May 31, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



341 



that has been out in the hot sun is much more apt to desert, 

 and after the swarms archived their hives should be kopt 

 well shaded for a few days. The most satisfactory shade is 

 obtained by the use of a shade-board, which is larg^e enout,'li 

 to project over the hive six inches or more all around, liiit 

 this board should not rest down flat on the hive-cover; if it 

 does, and is dark colored, as they soon get to be when made 

 from unpainted lumber, it may do more harm than good. 

 Provided the cover is painted white, there should be an air- 

 space of at least a half inch between the two. 



With cool, well-shaded hives, and at first a brood-ncst 

 in proportion to the size of the swarms, I do not consider it 

 necessary to raise the hive up from the bottom-board all 

 around. I allow only the usual entrance in front, and place 

 a queen-trap or entrance-guard on until they get well set- 

 tled down to work. Of late it is very seldom that I have 

 swarms attempt to desert, but I do not wish to run any risk 

 with these big, double swarms, and when swarms desert 

 they often leave without clustering. 



With dipt queens zinc is not so necessary, but it might 

 prevent a dipt queen being lost ordestroyed by crawling in- 

 to another hive, but when it is used, and there are a great 

 number of drones with the swarm, it should be removed 

 when they are anxious to get out. Then if it is replaced 

 while they are having their flight, most of them will be 

 shut out, and soon join the bees of other hives. 



Southern Minnesota. 



Devices for Use at Swarming'-Time. 



BY F. A. SNEl,!,. 



IN years past numerous conti-ivances have been gotten up 

 by bee-keepers for catching swarms when they issued 

 during swarming-time. These were much lauded by 

 their inventors, who seemed, at the time, to think they had 

 invented something that would be all that could be desired 

 for the purpose intended. The various devices were tried 

 for a few years, and all but two were dropt. These are 

 Manum's swarm-catcher and Alley's drone and queen trap, 

 which are now in use, and have proved of much practical 

 value, and, it would seem, have come to stay. 



Manum's swarm-catcher is used after the bees have 

 clustered. The bees are allowed their own sweet will in 

 coming forth from the parent hive, circle about and cluster 

 where they please The swarm-basket can be used on a 

 rod, or rods, at the option of the apiarist. In our apiary we 

 have rods of difi^erent length. The basket with its bail is 

 in a moment detacht from one rod and slipt into the upper 

 end of another. The length of rod should be such that the 

 bee-keeper can reach the swarm when standing on the 

 ground. 



When the swarm is clustered the attendant takes the 

 catcher, and throwing the basket-cover back, places it un- 

 der the cluster, and by a slight upward movement dislodges 

 the larger part of the swarm, which drops into the basket. 

 The basket is given a little turn, so as to close the cover. 

 The lower end of the rod is pusht into the ground, and two 

 iron rods used as braces are also made firm at their lower 

 ends in the ground, forming a tripod. The limb may be 

 shaken by a rod or pole with a hook on it to slip over the 

 limb, if at much hight from the ground. The bees shaken 

 off will soon all cluster on the outside of the basket. This 

 swarm may be carried and shaken down at the entrance of 

 any previously arranged hive, or, if other swarms are out, 

 the first swarm may be left until the second one is caged in 

 the swarm-basket. I find it advisable to have two or more 

 swarm-catchers in readiness. 



By using this device very much handling of ladders, 

 and hard climbing, are saved, which saves the danger from 

 the ladder slipping off a weak limb and giving one a fall. 



We have one pole without the braces, and shorter, 

 with which we take down swarms when only above one's 

 head, as he stands upon the ground. 



The catcher, as soon as the swarm is in the basket, or 

 the larger portion of it, should be placed at once so the bas- 

 ket will be near where the swarm was clustered. This is 

 important, as the bees when on the wing quickly duster at 

 this place, and would not join the caged bees when only a 

 few feet away very readily ; they cling to this clustering 

 place with tenacity. When the catchers are used there need 

 be no carrying of hives to where the swarms are clustered. 

