AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



385 



out, then put the flour on a plank 18 

 inches wide and 6 feet long, with strips 

 nailed on the sides and ends to hold the 

 flour. I put this out on warm days, only 

 when the bees could fly freely. 

 Greenville, Tenn., March 1, 1892. 



Bees Selecting a Hoiiie— Wintering. 



R. A. SHULTZ. 



I desire to give some of my experience 

 about bees selecting homes. I passed 

 through a farm about 1}4 miles south of 

 here one day in the Summer of 1888. 

 There was a large clearing pn the farm, 

 and as I passed through the clearing, I 

 came to a party of men around a large 

 white oak which was dead and dry. On 

 approaching them, they said they had 

 gathered there to cut a bee-tree. After 

 looking, I told them that there was no 

 swarm in the tree, as I saw the bees did 

 not act right. They replied that they 

 would cut it anyway, and see. They 

 also had buckets to hold the honey, and 

 a bundle of rags to smoke the bees. 



The day was very hot, and they chop- 

 ped a long time on the hard, white- 

 oak. At last it Jell, and they all rushed 

 to where the supposed bees were. There 

 was about a dozen bees in the hollow of 

 that tree, but they soon flew away, and 

 the men took their buckets and axes and 

 went home. 



Dr. Robert Valentine had 30 or 40 

 colonies of bees in round logs, which 

 were about 200 yards oflf. I supposed 

 them to be cleaning to occupy that tree, 

 as it had a nice hollow, and was dry. I 

 have also followed 3 or 4 swarms to 

 trees, which left after being hived, and 

 went straight to the tree, and it seems 

 as if they knew where the hole was, or 

 they could not go straight to it. They 

 surely have reason enough about them 

 to swarm, find a home, and go to it, or 

 else it is a kind of " high grade in- 

 stinct." 



Bees have some curious movements. I 

 had a second swarm to come out last 

 Summer about 9 o'clock in the morning, 

 and I hived them. At 12 o'clock they 

 were swarming again, and they did not 

 cluster, but swarmed on until it was 

 about dark, and then went back into the 

 hive they were first put into, and the 

 next day they went to work and did 

 well. 



I packed my bees for Winter in a 

 straight row out in the yard. I first 

 placed the hives close together, covered 

 the alighting-boards with thin boards 



cut for the purpose, so as to give an en- 

 trance. I then put up posts at each 

 end, and nailed on a plank 16 feet long, 

 letting the first comedown on the boards 

 over the alighting-boards. When boarded 

 up the right distance, I put the packing 

 in, and covered over with boards. I 

 think this a cheap way to pack bees for 

 Winter, and they keep warm. But there 

 is one trouble about it — the bees are apt 

 to get mixed, and kill each other. I 

 have lost one colony with diarrhea this 

 Winter, but the rest seem to be in good 

 condition, with sufficient honey. They 

 have been gathering pollen for some 

 days, but it is cold with frost this morn- 

 ing. 

 Cosby, Tenn., March 8, 1892. 



EenJering fax from Oil Comls. 



S. H. HARRISON. 



I have tried various methods and con- 

 trivances for rendering wax from old 

 combs, and the best thing I have tried 

 until now, is Doolittle's solar wax ex- 

 tractor, which I tried last Summer in 

 Colorado; but having a small quantity 

 of combs and fragments here that I did 

 not wish to throw away, I began to think 

 how I could do it best, and with the 

 least cost. 



One night after going to bed, the mat- 

 ter of a cheap wax extractor came into 

 my mind {a l<i Doolittle), and the 

 thought struck me. Why not have a tin 

 spout, made the shape of the tin part of 

 Doolittle's extractor, only not so large, 

 but perhaps a little longer, with a solid 

 head at one end, and a bar of tin across 

 near the other to hold it in shape ; then 

 take a piece of tin about 1)4 inches 

 wide, double over both edges, leaving 

 the bar about ^ of an inch wide, and 

 long enough to bend in proper shape to 

 form two legs, raising the end with the 

 head in about 2 inches, and spread 

 enough to keep the spout right side up. 



Then take a piece of wire cloth, place 

 it in the spout, pressing it to the bottom, 

 but let one end rest on and over the bar 

 across the lower or front end. 



Put the combs or wax in the spout, or 

 above the wire cloth, and (if the " better 

 half " is good natured) set the whole in 

 the oven of the cook-stove, placing a 

 dish under the lower end of the spout, 

 which projects a little from the oven, to 

 catch the wax as it runs out. It works 

 all right. Twenty-five cents is the ex- 

 pense of mine. 



Mankato, Kans. 



