1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



767 



PROF. COOK AND THE GOLDEN HIVE. 



Dear Mr. Root:— Please say that I never used the 

 Golden bee-hive, and never advised any one else to 

 use it. I did one year get an excecding-ly large 

 amount of money from a single colony of bees; but 

 I have ahviiys been sorry that 1 told of it. It was 

 entirely e.xeeptional; and to bruit it abroad is mis- 

 leading and mischievous, so will my friends please 

 never speak of it? 



As to the currants which Mrs. Lawrence reports 

 as turning from red to while, I can only suggest 

 that, barring a chance for mistaken obf ervation, it 

 is one of those sports that nature is ever surprising 

 us with. This is a very decided variation, and such 

 a bush would be regarded as a piize by our horti- 

 culturists. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College. Mich. 



AN ITEM WE SHOULD LIKE TO SEE COPIED. 



The t'ollowiiig first came to our notice in 

 the American Bee Journal, and they copied it 

 from the Western Christian Advocate. It the 

 papers will take it up and give it such a run 

 as they did the stories about bogus honey, 

 some good may be accomplished. It ought 

 not only to be published in every paper in 

 the land ; but if it were tacked up on the 

 guide-posts, wherever two roads meet, it 

 would be a blessing to the coming generation. 

 I would, liowever, omit the opening para- 

 graph. 



What is the chief end of bees?— To get out patent 

 hives. 



What is the best patent hive?— The best hive is 

 not patented. 



But don't some of these patent hives fool the 

 moth?— No; they fool the men who buy them. 



What patent hive is the most useful?— The new 

 one in the barn, with a hen's nest in. 



IJut is there not more money in patent hives than 

 in bees?— Yes; but that time is almost over. 



But how arc we to know a poor hive?— It has a 

 great many doors, drawei-s, hinges, cracks, crevices, 

 nooks, and corners which look lilie conveniences, 

 but which the bees stick fast. 



Who are the groat bee-savants of this country?— 

 The men who don't use patent hives. 



Are bees profitable?— Not to those who buy patent 

 hives. 



It was only day before yesterday that a 

 young man was walking over our grounds, 

 looking at the strawberries, etc. He is the 

 son of an old bee-keeper who sometimes 

 writes for Gleanings. He has been con- 

 sidered a well-to-do young farmer, but he 

 told me the story of how he lost his farm- 

 lost his horses ; in fact, lost every thing that 

 a set of patent-right sharpers could get hold 

 of. It did not go for a patent hive, but it 

 went for a patent-right fence. 



T SUPER ADAPTED TO DOOLITTLE'S PLAN. 



For years I have watched closely the different 

 methods of manipulating bees and hives, as given 

 by different writers in Gleanincss, and particularly 

 Mr. G. M. Doolittle. Mr. D.'s accuracy of observa- 

 tion and thorough practicalness of methods I have 

 repeatedly proved by going over the same ground 

 myself. In fact, the first time I ever caught him 

 "off his base" was in Glpaninos of Aug. 1.5, page 

 634. He says: " In this way I accommodate the size 

 of the colony with the needed room, neither giving 

 too much nor too little, as must of necessity occur 

 where the T super and others of a set capacity are 

 used." Allow me to call Mr. D.'s attention to the 



fact that the T super is only of a sft capacifiy Avhen 

 full. I have a number of T supers in use, of differ- 

 ent sizes, some holding when full from 30 to 40 sec- 

 tions, but they are not always full. I follow the 

 same plan with them that Mr. D. does with his wide 

 frames, using a follower for the purpose. This 

 follower is simi»ly a piece of board the size of the 

 inside of the end of the super, with saw-cuts for the 

 uprights of the T's. During this poor season sever- 

 al of them had only 3, 6, or !) sections in them. As 

 the majority of bee-keepers do not use chalf hives, 

 and do use T supers or Heddon crates (some of 

 which I use and on the same plan), 1 can not see 

 that Mr. D.'s method is any improvement on the old 

 plan. 



AVHV our SWAHM - catcher IS MADE TO HOLD 

 THE SWARM. 



On page 6.54 you say," The great trouble with most 

 swarming-devices which we have seen is that they 

 will not hold the bees after they have been captur- 

 ed." Now, right here will you tell me what you 

 want to hold them for? I run my apiary, consisting 

 at present of 75 colonies, entirely on the natural- 

 swarming plan. Of course, I have considerable 

 swarming, but I do not allow the bees to cluster on 

 a limb. It is far easier and quicker to make them 

 alight 0)1 a swarm-catcher than to let them alight 

 on a limb and then get them on or into any swarm- 

 ing-device yet made. Just take an old soft felt hat, 

 put it on the end of a pole, and, just as the bees are 

 starting to alight, work the old hat in carefully ; and 

 when they are clustered they are all on the hat, 

 ready to go where you want them. 



Kintorc, Ont., Aug. 31, 1888. J. W. Whealv. 



Yes, btit our bees usually are not so accom- 

 modating as to alight where we want them 

 to. The only way we can induce them to 

 cluster upon any particular object is to 

 attract them with a laying queen; but when 

 the latter is in the air we are ol)]iged to se- 

 cure them wherever she and her attendants 

 may see fit to cluster. After having taken 

 the swarm with the catcher, we don't want 

 them to forsake it, as they are apt to do, for 

 the original point of clustering until we are 

 ready to deposit them at their permanent lo- 

 cation, and so our catcher is so constructed 

 as to hold the majority of the bees until all 

 are clustered.— Your point in regard to the 

 T super is a good one. 



UNITING. 



I have a few swarm.; that came late, and I can 

 not winter over. I wish to know the best way to 

 doulile them up. 1 had a swarm come out the last 

 of August. Not knowing which hive they came out 

 of, I thought I would put them in a large Quinby 

 hive. I started them in, sprinkling both swarms; 

 but the bees that owned the Quinby hive fought the 

 others and killed them all off. C. Lawrence. 



Ottumwa, Iowa, Sept. 8, 1888. 



There is usually no trouble in uniting bees 

 if you smoke tliem pretty freely Avhen they 

 show a disjK sition to figlit and sting each 

 other. It is a ditlicult matter sometimes to 

 unite Cyprians and IIoly-Land bees. These 

 races will sometimes fight and kill each oth- 

 er in spite of smoke or any thing else. Most 

 Italians can be united without any trouble, 

 at any time. We would recommend you to 

 read the subject of " Uniting," in the ABC 

 of Bee Culture. 



