650 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



ANOTHER WAY FORl'KEEPINQ THE 

 QUEEN OUT OF THE SURPLUS. 



ONK MKTIKJD OF PREVENTING AFTER-SWARMS. 



'E have always had Pomc difficulty from our 

 (luoens going into tlio enrplusapartment 

 and occupying a part of the combs. If wo 

 aro working for section honey it is not 

 only provol<ing, but ruinous to the honey- 

 crop, to have the queen lay eggs in the sections, 

 where we want nice white-clover honey; and it is 

 equally provoking, if less ruinous, when work- 

 ing for extracted honey, to And combs that 

 should be solid with honey,'half filled with brood. 

 Out of many methods tried, the following is the 

 only ])orl'cclly successful one with us: 



We taUe a piece of perforated zinc, just long 

 enough to fit in the hive lengthwise and 18 inches 

 wid(\ We l)end this zinc in the shape of an L. 

 thus "I, the long arm of the Ljust reaching from 

 the top of the brood-frames to the bottom of the 

 hive. This is now put between the ith and 5th 

 frame, leaving four frames on one side and six on 

 the other, when the short arm of the L will just 

 cover the six frames (of course before putting on 

 the zinc we see that the queen is on one of the six 

 inclosed frames). Now, if the zinc has been care- 

 fully fitted, jthe queen is securely cagod upon these 

 six frames. ]t the queen is inclined to come out at 

 the entrance, and go around, a strip of perforated 

 zinc may be tacked at the entrance, in front of the 

 six inclosed frames. We have not found the latter 

 necessary, only where we wished to prevent swarm- 

 ing; if natural swarming is desired, the zinc in 

 front of the inclosed frames must be removed or 

 the queen could not leave the hive. 



The benefits obtained by thus caging the queen 

 upon six frames are, 1. We [are not troubled with 

 brood where we want surplus honey; 2. We are not 

 troubled with honey where wo want brood; the 

 ■bees empty almost every cell from the inclosed 

 frames, and they are^ filled with brood from top to 

 bottom; 3. The fourjframes upon the other side of 

 the zinc division are filled solid with honey, and 

 make grand combs for winter; 4. The swarming 

 business is absolutely under our control. 



When a swarm issues we lift off the surplus, set 

 aside the brood-chamber (lower story),;put another 

 in its place filled with empty combs, if we have 

 them; if not, with^Jwired frames having a strip of 

 foundation VA inches wide attached to the top-bar. 

 We usually take out one frame frdm the old bi-ood- 

 chamber and put in the new. The surplus is put on 

 this new brood-chamber upon the old stand, and the 

 swarm hived in just the same location it came from, 

 while the old brood chamber is removed to a new 

 location. 



The benefits derived from this method are, so far 

 as my observation goes, 1. The new swarm goes to 

 work in the surplus at once, with all the energy and 

 stimulus which swarming gives; 3. They are in the 

 humor for comb-building; and if we want nice 

 straight worker-comb built, we can get it done rap- 

 idly in this way; 3. A large number of the old bees 

 from the old brood-chamber (now on a new stand) 

 will return to the new swarm. The colony in the 

 old brood-chamber on the new stand will be so 

 weakeni'd that, when tbe^young queeng hatch, there 

 will be no swarming fever, and we have no after- 

 swarms. G. C Johnson. 

 Fountain City, Iiid., Ju}y 7, im. 



TENNESSEE AS A HONEY STATE. 

 THu sci;nei{v from lookout mountain. 



0UK winters are so mild that we can winter with 

 I)crl'eot safety on the summc'r stands. This 

 I consider a great advantage over the North- 

 ern States; and could bees be wintered there 

 with as much assurance that they would come 

 through all right as there is here, I do not think 

 that the wintering problem would be discussed as 

 much as it is; still 1 believe it requires one-third 

 miirc stores for a colony to winter on in this coun- 

 try than it does in our extfcinc Northern States. 

 The reason of this is, that they r;>ar more brood 

 here before there is any honey to be gathered than 

 they do in thi^ North. It is not uncommon for iiees 

 to ha\c four full frames of bcood by the first of 

 March, and for then to throw off swarms the fore 

 part of April. 



We do not have any spring dwindling here. Our 

 colonies seetn to be always strong, and ready for 

 work when there is any thing for them to do. 



The first honey that comes in in the spring is from 

 the peach bloom. This is generally from the Ijth to 

 the 3.5th of March. After this comes other fruit 

 bloom, and some other wild flowers and forest 

 blooms. This keeps the bees in fine shape until the 

 first of May; then comes the poplar bloom, and at 

 this time the bees are in the surplus-boxes doing 

 fine M'ork, as there are large quantities of poplar 

 hero. About May 10th the white clover commences 

 to bloom, and continues to bloom for six weeks. 

 We ha\'e not as much white clover here as you have 

 in the North, but in certain localities there is an 

 abundance (;f it here. Before this is out of bloom, 

 the basswood, chestnut, and persimmon I loom; and 

 Vfhilc they are still yielding honej', the famous sour- 

 wood puts forth its bloom. This produces well, and 

 the sourwood honey is very flue, except that it is 

 rather thin when first gathered. The sourwood 

 bloom lasts until about July 10th, and from then un- 

 til July 21st there is not much for tees to work on. 

 Now comes in the sumac, and the bees are doing 

 finely on it, considering the cool nights we are hav- 

 ing. During the whole month of August we have 

 plenty of pea bloom (the cow, or clay pea). There 

 are large fields of peas sown in this section of coun- 

 try. We have considerable goldenrod and fall as- 

 ter. There are a great many honey-plants that I 

 have not spoken of, and some of them are of no lit- 

 tle importance. Among them are the different kinds 

 of mints; also spider phint atid black locust. We 

 have our bees located in a little valley, the Se- 

 quatchie. This is between two mountains — the 

 Cumberland and Walden llidge. Our bees have ac- 

 cess to the valley, and the sides and the top of the 

 mountains for some distance back. 



As Ernest asked, in last Gl.eanings, in regard to 

 the honey-flow being prolonged where bees had ac- 

 cess to both the valley and the mountain, 1 will say 

 it is greatly an advantage with some bloom, such 

 as chestnut, sourwood, and poplar; and if there is 

 no bad weather to stop the bees off they will follow 

 it, even for several miles on the top of the moun- 

 tain; but I believe he was referring more particu- 

 larly to white clover. I would gay that there is but 

 little if any white clover on the mountains in this 

 country. Friend Lawson is located right at the 

 point of Lookout Mountain, and right where the 

 " Battle above the Clouds " was fought. The breast- 

 works that were thrown up at that t'lnc can be 



