240 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ai'Kii, L 



get the swarming fever; this prevents most of 

 the colonies from getting the fever, and the few 

 that start queen-cells do not swarm nntil the 

 first cells are ready to hatch. In that article 

 they say, " If we return the swarm 48 hours 

 after swarming, the queen-cells have been de- 

 stroyed by the young queen, and the bees get rid 

 of her or the old one when the swarm is return- 

 ed." This shows that they mean the first 

 swarm, and that their bees do not. as a rule, 

 swarm until the first young queens are ready to 

 hatch. They probably would not have any 

 swarms if it were not for this crisis; the bees 

 seem reluctant to kill the young queens, for, as 

 a rule, the old (lueen is feeble, or they would 

 not have started the cells, so they yield to the 

 impulse and swarm. If the weather hai)i)ens to 

 be unfavorable at this time, one of the young 

 queens will often hatch, and kill the old queen, 

 when the swai'm will issue with a virgin. I had 

 109 first swarms this season, and out of that 

 number 4'.i killed the old queen and swarnK^d 

 with a virgin; 40 swarmed with the old queen 

 when the first cells were ready to hatch, and 20 

 according to rule, near the time that the young 

 queens are sealed over. 



I am afraid that bee-keepers having small 

 hives will be seriously disappointed in trying 

 Mr. Dadant's plan of i)reventing increase, be- 

 cause, as a rule, bees in small hives do swarm on 

 the sealing of the first qi'ieen-cells. I feel very 

 sure that the success of the plan depends on 

 having a large hive filled with emi)ty combs, 

 or, rather, the super filled with emiity combs. 

 You may put it down in the books, that a colony 

 having a large amount of empty comb in their 

 hive will not, as a rule, swarm until the first 

 queen-cells are ready to hatch ; and that such 

 colonies, when they do swarm, are very easily 

 discouraged from swarming again. The exigen- 

 cy of the case forces them out against their bet- 

 ter judgment ; and when this exigency is re- 

 moved by one (jueen hatching and killing the 

 others, the bees are contented to remain. 



Fillmore, Cal.. Feb. 24. .!. K. McIntvkk. 



[Friend M.. I entirely agree with you in the 

 position you lake; and since you mention it. 

 I feel pretty sure that a large hive like the one 

 used by the Dadants would have very much to 

 do in keeping down the swarming fever; but I 

 am afraid, my good friend, when you looked 

 over those ten bee-iiooks you did not look very 

 carefully— that is. if the secret you speak of is 

 the matter of giving a larger amount of room 

 and empty combs. In the A B C. under the 

 head of " Prevention of Swarming by the Use 

 of the Extractor," you will tind particular em- 

 phasis placed on this point. See also Dadant's 

 book, paragraphs 461 and 4.")9. I am glad, how- 

 ever, that you have called attention to it. for 

 perhaps it has nowhere been stated^with suffi- 

 cient clearness. Putting on a whole'super filled 

 with empty combs, just before the bees get the 

 swarming fever, will surely do very much to 

 hinder swarming. For many years I have 

 watched and experimented, with a view of get- 

 ting at the real cause of swarming: and when 

 they really get the fever, it is oftentimes a 

 pretty hard matter to stop them. I remember 

 of once seeing some motions among the bees in 

 a hive I had just opened, that seemed to indi- 

 cate they were getting ready to swarm. I 

 hastily lifted the combs, and stood them up 

 against the grapevine trellises, so as to scatter 

 them several feet apart. If I am correct. I had 

 got them so placed that no two combs were 

 together, and yet these be(>s started the swarm - 

 ing-note, and commenced rising from one comb 

 and then another; and finally all that could fly 

 left their combs and united in the aii'. So I 

 concluded that, when bees had once made their 



arrangements, and got the real swarming fever, 

 it was not an easy matter to hold them back.] 



A. I. R. 



ECLIPSE FOUNDATION-ROLLER. 



HOW .1. M. HAMHAUGH FASTENS HIS FOUNDA- 

 TION TO THE TOP-BAK. AND IMKEr>S 

 THE WIHE. 



Well, well: It does really seem strange to 

 me that so simple a little device as the " Eclipse 

 foundation-roller" should have remained so 

 long in obscurity, and its merits so little known 

 in the bee-world. It is certainly very simple, 

 and yet it is perfection in the direction for 

 which it was designed. Necessity is said to be 

 the mother of invention, and it was after being 

 thoroughly disgusted with all the methods 

 known to us for putting foundation securely 

 and rapidly in frames that led to the discovery 

 of the rollei-: and now I am bound, in justice to 

 a former friend and partner, by the name of 

 Stone, to give him credit for the first invention 

 of this practical little device. The original is 

 still in my possession, a picture of which I here- 

 with submit. 



FIG. 1.— stone's ORIGINAL ROLLER FASTE.NER. 



Mr. Stone left the State and embarked in 

 other pursuits shortly after this; and while the 

 roller of our present device is practically the 

 same as that of the original. I have materially 

 changed the shape of the handle and the mode 

 of adjusting the roller to the proper depth on 

 tlie brood-frame. We found the roller a grand 

 improvement, and with a little practice we 

 could put the foundation starters in very rapidly. 



It was about this time in our experience that 

 we became somewhat familiar with the meth- 

 ods of the Dadants; and having adverse experi- 

 ence with the use of starters in brood-frames 

 we began to pave our way for the use of full 

 sheets of foundation in brood-frames: and this, 

 of course, called for wired frames. We accept- 

 ed them as authority upon the subject of wir- 

 ing, and commenced wiring in accoi'dance with 

 their method, and as illustrated in Gleanings 

 for Jan. 1.5. The roller, as illustrated on the 

 same page. 50. I presume was devised for bevel- 

 edged top-bars, which must be differently con- 

 structed from the ones we use in our work. We 

 cut all our top-bars X inch square, as will be 

 seen by our illustration. 



FKi. 2.— HAMI5AIGH S IMBEDDKK .\M) ROLLER 

 FASTENER. 



We soon discovered that the roller of itself 

 was of but little value to us in putting in full 

 sheets of fonndaliou without some device to 

 imbed the wii-e into the se'ptum of the founda- 

 tion. Here, again, necessity became the mother 

 of invention; and while fi'iend Uadant has re- 

 fused to lecognize our device as of any practi- 

 cal utility. I want to brand him as a French- 

 man. I have never used any thing else, neither 

 have I had cause to wish for any thing better 



