September, 1907 



American Hee Journal 



ters. Separately they would make very 

 slow work at building up in early 

 spring; but a surprising difference will 

 be seen i£ they are allowed to remain 

 together, thus furnishing mutual heat. 

 When either nucleus becomes crowded, 

 each one can have a full hive to itself. 



This plan may be varied by having 

 the partition to one side of the hive 

 instead of in the middle. The smaller 

 compartment may be large enough to 

 contain a 2-frame nucleus, and into the 

 larger compartment may be crowded a 



full colony. 



^ 



Why Do Bees Swarm? 



E. W. Diefendorf discusses this ques- 

 tion in the Bee-Keepers' Review, and 

 gives — not at all in a dogmatic, but in a 

 sort of tentative way — as a possible an- 

 swer, that the queen becomes tired or 

 exhausted. He gives some good argu- 

 ments .in favor of such view : A queen 

 reared at the opening of the swarm- 

 ing season is not likely to come off with 

 a swarm during that season ; a queen 

 can not become exhausted in a nu- 

 cleus, and he has never known such a 

 one to swarm ; in Dr. Miller's founda- 

 tion treatment the queen is allowed a 



rest, etc. 



♦^ 



Abuse of Smoke on Bees 



Smoke is a good thing, but it may 

 be used so as to do harm. To quiet 

 bees it is not necessary to deluge them 

 with smoke until they boil out all over 

 the liive. A little, at first, and a little 

 more afterward if they need it. but only 

 as they need it. 



But there is another way in which 

 smoke may become an abuse that some- 

 times is not thought of. It is when tak- 

 ing surplus honey from the bees. A 

 sufficient amount of smoke will entirely 

 rid of bees the sections or extracting 

 combs, but the amount required is gen- 

 erally so great that the Havor of the 

 honey will be badly injured. Some may 

 think that the smoke will be evaporated 

 in a little while. Such persons should 

 remember the enduring flavor of smoke 

 in smoked hams. The flavor of smoke 

 may be relished in hams, but it is very 

 bad in honey. 



Improvement in Introducing Queens 



If the queen of a colony be removed 

 and a strange queen, at the same open- 

 ing of the hive, be placed upon the 

 combs, one may confidently expect the 

 bees promptly to seize the intruder and 

 ball her till she is dead. Instead of 

 putting her loose on the combs, if she 

 be caged in the hive for 3 or 4 days, 

 and then set free upon the combs, she 

 may expect a kindly reception. That 

 kindly reception is made more sure if 

 she be allowed to walk out of the 

 cage quietly at a time when there has 

 been no disturbance by the opening of 

 the hive. To this end a passage filled 

 with bee - candy is provided, so that 

 the bees may quietly release the queen. 

 but they will do this generally inside of 

 24 hours, which is too short a time 

 for best results. The Abbott plan, leav- 

 ing the queen caged in the hive 48 hours, 

 then removing the old queen and at the 



same time giving the bees access to the 

 candy, works well. To avoid the trou- 

 ble of opening the hive a :econd lime, 

 use has been made of a piece of card- 

 board over the candy, which the bees 

 must gnaw away before getting at the 

 candy, thus prolonging the time of im- 

 prisonment. 



Dr. Miller reports a plan he is trying, 

 which he thinks may be an improvement. 

 Take a splint of wood 1-16 inch square 

 and a little longer than the tube of 

 candy, and thrust it through the center 

 of the candy. That's all ; the bees do 

 the rest, taking about 3 days to liberate 

 the queen. 



It will be well if others who try the 

 plan repeat what success or failure they 



meet. 



-*• 



Saltpeter for Lighting Smokers 



'Much time is lost one time and an- 

 other in blowing a smoker to get the 

 fire started. One of the best lighters 

 is a piece of cotton rag lightly saturated 

 with saltpeter. If heavily saturated, the 

 rag burns up too quickly, almost like an 

 explosion, and the fuel has not time to 

 be lighted. A pound of saltpeter to 2 

 gallons of water is a sufficiently strong 

 solution in which to soak the rags. Let 

 them be thoroughly wet through, wring 

 or drain them out. and then dry as you 

 would dry a washing. 



When you wish to light your smoker, 

 take a rag 5 or 6 inches square, roll it 

 up into something like a ball, touch a 

 match to it, throw it into the smoker, 

 quickly fill the smoker with fuel, and 

 then blow. No fear of putting it out; 

 if the smallest corner is lighted it will 

 not go out till the whole rag is burnt 

 up, and if your fuel is at all fit. it will 

 be surely lighted. 



