TMm mjmmmi€'jK.n mmm jo-ORKaiiLr. 



SMOKING-BOARD. 



Expelling llic Bcciii from tiie 

 Scelioii-Ca«cs. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. W. BAYAKD. 



Much lias been written of late, and 

 many enquiries made, as to tlie best 

 and most effective method of expelling 

 bees from the surplus stores. Smoke, 

 being the acknowledged factor in ter- 

 rorizing and driving as well as quiet- 

 ing bees, has long been used for that 

 purpose, and when judiciouslj' and in- 

 telligently applied, it has been a most 

 satisfactory agent. 



My plan is inexpensive, simple and 

 efficient, and, I trust, will command 

 the attention of all bee-keepers who 

 work their apiaries for comb honey. 

 It is as follows : 



Take a smoothly-planed board just 

 the size of the section-case, only about 

 two inches longer ; nail three strips 

 |xj on the three face edges of the 

 board, leaving one end open for 

 smoke, and now it is ready for work, 

 if the honey is ready to take from the 

 hives. 



To do the work quicklj', arm your- 

 self with smoker, chisel, and smoking- 

 board, located on some convenient 

 hive or other place Now lift the hive- 

 cover clear away, turn back the en- 

 ameled-cloth quickly from the case, 

 pour in smoke rapidly betw'een all the 

 openings of the rows of sections, and 

 in about one minute, if well done, it 

 will frighten nearly all the bees below. 



Then with chisel quickly remove the 

 case to the smoking-board, cover the 

 hive securel}', and pour the smoke into 

 the "pocket" between the board and 

 case, and the air-ourrent created 

 therebj-, will lift bees, smoke, and all 

 to the surface, and with a light brush 

 of long feathers, made from the 

 tail of a turkey, whisk them off, and 

 the work is done. I can do all this 

 inside of eight minutes, on an average, 

 and have tlie honey in the honey-house 

 without a bee being left in a single 

 case. 



In this way I can go through a hun- 

 dred colonies in a day, and lift all the 

 surplus honej' that is finished, without 

 attracting the cupidity of a single 

 robber. 



By operating the foregoing plan, no 

 laggards are left behind to cut holes 

 in the cappings, and otherwise mar the 

 combs, tlien leave through some es- 

 cape when they get read,y. 



Some have found fault with smokers 

 for throwing sparks and ashes on the 



comlis when operating. This is the 

 result of tilling the smoker-furnace 

 witli fine, trashy stuff, instead of clean 

 chips of rotten wood, that emit no 

 sparks or soot. I use apple-tree wood 

 for mv smoker, and find that it is the 

 best of all. 



I find tliat the best time to remove 

 surplus honey from the hive, is from 

 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., when the bees are 

 largely in the fields. Early in the 

 morning or late in the evening they 

 are almost sure to sulk and adhere to 

 their stores. 



Athens, Ohio. 



IN COUNSEL. 



Report of tlie IVortlierii Illinois 

 Bee-Con veil tioii. 



The Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in annual session in 

 the Supervisor's room of the Court 

 House at Rockford, Ills., on Dec. 17, 

 with Vice-President Sweezy in the 

 chair.with the following members pres- 

 ent, who reported as follows : 



Colonies. Comb. Ext. Pounds, 



Spring. Fall. Lbs. Lbs. Unsold. 



