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THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



165 



I had an opportunity to look over things 

 and take off the winter coverings. Well, 

 if the industrious tenants hadn't taken 

 and propolized the Hill's device fast to 

 the burlap bottoms of the supers and 

 built bridge-combs in several hives, 

 reaching from the tops of the frames up 

 to the under sides of the wooden cross- 

 pieces of the Hill frames! Did I throw 

 these bridge combs away or melt them 

 up, after cutting them from the 

 frames? Not much! I uncapped 

 and placed them on dinner plates 

 and gave them to the colonies that 

 made them. After the bees had 

 cleaned out the honey, I saved the 

 empty pieces of comb and fastened them 

 into sections with melted wax. I used 

 them for starters. The wax was as 

 white as snow and they were all right 

 for that. This may not be according to 

 Gunter, but that's no matter. 

 RuTLEGE, Pa., Aug. 8, 1900. 



UNITING BEES. 



Also Valuable Suggestions Concerning 

 Cellar Wintering, Temperature, Ar- 

 rangements etc. 



BY G. M. UOOLITTLE. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes, saying: 

 •T have some weak colonies of 

 bees which, I fear, will not win- 

 ter as they are. How would it do to 

 unite two of these weak colonies to- 

 gether ? Please tell us about this in 

 The American Bee-keeper." 



This is the proper thing to do, and 

 the time to do it is the latter part of 

 September or the first of October ; but 

 if you are on the lookout for a warm 

 day it may be done even in November, 

 though it is not best to wait as late as 

 that, as a rule. Two weak colonies 

 kept separate will consume nearly twice 

 the stores which both would united, and 

 very likely perish before spring, while, 

 if put together, they would winter as 

 well as any good colony. To unite such 

 colonies late in the season, the following 



is a good plan: If one of the queens is 

 known to be inferior to the other, hunt 

 out the inferior one and kill her, so that 

 the best queen may survive; otherwise 

 you need pay no attention to the queens 

 for one of them will soon be killed after 

 uniting. 



Having the (^ueen matter disposed of, 

 go to the colonies you wish to unite and 

 blow smoke quite freely in at the en- 

 trance, pounding on top of the hive at 

 the same time with the doubled-np fist 

 or with a stick of wood with a cloth 

 wound around it so it will not mar the 

 hive or make too sharp a noise rather 

 than a heavy jar. When both have 

 been treated in this way, wait four or 

 five minutes for the bees to fill them- 

 selves with honey, when one is to be put 

 on a wheelbarrow and wheeled to where 

 the other stands, and both opened. 

 Now select out the combs from both 

 hives which contain the most honey, 

 setting them in one hive. In thus set- 

 ting in it is always best to alternate the 

 frames, whereby the bees are so mixed 

 up, as well as being full of honey, that 

 they have no desire to fight, for each bee 

 touched by another is a stranger, filled 

 with honey. Then, their being full of 

 honey makes them so they are not in- 

 clined to take wing and fliy back to their 

 old home under our manipulation. After 

 the hive is filled, arrange the quilt or 

 honey-board and put on the cover. Next 

 put a wide board down in front of the 

 hive, leading up to the entrance, and pro- 

 ceed to shake the bees off the remaining 

 frames, taking first a frame from one 

 hive and then one from the other, thus 

 mixing the bees as before. After all are 

 in set the wide board up against the 

 front of the hive, sloping over the en- 

 trance so that the next time the bees fly 

 they will bump against it, so to speak, 

 thus causing them to mark their loca- 

 tion anew, so that none will return to 

 their old location and get lost. Also 

 remove all relics of the old hive, so that 

 there is no home-like appearance about 

 the old loca tion to entice them back 