A suppy of saltpeter rags prepared in 

 the spring — the preparation is a trifle — 

 will save many a 5 minutes throughout 

 the season, as well as some loss of tem- 

 per. 



■*■ 



Weber's Entrance Comptroller 



A sample of Weber's patent entrance 

 comptroller and protector for bees dur- 

 ing spring and winter flights has been 

 received. This is a very ingenious con- 

 trivance for use in outdoor wintering, 

 or for early spring use, after bees are 

 brought out of the cellar. Its object 

 is to keep the bees confined to the hive, 

 and at the same time allow the entrance 

 of fresh air. This is easily accomplished 

 by closing the entrance with wire-cloth ; 

 but thus confining the bees while the 

 light is allowed to shine in the entrance 

 is well known to be ruinous. Mr. Weber 

 has taken advantage of the fact that 

 light proceeds in straight lines, and will 

 not readily travel around a corner, and 

 has so arranged that an entrance 4 

 inches long and 5'^-inch deep may be 

 open all winter long for the admission 

 of air. but coarse wirecloth prevents 

 the passage of bees, and the course 

 the air travels prevents the admission 

 of light. 



A metal slide, centrally located, closes 

 the direct entrance. When thus closed, 

 the air passes-sidewise 3^ inches, turns 

 a corner and passes around a middle 

 partition, traveling sidewise again an- 



other y/2 inches to enter the hive. By 

 the time light travels this distaiKe in 

 such a devious way, its strength will 

 have been dissipated. At any time when 

 it is thought best to allow free exit, 

 the slide may be withdrawn, giving the 

 bees the full direct entrance. The slide 

 may be shoved sidewise, so as to make 

 the entrance any desired width from 

 that of allowing a single bee to pass at 

 a time up to the full 4 inches, allowing 

 at the same time the direct entrance of 

 the light. Or. if it be deemed advisable 

 to allow a limited entrance without the 

 admission of light, the metal slide may 

 close all but an inch at one side, while 

 an outside block covers all but an inch 

 at the other side; thus again taking ad- 

 vantage of the fact that light travels 

 in straight lines and objects to turning 

 corners. 



Just how much advantage there may 

 be in the use of such a contrivance 

 can only be told after trial, but it cer- 

 tainly seems well designed for the pur- 

 pose it is to serve. 



^ 



Bee-Disease in the Isle of Wight 



That Isle-of-Wight disease, according 

 to information in the Irish Bee Journal, 

 is a more serious matter than might 

 have been supposed. Of the bees on the 

 island, 85 or 90 percent are dead and 

 others dying, and H. W. Cooper, local 

 secretary of the Association says : 



"Those of us on the spot who knoiv 

 something of the havoc by this scourge, 

 have not as yet discovered anything 

 wrong with the brood." 



Which makes it much to be feared 

 that a new bee-disease is to be added 

 to the list, and as such diseases are not 

 always careful to confine their attentions 

 to a small island, we in this country can 

 not fail to be interested in keeping on 

 the watch as to the outcome. 



Unite Colonies in Good Season 



At this time of year there are likely 

 to be a good many colonies so weak 

 that if left as they are they will stand 

 small chance to live through the winter. 

 The beginner, anxious to increase the 

 number of his colonies, keeps hoping 

 that they will build up strong enough, 

 and finally he is likely to enter the win- 

 ter with a lot of weaklings on hand, 

 and a lot of empty hives next spring. 

 No time should be lost in uniting such 

 colonies until no weakling is left. The 

 time will be none too long for the 

 united colonies to get settled down into 

 comfortable shape for winter. Besides, 

 bees will unite more kindly now than 



later. 



♦^ 



Bees Balling Tlieir Own Queen 



It seems a strange thing, but it is 

 true, that sometimes a colony will ball 

 its own queen. Perhaps the excite'ment 

 of opening the hive is the cause, and 

 if the excitement is kept up by the bee 

 keeper trying to free the queen, her 

 death may result. If the hive is quickly 

 closed when a queen is found balled, the 

 bees will of themselves generally re- 

 lease her without any harm. So don't 

 try to release the queen from the ball, 

 but close the hive, and don't open it 

 again that day. 



