igo2 



Till-: AMEUK.W liEE-EEEPER 



bees with light stores, few bees and but 

 very little brood it is the right time. 



Before starting I provided myself 

 with a transferring kit. This consists of 

 a bee brush, smoker, long bladed carv- 

 ing knife, vineyard pruning knife blade 

 eight inches long, set in the handle, 

 and temper down sufficiently to permit 

 of prying oflf •■^ side of a box with- 

 out snapping the stout blade. A trans- 

 ferring knife made out of the half of a 

 buck-saw blade, two inches wide and 12 

 inches long, ground sharp on one edge 

 and across the two inch end, a hive 

 filled with empty combs and a stand to 

 work on. 



The bees were smoked and the hive 

 or box to be operated on, placed on 

 the table and the hive, with the empty 

 combs, placed on the stand formerly oc- 

 cui)ied by the bees. Next the box was 

 opened at its w-eakest part. If the top 

 was started, the blade of the transfer- 

 rin?^ knife was slipped in and shoved 

 across, chiseling ofT the combs, if the 

 top was there to stay, then the box 

 was turned over and the blade of the 

 knife sent down all around the inside 

 of the box, severing the combs from 

 the sides. Next a side was taken off 

 and the combs removed, the bees shak- 

 en and brushed onto the empty combs 

 in the hive, on the old stand, the combs 

 removed were placed in a roomy box. 

 When the combs had all been removed 

 and the bees brushed off, the old box 

 was looked over carefully to make sure 

 that the queen w-as not hiding on it; 

 then the combs were taken to the hon- 

 ey house, and with a hot knife fitted 

 into frames, sufficient frames, filled with 

 worker combs, then added to fill a hive. 

 This hive was taken to the old stand 

 and placed under the hive with the 

 empty combs. In about two hours' 

 time the bees were nearly all down and 

 the bees remaining were brushed ofT 

 the combs and the bees left with the 

 hive containing their old combs and 

 stores. 



I found that where the hive was left 

 on over night the bees would carry the 

 honey from the leakmg combs up 

 stairs into the empty combs. As I 

 wanted all the stores with the bees. I 

 found it necessary to remove the empty 

 combs before the bees got started to 

 transferring. 



Where the transferring is to be done 

 from hives, it is an easy matter to turn 



the hive over, cut the combs loose on 

 all sides and then slip the hive up over 

 the combs and leave them all exposed. 

 In fitting in combs that have brood, it 

 is necessary to have a cushion to lay 

 the comb on. otherwise the brood will 

 be crushed. 



Murphy. Cal.. Feb. 28. 1902. 



A Sensation in Jersey. 



(M. F. Reeve.) 



SOME fearful and wonderful bee 

 stories get into the newspapers. 

 A corresDondent who sent a dis- 

 patch to the Philadelphia North Ameri- 

 can from Millville. N. J., giving an ac- 

 count of a "bee farm" down there own- 

 ed bv M. E. Chance, who has "13 hives 

 at work, and all are in first-class shape" 

 goes on to say: 



"It is often said that bees cannot be 

 taken from one hive to another unless 

 they swarm. This year Mr. Chance in- 

 tends trying an experiment in a closed 

 room and attempt to get the bees from 

 the old hives into the new ones." 



Wonderful! Veteran bee-keepers 

 will all hope he may succeed in this 

 daring venture. But why go indoors 

 when he might have done it just as well 

 in the open? Hear this concluding sen- 

 tence: 



"On a clear day the bees sometimes 

 go as far as ten miles from home, often 

 flying home in the evening with their 

 legs full of the sweet luxury." 



"Legs full of the sweet luxury'' is 

 good. How about a "ten mile fly" also. 

 Those must be long-distance stock. 

 The next thing,everybody will be cross- 

 ing them on "long-tongue" bees, and 

 improving the breed. The news editor 

 headed the item: 



BEE FARM THRIVES 

 TOWN 



IN JERSEY 



Millville Man Has an Industry That 

 Plucks Money From the Flowers. 



Rutledge, Pa., June 15, 1902. 



"If that severe doom of Synesius be 

 true — 'It is a greater offence to steal 

 dead men's labor than their clothes,' 

 what shall become of most writers?" — 

 Burton. 



