522 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the wide end is up, but wlien used for 

 bees the wide end is down), and as it 

 is made of very liglit material, and to 

 strengthen it, 1 tal<e a J^-inch board 

 and cut it to tit in the smaller end of 

 the basket, and drive some fine nails 

 from the outside into the edge of the 

 board to secure it in place. Then I 

 bore a ?3-inch hole in the centre 

 through the board, and thiough it I 

 insert a bolt with a loop in the top, 

 and a burr beneath to secure it. I 

 secure a liarness strap with a double- 

 keeper and buckle, this is run through 

 the loop of the bolt, and through loop 

 on snap connecting it with the basket. 

 AVlien double, 6 or 7 inches long, the 

 sides of the basket having •^-iuch 

 spaces, I take my knife and cut a 

 nutuber of diamond-shaped holes for 

 the bees to go through. The size of 

 the box, when done, is 10 inches deep, 

 lOinclies wide at the mouth, and 6 

 inches at the top. 



My pole for manipulating thebasket 

 is sawed or ripped from a 2-inch 

 plank, dressed down to a 2-inch pole, 

 and put a band or ferrule on either 

 end. In the top end I bore a I4 inch 

 hole in which I insert a rod that will 

 fill it tightly, the point driven and 

 lapped back, enclosing an inch ring 

 ill tlie lap. Itshould extend 12 inches 

 beyond the pole, with a curve to 

 throw the basket to swing outside, or 

 clear off the pole. In the lower end I 

 bore a half-incli hole, and insert a 

 rod tliat will till it, drawn a little to 

 make it sharp, so you can stick it or 

 force it down into the ground. This 

 pole should be from 10 to 14 feet long, 

 to suit the trees from where you ex- 

 pect to capture bees, or you can liave 

 two (a shorter and a longer one), tlien 

 they can be inserted to the height of 

 the pitching place of the bees. 



^ly way of manipulating the pole 

 and basket is as follows : When a 

 swarm commences to issue, I take 

 hold of the pole, snap the basket into 

 the ring in the end of the curved rod 

 on the pole, and plunge tlie basket 

 into a tub of water. It the swarm is 

 rot beginning to cluster, push your 

 beeskit among the thickest part of 

 the leaves ; they will often go right to 

 it and pitch on it ; but if not, notice 

 when they begin to pitch and get a 

 small cluster, then apply the basket 

 right against the cluster, and often in 

 three minutes you will liave one-half 

 of the swarm on your catclier. Then 

 I gently move mv basket from a foot 

 to ).') inches and take hold of the punch- 

 ing or jarring stick that has a piece 

 of thick cloth or soft piece of leather 

 nailed over the end. to save the branch 

 from being barked by the jarring of 

 the bees; those jarred off, in rising, 

 will make for the cluster on thebasket. 

 Now having them from the branch, I 

 stick the iron spear into the ground, 

 thiit is, the lower end of the pole, till 

 all Is settled, while I do something 

 else. When all is ready, I lift the 

 pole, lower it, unsnap the basket 

 from the ring, carry it along as I 

 would a basket of cherries to the 

 location of the hive, which sits on a 

 canvass, and there shake off or lift off 

 a small portion of the liees ; the bees 

 will spread around as they fall; give 2 or 

 3 raps on the hive with your lingers. 



The hearing of the hollow sound 

 warns them of a home, and then the 

 race commences. Now detach a por- 

 tion more, and by the time these get 

 fairly started, give the basket a 

 sudden shake, putting them all on the 

 canvass in front of the hive. 



For 15 years I have captured my 

 swarms ill this wav, and in that 

 length of time I have never failed to 

 take the swarm on my basket and 

 carry it wherever I wished to. In 

 catching swarms, during lo years, I 

 have never used a ladder, shears, 

 saw, q\nirt dipper, fountain pump, or 

 large tin pail. It is all right to have 

 tools, but with my way of hiving bees I 

 have no need of them. I think it 

 would take six men and two women 

 to carry them after me, and then not 

 always be in the right place when 

 wanted. In my own yard I have not 

 cut a branch for bees in 15 years, so 

 you see I do not despoil either fruit 

 or shade trees. 



Mr. R. Graden, on page 821 of the 

 Bee Journal for 1884, describes his 

 plan of catching swarms similar to 

 mine, but not so convenient or handy, 

 in my opinion. I would say to all — 

 view the different points of conven- 

 ience laid down in the different arti- 

 cles set forth in the Bee Journal, 

 and then decide which is the lightest, 

 easiest, quickest and safest for fruit 

 trees, of the different plans set forth. 

