148 



Feb. 21, 1907 



American Hee Journal 



poison gather wilhin the corolla and 

 flow to the fruit, it will only touch 

 the center of it, and if it is not yet fer- 

 tilized, it may be entirely blighted by 

 the very thing which is intended to 

 protect it. Not so, if the bloom is 

 over. The fruit is then fertile, and is 

 exposed to the spray, whether it comes 

 from above, from below, or from the 

 side. 



To sum up, if it is thought best to 

 spray early, a portion of it may be done 

 before the opening of the blossoms, with 

 a steady continuation after the bloom 

 is about over. But the most important 

 point is the continuation of spraying, 

 over and over, during the first few- 

 weeks after the fruit is formed. One 

 of the largest fruit shippers in the 

 country told me that from his observa- 

 tions, the most successful and most 

 perfect crops of apples were secured 

 when spraying was continued two, three 

 and even as many as five times over, 

 after the forming of the fruit. 



The proposed law on spraying will 

 work no hardship on the judicious 

 fruit-grower. It is only intended to 

 protect the apiary against the careless 

 and inconsiderate spraying of trees dur- 

 ing full bloom. 



Hamilton, III. 



Putting Bees Out of the 

 Cellar 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I am keeping bees mainly for the 

 profit there is in them, therefore from a 

 matter-of-fact standpoint, for I am sure 

 that one week of practical experience is 

 worth years of theorizing. Believing 

 this to be so, I propose to take the 

 reader right into my apiary, as it were, 

 and show him just how I take the bees 

 from the cellar. It is a little easier to 

 have a man to help you put the laees 

 out, but I often do this alone by the 

 aid of a spring wheelbarrow, and it can 

 be done with a wheelbarrow without 

 springs. However. I think it pays well 

 to procure one with springs for apiary 

 work, as we wish it hundreds of times 

 during the year, and the springs help 

 very materially, not only in putting the 

 bees into and out of the cellar, but in 

 all wheeling of comb honey, or combs 

 at all times when it is cold enough so 

 they are brittle. 



But we are to speak more particularly 

 in this article about putting the bees 

 from the cellar, and doing it alone, 

 therefore we commence by lighting the 

 bee-smoker and taking that and the 

 wheelbarrow to the cellar door. Now if 

 we have one or two old horse-blankets, 

 or something of that sort (old bed- 

 quilts are still better), to fold and 

 spread on the wheelbarrow, we will 

 have something that will take off all 

 jar, so that the bees will not even know 

 they are being carried about. With a 

 spring wheelbarrow thus fixed I wheel 

 hives full and running over with bees, 

 right in July and August, no matter 

 how hot it is, and they offer no resist- 

 ance, unless I do such a bungling job 

 in loading them, that they are aware 

 of being handled before they are safely 

 on the wheelbarrow. 



Having the spring wheelbarrow "pad- 

 ded" and at the cellar door, together 

 with the smoker, I go in and carefully 

 take the first hive next to the door and 

 carry it to the wheelbarrow, setting it 

 thereon. The next thing is to shut the 

 cellar-door quickly, so the bees remain- 

 ing therein will not be awakened from 

 their winter nap. The door being shut, 

 the entrance to the hive is closed by put- 

 ing a wet cotton-cloth over it, tucking 

 the same closely about it so that no 

 bee can get out, should they become 

 disturbed from any reason so they were 

 inclined to do so. Bees that get out 

 of their hive at this stage of the pro- 

 ceedings are the worst to sting of any 

 time of the year, seemingly, because 

 they are suddenly awakened from their 

 long winter nap. 



Then there is another reason why 

 none should get out here at the cellar- 

 door, for such bees as do get out before 

 the hive is placed on the stand which 

 it is to occupy, are lost, as they mark 

 their location where they leave their 

 hive, and hang about the cellar-door 

 trying to sting me every time I come 

 after a hive, till they finally die from 

 cold, starvation or exhaustion. 



I now turn back one corner of the 

 cloth a little, just enough so that a few 

 puffs of smoke can be blown in, when 

 the hive is wheeled to where it is to 

 stand during the season, and a bottom- 

 board placed for it. If your hives have 

 bottom-boards nailed to them, of course 

 this clean bottom-board will not be 

 used ; but I prefer a loose bottom-board, 

 so that a clean one can be given every 

 colony when it is put out, believing this 

 far better than to allow the filth col- 

 lected during the winter to remain, or 

 the raking of this filth out with a bent 

 wire, as some recommend. 



