181)4 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



143 



brood-frame was carefully; wrapped in a rag, 

 and put into the pocket. Mr. M. also called my 

 attention to the way he had put in foundation. 

 A strip of redwood was split, from a shake, 

 and the foundation secured bv nailing the strip 

 on with shingle nails, the nail-heads standing 

 down a full half-inch. Another point, the 

 frames were old, and many of them had been 

 boiled to remove the foul-brood germs. After a 

 thorough examination in the pulled apiary we 

 drove three or four miles to the pullers' apiary. 

 The puller was gone to hunt up a lawyer, but 

 the women-folks were at home, and came out a 

 little way into the brush to see that we three 

 did not take their bees all away. The owner of 

 this apiary said, only a few weeks before, that 

 he had 30 colonies. We now counted 78; and, 

 considering that our winter has been a little 

 colder than usual, it was a remarkable winter 

 increase. We looked into every hive, and — yes, 

 Mr. Moffat's big shingle nails were there; those 

 boiled frames were there, and those frames with 

 slivers broken out of the top, were there. Mr. 

 Moft'at worked the stew-pan smoker, and I ma- 

 nipulated the hives, and the detective held on to 

 his precious slivers, and soon we found a frame 

 whereon the larger sliver or shaving fitted ex- 

 actly. That frame was removed forthwith for 

 testimony. Besides looking the apiary over for 

 the benefit of Mr. Muftat, I had another object; 

 and that was, to find something that had been 

 pulled from the apiary that I had been manag- 

 ing. After many hives had been looked into I 

 found a frame that I could identify. A little 

 further along I found another. While all the 

 apiaries around tiiis vicinity have about the 

 saiue size and style of frame, and they are in- 

 terchangeable from one hive and from one api- 

 ary to another, it is impossible to distinguish 

 one frame from another, ten miles away. It 

 was for that reason that the pullers pulled only 

 the frames and brood. But in pulling from the 

 Rambler's apiary thire was one style of frame 

 that had an improvement attached to it in the 

 shape of a little inset on the end. and the nail- 

 ing-together of the frame was such that it 

 could be identified atuong thousands. Here 

 was, then, the rope that the pullers hung them- 

 selves with — the saving of the frames. In 

 handling frames for extracting, there are many 

 little faults on frames that one becomes accus- 

 tomed to, and so it was here; aside from the 

 two peculiar frames, there were others that I 

 knew came from my apiary. Whim we depart- 

 ed, the sad-eyed women-folks n^turncd to the 

 little cabin, and we were sure their hands 

 would not have been put forth to steal other 

 p(H)ple"s possessions. The guilty parties, at this 

 writing, are in the hands of the law, and the 

 result will be reported later. 



I wish to say to the readers of Glkanings 

 who may have rea ' my answer to Mr. Pryal, in 

 relation to matters concerning Southern Cali- 

 fornia, in last Gleamxo.s. that I wi>hed to con- 



vey no idea that Mr. Pryal had any malice to- 

 ward this portion of the Stal<i.or that he in any 

 way perverted the facts. We have a great 

 State, and even a native Californian, though he 

 may be well posted, and travel much, will find 

 there are things that he may be a little mistak- 

 en about, and commit an error in writing about 

 it. That is all that I wished to corivey in my 

 answer to the gentleman. Ramblek. 



THE SELF-HIVER, AGAIN. 



SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES; HOW THEY HAVE 

 BEEN OVERCOME. 



By C. H. Dihbem. 



I have been carefully watching the bee-papers 

 during the last few months for something fur- 

 ther on this subject, but so far a strange quiet- 

 ude seems to have settled over the entire mat- 

 ter. It is hardly possible that the matter has 

 been dropped as impracticable, or that nothing 

 new has been learned in the past season. I 

 know that some of our best bee-keepers are 

 somewhat skeptical when a self-hiver is men- 

 tioned, and I am not certain that the perfect 

 hiver has yei been invented. I do know, how- 

 ever, that enough progress has been made dur- 

 ing the last few years to make its perfection, in 

 the near future, an absolute certainty. When 

 a self-hiver was first suggested I was greatly in- 

 terested, as I was then thinking of starting an 

 out-apiary; and how to manage swarming 

 without costing all the bees were worth was 

 the great problem with me. 



During my first season at the out-apiary my 

 swarmers were constructed somewhat on the 

 principle of the drone-trap, and proved partial- 

 ly successful. There was no trouble in catch- 

 ing the queens in the new hives, with a lot of 

 drones and some workers. I could usually, too, 

 determine at a glance just which hives had 

 swarmed, and by then dividing the bees and 

 combs, and changing position of hives", could 

 make fairly good swarms. While this was not 

 very satisfactory, it was bett-r than to allow 

 the new swarms to escape to t he woods, or hire 

 help that cost more than the bees were worth. 

 I have changed and remodeh d the hiver many 

 times since, and have been constantly watch- 

 ing for any suggestion that the action of the 

 bees might give me. I have also tested about 

 all the different hivers that have appeared in 

 the bee-journals fiom time to time, that gave 

 any promise of success. 



Last year the Pratt was very generally con- 

 sidered as solving the hiving problem; and so 

 favorably impressed was I, that I tried quite a 

 number; but I must say it was with very poor 

 results. As I consider Mr. Pratt one of ray 

 good friends who is svorking on the same lines 

 that I am, for i\w benefit of bee-keeping, I do 

 not wish to say any thing further against his 

 hiver; but judging from my numerous experi- 



