GLEANINGS m BEt: CULTURE. 



Oct. 



with robbers ; but since we liave used Italians we 

 are not troubled with robbers and moth. Pa says 

 they take care of themselves. He got the Simplici- 

 ty hive, and he made him two robber-frames, as 

 big around as the hive, and 3 inches high, with 

 double cones made of wire cloth; and when it is a 

 cool day, so that pa can close the hive (for he is 

 very careful not to close it on a warm day), then he 

 moves the hives that are being robbed to another 

 place, and puts an empty hive in its place and 

 places one of the robber-frames beneath it, so that 

 the robbers all go in and can not come out; but if 

 it is too warm, then he lets the hive stand in Its 

 place, and puts the other frame under it so that 

 the bees run out, but will not let them run in, and 

 after a little while they give up; then he takes the 

 frame away and lets our bees go in, if there are 

 any out. 



Mr. Koot, it was very kind in you to advise auy 

 one not to close the entrance of the hive on a 

 warm day, in a case of robbing. I am sure that I 

 would not. Our best swarm of black bees wa« be- 

 ginning to get robbed, and it was a warm day. Pa 

 closed up the hive, and it smothered the bees and 

 melted down their combs. Since that he is very 

 careful about closing hives on a warm day, for it 

 was his best swarm. Katie M. Zehk, age 13. 



Indian River, N. Y., Sept. 1, 188s. 



Your plan of robbing is similar to Frank 

 Reed's, described in tliis deiiartment, only 

 you carry out the principle a little further. 

 Yt)ur plan cau Ije adapted to any hive, but 

 it costs more. We have sent you the five- 

 cent present you selected. 



SETTING A COLONY IN THE CELL.AR, TO STOP 



KOBBING ; SPRAYING WITH WATER TO 



BRING DOWN THE SWARM. 



On the 32d of this month, one hive of our bees 

 swarmed. When we first saw them they were 

 nearly all out. Mother watched for the queen to 

 come out, while grandpa and I threw water on 

 them. In a few minutes they settled on a willow 

 limb near the house. The queen did not come out, 

 so grandpa watched at the hive while mother went 

 to the swarm to see if she could not find her 

 there; she could not tind her, so she set a hive 

 down under them with a frame of brood in it, 

 and a newspaper right in front of it. She then 

 shook the bees in it and set it in the shade. This 

 was about two o'clock. Father was away, and 

 when he came home in the evening he found the 

 queen had stayed in the old hive. Her wing was 

 clipped, and she could not fly. 



In answer to the question, " What will stop rob- 

 bing? "I would say the best thing to do is to put 

 the colony in the cellar for two or three days, then 

 set them out in the evening among some bushes, 

 or in some tall weeds. Nona Johnston, age 11. 



Brock, Neb., Aug. 39, 1888. 



THROWING A SHEET OVER A ROBBED COLONY ; A 



WIRE-CLOTH TUBE, AND HOW IT MAY BE 



USED TO STOP ROBBING. 



Mr. Boot:— I read Gleanings, and you ask little 

 boys how to stop robbing. The bees acted bad this 

 spring. Father stopped it by closing the entrance 

 almost up. Sometimes the swarm that is being 

 robbed will not defend themselves. The way fath- 

 er does is to put a large sheet over the whole hive, 

 pinning down the four corners. He then raises 

 the sheet up four in_hes in front of the hive. The 



bees that belong to the hive go out and in, in regu- 

 lar order, but the robbers go in and flU up; and 

 when they come out of the hive they rise on the 

 wing quick and get caught in the top of the sheet 

 and stay there until father kills them or lets them 

 go home just at night. Father bought two quarts 

 of bees last spring, that were robbers, in a hive 

 that had glass sides and top. They went out and in 

 through an auger-hole bored in the front end, and 

 then a piece of wire screen was rolled up and 

 shoved clear into the hive, up even with the out- 

 side. You ought to see the bees pour in, but not 

 one came out. Father carried them two miles and 

 gave them a frame of brood, '^rhey raised a queen, 

 and in that way we got rid of all robbers. I have 

 one swarm, and I got only T lbs. of box honey; but 

 some of them are sick. They look black on the 

 lower end, and all swell up and tremble. The oth- 

 er bees drag them out. What ails them? No other 

 swarm acts that way. Our bees are beauties, very 

 yellow. Frank Reed, aged 8. 



Milford, Wis., Sept. 10, 1888. 



A wire-cloth tube for an auger-hole en- 

 trance will no doubt work nicely when ap- 

 plied in the manner you describe. In fact, 

 it will operate somewhat on the plan of a 

 bee-escape ; but instead of letting the bees 

 out and not in, it lets the robbers and the 

 resident bees in and not out. If all or even the 

 majority of the hives in use had auger-hole 

 entrances, the idea could be put in practice 

 quite largely. Many queen-rearing nucleus 

 hives have only a round hole, and it is these 

 hives that robbers take particular pains to 

 pester. A cylinder of wire cloth, used as 

 you suggest, would not only prevent rob- 

 bers from leaving with their ill-gotten 

 spoils, but it would hold them and perhaps 

 ultimately make them residents of the 

 nucleus; the robbers, then, instead t)f de- 

 pleting could strengthen the hives in num- 

 bers. After things become quiet, the wire 

 tube should, of course, be removed, to al- 

 low the inmates to go and return as of old. 

 The peculiar twitching which you see 

 among your bees is no doubt caused by the 

 nameless bee-disease, described in the 

 ABC of Bee Culture. 



In addition to the above, from Ernest, I 

 want to say : My young friend Frank, you 

 have given us "some exceedingly valuable 

 suggestions. I do know that sometimes 

 two or three hundred bees get in such a 

 fashion of following the apiarist about 

 when he opens hives, that it might be worth 

 a dollar or more to get entirely rid of them. 

 Your father's arrangement of a trap is ex- 

 cellent, but the Idea has been given before, 

 several times. The suggestion, however, of 

 carrying them away a couple of miles or 

 more so as to get rid of them entirely, is, so 

 far as I know, new, so we credit you half a 

 dollar for the idea. I have made nuclei 

 several times entirely from entrapped rob- 

 bers ; but my experience has been that they 

 stick to their old trade, more or less, as long 

 as they live. They never become honest 

 bees. Moving them off where they cou)d 

 not get back to bother, it seems to me 

 would be well worth the time and trouble. 

 A wire tube, running two or three inches 

 into the hive, will do the business to a dot ; 

 that is, after the bees 'get well a going on 