M.Adams 24 24 1,800 500 700 



F. Benjamin 5 14 500 — — 



G. Blackburn 140 140 2,000 16,1)00 10,000 

 O.J.CumminBS 16 38 900 .... 300 

 H. W. Conklin 12 20 61X1 700 



D. A. Fuller 70 120 5.000 400 



R. Gammon 54 55 2,800 4,200 500 



1^. HiKbbarfier 40 70 2,000 1,500 500 



S. H. Herrick 22 37 800 325 



Wm. Hill 53 93 4,100 2,700 1,700 



V. W. Keeney 20 45 700 4U0 500 



A. O. Kallner 12 16 4IHJ 200 300 



B.Kennedy 33 65 2.700 150 



W.M.Rose 7 13 200 



O.H. Sweezy 12 20 800 .... 100 



C. H. Stordock 97 127 1.497 5.766 4,000 



M. 8. Woortworth 17 25 80J 



Chas. Winn .... 23 — — — 



K. Marsh U 21 7l« 



W.A.Webb 1 7 100 180 



E. Whittlesey 5n 73 l,.'.oo 1,100 800 

 O. Tavlor 4.1 82 2,900 .... 2,000 



Totals. 



741 1,128 32,797 34,121 21,400 



POLLEN IN THE SECTIONS. 



The first question was, "How to 

 prevent pollen in the sections." 



Mr. Gammon, of Roscoe, said that he 

 had been troubled where he had hived 

 swarms on starters ; but onlj' -4 or 5 

 swarms had tronljled him. 



Mr. Kennedy, of Milford, said that 

 some of his old colonies had troubled 

 him, but he could give no remedy. 



Mr. Herrick, of Rockford, had had 

 so little trouble that he would not 

 bother with any prevention. 



Mr. Whittlesey, of Seward, never 

 was troubled in that way. 



HOW TO PARTLY PREVENT SWAKMING. 



Mr. Hill, of Whiteside, sai<l that he 

 had clipped the queens' wings, hived 

 side by side, and moved them in eight 

 days. He tried all the methods that 

 he had read of, and had decided that 

 he might just as well try to keep young 

 folks from marrying. 



Mr. Gammon said that he had tried 

 a great many ways, and the most satis- 



factory way to him was to jiul tlie old 

 swarm on top of the new one, and ex- 

 tract from them ; that is, to work them 

 for extracted honey the rest of the 

 season. 



Mr. Herrick said that his bees 

 would swarm, but he put two or more 

 new swarms in a hive, thus ])reventing 

 a large increase, and making extra 

 good colonies. 



The convention then adjourned until 

 the afternoon, when it was called to 

 order by President Highbarger. 



QUEENLESS COLONY — UNFINISHEI) SEC- 

 TIONS. 



The first question in the afternoon 

 was what to do with a colony that is 

 queenless in the spring, which brought 

 an almost unanimous reply, summed 

 up as follows : Double up with one 

 that has a queen. 



The next question was, " Will it pay 

 to use the unfinished sections the fol- 

 lowing spring, after extracting tlie 

 honey ?" 



Mr. Hill did not think tliat it would 

 be as white. 



Mr. Gammon thought that by cut- 

 ting down the comb very close, they 

 could be used. 



Mr. Herrick said that he had used 

 them successfully by putting 2 or 3 

 sections in the center of the super, to 

 coax the bees up. 



President Highbarger thought that 

 the honey was' just as good, but in 

 crating the combs they would appear 

 to be tough. 



DOES GOLDEN-ROD YIELD HONEY ? 



The next question was, " Have you 

 had any honey from golden-rod ?" 



Mr. ilill said that there was about 40 

 different kinds, and that the bees 

 worked on some of them. 



President Highbarger said that he 

 never had seen the Ijees work on gol- 

 den-rod. 



Mr. Stordock's bees worked on it 

 some, but he could not say that they 

 gathered any great amount of honey 

 from it. 



Mr. Herrick never saw any bees on 

 golden-rod. 



EXTRA COMBS FOR EXTRACTING. 



"Will it pay, when working for ex- 

 tracted honey, to have extra combs 

 and supers, and not extract until the 

 end of the season, or use one super and 

 extract often ?" 



Mr. Whittlesey said that he used ex- 

 tra supers, and did not extract until 

 fall. 



Mr. Gammon thought that it paid 

 him better to extract often, and save 

 extra combs. 



President Highbarger preferred to 

 extract often. 



The convention then adjourned un- 

 til Wednesday morning, Dec. 18, when 



