Feb. 8, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



121 



the bees and their keeper, and they are troublesome in this 

 locality in the order named : 



1. That innocent looking, fawn-colored-on-back-and- 

 white-underneath mouse — which is called in these parts by 

 the various names of "wood-mouse," deer-mouse," "dor- 

 mouse" and " tree-climber" — cause more trouble than all 

 the others put together. 



2. Next, the house-mouse — the one our good house-wives 

 so much abhor, on account of its getting into the pantry 

 and feasting on the good things there. 



3. The field-mouse — that chap that lives on our grasses 

 and their roots, and the one so hated by the orchardists on 

 account of its gnawing the bark off the young fruit-trees 

 near the ground, or " girdling" them. 



4. The little, soft-furred shrew. 



The dor-mouse lives, when in the hives, on the thorax 

 part of the bee, and it is very easy to tell when he is around 

 the hives, by finding the head, wings and abdomen of the 

 bee scattered all about on the botttom-board of the hives. 

 The house-mouse eats the honey, and does not touch the 

 bees as food. The field-mouse eats nothing in the hive, but 

 is pleased with the warm place he can enjoy at the bees' ex- 

 pense ; while the shrew cares for nothing in the hives ex- 

 cept the bees, which he greedily devours, all except the 

 wings. 



Thus, the experienced eye can tell at a glance the kind 

 of mice that are troubling the bees in any apiary, in this 

 locality, during the winter months ; the only time in which 

 mice are really troublesome in the apiary, and can work 

 accordingly, when means are used to get rid of these pests. 

 And now about keeping them from the bees, for I sup- 

 pose that is what all are the most anxious to know : Where 

 colonies are wintered outdoors, I know of but one reasona- 

 ble plan, and that is to keep them out of the hives ; for 

 mice do not annoy by running over the hives when the bees 

 are wintered on the summer stands as they do where cellar- 

 wintering is practiced. My plan has been to procure some 

 of the galvanized wire-cloth, having }■'% mesh, and from this 

 cut the right size strip so that it will fully cover the entrance 

 to each hive, and, when in place, this will perfectly exclude 

 the mice, and at the same time allow the bees as free a use 

 of their " doorway " as if it were not there. And the time 

 to put this on the hive is a little before the bees cease their 

 activity in the fall ; for should you wait till later before 

 putting on these mouse-excluders, you might fasten the 

 mice in the hives, when it would be worse than an open en- 

 trance would be. 



Where bees are wintered in the cellar, and especially 

 where the bottom-boards are left on the summer stands, we 

 must resort to traps or poisoning. As I dislike the poison- 

 ing (on account of the liability that the poison may be used 

 through accident or otherwise by something besides the 

 mice ; and on account of the stench that will arise where 

 many mice or rats are killed with poison) I adhere to the 

 traps, and in 25 years of practice I have been enabled to 

 keep the mice under perfect control with these traps. I use 

 two kinds of traps — the " catch 'em-alive "and the "choker," 

 though I much prefer the latter. However, there is now 

 and then a field-mouse too large for the choker-trap, and 

 you are sure of him with the other, and for this reason I use 

 both where I am led to believe that the field-mice are 

 present. 



For the dor-mouse and house-mouse, give me a good 4 

 or 5 hole, wood, choker-trap in preference to anything else, 

 no matter whether these mice are in the bee-cellar, house or 

 barn. Before you set these traps, drive a wire-nail down 

 from the top over each hole, so the point will stick through 

 the center of the top of the hole from ; s to 3-16 of an inch, 

 this nail-point coming just in front of the wire that does 

 the choking when the mouse springs the trap. When thus 

 fixed, no mouse will ever pull out of the trap, even though 

 he is caught just at the end of the nose. I use Y% or l / 2 inch 

 nails for this purpose, just according to the thickness of the 

 wood in the trap. When the trap springs, the choker-wire 

 forces the point of this nail through the skin on the back of 

 the mouse's neck, and it is impossible for him to pull away, 

 no matter how weak the spring to the trap may get. 



