1894. 



THE A MEMO A N BEE-KEEPER. 



107 



one show a sign of the cramps while 

 caging. 



Queens fly but little, and are sel- 

 dom out of the hive. In their normal 

 condition they are surrounded by a 

 throng of friendly bess, in partial or 

 complete darkness. From this peace- 

 ful state comes a rude awakening ; 

 smoke pours in ; the comb on which 

 she was peacefully and no doubt hap- 

 pily employed is raised out in the 

 glare of the daylight ; amid the con- 

 fusion she tries to hide, but is chased 

 around, rudely taken up by her wings, 

 by a master she has never seen. No 

 wonder fear fills her heart, and she 

 feels all hope is gone, and ' ' heart fail- 

 ure " results, or she "swoons," or 

 gets the ' ' cramps." 



There are lots of bees handled in 

 this or a worse way. I wonder how 

 many people would die of "heart fail- 

 ure," or " swoon," or have " cramps," 

 if they were used as ruthlessly and un- 

 naturally. 



My daughter Edna, who assists me 

 in the apiary, aged 14, caged 25 

 queens by half-past ten, without as- 

 sistance. Last night was very cool, 

 so she could not commence until 

 nearly 8 o'clock a. m. Only 10 queens 

 were iu hives marked ready ; the 

 others had to be hunted up. 



■So far we are having the best sea- 

 son I have known here. I took 200 

 gallons from 50 colonies May 14 and 

 16, and now they are nearly full, and 

 ought to be extracted at once, and 

 still are hard at work. I am suffer- 

 ing from a billious attack to-day, and 

 have to keep out of the sun, though 

 we are pushed by our work. — J. B. 

 Case in Gleanings. 



(Fla.) 



TRANSFERING BEES PROM BOX HIVES. 



Question — Briefly stated, what is 

 the best method of transfering bees 

 from box hives ? 



Ansiver. — The majority of our most 

 practical bee-keepers of the present 

 time believe that what is known as 

 the "Heddon plan" of transfering is 

 the best of any so far given. This 

 plan is as follows : Drive the bees 

 from the box hive and put them in- 

 to a hive furnished with frames of 

 wired foundation, the furnished hive 

 to be placed on the stand the colony 

 had occupied up to the present time, 

 while the box hive with its combs of 

 brood and honey, with the few adher- 

 ing bees, is to be placed close beside 

 the new hive. In 21 days after all 

 the brood shall have emerged as 

 worker bees, drive the bees again from 

 the box hives, driving clean this time , 

 and, after destroying the queen with 

 this last drive, or the one in the col- 

 ony driven before, according as to 

 which is the most valuable, unite the 

 bees with those first out, thus getting 

 the bees all on to nice straight combs, 

 and in good shape to give a good 

 yield of surplus honey. The combs 

 are uow taken out of the box hive, 

 the honey extracted from them, and 

 they are rendered into wax to help in 

 making more comb foundation. 



Now, while the above is probably 

 the best known plan where the combs 

 in the box hive are crooked or poor, 

 and the season of the year that when 

 the bees are securing honey from the 

 field, yet if the combs in the box 

 hives are good straight ones of the 

 worker size of cell,or we do not have the 

 foundation, or we wish to do this work 

 early in the season, before the bees 