 The above described device is worthy of a place in every 

 apiary where the queen's wings are unclipt, and will pay its 

 cost many times each season when much swarming occurs. 

 The Alley trap is used at the hive-entrance, and when a 



swarm issues the queen in her attempt to leave with the 

 swarm is trapt, and the swarm missing her will return to 

 their old location. If the apiarist wishes increase he can, 

 while the swarm is in the air, remove their hive and put an 

 empty one in its place supplied with .starters or full sheets 

 of foundation in the brood-frames. The swarm on its re- 

 turn will enter the new hive, to which the trap should have 

 been transferred ; and, when nearly all are in, the queen is 

 allowed to enter the hive, and the work of hiving the swarm 

 is done. 



For out-apiaries this trap will prevent effectually the 

 loss of swarms, accompanied at least by old queens, during 

 the owner's absence. On visiting the apiary the queen will 

 be found in the trap, so arranged that she can not enter the 

 hive if desired. The division of the colony can then be 

 made if the apiarist .so chooses, or the queen may be re- 

 turned to the old hive after removing the queen-cells, which, 

 if near the close of a good honey-flow, may end the desire 

 to swarm for the season. 



At the swarming-time these traps where used should be 

 placed at the entrance of all hives having strong colonies 

 that are likely to cast early swarms. 



The two devices above-described have been well tested, 

 and have been of value to many, and should be tried by all 

 who do not clip their queen's wings. In our apiary we have 

 tried other devices for catching swarms, only to throw them 

 aside, but the above we have found valuable. 



At the close of the swarming season the catchers should 

 be housed, and, when thus cared for, will last many years. 



Carroll Co., 111. 





Ifj^ 



The "Old Reliable" seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Richards, Ohio. 



INITIAL STAGES OF FOUL BROOD, BTC. 



Our British friend, F. Gordon, on page 242, we thank 

 for his suggestions that larvae restless and turned wrong in 

 the cells marks a mild initial stage of foul brood. Seems 

 reasonable. But he must remember that we are getting a 

 large assortment of diseases over here. He can hardly 

 know but some of our new-fangled diseases also make larvae 

 restless in the cells sometimes. We will receive his saying 

 that it takes three weeks or more for incipient foul brood to 

 develop into malignant foul brood as a lively contribution 

 to our stock of good guesses. And his experience that izal 

 is not enough of a cure to cure a lot of colonies in a dis- 

 eased apiary is in line with what our best authorities have 

 been finding out about other cures. 



ABOUT THAT CITY BEE-KEEPER. 



"Urbanite" did well in his Chicago bee-keeping on the 

 roof. Instructive to see that the non-swarming arrange- 

 ments resulted in a swarm, and that the swarm was so kind 

 as to come back in the course of an hour. And his vote 

 that sweet clover honey is superb is a timely vote, even if 

 not a conclusive one. Page 244. 



HONEY-EXTRACTOR HISTORY AND HONORS. 



That was rather a strange mistake of Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture — and we'uns — that Peabody was first to put an ex- 

 tractor on the American market (patent 1869) when Lang- 

 stroth advertised one February, 1868. Probably it came 

 about by Peabody advertising and selling freely, and Lang- 

 stroth advertising and selling but little. M. M. Baldridge, 

 by making and selling a geared extractor the year before 

 the Peabody ungeared came out, seems to deserve an hon- 

 orable mention. Page 245. 



WONDERS OF PLANT ECONOMY AND GROWTH. 



Yes, Prof. Cook, we have lots of ignorance to dissipate, 

 and lots of wrong ideas to be disabused of, in the matter of 

 plant growth. When I began the reading of your article, 

 page 243, I had no, distinct idea that the chlorophyll of 

 leaves was ever, in the plant economy, used for anything. 

 Thought it was like the paint on a house — put there for 

 keeps. That an unhealthy plant looks yellow because it 