But this article would be incomplete without telling you 

 about the bait to use. Cheese is the most common bait used 

 by all when setting traps for mice, and if it is the house- 

 mouse you are after, that is all right ; but for the others 

 it is almost the poorest bait you could use. What is 

 wanted is a bait suitable for all and every kind of mouse 

 that comes along. After years of study and experimenting 

 along this "mouse-bait " problem, I use corn on half the 

 bait-rods, and pumpkin or squash seeds on the others. All 



kinds of mice eat both of these, and especially the seeds. 

 Even the shrew, which is an insectivorous animal, is eager 

 for squash-seed, especially those fresh from the squash. 

 With these choker-traps and this bait, I have no trouble in 

 ridding any bee-cellar of all mice within two days to a week 

 from the time I commence. 



At the out-apiary I use the Dr. Miller bottom-boards, 

 and before nailing up, the cleats for the wintering side have 

 a saw-kerf cut in them at the right place, so that when the 

 bottom-board is reversed (when the bees are being prepared 

 for winter) a strip of this y% mesh wire-cloth is slipped into 

 this kerf, the hive set up to it, so that when the crate sta- 

 ples have been driven to secure the bottom-board to the hive, 

 the whole thing is secure from any mice getting at the bees 

 and combs ; for I do not go near this cellar after the bees 

 are put in till they are taken out in the spring. In this 

 way the bees and combs come out in perfect shape each 

 spring now, while formerly many combs would be spoiled 

 each winter, and whole colonies of bees ruined by the mice, 

 tolerated in this farmer's cellar. Borodino, N. Y. 



=\ 



Southern 

 * 23eebom -f 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl, New Braunfels, Tex. 



Plan the Work 



The following, taken from Farm and Ranch (Texas), 

 applies so well to bee-keeping that it was too good not to 

 repeat it here. This is the age of better industries, and bee- 

 keeping should follow in line. We are all interested in the 

 betterment of the bee-keeper and his vocation. It is as fol- 

 lows : 



" Seed-time and harvest must come year after year. In 

 following this steady round we form certain habits with 

 more or less thought worked in. Unless we take care the 

 work of this new year will be done upon the plan and the 

 plane of last year. Have a care. Devise plans. Adapt. 

 Here is Improvement. Take fast hold upon her ; let her not 

 go until you have lifted self from the ruts of weeks and 

 months of labor. Better stand still for one week than to 

 follow blindly the customs, the set-fasts of the former 

 years. Recast it all. Do it now, before planning this 

 year's crops. Get a system. Make it peculiar to yourself 

 and to your surroundings. Let it have a color scheme, 

 bordered 'round with some fun. Let in the light of mirth 

 and joy, or the plan will be colorless — a sober grey. All 

 work and no play may make Jack a dull boy, but it makes 

 his father (and his mother) grumpy, dissatisfied or sodden. 

 True in city as well as in country. Let in the light. 



" Drudging from 12 to 16 hours a day does not make truly 

 great men or women — though it may make martyrs. The 

 leaven of Thought is worth more than Muscle. Brute 

 strength has been heavily discounted by science and inven- 

 tion. Where are the well-balanced men, who, with trained 

 minds in sound bodies are their own ' captains of indus- 

 try ?' These are masters of self. Every day should have 

 its hours of Toil, of Rest, of Thought. These are the trinity 

 of daily balance in our lives. Plan to recognize Toil, Rest, 

 Thought." 



Farm Bee-Keeping 



Does bee-keeping on the farm pay ? This is a question 

 asked us by many farmers after their attention has been 

 attracted by the busily working bees on the flowers — in the 

 fields — or by the busy hum of the little workers near an api- 

 ary of a large apiarist, or even when they see some of the 

 nice, white product of the hive on display in a store win- 

 dow, or in its place on the table ; or when, perchance, a 

 copy of a bee-paper has fallen into their hands at some 

 time. To these the answer is that in most places it pays, 

 and in more ways than one. 



As diversification in crops on the farm has become to be 

 the order of the day, bee-keeping should not be overlooked 

 as one of the branches of a well-regulated farm. Many 

 farmers should own a dozen or two colonies of bees, and 

 these, if properly taken care of at the right time, would need 



