380 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



June 



the bees themselves. The way they crawl 

 out of the hive, looks as if they had been 

 smothered. I presume you are "sure that is 

 not the trouble. Is it not possible some 

 truant swarm forced their way in there, and 

 that in stinging them to death they clogged 

 the entrance and thus induced suffocation ? 

 I have known such things to happen.— I 

 should infer that honey sold pretty well in 

 your locality, if you get 2-5 cts. per lb. for all 

 you can furnish. It is a fact, that one inju- 

 dicious bee-keeper may do much to prejudice 

 people. 



USING OLD COMBS FOR NEW SWARMS. 



I had very bad luck a year ago last winter ; I lost .5.5 

 swarms; last winter I lost 35 swarms; have 10 left; 

 they had the cholera. Will it do to give young 

 swarms those combs? About one-halt of them are 

 half full of honey, capped over. I have about 400 

 combs. Could T not sell them? Two-thirds of them 

 are clean nice brood combs. I have more than I can 

 use. I am going- to build up again. I shall not give 

 up yet. You remember you were at my place once. 

 I often think of you. Now, as soon as I can get a 

 dollar to spare, I am going to send for Gleanings. 

 I lost a good many swarms this spring by spring 

 dwindling. Bees did well last summer here. One 

 man, Mr. Rbop, at Carson City, Mich., sold 15,000 lbs. 

 He had 300 swai-ms. L. Reed. 



Orono, Osceola Co., Mich., May 13, 1884. 



By all means, use your old combs, friend 

 II. ; and even if the bees did die from them, 

 it will not often make a bit of difference. 

 Several experiments have been tried, and 

 though l)pes (liedonaset of conilis one winter, 

 they wintered all right the next, even though 

 they had the same stores. I would, however, 

 endeavor to get the old honey all used up in 

 brood-rearing if I could. When I visited 

 you in your pretty home in tlie woods I 

 thought you were one of the successful bee- 

 men. We are very glad indeed to get so 

 good a report from our old friend Roop. 

 Hiram, why don't you tell us about it when 

 you ai'e prospering y 



HOW TO PREVENT INCREASE. 



This question is asked in March Gleanings by A. 

 Landley, page 168. I can give my plan, which proba- 

 bly would have to bo varied in his locality. The 

 principal part of our swarming is in July and Aug- 

 ust; surplus honey is stored in August and Septem- 

 ber. I give all the room and ventilation I can, 

 shade as best I can, and all swarms that 

 come out before they begin to store surplus hon- 

 ey, I hive on the old stand, moving the old 

 colony to a new stand. This plan prevents after- 

 swarms, inasmuch as the worker-bees go to the 

 swarm. After surplus begins to come in, I hive the 

 same way, except I just lift the old colony back 3 

 or 3 feet, and hive the swarm on foundation or 

 starters. In about two days after hiving I lift out 

 all the combs from the old colony, shaking the bees 

 in front of the swarm; put on the sections, and they 

 will be filled quicker than if the swarm had not 

 issued. Now you have a set of combs to use; if you 

 have any weak colonies you can strengthen them, 

 or flU up your nucleus hives. If you have none of 

 that to do, set the hive, comb, and all, on another 

 colony, and extract from them. 



One drawback in selling bees is, we don't want to 

 sell at home on our own range; and to advertise, it 



will take about as long to get a trade started as it 

 does to create a home market for honey, for the 

 reason that those who want to buy will almost in- 

 variably go to the old veterans. I tried it once in 

 selling dollar queens. I sold 5 from advertising, and 

 fiO or 70 to my personal acquaintances. 



R. Robinson. 

 Laclede, Fayette Co.. 111., March 30, 1884. 



WHAT SHALI> FRIEND L. DO WITH SWARMS THAT 

 SWARM AGAIN? 



Please tell in Gleanings what I must do with my 

 bees. Two swarms caught this year, one on the 19th 

 of March, and the other on the 29th, are sending out 

 swarms. I have at present 33 colonies, and do not 

 wish to increase. The queens of the two hives had 

 their wings clipped, and the bees had to come back. 

 I gave them another story, and thought that all 

 would be right; but one swarm came out again to- 

 day. It clustered on a ti-ee near by, and came back 

 after a while. The other is quiet yet. They have 

 plenty of room, and the honey is getting scarce, as 

 I notice they are turning out drones. The swarms 

 came out at least 8 or 10 days ago. 



I have some bees in small hives (called the Dixie) 

 that I bought this winter. I had intended transfer- 

 ring them in the Simplicity after they had finished 

 swarming; but when that time came the high water 

 was on us, and the hives were raised on a scaffold, 

 and put rather close together for want of room. 

 Since then the bees have filled their hives, and I 

 can not extract on account of robbers, that are very 

 bad, and I can not put on another story, as I have 

 no hives nor frames to fit over those. I take Glean- 

 ings, and have derived much good from it. M. L. 



Bayou Heron, La., May 15, 1884. 



Friend L.. that is one of the problems, to 

 get honey instead of bees ; and when the 

 bees take a notion, wliether or no, it is one 

 of the problems that has puzzled our oldest 

 veterans. It seems to me that you did not 

 extract the honey when the frames were 

 full, aiul this lias 'resulted in giving them 

 the swarming fever. However, if tliey are 

 killing drones your swarming is about at an 

 end imtil you llave another honey-flow. The 

 fact that iobbers annoy >ou, also indicates 

 that the honey has. for the time, ceased. 

 Now, when it comes in again, just keep the 

 honey promptly extracted from the u])per 

 stories, and I think you will not have very 

 much swarming. If you are going to control 

 swarming, you must not only liave upper 

 stories and frames, but pleiity of empty 

 combs as well. 



FRIEND pond's REVERSIBLE FRAME. 



I have just read with interest the Hetherington 

 plan of reversible frames. It is a matter I am much 

 interested in, and I have tried all the methods I have 

 heard of. This method, it seems to me, has two big 

 difliculties. The frames ai'e fixed; that is, they 

 have too little lateral movement; and then, again, 

 our hive must be altered over, and we can't use the 

 hanging frame and the new frame in same hive. I 

 tried the plan of Mr. Howes, of tin corners or ends. 

 That is too much trouble to change, when bars are 

 covered with propolis. I am, however, using a 

 frame that is simple, easy to operate, and can be 

 used in any hive, and in connection with a hanging- 

 frame. I make it thus xj; one projection hangs on a 

 regular rabbet, the other sits on a strip of folded tin 

 set at the right distance from bottom. This idea, I 



