542 



GLExVNINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



July 



of the kind. But pretty sooa, out came the bees; 

 but not making- ary attempt to aliffht, they rose 

 right up from the hive and bog-an to work away. 

 She, seeing- they were g-cing, concluded something- 

 must be done to stop them, so she ran into the 

 house and grabbed a shot-gun loaded with a heavy 

 cartridge of shot, and out and after them. I5y this 

 time they had got off quite a piece, and were rising 

 rapidly in the air, in a funnel-shaped cloud, and 

 were getting nearly out of sight, evidently fl.xing 

 for a long flight, when she raised her gun, braced 

 herself, and, pointing the muzzle straight at them, 

 blazed away. She says a shot l)ird would not have 

 dropped to the ground any quicker than those bees 

 did, where they clustered on a little bush, and she 

 hived them at her leisure. Well, that shot took the 

 romance all out of them, for they went right lo 

 work like good bees. This morning I brought that 

 swarm to my apiary. A. A. Fradenburg. 



Port Washington, Ohio, June 17, 1886. 



It may be, friend F., that the failure of 

 figwort, after standing two or three years, is 

 owing to some such worm as you describe, 

 that feeds on the roots, although we never 

 discovered any thing of the kind when we 

 plowed up our old plantations.— Bringing 

 down a swarm with a charge of shot is a 

 rather new idea, but not so very improbable 

 after all. We have had many reports indi- 

 cating that throwing dirt, sticks, or stones, 

 through a swarm just as they are getting 

 ready to move off demoralizes them so as to 

 cause them to cluster. Perhaps the shot did 

 the same thing in the case you mention. 

 Where it can be done conveniently, we wish 

 some of our bee-keeping friends who have 

 shot-guns handy wotild give it a test. Firing 

 guns so as to disturb the bees by the sound 

 has often been recommended ; and may be 

 that sending a charge of shot right through 

 the cluster has before been recommended, 

 but I do not now remember of any such case. 



GETTING BEES OUT OF SECTIONS." 



FRIEND HEDDON S METHOD. 



T HAVE quoted the above heading from brother 

 (^ Miller's article on page 475. I think 1 am safe 

 ^l in saying that AVe all thank friend M. for shed- 

 ■^ ding more light upon this pi-actical subject; 

 but, after reading his article, I felt as though I 

 could add a little more brilliancy to the torch before 

 I passed it along. 



First, let me say, that, years ago, 1 tried the doc- 

 tor's plan of opening several hives at a time, in 

 order to facilitate matters when driving the bees 

 down with smoke. When they were at all inclined 

 to rob we blew the smoke through a wire-cloth 

 frame laid over the top of each of the supers, 

 opened. We didn't like the plan, and abandoned it. 

 The one which I will now describe, and which is 

 more briefly described on pages 80 and 81 in my 

 book, suits me the best of any method I have ever 

 tried or heard of. 



You know wo use a one-story case holding V4, sec- 

 tions, open top and bottom, all cases being inter- 

 changeable, and used on the tiering-up jjlan, as 

 described on page 80 of the book above referred 

 ' to. By the above system the most flnishi-d cases 

 are always on top; and when we find one ready to 



come oflf, we remove the cover, and quickly and 

 sharply puff smoke into all the ranges between the 

 combs. With our mouth wo now energotieally blow 

 between all the ranges, and we do both as quickly as 

 we can write these words. No bee is hardly allowed 

 time to commence to fill his sack. More than four- 

 fifths of the bees immediately descend out of the 

 case. We now quickly lift it, cover the hive, and, 

 holding It over the allgliting-board, shake it with a 

 jerking, tremulous motion— a motion that, above all 

 others, will dislwlge Ihe foot-hold of bees— and [ 

 think 1 am safe in saying that not over 50 or lUO bees 

 remain. Wo now "carry the case to our screen- 

 house, which is descfibed in our book on pages 56 

 and (55. Here the cases are stood on end, standing 

 on each other when lack of room requires; and as 

 the light jiasses readily thi-ough these shallow rang- 

 es from either side, the bees leave the cases in a 

 few moments, when the screen-house doors are' 

 opened and all the bees arc ejected into the open 

 air in an instant. All this is done with such dis- 

 patch that the robbers can not get the first taste, 

 even during times of honey-dearth, when most per- 

 sistent. 



We have found the above method as speedy and 

 practical in the apiary as it looks on paper. It has 

 given us great satisfaction, and we can't imagine 

 how the method can be excelled. Of course, it 

 would not work well with two-story supers, or 

 closed-top sections; but we do not lament this fact, 

 because there are so many other reasons why wo 

 could not be induced to use either. 



Relative to this subject, I wish to mention a prin- 

 ciple among bees, not mentioned among others, 

 and, I believe, not usually recognized. Ancient 

 authorities have told us that smoke, or any thing- 

 else that frightens bees, saves us from being stung, 

 because, when frightened, they fill themselves with 

 honey, and, when so filled, neither desire to nor can 

 they sting. Now, I have found that the /riy/it they 

 receive is what prevents their stinging. I mean 

 "fright" direct, no matter whether they fill them- 

 selves or not. With smoke, I have perfectly sub- 

 dued very angry swarms while clustered upon a 

 branch or fence-rail. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., June 18, 1886. 



Friend 11., your suggestions indicate be- 

 yond question that you have had experience 

 in the matter; .and since you mention it, I 

 remember that we used exactly the same 

 plan to get the bees out of the sections years 

 ago. The tremulous motion looses the bees' 

 foot-hold, and then a quick shake will tum- 

 ble them out pretty rapidly.— I am glad you 

 have decided to use none but open-top sec- 

 tions, for almost every season we have more 

 or less complaints from parties who wanted 

 closed-top sections, only they forgot to say 

 so. Some go so far as to say they would not 

 take open-top sections as a gift, and ship 

 them back before wailing for orders. In 

 vain have we told them tliat the openings 

 could be closed by means of strips t)f wood 

 or enameled sheet! They had their own no- 

 tions of things, and wotild not be pacified. 

 Of course, we are always glad to make clos- 

 ed-top sections where people want them ; 

 but where nothing is said about the open- 

 ings, we always send the regular goods. — 

 You may be right, friend II., in saying that 

 bees may he fyiyhtcncd into subjection, with- 

 out tilling themselves with honey at all ; but^ 



