GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



super, and put the old hive, without bottom, on 

 it. I allow the old colony a small entrance of 

 their own. The old hive is left there for seven 

 days, on the Heddon plan, when it is removed 

 to a new stand. During these seven days the 

 bees just hatching are constantly escaping to 

 the new colony: and when the hive is tinaliy 

 removed the homeless bees return directly to a 

 point over their old entrance now occupied by 

 the new swarm, and are peaceably received 

 there. Perhaps when 1 go to the out apiary, 

 as I do every three or four days, T find iliat sev- 

 eral hives have swarmed. On one occasion I 

 found seven. Usually the new hives will con- 

 tain the queen, a good many drones, and a pint 

 or two of workers. Now, as I can not tell just 

 what day they swarmed, and can not always be 

 on hand at just the right day to remove the old 

 colony to a new place, I pursue a little different 

 course. I put the new hive on the old stand, 

 giving it the supers, and brush oft' about thrt^e- 

 fourths of the bees from the combs of the old 

 hive, removing it at once to a new location. 



In order to guard against a second swarm I 

 cut out all the queen-cells on my next visit, and 

 drop in a virgin queen fi'om my queen- nursery, 

 which I keep running constantly during swarm- 

 ing time. Of course, this method is vai'ied 

 somewhat, according to circumstances: and 

 one must do some thinking, and use good judg- 

 ment, to succeed. If you expect a " patent 

 hiver " that vou can put on an empty hive, and 

 let the bees do the rest, you will surely be dis- 

 appointed with any kind of hiver now in sight. 

 Do I consider the hiver a good thing? Well. 

 I certainly do. While it is not all I could wish, 

 it will enable me to do much more than I could 

 without it. Mr. Manum wrote, last spi'ing, 

 that, with his system, he could manage seven 

 apiaries by removing queens just befoi'e swarm- 

 ing. Well. I can't do that, and I should not 

 like to work at that rate, even if I could. With 

 the self-hiver and the bee-escape, and other 

 conveniences. I believe I could run four apiaries 

 of 100 colonies each, the year round, without 

 help. 



As to my hiver, or Mr. Alley's, as he has a 

 patent on the principle. I will say that I have 

 none for sale, and am not iuterested one way or 

 another. I shall pay Mr. Alley for the i-jght to 

 use them, although mine is very different from 

 his: but the principle is the same; and as I 

 wish to be a law-abiding citizen I recognize his 

 rights, as I think all ought to do. 



The worst difficulty to be overcome is to keep 

 the drones from getting clogged in the tubes. 

 Now, a live drone will readily pass through a 

 wire cone with a i^-inch opening; but the bees, 

 in their efforts to remove the dead drones from 

 the hive, will get them fast in the cones, and 

 they become stopped up. To remedy this I use 

 an open wire cloth from which I can make 

 openings % inch. This, I believe, will entirely 

 overcome the difficulty. On one occasion I 

 found two swarms had doubled up, and that 

 time I had a good-sized swarm in the new hive, 

 and the bees covered the fronts of both hives. 

 Mr. Alley says that two or more colonii-s 

 swarming' at once through the hivei'S will each 

 return to its own hive. I think he is certainly 

 mistaken in this, as they will not do that for 

 me. They will usually all pile into one hive, 

 making a large swarm. In such case I at once 

 divide up the bees to suit me, but I had only 

 one such swarm out of about fifty. 



I find it a good plan to keep the hivers on the 

 new swarms for several days, as quite often the 

 bees will try to abscond. I had one colony issue 

 three times after hiving, before they became 

 satisfied. But this is not any worse than where 

 swarms issue and are hived in the old way. 

 The advantage in keeping on the swarmer is, 



that they can't get away; and why not keep 

 them on till all danger of swarming is over? 

 Of course, the swarmers must be removed from 

 the old hive, to give the young queen a chance 

 to mate. 



Mr. Alley may not yet have his hiver perfect, 

 but I am sure he will succeed. The trouble 

 with him is. he tried to make the queen run 

 sidewise and downward, while her motto is 

 '■ Upward." C. H. Dibbern. 



Milan, 111., Nov.. 1891. 



[You have greatly simplified as well as im- 

 proved the automatic swarmer. It is indeed 

 the natural tendency of bees and queens to 

 crawl upward, and, of course, we ought to take 

 advantage of this characteristic. We shall lis- 

 ten with interest for further reports, and in the 

 meantime we may give our readers an engrav- 

 ing illustrating more exactly Mr. Dibbern's 

 idea.] 



BAMBLE NO. 47. 



IN MEDINA, OHIO. 



From the refined and artistic air of Cleveland 

 we journeyed directly south to Medina, and ar- 

 rived at this noted town about 6 p. m. As we 

 emerged from the crowd on the depot platform 

 the first person we met was E. R. Root, whose 

 face looked as pleasant and familiar as it did 

 upon our camp of bee-keepers a year ago at 

 Lake George. After a brotherly grasp of hands 

 he led the way across the track, and we were 

 before the establisment with which thousands 

 of bee-keepers are familiar. The building, 

 though very faithfully represented in Glean- 

 ings, the object itself, when we stand before it. 

 has an individuality about it which a print can 

 not convey. The factory had just shut down 

 for the day, and nearly all of the workmen had 

 departed. There was a small group at the 

 further end of the building; and as we ap- 

 proached we recognized A. I., the head of the 

 concern, and were introduced to Mr. Calvert 

 and others. Brother A. I. met the Rambler 

 with a double handful of those large, ripe, 

 luscious Gaudy strawberries. The Rambler 



HAMBI.ER greeted WITH A HANDFUL OF 

 STRAWBERRIES. 



was somewhat '• flustrated " by so much coming 

 upon him at once. Public attention, however, 

 was soon directed to another subject. Some 

 one made a remark about a Sunday excursion 

 over the new railroad. It seems that Bro. R. 

 had given the land to the new road with some 

 limitations, etc. Sunday excursions had to ask 



