1000 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



our journal and price list; second, because 

 there has been hard feelings and troubles 

 in this very matter before; and wlien I 

 have publicly foi-gotton to follow my own 

 teachings, 1 wish, just as publicly, "to set 

 an cx.iuiple in the way of owning up and 

 making restitution. 1 v/ish, too. to "ren- 

 der unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's, 

 and unto God the things that are God's." 

 Attending the convention I have been tell- 

 ing you about has had very much to do 

 in coming to this decision, and I think 

 there is verj^ much less danger of doing 

 people injustice and wrong when we get 

 well acquainted with them than where we 

 do not know them, especially where they 

 are oft' at a great distance. If this is true, 

 let us get intimately acquainted. Let us 

 attend not only conventions, but farmers' 

 institutes, the State and county fairs, pub- 

 lic meetings, lectures, etc.; "and as the 

 present age offers facilities that the chil- 

 dren of men never enjoyed before, for a 

 free and full interchange of knowledge 

 and ideas, is it not possible that the glad 

 millennium is coming a great deal in this 

 way? May it not be true, that our facilities 

 for travel, and the abundance of books and 

 periodicals on almost every subject, are 

 working toward the time when God's king- 

 dom shall come, and his will be done on 

 earth as it is done in heaven? and may it 

 not be that the next step to be taken by us 

 as individuals, as states, and as nations, is, 

 in the language of our opening text, to 

 " render unto Cesar the things that are 

 Cesar's, and unto God the things that are 

 (Tod's?' V May God help us to make any 

 needed sacrilice to this end 1 



Qnn 0WN JiFinW- 



COXDl'CTED BV ERNEST R. ROOT. 



CONVENIENCES FOR THE APTAKY, CON- 

 TINUED. 



1^ UK readers-are well aware that we have 

 "lui '*' ^^^"^6 qneen-trade from year to year. 

 yj As we have found that from three to 

 ^*' four hundred colonies were inadequate 

 to supply the demand, we have been 

 compelled to order from the South, especial- 

 ly in early spring. At times tfie influx of 

 (lueens from this source exceeds the demand ; 

 and rather than let the queens lie idle— pos- 

 sibly die— we put them into the apiary, to 

 do service. As might be imagined, then, 

 our experience in 



INTRODUCING QUEENS 



Has l)een quite extensive. We can not. 

 therefore, employ any means to this end 

 which is not almost "absolutely sure. We 

 use exclusively the I'eet process, or an in- 

 troducing-cage based upon this principle of 

 automatically releasing the queen. If, 

 therefore. I tread a little over old ground, I 

 do so with the : intention of gathering up a 

 few details which have]never been fully de- 

 scribed or illustrated. I shall, then, show 

 exactly the manner of introducing with the 

 Peet cage, together with the position of the 

 operator. In no lietter way can 1 do this 



than by presenting you a picture of the mo- 

 dus operandi exactly as it occurred in pro- 

 cess in our own apiary. 



The cut, as you will observe, is a view up 

 one of the avenues of our apiary, with the 

 grapevines on either side, looking from the 

 southwest. In the foreground is posed your 

 humble servant, not in his Sunday gb-to- 

 meetin' clothes, but attired in his apiary 

 garb just as you would see him when at work 

 among the bees were you to visit our apiary. 

 That every thing might appear easy and 

 natural, our artist has taken the view as seen 

 on next page. Before passing on I will ask 

 my reader to note carefully the straw cuffs 

 about the wrists, and the cloth broad-brim 

 hat, as I shall, in next issue, have occasion 

 to write an article on '• dress for the apiary." 

 With this slight digression let us hasten on. 



We will presuppose that the queen, or 

 queens to be introduced, are at hand; that 

 we are rigged out crqj a pie, with our bee- 

 suit, the smoker lighted, and the hive open- 

 ed as above. We will then revolve the tin 

 points at right angles to the tin slide, not 

 forgetting to see that the latter will slip off 

 easily. If, frnm expansion of the wood, the 

 slide should stick, with the point of a knife 

 bend out the folds in the tin until it will slip 

 oft' easily. If we do not take this precau- 

 tion, after the cage has been fastened upon 

 the combs, in case the slide should stick, the 

 latter is liable to come out with a jerk, 

 which may release the queen, or anger the 

 bees. Having seen that every thing is all 

 right we remove one of the frames and stand 

 it leaning against the hive in sucli a way as 

 not to crush a single bee, as shown in the 

 engraving. With smoker in hand, and a 

 few spears of grass (long timothy preferred), 

 brush a clean place on the comb* clear of 

 bees, using the smoker just enough to assist. 

 This done, and tiie tin points revolved as 

 before described, we jtroceed to push them 

 through the combs in the manner shown. 

 Although I do not always strike the attitude 

 as shown, yet from convenience it is the one 

 I usually assume when fastening the cage to 

 the comb. While pushing the points in, it 

 is altogether likely that a bee or two will run 

 under when you would particularly desire 

 him not to. A little putt' of smoke will usu- 

 ally drive them out, then quickly push down. 



We will now carefully draw out the slide 

 by catching the folded "edge with the thumb- 

 nail or the point of a pen-knife. Last of all 

 we bend the points backward on the other 

 side of the comb to clinch up securely. If 

 we clinch the cage on the comb first, and 

 then draw the slide, in all likelihood the 

 operation will loosen the cage ; hence we al- 

 ways hrst draw the slide and then clinch the 

 tin points. 



This is a small matter, I know ; but it is 

 just some of these little details that are oft- 

 en the essential elements of success. The 

 comb, with the cage attached, we must care- 

 fully place in the hive, having previously 

 spaced out the combs to receive it. We now 

 space up the combs, but allow a little more 

 room for the frame to which is fastened the 



*I omitted to mention right here that the spot ot comb ^ c- 

 lected should be old and with an even surface. The patch 

 should also contain some cells of unsealed honey. 



