406 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



excluder in front of the entrance?" This Is 

 better than nothing, but stops more or less the 

 ventilation of the hive; and drones trying to 

 come out clog the entrance; and if the queen 

 should get through the excluder she would be 

 outside of the hive, and more likely to get lost; 

 besides, drones can not by this method be given 

 liberty to leave the hive at pleasure. If the 

 hive is a box hive, place it over a hive-body 

 filled with extracting-combs, with a zinc ex- 

 cluder between them. 

 Bedford, O., April 6. 



[We will explain to our readers, that Edson 

 Hains is a son of J. B., of Hains-feeder fame. 

 Mr. Hains. senior, while here, fully explained 

 the principle: and there is one point, perhaps, 

 that it will be well to emphasize in order that 

 our readers may get clearly before them the 

 principle that is supposed to deter swarming. 

 The two combs next to the entrance (separated 

 from the rest of the other combs containing 

 brood, queen, and worker-bees, by perforated 

 zinc), are intended to act as a sort of ladderway 

 for easy access to the super above. Of course, 

 over these iwo combs there is no perforated 

 zinc. The bees may crawl upward on the first 

 or second, and travel straight up into the super 

 without passing zinc. It is assumed that the 

 bees dislike to go through the metal; and if 

 there is a shorter and easier route they will 

 take it in preference to going through the zinc 

 twice. Whether the bees will invariably take 

 the shorter of two routes to the super through 

 the hive, we can not say; but Messrs. Hains 

 say that they do. That being the ca=e, the bees 

 will be more likely to deposit surplus honey in 

 the supers, and give the queen ample room for 

 laying below in her apartment of 8 combs sur- 

 rounded by perforated zinc on the exposed sides. 

 This unlimited room is expected to take away 

 the desire for swarming. We had intended to 

 make an engraving; but IMr. Hains' meaning is 

 sufliciently clear so any one will get the idea. 



This method of non-swarming can be very 

 easily practiced with the old-style ten-frame 

 Simplicity hive, because with this the body can 

 slip endwise or sidewise to give the necessary 

 entrance; but with the Dovetailed hive it may 

 not be so easy. However, this can be done: 

 Confine the queen to six or eight combs, as the 

 case may be, leaving two combs for ladderways 

 to the super. Close up that part of the regular 

 entrance communicating with the six combs. 

 As the remaining part would hardly be large 

 enough, a hole could be bored directly over it, 

 so the bees would not be crowded in passing to 

 and fro. 



Mr. Hains, senior, informs us that a trial of a 

 few colonies on this plan was very satisfactory, 

 and that other colonies not so arranged swarm- 

 ed.— Ed.] 



A GERMAN INTKODUCING-CAGE. 



now IT MAY BE USKD. 



By Karl R. Mathey. 



The apparatus below serves a double purpose; 

 first, in case of a division of a colony on mov- 

 able frames, the queen may be confined to the 

 comb in one frame, so that she can not run 

 away, and afterv.ard she may be returned to 

 the hive. If the queen becomes aftlicted with 

 lice, take the apparatus in the hand and hold 

 it near her till a crowd of bees gather around 



her; then put the cage down over the queen, 

 and she will then be penned in with a lot of 

 workers. After this confinement of the queen 

 has taken place, with a number of bees, there 

 begins a pushing and crowding and jostling 

 on the part of the confined bees, to whom the 

 imprisonment is by no means agreeable. By 

 this means, it will be seen, the lice are com- 

 pletely removed from the queen in a mechanical 

 manner. After a while the cage is removed, 

 when the cleaned queen, lively and glad, will 

 retire, the lice having entirely disappeared 

 from her. By this simple imprisonment of the 

 queen, with as many bees as the apparatus will 

 hold, it will be seen that the bees, without 

 knowing it. have relieved her majesty of her 

 tormentors. 



'^ li I; U J U ^ 



A GERMAN INTRODUCING- CAGE. 



This tool is of marked service in the intro- 

 duction of queens. The method of procedure is 

 as follows: Take the cage and invert it skill- 

 fully over the queen; then push a piece of 

 paper under it and carry it to a comb, pressing 

 the cage gently against the comb, at the same 

 time drawing the paper out; then push the 

 points into the comb far enough to make the 

 cage stay, and then put the comb where the 

 bees can not molest the queen. 



After the new queen is in position, leave her 

 in the cage till the bees are as quiet as they 

 usually are on the combs, after which she may 

 be released. The freeing of the queen must 

 take place with the greatest quietness. If a 

 tine wire be attached to the knob of the cage, 

 a'ld the other end of it be pushed up through a 

 small hole in the cover, the cage may be lifted 

 up without removing the cover, but not entirely 

 removed. Then the bees will let the queen 

 free themselves, and receive her safely in this 

 way; after which the hive maybe opened and 

 the cage taken away. 



Medina, O., May 1. 



[This cage may also be used for confining a 

 valuable queen to a single comb for a few mo- 

 ments while the other combs are being handled 

 —as, for instance, extracted. When all the 

 combs are replaced, except the one the queen 

 is on, the cage may be removed and the comb 



