782 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. In. 



E. was not able to get insurance in any other 

 companies. He was fortunate, however, in 

 saving most of the machinery, amounting to 

 about .?10()0. 



While he would have carried insurance if he 

 could have done so. the lesson comes to all of us 

 to have our property in such shape that insur- 

 ance men by the score will be willing to protect 

 it at a moderate rate. That is the case with 

 all the buildings here at the Home of the 

 Honey-bees. With one e.xception they are all 

 built of brick, and i)rotected by automatic 

 si)rinklers; and the result is, we get a com- 

 paratively low rate from the best of companies. 

 No manufacturing building or warehouse 

 should be built without a metal roof; and the 

 boiler-room should be carefully isolated from 

 the rest of the plant. Ours has double brick 

 fire-walls between each ofthe buildings, with 

 metallic doors in each wall. It costs but little 

 more to make every thing comparatively safe 

 from the ravages of fire. It co.sts- a little more 

 — nay, verily, it is really cheaper in the end, as 

 friend Bittenbender has learned by dear ex- 

 perience. He informs us he will rebuild at 

 once of biick, and no doubt will be ready for 

 next season's trade as usual. 



THE SIMPLEST METHOD OF TKAXSFERHING : HOW 

 TO EXTRACT HONEY FROM OLD COMBS WITH- 

 OUT AN EXTKACTOK. 



Along in the early part of last summer we 

 purchased some twelve or fifteen colonies that 

 we really did not want, but took them because 

 we had partially agreed to do so. The reason 

 that we did not really want them was because 

 thecombs were built in loose frames, said fraTues 

 having been spaced so unequally that the combs 

 were decidedly crooked, to say nothing of being 

 bulged out of all decent proportions. The bees 

 purchased were placed at the out-yard, and the 

 boys were instructed to select one of the best 

 combs of each colony containing unsealed lar- 

 vte, and place it in a new hive, together with a 

 full complement of HolTman frames of wired 

 foundation. Another hive with the old combs 

 was placed on top with a perforated zinc honey- 

 board between. The bees and the queen were 

 then shaken off in front of the entrance, and 

 allowed to crawl in. This plan was pursued 

 with all the colonies. As the queen could not 

 go above, of course no more eggs were laid in 

 the old combs. In two weeks' time we went 

 down and found that the frames of foundation 

 below were being drawn out, particularly next 

 to the frame of brood of old comb. In the mean 

 time the young bees in the upper story were 

 hatching out an ■ coming below to take care of 

 the young larvtt in the lower hive. In about a 

 month's time the bees had taken up thi^ir quar- 

 ters more or less l)elow, while the upper combs, 

 ci'ooked and undesirable, were emptied of brood, 

 and filled, to a greater or less extent, with hon- 

 ey. The drone brood (and there was a good 

 deal of it) was uncapped at the time the hives 

 were changed. The honey season came on rath- 

 er before we expected it in the out-yard; and 

 the result was, that most of the crooked combs 

 were filled with honey. These we expected to 

 extract, and melt up the old comb; but circum- 

 stances so transpi^'ed that we did not: and final- 

 ly, toward the end of the season, we took oft' 

 such combs and placed them in a stack of Dove- 

 tailed hives piled six or eight high. The en- 

 trance at the bottom hive was contracted so 

 that only about two bees could get out or in 

 at a time. Virtually we allowed the bees to 

 rob the honey out; but it was so slow an opera- 

 tion that it made no commotion in the apiary. 



With little or no labor we had the bees all 

 transferred on Hoffman frames, filled with nice 



beautiful worker comb made from foundation 

 on horizontal wires; and all that remained was 

 a lot of crooked combs which were soon con- 

 verted into wax. the home-made frame stuff 

 making excellent firewood for the boiler-furnace. 

 Now. there is nothing particularly new in any 

 of this. The plan of transferring ^is simply a 

 modification of Heddon's short way. as men- 

 tioned in the ABC book. The scheme of emp- 

 tying the honey out of old crooked combs was 

 nothing more nor less than what was described 

 by Dr. Miller some two or thiee years ago. It 

 works so well that we shall never again leave a 

 lot of combs stored here and there with a little 

 honey in them to tempt robbers. 



IMFOKTED ITALIAN (JUEENS QUARANTINED : 



DIFFICULTIES IN SENDING QUEENS OUT 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The imported Italian queens that were or- 

 dered from Italy about the middle of August, 

 although we have been notified that they were 

 shipped upon the receipt of the order, have 

 failed to come to hand. Queens that were sent 

 by mail on the same date from Italy, all came 

 through dead, including all attendants. The 

 rigid quarantine that has been maintained re- 

 cently, necessitating the fumigation of all mail 

 matter, explains why the queens came dead: 

 but why the delay of fifty that are to come by 

 express? We have notified our receiving 

 agents at New York of the expected arrival of 

 the queens, and asked them to instruct the 

 quarantine officers that they must not be fumi- 

 gated the same as other matter. We are afraid 

 that those officers, not knowing what to do, 

 have held them, and, of course, by this time all 

 are dead. We have a great many orders 

 booked for imported queens; and we make this 

 statement so that not only those who have 

 placed orders with us, but those who intend to 

 do so, will understand the situation. It is true, 

 the queens may come, and come through alive, 

 but now it is exceedingly doubtful. 



By the way. we have had no success of late 

 in sending queens to Australia or to the islands 

 of the sea. Either the cages failed to go 

 through at all. or else when they did the queens 

 were all dead. In some of the cases the quar- 

 antine ol'ficers are responsible; in others, it is 

 nothing more nor less than official bullheaded- 

 ness on the part of the postal authorities in 

 foreign countries. Just as we were succeeding 

 nicely in sending queens to all parts of the 

 world, those very countries where we desired 

 most to send the queens began to reject them. 

 We have been sending them out ii]) until with- 

 in a few days, but we think we shall have to 

 refuse to do so, for this year at least, in justice 

 to ourselves and customers, until the quaran- 

 tine and official bullheadedness are adjusted in 

 better shape. We do not complain at the quar- 

 antine on account of cholera, but we do feel 

 justified in using pretty strong language when 

 official red tape interferes with the interests of 

 the people. 



Later.— The L'nited States Official Postal 

 Guide for September contains the following: 



POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT, 



OFFICE OF FOREIGN .MAILS, 



Washington, D. C, Sept. 7, 1892. 

 The Interuatioiial Bureau of the Universal Postal 

 Union, at Berne, Switzerland, has ollii-ially informed 

 this Deiiartnienl lliat the Pi)slal Administiation of 

 the Colonies of Stnitli Australia. West Ansti'alia, and 

 Victoria g-ive circulation in tlieir mails to liv*; bees. 

 Consequently, live bees will be admitted to the mails 

 hereafter dispatched from this country for South 

 Australia, West Australia, and Victoria, provided 

 the>- aie i)ac'lveti in exact accordance with the con- 

 ditions prescribed in paragiaplis "i" and "j," Note 



