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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



eases, but I believe very little in medicines, 

 and would again urge good air, good food, and 

 good exercise. 



Of course, the fancier will wish to study up 

 the business. The best book I have seen is 

 that of Ernest Wilkins, "The Belgian Hare," 

 of Wantage, England. Mr. B. C. Piatt, of 

 I/OS Angeles, Cal., has also published a very 

 good work, " Bonanza Rabbitry." The price, 

 fl.OO, is exorbitant. "The Rabbit," by \V. 

 N. Richardson, and published in Syracuse, 

 New York, price 25 cents, is worth reading. 

 A little work, " The Belgian Hare," by Eph. 

 Ruth, Poneto, Indiana, is sold for ten cents. 



From what I have said, I think we are safe 

 in the conclusion that this new industry has 

 real merit. It will give us an excellent food 

 at a very low rate. I doubt if any meat is 

 more wholesome than the Belgian rabbit. I 

 feel sure that no meat can be produced at a 

 less cost. The business is safe, the equipment 

 inexpensive, and the space required for a rab- 

 bitry is very slight. Therefore we may con- 

 fidently expect that the production of Belgian 

 rabbits will become more and more a favorite 

 pursuit, especially with those who are not 

 very strong, and so have more of care and 

 thoughtfulness than of physical energy to 

 give to their business. 



Now a word about cooking the hares. They 

 may be cooked just as chickens are prepared 

 for the table — fried, roasted, stewed, steamed, 

 or fricasseed. What is better than a good 

 chicken pie ? A Belgian-hare pie is equally 

 good. Doesn't a good chicken-stew, with 

 white flaky biscuit, satisfy the most fastidious 

 palate? Well, a rabbit-stew similarly dished 

 up is just as good. 



Claremont, Cal. 



[While I was in attendance upon the Na- 

 tional convention at Chicago I roomed with 

 the Rev. E. T. Abbott. Of course, we talked 

 as only bee-keepers can, and one of the topics 

 of our conversation was Belgian hares as a 

 business to be run in connection with bee- 

 keeping. Said Mr. Abbott, "I keep Belgian 

 hares, and I keep them for sale ; but I want 

 to say to you that many extravagant state- 

 ments are now being made concerning them 

 that the facts will not warrant. There are 

 bound to be many disappointed investors in 

 this pursuit. It is stated, among other things, 

 that they are almost free from disease, that 

 they are very cleanly, and all that. The truth 

 is, they are just as subject to disease as any 

 stock ; and if their hutches are not cleaned 

 daily they will become positively nasty. One 

 chap who called on me was very anxious to go 

 into the business ; but when he saw me clean 

 out one of the hutches one morning he con- 

 cluded he didn't want any Belgian hares, and 

 I haven't seen any thing of him since. I tell 

 you, when the selling of fancy stock at big 

 prices is over, and there are no more suckers 

 to buy at big prices, the fad will seek its level 

 like every other good business. The growing 

 of hares is all right. There is money in it, if 

 properly managed. The meat is good, and 

 the animals are enormously prolific ; but the 

 dear public should know the facts ; and one 



of these facts is that the hares have a way of 

 getting sick and dying before any thing can 

 be done." 



Prof. Cook, while he has painted the bright 

 side, has also given the other side by showing 

 the importance of pine air, cleanliness, and 

 exercise, and that the rabbits have disease, 

 and 'that such disease is often caused by neg- 

 lect. — Ed.] 



. • .»«»««« 



FINDING QUEENS. 



The Use of Shallow Brood-chambers and the Shak- 

 ing-out Function ; Green's Uueen-finding Box. 



BY J. A. GREEN. 



Several months ago the editor asked for 

 methods of finding queens. Although some 

 excellent ideas on the subject have been given, 

 I think it will bear a little more light, as the 

 ability to find the queen quickly is of the 

 greatest importance, and a great deal of time 

 is often wasted in looking for a queen that 

 obstinately refuses to be found. 



Few bee keepers, except beginners, need 

 any instructions in ordinary cases. To them 

 we have nothing to say except that the way to 

 find a queen is to look for her, as J. H. Martin 

 says. But occasionally you will find a lot of 

 bees, or perhaps only a colony or two in an 

 apiary, in which you simply can not find the 

 queens by any ordinary method, at least not 

 without consuming a great deal of time. Here 

 is where a knowledge of " kinks " and short 

 cuts comes into play. Moreover, if we can 

 save even a few minutes' time in finding each 

 queen, on an average it may amount to a 

 great deal in the course of a season, in a large 

 apiary. 



I almost always use the "shaking-out" 

 method of finding queens. The editor seems 

 not to have found the plan a success, which is 

 probably due to unfamiliarity. I do not be- 

 lieve this plan will ever be very successful 

 when the brood-chamber is in only one story, 

 especially if it is more than six inches deep, or 

 has more than eight frames. When the hive 

 is heavy with honey, as the editor says, it takes 

 a great deal of strength to do a thorough job 

 of shaking ; and consequently this plan is not 

 very well adapted to any but the double divisi- 

 ble-brood-chamber hive in shallow sections. 



In practice I always smoke the bees out of 

 the upper story, and then shake them out of 

 the lower one. You must have a good smoker 

 in good running order, and you must be pre- 

 pared to work quickly and without any hitches 

 or waste motions. Raise the cover of the 

 hive, and blow a steady stream of smoke over 

 the top of the hive — not in one place, but so 

 as to cover the whole top of the hive as nearly 

 as possible. Do not blow the smoke down so 

 as to fill the whole hive with smoke. The 

 only bees you want to smoke are the rear 

 guards, but you must keep them on the run. 



As the bees retreat, follow them up with 

 smoke until you see that most of them have 

 gone down into the lower story. Now, if you 

 continue smoking them, or if you are slow in 

 your motions, there will be a reaction ; and 



