1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



395 



may lean against some limb of a tree, and it 

 is left thus till I wish to care for the swarm. 

 Mr. Manum provided legs for his pole so it 

 could be set up anywhere in the apiary ; but 

 as there are plenty of trees in and about my 

 bee-yard I like this way best, as the poles are 

 not so inconvenient to handle without the 

 legs. If not convenient to hive at once, the 

 swarm can be left in and on the catcher all 

 day, if desired, and no danger of their taking 

 any hurt or running away to the woods." 



" But suppose you wish to hive the swarm 

 as soon as possible, is it necessary to wait for 

 all to cluster on the catcher ? " 



"No. If the place of hiving is within four 

 or five rods of the alighting place, I wait for 

 only about half of the bees to get clustered 

 in and on the catcher, when I take it to the 

 hive and start those I have to running in, when 

 the whole swarm will come." 



" Do you use this plan altogether? " 



" No. As the season advances, so that the 

 new swarm needs some help to give the best 

 results in comb honej', I use what is known 

 as the Heddon plan, and here especially is a 

 clipped queen a decided improvement over 

 those having their wings." 



" How do you proceed in this latter case? " 



" I catch the queen as before ; and as soon 

 as I have her I get a new hive and bring it to 

 the old stand. I next turn the old hive half 

 way around so it faces in an opposite direction 

 from what it did, and place the new one just 

 where the old one stood. Next, I place the 

 cage, with the queen in it, endwise to the en- 

 trance, one end being within an inch of the 

 center of the entrance. The bees returning 

 from the fields, and which have, during the 

 process of changing hives, been hovering 

 around, now find the queen when they set up 

 a hum, and fan their wings, snon attracting 

 the swarm that now comes pouring into the 

 hive by the thousands. As soon as the major- 

 ity have gone in, and the bees become some- 

 what quiet, the stopper is removed from the 

 cage, and the queen runs in with the swarm. 

 If the queen is released as soon as the swarm 

 begins to return, they will sometimes begin to 

 swarm out again, not seeming to be satisfied 

 that they have done all the swarming they 

 ought to have done." 



"I think I understand now, and will not 

 bother you longer. Good day." 



" Hold on a minute. I have not told you 

 the best part that comes from having the wings 

 of all fertile queens clipped. In all apiaries 

 having more than four or five colonies, there 

 is alwaj s sure to come a time when two or 

 more swarms will issue together. If two or 

 more swarms come out at once, I always use 

 the catcher as first given, u.sing one of the 

 queens to secure the swarms. The other 

 queens are caged with a few of their bees, and 

 left in a shady place till I get all in readiness, 

 when I place one at the entrance of each hive 

 prepared to receive a swarm, except the hive 

 that is to have the queen now in the catcher. 

 I now carry the combined swarm around to 

 the hives, placing one-half, one-third, one- 

 fourth, etc., of the bees in front of each, ac- 

 cording to the number in the combined swarm, 



letting a queen go in with each part, when 

 the work is done. In this way it is no more 

 trouble to manage several swarms where they 

 come out together than it is to hive them if 

 they were to come out singly. Thus much of 

 the dread which used to be experienced when 

 two or more swarms come out together is done 

 away wiih." 



' ' Well, this last is a part I had never thought 

 of, and I am glad you kept me from going till 

 you had told me. But I must be off. Good 

 day again." 



[I solicit questions for this department; but they must be 

 put on separate slips of paper, and marked " Gleanings De- 

 partment." If you desire an immediate answer, say so at 

 the time of writing, and a private reply will be sent you in 

 advance before your question with answer appears in these 

 columns; but questions that are mixed up with business mat- 

 ters will not only be subject to considerable delay, but pos- 

 sibly will receive no answer at all. — Editor.] 



CANDIED VS. lylOUID HONEY IN COLORADO 



AND The east. 



Friend TPcf/ .• ^ GIvEanings has come to 

 hand, and I am pleased to notice that my arti- 

 cle is published. Of course, I read your foot- 

 note the first thing. I was surprised to read 

 where you say I might change my mind if I 

 were to study the markets in Colorado, and in 

 the same paragraph you take exactly the same 

 position that I did. Then I ' ' smoled a smile. ' ' 

 Just turn to page 304, and read the paragraph 

 commencing about the middle of the second 

 column, and then own up that I've caught you 

 napping. If I change my mind you will have 

 to change yours too. May be you see my 

 whole article was intended to advise against 

 putting candied honey on the market in the 

 East instead of liquid, as I believe it would 

 work incalculable damage. There is a lot more 

 that might be said yet, but I will wait develop- 

 ments. I will say to you, though, of my crop 

 of 8000 pounds that I raised last year, about 

 6000 was choice clover and basswood extracted 

 honey which is all sold at about double the 

 prices mentioned by Mr. Aikin, and I am not 

 going to give up without a fight. I must, 

 however, disagree with you where you call al- 

 falfa honey the " best in the world." I got 

 about 40 lbs. from your people that was very 

 thick, but it was no thicker than my clover 

 honey, and I have yet to find a single person 

 who does not like the clover the better, and 

 the great tendency of alfalfa honey to candy 

 is very much against it, for I hold that it is an 

 unnatural condition. Chalon Fowls. 



Oberlin, Ohio, Apr. 23. 



[Yes, I grant that you did say something 

 about locality and its bearing on this question; 

 but the allusion is so brief, and the other re- 

 marks so prominent, that you lead one to 

 think you would advise all bee keepers to sell 

 uncandied honey. 



If you can get twice as much money for 

 your liquid extracted as Aikin can for his can- 



