412 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



Put sticks between to prevent their touching, 

 or it will form a siphon and the honey will run 

 out. If the honey is blood-warm the machine 

 can be worked much faster. 



The pliers (see 

 Fig. 2) are forged 

 out of Bessemer 

 steel. The wide 

 handle is made 

 Fio- 2. for scraping pro- 



polis and burr-combs. When dull, file square 

 across the edges. The spurs on the inside of 

 the handles are made for lifting sections and 

 drawing separators out of the hives. 



QUEEN AND DKONE TRAP. 



I use mica springs for the escape. These 

 being transparent, the bees make more effort to 

 get through than when metal springs are used. 

 Some twenty-six years ago I used metal springs. 

 When you wish the queen to return into the 

 hive, draw out the mica slide that covers the 

 escape, M inch or more. The only objection to 

 mica springs is, that some swarms will nick off 

 the edges until they ruin the springs. 



BELLOAVS SMOKER. 



I did not send a complete smoker, but only 



the lower part of the barrel (Fig. 4), 



to represent the double-action mica 



valve; also a mica valve for the 



bellows, on a piece of board (see 



Fig. 5), to represent its attachment 



to the outside of the bellows, where 



It can be easily removed when it 



needs repairing. I find 

 mica the best material 

 for valves. Ii is light. 

 and prompt in action, 

 and not apt to get out 

 of order. When you 

 ^^<*- ^- blow with the bellows 



it presses the valve against the draft-tube (see 



Fig. 4), and that forces the air out of the nozzle. 



When you stop blowing, the valve springs back 



and closes the tube connecting the barrel to the 



bellows, which prevents the smoke and cinders 

 from going into the 



bellows. 



I have for a number 

 of years been using an 

 automatic-spacing re- 

 versible-frame hive (see 

 Fig. 1). Fig. 6 shows 

 the position of the 

 frames in the hive. The 

 frames are in the pack- 



FI6. 4. 



FIG. 6. 



The wooden tweezers 

 fFig. 7) are for picking 

 queens out of the clus- 

 ter of bees,by the wings. 

 Queens should never 

 be touched with the 



fingers when it can be avoided. Scent of the 

 fingers causes the bees to ball the queen. 

 Central Valley, N. Y., Feb. 5. 



[Frame-pliers will never become very popu- 

 lar with practical bee keepers. The bare fin- 

 gers with perhaps a screwdriver is all that is 

 needed to loosen frames and handle them prop- 

 erly. 



The smoker-valve arrangement is quite in- 

 genious, and there may be something in it. 

 We purpose trying it in a sample smoker; and 

 if it works I will report regarding it further. 



There may be cases where queen-tweezers 

 may be an advantage, but in my hands I should 

 be more afraid of pinching the queen. The 

 ends of the fingers are about as good as any 

 thing that can be used, at least by the average 

 queen-breeder. 



The idea of filling empty combs by centrif- 

 ugal force in the same way that we. extract 

 them is feasible; but anything that the bees 

 can do for us can be done by them far cheaper. 

 I should prefer to let the bees take the syrup 

 from feeders and put it in the combs. It is a 

 rule in plowing to save the man and make 

 the horses do the work as far as possible. The 

 same should be true of the bee-keeper and his 

 bees.— Ed. 1 



FIG. 7. 



THE USE OF S WARMERS. 



THEIR ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES; 

 HOW^ TO CONSTRUCT ONE. 



By A. Oetaz. 



Every once in a while somebody asks me if 

 non-swarmers could be used to any advantage 

 when the apiarist can not be at, the apiary eve- 

 ry day. If the apiarist can be there twice a 

 week, or at intervals of not more than three or 

 four days, a queen-trap will do as well as a non- 

 swarmer; or even an entrance-guard will do. 

 With the trap there is the advantage of finding 

 the queen there, and also the dead drones, 

 which would obstruct the entrance-guard more 

 or less. 



In using an entrance-guard it is necessary 

 that the hive proper should have an entrance 

 the full width of the hive, and at least IK in- 

 high. The guard should be not less than 2 in. 

 off the entrance, full width of the hive, and 

 four or five inches high. All this is in order 

 that the ventilation be not obstructed. All this 

 applies also to swarmers and queen-traps. 



If, notwithstanding, the colony is too hot, the 

 best way is to add one or two or even more 

 empty supers on the top, enough to bring the 

 temperature down to the proper point. These 

 supers may have sections, or be without them 

 if necessary. 



Under no circumstances whatever have any 

 opening above the entrance m order to have 

 better ventilation. In warm weather, when 

 the outside temperature is nearly as high as 

 the Inside, they are almost useless, as they ven- 

 tilate only on account of the difference. On the 

 other hand, during the night and the cool days 

 they create a draft which, under such circum- 

 stances, is a positive damage to the colony, es- 



