lSS(i 



GLEAN IJ^JGS IK J3EE CULTUKE. 



051 



We spread apart tlie basswood strips until 



each pair form sa letter X. We 



next grasp one of the rings on 



one corner of the tent, and draw 



it over the screw-head sitnated at 



the base of the strip, as seen in 



adjoining cut. In like manner 



we adjust the other three rings. 



The tent is now set up, and each 



of the strips will be bent in tlie 



form of a bow. as seen in either of the large 



cuts. 



Having lighted our smoker, we grasp it 

 with the right hand — the nearest corner of 

 the bellowsbetween the thnmb and fingers. 

 We now lift up one end of the tent and step 

 inside. We grasp the two intersections of 

 the cross-piece, at the same time holding tlie 

 l)ellows of the smoker between tlie tliumb 

 and fingers. If you try a few times in dif- 

 ferent ways you will soon learn the knack of 

 holding one side of the tent and the smoker 

 at once, with ease. We can now cage oui"- 

 selves and the hive together; take all the 

 time we want to examine the hive, roltbers 

 or no robbers. The latter will bnzz around 

 the outside ; but if we continue to examine 

 the hive thus in rotation all day they will 

 give it up as a bad job. If, on" the o-ther 

 hand, the robbers have got started, they will 

 be likely to follow the cage about for two or 

 three days, even though they do not get in- 

 side. But if we are careful hot to give them 

 a ''sip'" of stolen sweets, they will finally 

 let us alone. 



Where there are no grapevine twigs to 

 stick out and hinder, the tent will cause 

 but little more trouble than the non-use of 

 it, and if we take into consideration the fact 

 that the use of the tent prevents the annoy- 

 ing presence of robbers, the time and trouble 

 saved will vastly more than compensate any 

 possible inconvenience it may occasion. 



Right here I will say. l)efore I forget it, if 

 you use the tent awhile until the robbers 

 have ceased buzzing about, then lay it aside 

 for an hour or so, you will get the robbers 

 started again, and then when you resume 

 the use of the tent you are right where you 

 started. If you wait too long before you re- 

 sort to the tent, the robbers may be out in 

 such strong force as to make even the tent 

 fail of its object ; for when the work with 

 the hive is finished, and the tent is lifted off, 

 the swarm of robbers will pounce into the 

 entrance in such force as to make a real 

 case of robbery ; and before the inmates of 

 the hive are aware of what is going on they 

 have an •' elephant on their hands." It is 

 true, you may contract the entrance, but 

 the bees will boil around every crack of the 

 liive like mad hornets. AVhen there are 

 many queen-rearing nuclei in the apiary it 

 doesn't pay to let things go so. It is and 

 has been a" standing rule in our apiary, that 

 as soon as the bees show a disposition to rob, 

 either quit work or use the tent— the latter 

 alternative being the one most frequently 

 adopted. 



THE TENT INV.VLUABLE KOlt TKANSFER- 

 RIXO. 



The A J) C of ]jee Culture says, that the 

 best time to transfer is during fruit-bloom. 

 Hut it often happens that we want to trans- 



fer at some other time of the year. In all 

 probability we shall need something to keep 

 away the robbers. In order to give you a 

 l.)etter idea of how to transfer by the use of 

 the tent, we have had our special artist give 

 you a picture of transferring in our apiary in 

 process. 







TRANSFERUING WITH THE TENT. 



The operator inside has the old hive from 

 which he is transferring, together with the 

 new hive and all necessary fixtures for hold- 

 ing tlie combs in the frames. Besides these 

 he has a saw. chisel, uncapping-knife, smo- 

 ker, bee-brush, a large shallow drip-pan to 

 catch drippings of lioney, and clean wired 

 frames. To make his work as easy as possi- 

 ble, he sits on a tool-box. In case he wants 

 a frame or tool which by oversight he does 

 not happen to have, an assistant, wlio may 

 be engaged elsewhere in the apiary, at a 

 call brings him whatever he desires. In the 

 engraving you observe the assistant is in the 

 act of passing an empty comb under the 

 mosquito-netting. 



You may think that transferring in this 

 tent is in pretty close quarters, but I have 

 transferred in this way a number of times 

 easily and successfully, and the tent proved 

 no real hindrance. However, I always re- 

 moved one of the sides of the box hive out- 

 side of the teut, and then arranged my work 

 in as small a compass as possible, to allow 

 the tent to cover all. 



THE TENT FOR GETTING liEES OT'T OF 

 SECTIONS. 



Dr. Miller, in his'' Year Among the Bees.'" 

 suggests the possibility of using the bee- 

 tent for this purpo.se, although at the time 

 he wrote I lielieve he said he had not tried 

 it. This fall, in my conversation with him. 

 lie stated he had used the tent the past sum- 

 mer for getting bees out of sections, and 

 that it worked admirably. Although we 

 have not tried this experiment exactly here 

 at the Home of the IIoney-Bees, yet from 

 my knowledge of the workings of the tent 

 in similar experiments I am sure it would 

 work. The niorhif; (ipfrfnuli then would be 



