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821 



The Hpiarian Kgnostic. 



Writte7i fitr the American Bee. Journal 



BY REV. W. I'. CI.AUKK. 



I do not know why I should be 

 Thrust forth to let the public see 

 How great is my stupidity 

 About "the little busy bee." 



What I don't know about this theme 

 Would fill of paper many a ream, 

 But I will state a few details 

 Concerning which my knowledge fails. 



I do not know the proper space 

 Apart the frames of comb to place ; 

 Nor whether for the winternest 

 Cellars or out-door hives are best. 



do not know if seasons bad 

 Will from henceforward make us sad, 

 Or whether a large honey-flow 

 Again into our hives will go. 



I do not know why prices fail 

 When little honey is for sale, 

 Nor how to make the market stay 

 So firm that bee-keeping will pay. 



I don't know how to fix things so 

 Crowds will to bee-conventions go. 

 Lured by cheap fares and tempting rates, 

 Those usually resistless baits, 



I don't know whether any more 

 Journals of apiarian lore 

 Are needed to diffuse the light 

 Which else were hidden out of sight. 



I don't know whether bees can tell 

 When to dethrone their queens so well, 

 That we may safely put our trust 

 In their forethought as wise and just. 



I don't know how I can prevent 



A field of limited extent 



From being overstocked with bees 



While the rule holds : "Go as you please." 



I do not know how to prevent 

 Brace-combs of troublesome extent. 

 Nor do I know of any plant 

 "To raise where honey-flows are scant. 



I don't know whether, as some claim, 



A fixed excels a standing frame ; 



I know no hive of any form. 



From which bees will not send a swarm. 



I don't know it a time will be 

 When bee-keepers will come to see 

 Stamped on a single theory 

 Exactitude and certainty. 



And yet I know so much, it took. 

 To hold it all, a good-sized book. 

 And on a single theme, I penned 

 A series, it was hard to end. 



' How doth the little busy bee i" 

 I find a problem hard foi' me, 

 I know so little, yet so much, 

 I hardly dare the task to touch. 



And so, I do not know but what 

 My tether's length I now have got, 

 I don't know but I'd better " stop," 

 And close the Miller knowledge shop ! 

 Guelph, Ont. 



Xlie "Fariii-Poiillry" is a 20-page 

 monthly, published in Boston, at 50 cents 

 per year. It is issued with a colored cover 

 and is finely illustrated throughout. 



We have arranged to club the American 

 Bee Jolrxai. with the Farm-Poultry at 

 ?1.35 per year for the two. Or with the 

 Illustrated Home Jourxal at $1.75 for 

 the three. 



Slioiild tve allo^v Rals and mice 

 ill SI Itcc-Cellari 



Written, far the American Bcc Journal 



Query 742. — I have a cellar in which I 

 wish to winter my bees, but it is badly in- 

 fested with rats and mice. The tempera- 

 ture seldom goes to the freezing-point. 

 How will it do to place wire-screens over 

 the hive entrances, and over the tops of 

 the frames, and then pile them up, break- 

 joint fashion, with about one foot space 

 between the hives, and leave the covers 

 oflf «— G. B. 



I should not dare to confine the bees to 

 their hives.— R. L. Taylor. 



It will do ; but the rats will probably dis- 

 turb the bees some. — Dadaxt & Son. 



I have no experience in cellar wintering, 

 and cannot advise. — M. Mahin. 



A piece of perforated zinc placed over 

 the entrance will be aprotection from mice. 

 I do not think that it is advisable to take 

 the covers off. — P. L. Viallox. 



Perhaps that will do. I have never tried 

 it. But I should fear the confinement. I 

 would try and kill the vermin. Poison 

 them. — EuGETNE Secor. 



It will do very well ; but it would be bet- 

 ter to make the cellar rat and mouse proof. 

 Would this be very difiicult ? — A. J. Cook. 



Your cellar will do very well, and with 

 wire-screens you may be able to ward off 

 the rats and mice, but I would advise an 

 exterminating war against them with 

 traps or suitable jjoison. — J. P. H. Brown. 



It will do to place screen of large mesh 

 over the entrance. But I should prefer the 

 rats and mice as numerous as bees in the 

 hive rather than leave the frames open on 

 top with nothing over them but wire- 

 screen. — H. D. Cutting. 



Would not do it. The rats and mice will 

 annoy the bees. The bees goto the screens 

 to get out, and a general tumult will result. 

