662 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



again dipped in the wax and immediately placed on a 

 mark on the piece of frame stuff, which nmrk 1 had 

 designated as a place for a cell. In an instant the 

 cup had adhered to the frame-stuff, when the form- 

 ing-stick was withdrawn. This cell was placed near 

 one edge of the stick, which was one inch wide, or.e- 

 fourth of an inch thick, and long enough to crowd 

 between the side-bars of one of my frames. The cell 

 was also placed uear the center of this stick, as to its 

 length, but close to one side of it, as to width. The 

 next cell or cup was placed one and one-half inches 

 to the right of the first, while the third was placed the 

 same distance to the left, and so on until six were on 

 the stick. 



While we have been raising cells a la Doo- 

 little, Mr. W. H. Pridgen, of Creek, N. C, it 

 seems, has been meeting with equal or even 

 greater success. In the last Bec-kcepets' Re- 

 vieiv there is a double-page half-tone, show- 

 ing some of his work. There are 18 queen- 

 cells on one stick, and all of them great long 

 peanut-shaped things. Just 

 above them is a row of cell- 

 cups which, I judge, are 

 made after the Doolittle 

 plan, and which, undoubt- 

 edly, will be completed into 

 peanut queen-cells — " the 

 double-jointed California af- 

 fairs." 



Doolittle put out his 

 queen -rearing some 9 years 

 ago. A few made a success 

 of his method; but now in 

 these latter days it seems 

 there are quite a number of 

 us who are getting hold of 

 the plan, and are making a 

 great success. 



History repeats itself. 

 One man has usually to be 

 in a forward movement 

 years ahead of the times. 

 As the days and years go 

 on, some one else follows in 

 his steps until finallj' the 

 whole crowd "catches on" 

 and wonder why they did 

 not do it that way before. 

 Doolittle has been to queen- 

 rearing what Morton and 

 Aspinwall have been to the 

 present method of produc- 

 ing hone)' in plain sections. Verily, the world 

 does move; but it took a century before Gal- 

 ileo's assertion to that effect was regarded 

 as any thing but a Meresy, and another cen- 

 tury before opposition to it ceased. 



ing sort. When opened up they are just high 

 enough for an ordinary man to stand up under 

 and work. 



We use them for a great variety of purposes. 

 For instance, if a weak colony or nucleus is 

 being robbed we clap one of these tents over 

 it, hive and all. Robbers are brought to a 

 standstill instanter, while those in the hive, as 

 soon as they escape, are caught in the tent, 

 and there held. When the sun is down, and 

 the bees have gone to their hives for the night, 

 the tent is removed and the entrance con- 

 tracted down to one bee. The next morning 

 the bees in the robbed hive will usually have 

 so far recovered themselves as to be able to 

 resist any kind of onslaught. 



Some years ago I used one of these tents 

 during one of the worst seasons of robbing I 



A BEE-TENT FOR OUEEN-REARING. 



Some time ago while out kodaking in our 

 apiary I took a view of our apiarist, Mr. Spaf- 

 ford, inside of one of our bee-tents while 

 working over one of the hives. It was during 

 a dearth of honey, and, of course, the robbers 

 were out sticking their noses into every cell of 

 honey that was exposed. 



As a result, Mr. S. had to do his work un- 

 der cover. One of the neighbors' boys, who 

 was near at hand, was called over to stand 

 near the tent, to sort o' give life to the gener- 

 al scenery in the yard. As he stood there I 

 took a shot, and here it is. These tents are 

 made of mosquito-netting, and are of the fold- 



ever knew, and I never thought of opening 

 the hive during that spell without having over 

 me the tent. When I began its use robbers 

 were so bad that it seemed as if I should have 

 to give up trying to do any thing in queen- 

 rearing. But when I used the tent persistent- 

 ly, and they found they could not get even a 

 taste, they gave up, and I went on with my 

 queen-rearing operations during the rest of 

 the season. While, of course, I could not 

 work so rapidly, yet I was able to accomplish 

 far more than before, and with much greater 

 safety to the nuclei. 



I have also tried the tent in the spring, in 

 transferring from box hives to hives of the 

 modern type. I have seen the time when it 

 would be impossible to do any transferring at 

 all, such as cutting and gashing into the 

 comb, without the tent. 



There is still another use. Several supers 

 of comb honey, after being freed from bees as 



