1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



807 



Every boy or girl, under 16 years of age, who writes a let- 

 ter for this department, containing some valuable fact, not 



GENERALLY KNOWN, ON BEES OR OTHER MATTERS, will receive 

 one of David Cook's excellent five-cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these books contain the same matter that you find in 

 Sunday-school hooks costing from SI. 00 to 81-50. If you have 

 had one or more books, sive us the names that we may not 

 send the same twice. We have now in stock six different 

 books, as follows; viz.: Sheer Off, Silver Keys, The Giant-Kill- 

 er; or. The Roby Family, Rescued from Egypt, Pilgrim's 

 Progress, and Ten Nights in a Bar-Room. We have also Our 

 Homes, Part 1., and Uur Homes, Part II. Besides the above 

 books, you may have a photograph of our old house apiary, 

 and a photograph of our own apiary, both taken a great many 

 years ago. In the former is a picture of Novice, Blue Eyes, 

 and Caddy, and a glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pret- 

 ty little colored pictures of birds, fruits, flowers, etc., suitable 

 for framing. You can have your choice of any one of the 

 above pictures or books for every letter that gives us some 

 valuable piece of information. 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



f^IIERE are a good many ways to stop 

 P)^ robbing, and almost all of them are 

 ^ good ; but yon have all read of the 

 old, old adage, that "prevention is 

 better tlian cure." The best way to 

 cure disease is to prevent it. The best way 

 to do away witli tJie effects of robbing is 

 not to let the bees get started. With the best 

 management, however, bees do sometimes 

 get ahead of their owner, and before he 

 knows it they will have a weak colony pret- 

 ty badly used up. But, in general, 'how 

 should we prevent it V Just as soon as the 

 honey-flow has stopped, the entrance of the 

 weaker colonies should be contracted ac- 

 cording to their strength. The entrance to 

 a one or two frame nucleus should be so 

 small that only about two bees can pass at a 

 time. Strong colonies will probably defend 

 themselves with the entrance full width. 

 Prevention also means to put all the sec- 

 tions, combs, drippings, and Viits of comb 

 containing a little honey, into a receptacle 

 where no bee can possibly get at it. It is 

 not safe to leave the honey accessible in a 

 bee-proof honey-house. Somebody will be 

 pretty sure to leave tlie door open." Preven- 

 tion means, also, that you should not let the 

 bees get a sip at the honey while yon are 

 examining tlie hive. Many bad eases of 

 robbing are started in just such a way. As 

 to the means of stopping robbing, after it is 

 once started, I leave that with the young 

 folks, who, I see, have not touched very 

 much on the prevention side of the matter. 

 Remember, next time we want you to write 

 about feeding. See Sept. 15th issue. 



Cl,OSINO THE ENTRANCE WITH WIRE CLOTH TO 

 STOP ROBBING. 



My papa has 10 stands of bees. When bees get to 

 robbing-, stop up the entrance with .screen wire, 

 tacked on little blocks. 



llosELLA Kendali., ajj-e 13. 



Milton Center, O., Aug. 37, 1888. 



THE WHITMAN FORCE-BUMP AS A SWARM-CATCHER. 



When our bees swarm, pa gets our Whitman 



force-pump anU a pail of water as soon as possible, 

 and when he thinks the bees are all out that are 

 coming out he throws the water up among them. 

 They always settle on a tree. Then he gets a box 

 or basket and shakes them down into it, or some- 

 times he cuts a limb off and carries it to the front 

 of the hive and shakes the bees off, and they go in 

 without any trouble. He never lost a swarm yet 

 when he did that wa.y. Harry Kelly. 



Colebrook, O. 



HOW papa BECAME A BEE-KEEPER. 



My father has kept bees for three years. He has 

 now 11 stands. He used to say he would not keep 

 bees, as they stung too hard. But one day a stray 

 swarm clustered on a small tree near our house. 

 He hived them, and by working with them he learn- 

 ed to like bee-keeping and does not mind the 

 stings. My father does not let the bees swarm 

 more than once, if he can help it. He wants to 

 keep tiiem strong. I like to help him work with 

 them. Forrest Overholser, age 13. 



Shenandoah, la., July 30, 1888. 



how PAPA KEEPS HIS BEES PROM SWARMINQ. 



My papa keeps bees. He has 30 hives, and is try- 

 ing to keep them from swarming so they will make 

 more honey. When they swarm, papa goes up in a 

 tree and saws the limb off and brings it down very 

 carefully, and shakes them on a sheet in front of 

 the hive they came out of. Then he catches the 

 queen and puts her In a cage. The bees will go 

 back in the old hive again. Sometimes he cuts the 

 queen-cells out. He has cut a good many out this 

 summer. Maogie McCarthy, age 10. 



Madelia, Minn., July 38, 1888. 



the king and queen bees. 



1 go to school in Buffalo. Our lesson mentioned 

 bees, and our teacher told the children there is a 

 king and a queen bee that never go out of the 

 hive, not even when a swarm goes out. 1 have a 

 hive of my own, and I am going to look for the 

 king, and tell you what he looks like, as you never 

 tell us about him. My queen goes out with the 

 swarm. Willie Keayes, age 8. 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



Tell your teacher that there is something 

 for her to learn about bees yet. It is true 

 there is a queen, but there are a good many 

 kings (or, more properly, drones), but both 

 do at times leave the honse. Your teacher 

 is like a good many others who have only a 

 " smattering " of a subject. 



spraying swarms to fetch them down. 



My brother sprinkles the bees with salt water to 

 make them settle. I had a swarm that my brother 

 gave me. 1 hived them, and they would not stay. 

 1 hived it a great many times. 1 succeeded, alas! 

 when they got their queen killed. My brother uses 

 a quart cup to put the bees in the hive, but I used 

 the dipper that I had to sprinkle them with. My 

 brother has 36 bee-hives. The bees are working on 

 sumac. As it has rained, the old bunches with 

 berries are putting out buds. It will last for a 

 good while yet. Wm. Morgan. 



Belton, Tex., Aug. 34, 1888. 



A bee-escape, and how it can be used in a 



CASE OF ROBBING. 



I will tell you how my pa stopped robbing when 

 we had black bees, for then we were bothered 