 Dispose of the rats and mice, or keep the 

 bees out of the cellar.— G. M. Doolittle. 



I would not do so. The numerous rats 

 and mice will disturb the bees, even if 

 they cannot get at them. Kill them ofl^, or 

 close them all out of your cellar with 

 mortar. — James Heddox. 



All right, except a strip of perforated 

 zinc for the entrance would be preferable ; 

 that is, such zinc with perforations the size 

 used as drone and queen excluders. — J. M. 

 Hambaugh. 



Do not put any screens over the en- 

 trances, but have them so narrow that 

 the mice cannot get into the hives. Mice 

 do not injure bees, except by crawling into 

 the hives and building nests in the center 

 of the brood-nest. Bar them out, and there 

 will be no trouble from them. — J. E. Pond. 



I should think that the easiest way out 

 of your dilemma would be to kill the rats 

 and mice. Another thing you should do is 

 to get some good cement and small rock 

 and plaster up every hole and crevice. I 

 have much more faith in exterminating 

 the pests than in wire-screens. — C. H. Dib- 



BERN. 



If I understand you rightly, you would 

 have air at the top and bottom. That is 

 pretty airy. If I should have screens on top, 

 I think that I would close the entrances 



tight. Periiajjs it is better t<) leave the 

 covers on, and screens at the eutrances. 

 Use coar.-*e screens about 3 meshes to the 

 inch, so that the bees can go through, but 

 not mice. — C. C. Miller. 



Would not advise you to use wire-screens 

 over the entrances, or over the top of the 

 hive, unless covered by a cushion of some 

 kind. The entrances had better be con- 

 tracted to ■'„ of an inch opening by tacking 

 on strips of tin on front of the hive to 

 keep out mice. A ■'(, inch entrance, the full 

 width of the hive,had better be left open. — 

 G. L. Tinker. 



Rid your cellar of vermin. A good Tabby 

 with an interesting family, and a neighbor- 

 ing Tom, would be far cheaper kept than 

 rats and mice. Catch them in traps ; put 

 potash in their runs to make their feet 

 sore, and if you have kept food for them 

 in barrels, fill them with water, and they 

 will jump in as usual, and be drowned. No 

 excuse for rats and mice ; who would tol- 

 erate such a cellar ; — Mrs. L. Harrlsox. 



I am not sure that bees do as well en- 

 tirely closed in the hives as when they can 

 feel free to leave the hive ; it is not so 

 much a desire to leave the hive that worries 

 them, as their natural dread of being im- 

 prisoned. They will sometimes do well 

 fastened up as you propose, for I have 

 tried it. But why not leave a small pas- 

 sageway through the wire cloth at the 

 entrance. — G. W. Demaree. 



Such a cellar would be very undesirable 

 as a winter repository for bees. The ver- 

 min would annoy the bees, even if they did 

 not get at the honey and combs. The rats 

 and mice can be kept out by using plaster 

 and broken glass. Those which are there 

 in hiding can be caught in traps. Bees 

 dislike to feel that they are prisoners, and 

 for that reason the wire-screens would be 

 unsatisfactory. The ventilation you pro- 

 pose, would be much like having a one- 

 story house with the front door open, and 

 the sky -light in the roof wide open too. It 

 would be very uncomfortable to say the 

 least. Either keep on the covers or close 

 the entrances.— The Editor. 



Frame Coverinjf for ^Viiiter. 



What kind of covering, if any, should be 

 used on top of the frames besides the cush- 

 ion, in preparing bees for Winter ? Is the 

 duck used for feeders, etc., too close when 

 put all over the frames tightly, with no 

 corners turned up, to let the moisture from 

 the bees to pass up through ' 



Fowler, O. H. D. B.vrber. 



[Perhaps the best thing to use for cover- 

 ing the frames, is burlap hemmed at the 

 edges. Under this put some sticks across 

 the frames, or use Hill's device to allow 

 the bees to pass from one comb to another. 

 Over this put a chaff-cushion made a little 

 larger than the inside of the hive, so that 

 it will tuck down snugly all around to pre- 

 vent a draft, and absorb the moisture 

 arising from th« cluster. — Ed.] 



Free Trial Trip subscriptions are 

 coming in quite rapidly. We thank our 

 friends for this new illustration of their 

 personal interest in the Bee Journal. We 

 want thousands to read it for a few weeks 

 who did not know of its existence. Do not 

 be afraid of sending too many names. Let 

 us have the name and address of every 

 person who keeps bees in America. 



