THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW" 



209 



SHOOK-SWARNINC. 



Avoiding Some of its Annoyances and 

 Preventing Increase. 



The chang^ing conditions of apicul- 

 ture, tlie rapid advance of specializa- 

 tion, the "keeping- of more bees," the 

 establishing- of out-apiaries, all tend 

 to the practicing- of shook-swarming-. 

 When some radically new system like 

 this is adopted, numerous details need 

 to be changed or improved. For in- 

 stance, in shaking- or brushing-, many 

 of the bees scatter to other nearby 

 colonies; and the editor of the Rocky 

 Mountain Bee Journal, in an editorial, 

 last September, told how to avoid this 

 trouble, and, at the same time grad- 

 ually turn the hatching bees into the 

 swarm, thus strengthening the swarm, 

 and, at the same time, avoiding in- 

 crease. Here is what he says: — 



One great drawback to tlie ordin- 

 ary method of brushing and shaking 

 swarms is that large numbers of the 

 bees, instead of entering the new hive 

 on the home-stand, will take wing and 

 join themselves to other colonies in the 

 yard. This not only seriously de- 

 pletes the force of the shaken swarms 

 but helps to induce swarming in the 

 other hives, whose numbers are thus 

 suddenly augmented, and with bees 

 that have already contracted that fever 

 of unrest which culminates in swarm- 

 ing. As a result the whole apiary is 

 innoculated with a desire to swarm, 

 and, for the time being, the evil is in- 

 tensified rather than repressed. 



A plan which obviates all this troub- 

 le has been practiced for a number of 

 years by Herman Rauchfuss, of Den- 

 ver, Colorado. That the plan is a 

 success may be inferred from the fact 

 that a whole apiary once treated in 

 this manner by Mr. Rauchfuss, gave 

 the phenomenal average of 175 pounds 

 of comb honey per colony. The usual 

 plan of preparation is followed up to 

 the point of shaking, when, instead of 

 dumping the bees in a pile in front of 

 the new hive, a single frame of brood 

 containing the queen and adhering 

 bees is placed therein, the super ad- 



justed, and the hive containing the re- 

 maining bees and brood is set on top. 

 The entrance to the old hive should 

 face the rear, and should be closed so 

 that not a bee can get out. Bore a 

 one-half or a three-quarter inch hole 

 in the rear of this hive, affix to it a 

 chute, made by nailing together four 

 pieces of lath, which should terminate 

 about an inch above the alighting 

 board of the new hive. The bees will 

 readily pass out throug-h this chute, 

 but when they return laden from the 

 fields they will enter the new hive. In 

 a day or two all the flj'ing bees will 

 have joined the new hive, and in 

 twenty -one days practically all of the 

 young bees will have come out and en- 

 tered the new hive. By this plan the 

 transfer is affected without any ex- 

 citement, the probability of abscond- 

 ing is eliminated, and there is no loss 

 of unsealed brood. The evil features 

 of shaking are entirely done away 

 with, while all its virtues are preserv- 

 ed and utilized." 



WASHING HONEY FROM THE CAPPINGS. 



And how it may be Utilized in the Mak- 

 ing of Vinegar. 



In man}' industries a large share of 

 the profits come from a utilization of 

 the by-products, or what would or- 

 dinarily' be termed waste. In the 

 production of extracted honey consid- 

 erable of the honey adheres to the 

 cappings. Most of this will drain out, 

 but not all of it. If the cappings are 

 kept separate and rendered by the sun 

 extractor, this honey meiy be saved, 

 but I have never seen any that was 

 not injured more or less in flavor. 

 Probably there is no more practical 

 plan for saving this honey than by 

 washing the cappings in water, and 

 then making vinegar of the water. A 

 most excellent article on this subject 

 was contribvited to the Progressive 

 Bee-Keeper, last fall, by Mr. S. E. 

 Miller, of Bluffton, Missouri. Mr. 

 Miller says: — 



"Up to a short time ago I used to 

 wash the cappings and then squeeze 

 them into balls after which I placed 



