580 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JuiA' 15. 



the fruit-grower to dry under cheese-cloth, if 

 there were not a bee within a thousand miles of 

 him. As a protection against the bees, it is a 

 complete success. Raisin-trays are 2x3 feet. 

 Run them end to end, and they make a row 3 

 feet wide. Your cheese-cloth is 3 feet wide, 

 and you have plenty to tuck under each side of 

 the trays. Woe unto the bee or yellow-jacket 

 that gets under that cloth! It dies within 

 three minutes. This is after the honey season, 

 and does not injure the bee-keepers. 



FRIEND HEWES CORRECTED. 



I was astonished at the statement of average 

 yields of honey, made by friend Hewes, on page 

 374. He gives 3.5 lbs. as an average yield in 

 this State. Why, friend Hewes, in 1884 I got 

 nearly 19 years of your average yields from 

 each hive — see Gleanings for 1884. There 

 have been several good seasons since, so that I 

 have got about 3.5 years of your average yields 

 in the 12 years that I have been at the business 

 here. If friend Hewes is entirely too low, the 

 others are wild the other way. I should say 

 100 comb and 1.50 lbs. extracted is not very 

 wide of the mark. There is only one thing I 

 have against Bro. Hewes. He did not explain 

 what he meant by a " tenderfoot." Some of 

 our eastern friends might think it a reflection 

 on his moral or intellectual character. But it is 

 nothing of the kind. We only mean that he 

 doesn't know any thing. I know many kind- 

 hearted men who keep their cattle in pens of .50 

 to 500 acres, for fear they might mistake a 

 tenderfoot coming along the road for a bundle 

 of green hay. 



Escondido, Cal., June 11. 



QUEENS CRAMPING. 



NOT DUE TO THE CATCHING OF THE FEP^T. 



By Wm. Muth-Rasnni!^>ieH . 



As this subject is under discussion I will re- 

 late a case that came under my observation 

 last year, and which was much more severe 

 than any other I have ever heard or read about. 



About July 1st A. I. Root mailed me a select 

 tested Italian queen. She arrived late on the 

 following Friday evening. I did not open the 

 cage that night, but put a few drops of honey 

 and water on the wire cloth, so that the bees 

 could help themselves; and as a precaution 

 against ants I placed the cage on a saucer in- 

 verted on a plate tilled with water. Early the 

 next morning I again fed the bees with honey 

 and water, and after breakfast I opened the 

 cage. As soon as liberated, the queen flew in 

 front of a screen door, showing that she was 

 all right. I then clipped her in the usual man- 

 ner, and as I have practiced clipping for years. 

 I am certain that I did not injure her. I placed 

 her back on the door-screen, and, while I was 

 laying the scissors away and reaching for the 

 cage on an adjoining table, she dropped to the 



floor. thought it only a mishap, and, putting 

 her into the cage without any bees, I started 

 for the hive prepared for her. I had gone only 

 a few steps, however, when I saw her tumble 

 over, like a drunken man. Returning to the 

 house to ascertain what the trouble was, I 

 dropped her out in my hand, where she lay on 

 her back, pawing the air vpith all six legs, and 

 frequently doubling herself up. I looked par- 

 ticularly to see if any of her feet were fast any- 

 where, but they were all free. At times she 

 would lie quite still, as if dead, and then start 

 in kicking again, all the time lying on her back 

 or side. Most of the accompanying bees had 

 escaped when I opened the door; but, two had 

 flown 10 the window. I put these into the cage 

 with the queen, in the hope that they might 

 help her. She lay thus from breakfast time till 

 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when she commenced 

 to straighten out a little. At 5 o'clock she was 

 able to stand up, but could move only with 

 difficulty, frequently falling down. Next (Sun- 

 day) morning she was running around in the 

 cage, as lively as ever. I then introduced her 

 to the colony prepared for her, and did not 

 disturb them for two or three days, when I 

 found her liberated and laying. 



On the doorsill, to which the queen dropped, 

 was a little insect powder (buhach), which had 

 been sprinkled there a couple of day* before to 

 kill ants that were coming into the house. I 

 presume the queen got the cramps while she 

 was on the door-screen, and that this caused 

 her to lose her foothold. Whether the insect- 

 powder had any effect on her or not is an un- 

 s^l"ved~quesTion. It generally loses its strength 

 soon after being exposed to the air. and in this 

 case had been lying there and tramped over 

 for a couple of days. 



Fearing that the queen might not live, and 

 desiring to replace a lot of old queens, I sent 

 immediately for another, which came in due 

 time, and was clipped and introduced without 

 any mishap. I reared over forty young queens 

 from these two. the same summer, and both 

 are to-day mothers of prosperous colonies. 



KOBBER-TRAP. 



I was one of those who wrote to friend 

 Mclntyre about his robber-trap. He kindly 

 gave me by letter a brief description. To avoid 

 boring holes in any of my hives I made a little 

 alteration in the arrangement. A triangular 

 piece of wire cloth, about 11 inches long on 

 each side, was folded in such a way as to make 

 a shallow triangular box, % inch deep, having 

 two of the sides provided with ?A-inch-wide 

 flanges, turned out at right angles to the sides. 

 The third side is open; but a similar flange is 

 turned out from the bottom edge of the box. 

 This wire-cloth box I placed upside down in an 

 empty hive with fast bottom. The open side 

 covered the entrance, which is six inches wide 

 in my hives, and the three flanges were fasten- 



