768 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUBE. 



Nov. 



well ; but I do like some remedy that does 

 not require medicine. Will those having 

 foul brood give it a careful test, and reportV 



BLACK BEES THAT ARE TO BE BRIM- 

 STONED IN THE FALL. 



How to Make Good Italian Colonies of Them 

 at Small Expense. 



A SUGGESTION IN REGARD TO ROBBING. 



fRIEND ROOT:— When I want black bees I get 

 all 1 want from bo.\-hive men in the fall, by 

 drumming- out the bees that they would brim- 

 stone, for that is the way they get honey 

 around here. I got over ten swarms that 

 way this fall. I brought them home and killed their 

 queens, and put one or two in each nucleus where I 

 had a young Italian queen laying. That is what I 

 do after the honey season is over. I find out about 

 how many swarms of black bees are going to be 

 killed, and then I rear so many Italian queens in 

 nuclei, get them to laying, and when these neigh- 

 bors want their bees " taken up," as they call it, I 

 arm myself with a smoker, and a bo.\ for each 

 swarm I intend to take up, and hitch " Billy " to the 

 "democrat," and start; and you know how I get 

 bees out from box hives. I will tell you how I man- 

 age when the hive is full of comb and honey, and 

 there is a likelihood of mashing honey. I drum 

 them up in my bo.x; but when there is a little 

 bunch of comb and honey at one si Je of hive I just 

 shake the bees on the ground, and let them run into 

 my box. Well, after I get ev^ery thing snug t put 

 boxes in the wagon, and start for home. When 

 there I take my bee-tent and set it over one of my 

 nuclei, then I take one of my boxes containing bees, 

 and, after smoking the nucleus and getting the 

 bees well filled with honey, I open my box and 

 shake the bees in a pile a little way from the hive; 

 and as they run toward the hive I catch the queen 

 and kill her. After they have got settled, and will 

 defend themselves, I go to another nucleus and re- 

 peat the operation until I have them all in hives. 

 I have no trouble at all with i-obbers, for I do not 

 take the tent away until I am sure they will defend 

 themselves. It is fun to see the little black chaps 

 grab an Italian robber after they are only about 

 ten minutes in their new home. 



There is one thing right here that I do not under- 

 stand. This fall I had to supersede a black queen, 

 because they would not keep out the robbers; but 

 as soon as I got an Italian queen in the hive they 

 would not let a robber come near. Now, that was 

 as soon as I had got her laying, before any Italians 

 had hatched out. 



My secondary object in addressing was on that 

 subject in Gleanings for Oct. 1, headed, 



THROWING OUT ALL THE HONEV WITH THE 

 EXTRACTOR. 



Are there extractoi-s in use that will extract rt!l 

 the honey late in the fall ? Now, friend Root, I hold 

 that one extractor will extract as clean as another. 

 It is only in the motion, and you could, I was going 

 to say, extract comb and all from the frame, if you 

 could turn fast enough. My experience is the same 

 as yours; where I have turned fast enough so as to 

 force the combs half an inch through the wires of 

 the extractor, and then not get all the honey, my 

 way is to warm them sufficiently, and then what I 

 can not get out I let the bees have. That is all the 



feeding they have had this fall; and all the queens, 

 with two exceptions, are laying, yet I always have 

 the bees clean up my combs before I put them 

 away for winter, they are so much nicer. Get the 

 bees to clean them out well, and give them a good 

 taste of brimstone, and you will be surprised to see 

 how nice your combs will come out next spring. I 

 have over 603 put away on the above plan, and I 

 commenced beekeeping only in 18«3; from 3 col- 

 onies I have 64 now, all Italians and Holy-Lands. 



I shall close by telling Mr. James McNeill, of 

 Hudson, N. Y., that I have got everi' colony in my 

 apiary so that I would not be afraid to let them 

 clean some combs outside of their hives; but the 

 main thing is to be sure that every hive is willing 

 and able to defend itself; and I find that there is 

 nothing better than to give every hive a taste of 

 honey when j'ou commence to let them clean up 

 combs for winter; thus, give them a taste to-night; 

 to-morrow they would protect their hives from 

 any bee or anybody without smoke. Now, this is 

 the Italian, Cyprian, Holy-Land; and, I think, the 

 blacks would too; I have none to try— don't want 

 any either. D. W. Moore. 



Tintern, Ont., Can., Oct. 8, 18S4. 



Thank you, friend M.,for your excellent 

 suggestions in tliis matter of getting bees in 

 the fall. The idea of using a tent to avoid 

 roV)bing, until you get them well united, is a 

 good one.— In regard to the black bees de- 

 fending their stores as soon as the Italian 

 queen got to laying, I tliink the effect Avould 

 have been the same liad you by some means 

 induced the old queen to lay, and have brood 

 started. Any colony will' defend its stores 

 better when they have brood to care for 

 than when they have none; in fact, when a 

 colony is being robbed, the lirst thing I do 

 is to make sure they have brood in the larval 

 state. Jf they haven't, I give them some.— 

 In regard to the care of combs, I do not 

 think I should take the trouble to brimstone 

 them in the fall ; for as .soon as there is a 

 frost, it answers about as well as to brim- 

 stone, does it not? As for putting combs 

 out in the open air to be cleaned off by the 

 bees, I would advise you to try not more 

 than one at a time ; and, if I am not mis- 

 taken, you will decide in a very short time 

 that that one had better have the bees 

 shaken off from it and be put away. 



HOW TO SELL HONEY. 



AXIOMATIC POINTS IN HOME .MARKETING. 



«S the result of experience and careful obser- 

 vation, I have prepared the seven following 

 statements relative to the local marketing of 

 honey. " The proof of the pudding is in the 

 eating." Any who ai-e dubious as to the 

 efficacy of the system detailed, let them try the vir- 

 tues of the prescription and note the result. 



FIRST— GRADING. 



I Honey should be graded with reference to color 

 and quality, and priced accordingly. 



SECOND— BOTTLING. 



I Extracted honey for retailing should, as far as 

 i possible, be bottled in such a manner as to preclude 

 I leaking. Granulated honey sells best in tins, liquid 

 in bottles. All packages should be secured in such 

 ' a manner as to render it impossible for them to be 



