3oL 



GLEANINGS IN I3EE CULTURE. 



May 



Their father said he would hive this swarm, to 

 show them how to do it. He took a large cloth, and 

 spread it on the ground beneath the tree. At one 

 edge of it he placed the hive, the portico resting 

 upon the cloth. He said the}' could be hived with- 

 out the cloth, but he considered it a help. As the 

 bees marched along over it to the hive they would 

 not be hindered by the grass or weeds; and also by 

 raising the edges, the bees could be shaken toward 

 the hive if they marched too slowly. He then 

 opened the hive to see that all was right inside, and 

 that the boards above the frames were so fixed that 

 no bees could enter the cap. He then asked for 

 the dish-pan, which Jane brought. This he held be- 

 neath the cluster, while Jane and Tommy shook 

 the limb vigorously, causing all the bees to drop in- 

 to the pan. These he emptied on the cloth before 

 the entrance of the new hive, and, breaking a twig 

 from a tree, guided them as they marched in. The 

 children came up close, and eagerly watched the 

 proceedings. Fortunately their father caught sight 

 of the queen as they marched in, and pointed her 

 out to the children, who obtained a good view of 

 her. Jane asked if she might take her up in her 

 hands, and look at her more closely. Her father 

 said, " No. A queen at this season is very precious, 

 and, being full of eggs, is easily injured; and as 

 you do not undei-stand how to handle her without 

 hurting- her you had better let her alone." 



By this time quite a bunch of bees had collected 

 on the branch where the swarm had clustered. Mr. 

 Meek had Jane hold the pan while Tommy shook 

 down the bees, which she then emptied before the 

 hive, as her father had done with the other panful. 

 When these had entered, the hive was removed to 

 the place where it was to stand. Mr. Meek elevated 

 the back end of the hive, making it condsiderably 

 higher than the front. When the children asked 

 why he did so, he replied that M. Quinby's book 

 tells us that if our young swarms are so placed, the 

 bees will be more likely to build straight combs in 

 the frames than if placed level; "and," said he, 

 "we want straight combs." 



Strange to say, that amidst all this excitement 

 and flying of bees, not one person was stung, yet 

 none wore any protection. Mr. Meek said the 

 children ought to have some kind of protection for 

 their faces, and explained to Jane how she could 

 make one out of any old hat, by sewing a curtain to 

 Its rim with a piece of wire net in front, through 

 which to see. To keep the bees from crawling un- 

 der the curtain, it could either belied around the 

 neck or else have a jacket buttoned over it. She 

 said she would make such a bee hat for both her- 

 self and Tommy that afternoon. 



To he continued June 1. 



THE SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOK. 



FRIEND GREEN MAKES A CORRECTION. 



fOUR cut Of the solar wax-extractor is entitled, 

 "Solar wax-extractor as devised by friend 

 Green." 1 object. If you will examine the 

 one I sent you, you will see that the cake of 

 wax can be easily taken out of the wax-pan, 

 as all of the sides are sloping, and there are no pro- 

 jections. With a square pan having projections in- 

 side, such as you illustrate, the cake of wax would 

 have to be broken to get it out. Moreover, a part 

 of the comb to be ujeltec} ^yil! bp shaded by tlje 



straight sides of the pan, which will prevent satis- 

 factory work. Of course, this could be prevented 

 by keeping the comb away from the outer edges of 

 the tray. I am inclined to think that the difference 

 in results between the extractor I sent you and 

 yours with only one thickness of glass was due to 

 the unusual thickness of the glass I used, it being 

 twice the ordinary thickness. J. A. Green. 



Dayton, III., April 8, 1886. 



Thank you, friend Green, for calling our 

 attention "to this matter. By some means 

 or other the drippinjj-pan was made with 

 perpendicular sides. We have notified the 

 foreman of the tin-room, and the dripping- 

 pan will hereafter be made with sloping 

 sides. 



LOCATION OF AN APIARY. 



FRIEND FRANCE CONSIDERS THE VERY GREAT IM- 

 PORTANCE OF THE MATTER, BACKED 

 BY LARGE EXPERIENCE. 



"Hp S I have had a great many questions sent me, I 

 gf,^ will try to answer them. In the location of an 

 I^K' apiary, I am satisfied that a great deal of our 

 "*"*■ success or ill success comes. I have had a good 

 deal of experience in that line. I can count 

 up ten locations in our neighborhood where we 

 have kept bees within the last 1.5 years, which 

 we have abandoned, and we are now using six lo- 

 cations. Why did we move? We got one location 

 too near a public i-oad; travelers and horses got 

 stung; that won't do. The want of a good wind- 

 break in other locations has caused us to move, and 

 we are again to move one yard this spring, for the 

 reason that the timber is nearly all cut away, which 

 formerly has been our windbreak. The place is on 

 a dividing ridge, and will not do without a good 

 windbreak. My home apiary is on high ground, 

 when I came on the place there was plenty of good 

 timber all around me; but it is all cut off, and we 

 have put up a tight board fence eight feet high on 

 the east, north, and west sides. This does very well, 

 but it is not so good as high timber. 



We have one apiary 4'/4 miles N. E. of us that just 

 suits me. The location is in a valley, between two 

 ridges about one-fourth of a mile from the top of 

 one ridge to the top of the other. On the north 

 ridge, and nearly down to the valley, is thick tim 

 ber— timber on the west, timber on the noi'theast, 

 open to the south and southeast. The bees are 

 placed close up to the timber on the north and 

 west; for pasture they have an abundance of white 

 clover all around them, with basswood two miles 

 away. 



In the year 1884, that yard, 41 colonies, spring 

 count, and 73 fall count, gave us IIWJ lbs. surplus 

 on an average. In the spring of 1885 we had 70 good 

 strong colonies in that yard, having lost only 3 out 

 of the 73, one of which was quecnless, and died ear- 

 ly in the winter. The other was the last colony we 

 made, which failed to mature their first queen, 

 and had to raise another; so they went into the 

 winter weak— about one quart of old bees. They 

 lived until spring, and then dwindled away. 



Another yard of 74 colonies, fall count, went down 

 to 54— a loss of 30 colonies. Location had a great 

 deal to do in making the difference in wintering 

 those two yards. The last-named yard was in a val- 

 ley very niueh like the other, as far as the make-up 

 o{' t))e groyne] goes; but the apiary was on the 



