1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



469 



device which we have advertised for several 

 years back. Some have imagined that it 

 would be better to have Shepard's box pivot- 

 ed, so as always to retain a perpendicular ; 

 but for reasons given, it is not very material 

 whether the basket or the box is presented 

 to the bees with ils mouth upward or not. 

 On the whole, perhaps the basket as moinit- 

 ed on the pole in the foregoing engraving is 

 best for general purposes. 



Such an implement as the one above rep- 

 resented Avould hardly be of very great ad- 

 vantage in those apiaries where there is 

 only low-growing shrubbery, or, at most, 

 small fruit-trees in the vicinity. In such 

 apiaries we want something a little lighter 

 and a little easier to handle. The Shepard 

 swarming-box, Pierce's apparatus (see last 

 issue), the hiving apparatus illustrated by 

 our friend W. F. Clarke, pages (>51-2 for 

 1887, or one of the two following, may be 

 used to very good advantage. 



WIRE-C LOTH-CAGE SWARMEIi. 



A few weeks ago, while we were looking 

 .. over our collection of photographs 

 ^ and tin - types, illustrating the 

 ■ various devices, machines, etc., 

 pertaining to bee culture, we ran 

 across a little tin -type showing 

 the accompanying device. No 

 name was attached, so we are un- 

 able to give credit to the inventor. 

 As it contains an idea worth de- 

 veloping we here illustrate it. It 

 is simply a pole ten or twelve feet 

 long, having two wire-cloth cones 

 at one end, and hinged so as to be 

 operated at the opposite end of 

 tlie pole. The cut makes plain 

 the idea, though it is evident 

 that the little handle should be 

 inclined downward instead of up- 

 ward, in order to complete the in- 

 closure. The inventor hasdoubt- 

 'less had some trouble with 

 swarms nicely clustered suddenly 

 decamping. To forestall any 

 such mishap he designed this im- 

 plement. At various times we 

 have been successful in securing 

 a swarm. While we were bring- 

 ing it toward the hive where we 

 proposed locating it, the V)ees took 

 wing and left us holding nothing but 

 an empty limb or a hiving - box in our 

 hands. The accompanying implement is so 

 constructed that, when a majority of the 

 bees are caged, they can not get away, and 

 the minority will remain clustered, or fol- 

 low their captive brothers and sisters. 



THE CORN - POWER SWARMING - AITA- 

 RATUS. 



This idea suggested or rather resurrected 

 the corn-popper — an idea which we had in 

 mind years agj. By turning to our old cat- 

 alogue for April, 18812, we found a little note 

 imder Counter-Store Goods to the effect 

 that they are one of the best swarm-catchers 

 ever devised. The note is still running in 

 the price list, and we think we will let it 

 stay there. 



This morning the bees in the home apiary 

 got the swarming mania in earoest. Two 



y] 



had already come out and been hived, and 

 three more were in the air. Fortunately 

 they clustered separately. Two of them 

 were hived by the old way. The third was 

 secured by means of the large 2-5 cent corn- 

 popper which we took hastily from the 

 coiuiter stoie. The lid of the popper was 

 thrown back, and the popper itself was 

 crowded up gently against the lower end of 

 the cluster. The bees very soon rolled over 

 and over each other until the popper was 

 level full of them. The wire-cloth top was 

 thrown ovci', and snapped shut. We did 

 not know whether we, had secured the 

 queen or not. Itdiiliiot matter much, for 

 half or two-thirtis of the cluster was con- 

 fined in the popper, and the queen, if out- 

 side, together with the remaining bees, 

 would cluster around their captive com- 

 rades. We thrust the handle down into the 

 soft dirt near where the bees were Hying 

 quite thick, and the popper was thus "sup- 

 ported a couple of feet from the ground, 

 where the bees could get at them. We then 

 left them for an hour or so. When we re- 

 turned, all the outside bees were clustered 

 around the popper. They were now in such 

 shape that we could carry them where we 

 pleased, and hive them where we pleased, 

 which we did with entire success. But more 

 anon on this subject of the corn-popper. 

 The accomi)anying article, together with 

 the engraving, represents our friend A. E. 

 Manum's method of hiving swarms. 



MANUM'S MKTUOD Ol' HIVING feWARMS. 



Agreeably to proiiuse 1 herewith give you iny 

 method of catching swarms and hiving bees. The 

 accompanying cut which you have made Illustrates 

 the method of sotting the catcher for the bees to 

 alight upon. It also shows a few of the Chapman 

 honey-plants. 



[UMii!'JiMl«ll!filiM' .M ^i^ 



\ VERV PRACTICAL AND SIMPLE SWARMING-APPA- 

 HATUS. 



In the first place, my queens are all clipped. 

 Here let me say, that, for 17 years, I have clipped 



