1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



until they were nearly all down, when the as- 

 sistant would pick up the extra from the hive 

 and give along swinging motion, and rub or 

 brush oflF on the grass ihe bees collected on the 

 bottom-bars, then immediately carry the cham- 

 ber to the wagon and shove it in at the back 

 door. Thus he would proceed until he could 

 not reach to set any more in, when he climbed 

 inside and set them forward in shape to go 

 home. Each time he went with an extra, and 

 the door was opened, a cloud of bees was 

 brought out on the screen, and they at once 

 struck for home. In this manner we would 

 have the wagon loaded almost before the rob- 

 bers knew what was up; and by the time we 

 got every thing to rights, and ready to go home, 

 we bad, by occasionally opening the door, 

 almost freed the load of bees. Just as soon as 

 the team was hitched, the door was set open, 

 and Kept so till we were half a mile or a mile 

 from the yard, when we closed it again. It was 

 fully as much of a success as I expected. CTZZ. 

 DlnJ constructing this wagon I put in all bolts 

 and irons in such a!way that the inside surfaces 

 of the box are smooth, so that bee-hives, supers, 

 etc., can ^be shoved in and slid along without 

 catching. CThe running-gears are too light for 

 the size of the top and box; and if I am prosper- 

 ed so that I can do so, I shall get running-gears 

 and springs that will carry 2500 or 3000 pounds; 

 then with ordinaryahives I can load 40 or 50 

 hives of bees to^move.rl am° so^well pleased 

 with the method of removing surplus by carry- 

 ing into me house to let the bees out of it, that 

 at present 1 ao not wish to use an escape. 



[I am well aware, friend A., that you have 

 had a large experience in the matter of taking 

 off honey; but there are others who have had 

 fully as much experience, who use bee-escapes, 

 and insist that they can not get along without 

 them. For instance, J. F. Mclntyre and M. H. 

 Mendleson con'iider them great labor-savers, 

 and would hardly know how to get along with- 

 out them.* The value of the bee-escape is spe- 

 cially great during robbing seasons. Very often, 

 comb honey has to be removed at such times; 

 and it would never do to let a super stand 

 twenty minutes or two hours near the front of 

 thp hive. 



Verv possibly locality has every thing to do 

 with the matter; and no doubt you can by your 

 plan, in your locality, remove your honey more 

 economically than with a bee-escape. Rut last 

 summpr I tried setting supers out in front of 

 the hives on which no bee-escapes had been 

 placed. After waiting two hours I got tired, 

 and so I smudged and poked them out, any way 

 to get them nut. On other hives, where escapes 

 had been placed the dav before, the raking-off 

 of the honey was a real pleasure. There was 

 no shaking of the supers, breaking the back, 

 no smudging, but simply taking them off and 

 putting them on the wagon. 



I believe Mr. Aikin shows a practical wagon 

 for bee-keepers. Many of the wagons, as usu- 

 ally constructed for carrying honey and remov- 



* Mendleson is the man who moves 150 colonies ;it 

 a single load. See his article, page 817, last year's 

 volume. 



ing bees, are ill adapted to the purpose. We 

 have a platform spring wagon, with a plat- 

 form extending over the wheels on each side of 

 the box, and about 14 inches inside of the edge 

 of the box. The bottom of the box is filled with 

 as many hives as we can crowd in, and then 

 the platform is loaded. We have carried as 

 many as thirty colonies at a load, but it makes 

 the wheels creak a little. Last summer we 

 brought home about 1000 lbs. of honey from our 

 out-yard in this same wagon. If we were going 

 to build again we would have the springs and 

 the general running-gear made so as to carry 

 not less than 2000 lbs.— Ed.] 



APIS DOBSATA. 



REASONS PRO AND CON FOR IMPORTING THEM. 



Dr. C. C. Miller:— I should like to ask you for 

 a little information in regard to Apis dorsata. 

 I am a reader of Gleanings, and notice arti- 

 cles by a few on this subject. On page 6, 

 Straws, by yourself, I notice a clipping from 

 the American Bee Journal. Now, while I do 

 not believe there is a bee in existence that can 

 gather honey from red clover (except the bum- 

 ble-bee), please tell me what objection the 14 

 referred to on said page can have to the gov- 

 ernment importing them here, and giving them 

 a trial; for if there is such a bee as described, 

 let us by all means have it, and the sooner the 

 better. We know that there is more genuine 

 honey in red clover than in all other honey- 

 plants combined; and if we cau get a bee that 

 can and will gather it, we shall have a boom in 

 the honey business in every department. If 

 there is any good objectii^n to the importation 

 of Ajns dorsata I shouM like to know what it 

 is; and it would give me much pleasure and 

 satisfaction to have a reply through Glean- 

 ings. I have kept boes for thirty years, but as 

 a business only five David N. Ritchey. 



Blacklick, O., Jan. 14. 



It seems entirely natural and reasonable for 

 any one to take the view that you do upon first 

 being told that there is a bee so much larger 

 than the one that we now have that it can work 

 upon red clover. Tons of honey go to waste 

 every year that might be gathered from red 

 clover. It would cost very little for government 

 to introduce a bee that can gather it; if a suc- 

 cess, it would be a great gain; if a failure, no 

 harm can come of it except the small item of 

 expense incurred by government, and that will 

 be divided among the entire nation, making the 

 expense to each bee-keeper only a small frac- 

 tion of a cent. So it must be that there are 

 some objections or else the 14 to whom you re- 

 fer would hardly oppose the movement. 



I will try to answer your question as to the 

 reasons given by the repliers in the American 

 Bee Journal, so far as they gave them. The 

 question asked was, "From what you have 

 heard and read concerning Apis dorsata, do 

 you consider it advisable for the government to 



