

 a queen was all out of the question. I left 

 them that day. 



The next day found me again at the same 

 place; but this time my operating outfit 

 included a properly constructed queen- 

 sieve of the Greiner pattern. Although 

 I opened the hives with the utmost care, 

 and handled the combs with practically no 

 jarring, I could not find the queen of any 

 of the three hives. Necessity compelled me 

 to use the sifter, which did the business to 

 perfection. I picked one from the ground. 

 The other I took from the excluder just 

 after she had passed on to it, and the third 

 one I never found. But as that colony ac- 

 cepted their new queen without any trouble 

 she was probably killed or lost during the 

 operation. 



It will be noticed that the manipulation 

 as described above reverses the position of 

 the combs — that is, the fronts become backs, 

 and the backs fronts. I have never noticed 

 any detrimental result from the change; 

 but if the operator feels anxious to retain 

 their original position, the old hive, when 

 removed, should not be changed end for 

 end. The object of facing the hive toward 

 the old stand is to assist the emerging bees, 

 and there are always more or less investi- 

 gating the disturbance in finding the old 

 location. 



La Salle, N. Y, 



Beekeeping Talks at the New York State College 

 of Agriculture at Cornell 



Six years ago the New York State College of 

 Agriculture at Cornell instituted what is known as 

 " Farmer's Week." The number of visitors is yearly 

 increasing, over 2500 having registered last year. 

 The college realizes that beekeeping is a fascinating 

 subject to many people, and that bees are of vital 

 importance to the farmer and fruit-grower. There- 

 fore the management last year looked about for a 

 capable man to present the subject of scientific bee- 

 keeping to the farmers who gather here for Farm- 

 er's Week. They were fortunate enough to secure 

 Mr. S. D. House, of Camillus, N. Y., who is known 

 by the readers of Gleanings to have a most envi- 

 able reputation as a producer of fancy comb honey. 

 He gave several lectures on hives, manipulation, 

 and the diseases of bees. 



It was my good fortune to be able to attend a 

 part of these meetings, and I assure you they were 

 far from dull. Mr. House is an interesting speaker, 

 and has the power of imparting to his audience 

 something of the enthusiasm which is manifest in 

 his every word and action. 



Ithaca, N. Y. Wendell T. Card. 



How to Get the Greatest Yield of Honey from 

 Sweet Clover 



Just before sweet clover blooms, mow all on your 

 own farm for hay and let the bees forage on your 

 neighbors. Then when your neighbors' clover has 

 gone to seed, yours will have grown up again and 

 will yield nectar until freezing weather comes. 



Canon City, Col. W. G. Weight. 



