1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



803 



when they get into the cider they will never 

 get out alive. I think this is the best and 

 cheapest of all ways to get rid of all kinds of 

 moths. Cotton-raisers should put out cider in 

 their patches. Moths come a long distance 

 for cider. If you have never tried it, do so, 

 and you will find the first few mornings that 

 your cider will be covered with moths, and 

 from then on you will catch only a few every 

 night. Sorghum cider, I think, is best. 



Udo Toepperwein. 

 Leon Springs, Bexar Co., Tex., Oct. 3. 



[As a general rule, when I see any descrip- 

 tion of some implement or device for catching 

 moth-millers I pay but little attention to it, 

 for, generally speaking, no progressive bee- 

 keeper is troubled with them very much ; and 

 yet here is a simple little plan, where the moth 

 are very plentiful, that may destroy large 

 numbers of these pests. 



Where bees are kept in box hives, and the 

 bees are black, the moth miller does trouble 

 somewhat ; but a sprinkling of Italian blood, 

 or if the bees, even if black, are kept on mov- 

 able frames, will put the bee-keeper in posi- 

 tion to handle these enemies of the bees very 

 easily. All combs when out of the hive, or 

 away from the bees, should be shut up in moth- 

 proof rooms or boxes. If either is where it 

 can have freezing temperature or winter weath- 

 er, both the eggs and the moth-miller will be 

 destroyed. — Ed.] 



THE JONES HIVING-BOX. 



I inclose a drawing of a hiving-box of my 

 invention. You will see how the box rests on 

 the entrance at E. At the other end of the 



box at D is a stick with holes in it, running 

 through a slot with a peg to hold it so as to 

 raise or lower it to suit the bench. The box 

 can be pushed up at E to fit the hive ; and 

 when the lid B is lowered the box is closed, 

 with the exception of small lid C. Smoke 

 bees between hive and box, and close lid C. 

 Let them stand a minute ; take off lid B, and 

 brush bees to the entrance. They will go in, 

 and never fight. I have managed my bees 

 this way for two years, and never lost a swarm. 

 Double them back as fast as they swarm. 

 The cleat F is to hold the lid on. I never 



cut out queen-cells nor clip queens' wings. I 

 have several hiving-boxes, and hive them as 

 fast as the bees swarm, and double them back 

 in the evening. G. S. Jones. 



Cusseta, Ga. 



[Your hiving- box will, no doubt, do its work 

 as you describe ; but it is a great deal of rig- 

 ging to accomplish something that can be 

 brought about much more easily in another 

 way. When hiving swarms in an eight frame 

 hive it is our practice to put on an empty up- 

 per story. The cluster of bees is then held di- 

 rectly over this story, and given a sharp quick 

 dump, when the cover is immediately clapped 

 on. There is no crawling in at the entrance ; 

 the bees simply find their way down among 

 the frames ; and in the course of an hour or 

 two the upper story may be taken off, and the 

 cover put down on the brood-nest proper. I 

 have illustrated your device, not because I 

 think it is practical, but because I think our 

 friends often go "clear around the bush" 

 when they might just as well take a shorter 

 course. — Ed.] 



THOSE DIRTY FEET ; TRAVEL STAIN, AND 

 WHENCE IT COMkS. 



I see much in Gleanings concerning trav- 

 el-stain, and concluded, if permitted, to give 

 my experience of 17 years with it on comb 

 honey. 



A. J. Wright says, p. 574, that bees do not 

 have dirty feet. He may be right in one 

 sense of the word, but their feet and bodies 

 are certainly dirty enough to soil and darken 

 any thing they crawl over continually for a 

 considerable time. Now, it is natural to sup- 

 pose if any thing is continually rubbed over 

 any thing, in time the same will be soiled. 

 Friend Wright mentioned tacking any thing 

 white over a board so arranged that the bees 

 will pass over it. He says, if left through the 

 whole honey-flow it will not be soiled. This 

 is not my experience. I always find the en- 

 trances of hives soiled if a strong colony is in 

 said hive for a few weeks, and the hive just 

 above the entrance is always soiled where the 

 bees alight. If friend W. had taken the sheet 

 of paper he mentioned, and cleaned his hands 

 just as clean as soap and water could make 

 them, and gently passed his hands over the 

 same for 30 minutes he would have found the 

 paper very much discolored ; and as for the 

 bees washing themselves, this tickles me. 

 Mr. Root, you just imagine yourself working 

 in honey, etc., as the little fellows do ; and 

 when you have something very white to 

 handle that you don't want to soil, say you 

 would go through the same performance the 

 bees do, do you think you would be clean 

 enough for the performance? or say you were 

 going to bed on your wife's nice clean sheets 

 and pillows, don't you think there would be 

 some pretty bedding after sleeping on them a 

 few times ? 



I find the bees discolor the comb more 

 while idle than when at work. This, I think, 

 is because the bees, being idle, lie around and 

 crawl over the combs; and, too, they are gath- 

 ering old black wax and propolis, and little 