Having the bottom-board in place, 

 proceed to pull the crate-staples, or 

 whatever kept the bottom-board at- 

 tached to the hive for carrying to and 

 from the cellar, thus having the hive 

 ready to be lifted to the new stand. 

 But before doing this, blow in a few 

 more puffs of smoke to send the bees 

 up among their combs so that they will 

 be slow in coming out for their first 

 spring flight, thus avoiding the "mix- 

 ing of bees" many have where no pre- 

 caution is taken. 



The hive is now placed on the clean 

 bottom-board and the entrance regu- 

 lated to suit the size of the colony, giv- 

 ing 4 inches in length to the strongest 

 colonies, and one inch to the weakest. 

 I next clean the bottom-board the 

 colony had during the winter and place 

 it "summer up" on the next stand for 

 the next colony to occupy, as soon as it 

 is brought from the cellar, which is the 

 next thing to do, doing the work in 

 the same manner we did with the first 

 one. And in this way the work is done 

 till all are out. 



But when shall thi-s putting out be 

 done? is a question often asked. Some 

 tell us to put bees out as early as a 

 good warm day presents itself after the 

 first of March. Others say wait till 

 warm weather comes, so as to hang on 

 for a little while, and till the bees can 

 profitably secure something from the 

 fields ; but I prefer to take a "happy 



medium" between the two, and so wait 

 till the colony or two, which I gen- 

 erally leave out during the winter as 

 "test colonies," begin to secure pollen 

 quite freely, which is usually done upon 

 the blossoming of the soft maple and 

 red or "slippery" elms. 



After years of experience, I find that 

 when the bees are put out earlier than 

 this, we have so many cold spells that 

 the bees dwindle, or in other words, 

 more bees die from cold, and through 

 going out in search of water or sweets 

 in unpropitious weather, than are re- 

 placed by emerging brood ; and if left 

 in too late, the colony becomes so weak 

 through too many bees becoming rest- 

 less from desire to get out, this caus- 

 ing, them to die from exhausted vital- 

 ity ; and thus there are not enough 

 energetic bees left in the colony, after 

 their first flight, to build up rapidly 

 in time for the harvest of honey from 

 white clover. But when put out on 

 the blossoming of the elm and soft ma- 

 ple, a colony of fair strength seems 

 able to cause S to lo young bees to 

 emerge during the ne.xt 30 to 40 days, 

 to take the place of each old bee there 

 was in the hive when it was put from 

 the cellar, and thus the colony becomes 

 prosperous to the highest degree just 

 in time to take advantage of the bloom- 

 ing of the white clover. 



Just try this plan of putting out, do- 

 ing it at the time suggested, and see 

 if you do not find it better than any- 

 thing you have done before, unless 

 you have practiced what is here given 

 in other years. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Invention of the Honey- 

 Extractor 



BY F. GREINER. 



There is perhaps many a bee-keeper 

 who makes use of the honey-extractor 

 although he may know little, if anything, 

 about the man who invented it. That 

 the name "Hruschka" may not be for- 

 gotten, and to show how a most in- 

 significant " happenstance " may some- 

 times be the beginning of revolutioniz- 

 ing a whole industry, I write the fol- 

 lowing lines : 



Major von Hruschka was an officer 

 in the Austrian army at Legano, Italy. 

 He was born in 1813 in the Austrian 

 province, Moravia; after the war with 

 Prussia, he left the army, lived for a 

 time in Dolo, and finally in Venice, 

 where he died at the age of 75 years, 

 in 1888. During his leisure hours the 

 Major devoted his time to the care of 

 the honey-bee. This afforded him great 

 pleasure. 



One day when at work with the bees, 

 he handed a plate of comb honey to his 

 boy to take to the house. The plate 

 was in a small, covered basket, and as 

 the boy started from the apiary the 

 bees were after him. To ward them 

 off he whirled the basket around his 

 head as he was running. When he 

 reached the house, it was found that a 

 large part of the honey was out of 

 the comb and on the plate. The un- 

 sealed portion from the underside had 



