GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feu. 



of the multitude o£ iijaportaiit matters com- 

 ing up constantly. It seemed as though one 

 wanted more sense than ordinarily falls to 

 the lot of man, and more brains than any one 

 man can carry, to consider them all at once. 

 However. I am very glad that queens do 

 come across the ocean, and the fact is enough 

 to make us thankful, without discussing 

 very much to whom the credit belongs. 



AIV imPROVEItlENT SIGCJESTED liV RE- 

 GARD TO THE REE-ENTRANCE 

 (.CARDS. 



A SIMPLE MATTEH, YET DOUTLESS AN IMPORTANT 

 ONE. , 



I BOUGHT of you last spring some entrance- 

 guards for excluding drones. They worked 

 well so far, but I have one objection against 

 them. When a bee laden with pollen crawls through 

 the openings, the sharp edges strip a part of the pol- 

 len from the legs. It happened that one guard 

 was cut directly at the lower edge of the opening, 

 and I observed that the bees crawled through the 

 lower opening without losing any pollen. I believe 

 if the guards could be cut differently it would be of 

 great ad%-antage. 1 wish to use this guard particu- 

 larly for the purpose of keeping the queen in swarm- 

 ing time, as I am not always present then. It works 

 well, if fastened to the entrance. But to make it fit 

 for all purpDses, it would be nice to have an opening 

 in the middle, which can be shut by means of a little 

 gate. By opening this gate over night, the bees 

 would be able to carry dead bees and drones out of 

 the hives. Also it would be of great advantage, as 

 one can control the pure mating of the queens, by 

 shutting the little gate of such hives as contain im- 

 pure drones. 



Not every bee-keeper can watch the swarms every 

 time and all day long; and by aid of this instrument 

 he can be sure that no swarm will go to the woods, 

 but will stay till one is ready to hive it. Besides, 

 there is another thing: It is not necessary to let 

 the swarm out and cluster In a tree 30 feet high. 



Harvard, 111., Jan. 31, 1884. Charles Faust. 



The improvement will be readily un- 

 derstood by the cut below. In making 

 these guards, our tinners have cut them up 

 without any special regard to where the 



to me it would be bettei- to rest on a sheet of 

 zinc, or some other hard substance, exactly 

 level. Friend B. also gives some very good 

 reasons for having an opening made in this 

 drone-guard, to be opened or closed at pleas- 

 ure. Indeed, the bees would find it incon- 

 venient to drag rubbish out of the hive at 

 night with this obstruction in the way, 

 while it might as well be removed at night as 

 not. Now, instead of the little gates he sug- 

 gests, I would have the drone-guard hinged 

 at one end, and held down lirmly by a button 

 at either end. It can then be easily raised 

 so as to give a free passage at all times and 

 seasons, when no guard over the entrance is 

 needed. I should dislike to have any thing 

 over the entrance of the hives permanently, 

 that hindered the bees from carrying out rub- 

 bish, or dislodged the pollen while going in. 



openings come. Now, in cutting the sheet, 

 if the part forming the lower edge is cut in 

 such a way as to leave the metal as at o, a, a, 

 we shall have it as our friend prefers it— that 

 is, the bees can enter with loads of pollen, 

 and walk right along on the bottom-board. 

 At the same time, a drone could not get out 

 any more tlian he could get through the 

 openings. While this would control drones 

 without any trouble, it seems to me the com- 

 paratively uneven surface of tlie board form- 

 ing the bottom of the hive or entrance would 

 hardly be accurate enough. If we expected 

 the arrangement to confine queeps, it seems 



MOVING REES TO CATCH BASSWOOD 

 BliOOm. 



A LOCALITY SUGGESTED, AND AN INVITATION EX- 

 TENDED. 



I^RIEND ROOT:-.TuvENiLE is at hand, and as 



W full of good things as an egg is of meat. I 



j — ' have just read R. Stehle's article on page 44' 



I with your remarks, and the plan is so feasible to 



me that I pen you a few thoughts. 

 j About 13 miles from here there is what is called 

 the "Bee's Nest." It is a tract of timber in the val- 

 ley, and on the banks of the Muskegon River, that, 

 from good authority, literally swarms with bee- 

 trees. I have been there, and the timber is thickly 

 [ interspersed with basswood, both in the valley and 

 on the northern bank — making, you see, a long flow 

 I of basswood honey. From the enormous amounts 

 that have been taken from trees, and the results of 

 ' some box hives that have been kept in the vicinity, 

 ! I know it to be a good place to get a good flow of 

 basswood honey; and as soon as I feel I am the least 

 overstocked here, I shall locate an apiary "in the 

 vicinity permanently. 



Now, if Messrs. Stehle and Knowles, or other per- 

 sons in the more southern latitudes, want to try the 

 experiment, thej' can follow the M. S. & L. S. R. R. 

 I to Allegan, then take the Chicago & Western Michi- 

 I gan to Muskegon, and then about 13 miles over a 

 j sandy and easy road to the place I mention. I have 

 i friends in the vicinity, and could arrange to have 

 teams meet the train the same day, and have them 

 ready for work in the morning. I never knew the 

 basswood to open here earlier than July 5, and last 

 year it was about the S5th; but still there was no 

 space between white clover and the basswocd 

 bloom; in fact, my bees worked on clover after bass- 

 wood had ceased. If there is any thing I can do, I 

 ' am at the service of the friends. 

 i Fremont, Mich., Jan., 1884. Geo. E. Hilton. 



j Many thanks to you for your kind infor- 

 mation, friend II. If the basswood timber is 

 I not all cut off for making homey-boxes, it 

 I seems to me I can look forward and almost 

 see the time when we shall have special lo- 

 calities dotted all over our nation-, where bee- 

 j keepers with their hives "do congregate," in 

 j time for the opening bloom. They would 

 be like the shepherds of olden time, dri.ving 

 their Hocks to grassy localities, and I hope 

 I nothing but peace and goo4 will may be 