 If I have in this put an idea into any 

 one's mind that will save labor in the 

 business, I have gained my point. 



]Manhattan,(^ Kans. 



F(ir the American Ceo JuumaL 



My Bee-Keeping Experience. 



S. H. HARRISON. 



I believe I promised a report of my 

 successes and failures during the past 

 year, in a former letter, but failures 

 have been so frequent, and successes 

 so few, I have delayed, hoping for 

 something belter. 



In the spring of 1884, I took my 10 

 colonies from the cellar and placed 

 them on the summer stands, all in 

 excellent condition, strong in bees 

 and stores. May 31 the lirst swarm 

 issued {I let them swarm naturally, 

 divide the brood and save queen- 

 cells), and swarm after swarm fol- 

 lowed until July 20, I had 30 colonies. 

 The divided colonies being built up 

 from the brood, etc., of the later 

 swarms. I then started for JSIinne- 

 apolis, Minn., to attend the National 

 re-union of ex-soldiers, expecting my 

 bees to gather in a good sup|)ly.of 

 honey during my absence ; but abJut 

 July2S, I received a letter from/my 

 wife, telling me that on the^-^h a 

 terrible wind and hail si^TOV'h'ad 

 visited our locality. The hair%roke 

 22 window lights from the north side 

 of our dwelling, and some six days 

 after the children gathered hail from 

 where it had piled up, for the purpose 

 of making ice cream. You see it 

 made things lively. 



But the poor bees, where were 

 they V Myriads of them were in the 

 lields, and the storm coming sud- 

 denly and severe, hardly a bee outside 



the hives was spared. The workers, 

 nearly all perished, and witli them 

 every shrub and flower from wliich. 

 honey could have been gathered, and 

 as there was no honey to gather, it 

 was better for those left in the hives, 

 for all they could do was to consume 

 stores previously gathered. From 

 that time bees did not gather enough 

 stores to live on, and as winter ap- 

 proached, I fed them sugar syrup; 

 but I did not do that as I ought ; 1 

 fed them outside, and those which 

 needed the most, got the least. 



On Nov. 29 I placed them all in the 

 cellar, some in fair condition, others 

 in poor. There was very little breed- 

 ing in any of the colonies after the 

 storm, hence bees were old and com- 

 paratively few in numbers. As win- 

 ter advanced, it liecanie necessary to 

 feed some. Soon, one died, than 

 another, and when spring opened, I 

 had 19 weak colonies to place on the 

 summer stands. I moved them about 

 one mile from their former stand. I 

 immediately commenced feeding them 

 tostimrlate breeding, using rye Hour 

 and sugar syrup. They soon gave 

 indications of rapid improvement, and 

 seemed to be doing so well that I be- 

 gan to look for drones, but wliile I 

 was watching their improvement, 

 etc., with such eagerness and satis- 

 faction, oil the morning of May 6 I 

 went out and found water frozen, and 

 ice nearly J.^ inch thick. On the 

 morning of the 7th ice a little thicker, 

 and on the 8th about as on the 6th. 



Early spring flowers and fruit was 

 jnst coming into bloom. Wild plums, 

 choke-cherries, etc., were in full 

 bloom, and apples, peaches, pears, 

 plums, cherries, etc., were jnst be- 

 ginning to bloom. The hard frost 

 killed almost every bud and flower, 

 and my poor bees had nothing to do 

 but to wait for bloom, and consume 

 the stores on hand. But in a few 

 days after that frost, the young drones 

 looked for so anxiously, began to 

 emerge, but as soon as one crowded 

 out of his cell, he was invited out- 

 side, and not permitted to return, and 

 many colonies killed the drone larvas 

 and dragged it all out, so that in less 

 than a week not a drone could be 

 seen. Of course I must feed again, 

 and I continued to feed until in June, 

 before there was enough forage for 

 them to live upon. 



In the mean time 2 more colonies 

 died, leaving 17. During the latter 

 part of June and the month of July, 

 they barely gathered enough stores to 

 live upon and keep up brood-rearing. 

 About Aug. 1, drones again appeared, 

 and on the 6th the lirst swarm of the 

 season came out, and on the 7tli 

 another, and I am today watching and 

 waiting for others. With the excep- 

 tion of 2 colonies, one queenless and 

 the other might as well be, all are 

 now in excellent condition, and are 

 working in surplus boxes nicely, get; 

 ting luiney mostly from buckwheat, 

 sown expressly for them. 



THE SHEEP-BEES CONTROVERSY. 



Before I close I wish to say a few 

 words about that famous lawsuit, 

 sheep vs. bees. In the first place, the 

 idea seems ridiculous, as has been 



