772 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



cheaper than the honey of the other fellow, 

 who puts out a cheap inferior watery article. 

 Yes, sir ; I have great respect for the " double- 

 price ' ' man when he gives me double-price 

 value. — Ed.] 



"''^Rf^^^- 





MOVING A WHOLE APIARY A SHORT DIS- 

 TANCE ; A NEW PL.AN. 



I believe it is generally understood among 

 bee-keepers that it is quite impossible to move 

 bees when they are working, without consid- 

 erable loss. I moved my apiary the last of 

 May, about half a mile, without the loss of 

 any. This is the way I accomplished it : In 

 the day time I prepared my hives by tacking 

 cleats across the bottom-boards and bodies, 

 and also covers. I removed the oilcloth so the 

 bees could cluster up in the cover (my covers 

 have a three-inch air-space, ventilated). At 

 night I stopped the entrances and put them on 

 the wagon, the box having plenty of straw in 

 the bottom, with boards on top of the straw 

 for hives to stand on. Then I hauled them 

 over and put them down anywhere, and left 

 them until next day, with entrances still 

 closed tight. I left in the old yard two hives, 

 one at either side of the yard, each with a lit- 

 tle brood, and a few bees and plenty of combs. 

 Next day I went over and arranged the hives 

 in the places I wished them ; then about elev- 

 en o'clock went to each hive, thumped it, be- 

 gan removing obstruction at entrance, smok- 

 ing bees at the same time. I went home to 

 dinner and found a few bees coming back, but 

 not nearly as many as I expected, and they 

 were fast finding the two hives that I had left. 

 I let those two hives stay until the next night, 

 then took them to the cellar and left them 

 two nights and a day ; took them to the new 

 yard early in the morning ; placed one hive in 

 its proper position, took the combs out that 

 had no bees on, and placed the combs with 

 bees from the other hive in their place. I 

 then closed the hive and went to the old yard 

 to watch for bees. I do not think there were 

 a dozen bees lost in the whole operation. 



Kilbourne, Wis. ^^i^K.C. H. PiERCE. 



^[I believe your plan will work. In any 

 event it is more feasible to move a whole api- 

 ary a short distance than to move one colony 

 to some other portion of the apiary. When 

 all the hives are moved, the bees seem to dis- 

 cover that a most radical change has been 

 made, and it does not take them long to see 

 that they have got to adapt themselves to 

 their new conditions. But I should not be 

 surprised if some of the old bees, after they 

 have been to the field, would forget them- 

 selves and make a bee-line for the old home. 

 But perhaps they are not like human 

 " folkses." I should like to hear from others 

 who are in a position to try this plan of mov- 

 ing an apiary a short distance. — Ed.] 



ARTIFICIAHY RIPENED HONEY VS. NATU- 

 RAI^I^Y RIPENED. 



Mr. E. R. Root: — I notice that you still 

 have in the A B C of Bee Culture that imper- 

 fect cut of my old honey-evaporator. For 

 many years it has been laid aside, and I have 

 allowed nature's own plan — the bees — to do 

 the evaporating, as they can do it better and 

 cheaper than I can ; and more — the nice lot of 

 beautiful beeswax from the cappings is a source 

 of agreeable profit. 



The quality of the honey is most decidedly 

 superior to the artificially evaporated article. 

 All artificial honey-evaporators, where arti- 

 ficial heat is not employed, need very close 

 attention in order to accomplish any good. 

 When the air is thirsty it will take up water 

 out of honey ; but when it is pretty well sup- 

 plied with water, then the honey will take it 

 from the air, and you have gained, and more. 



For a good many years I have contended 

 that it is better to allow the bees to finish the 

 honey. 



I hope it may be agreeable to you to publish 

 this in Gleanings, and also to discontinue 

 that evaporator cut in your ABC book. 



S. T. pettit. 



Aylmer West, Ont., Can., July 25. 



[I believe it is generally contended that ex- 

 tracted honey ripened in the hive is superior 

 to that taken from the combs before they are 

 capped, and thickened in evaporating - pans 

 artificially, although I have tasted artificially 

 ripened honey that was quite the equal of that 

 which the bees ripened. — Ed.] 



judging OF the purity of queens ; HOW 

 TO GET DRONES OUT OF SEASON. 



With a suggestion brought out by a Stray 

 Straw on page 381 I will ask a question con- 

 cerning the reply to John R. Millard, page 

 352, on the same subject. You say, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, " In the first place, you can not determine 

 a queen's purity by the markings of her 

 drones." The statement is true; but as you 

 here refer to rearing drones from a virgin 

 queen, I will ask whether one can not be cer- 

 tain of the purity of a virgin, if it is known 

 that her mother is pure. When you have 

 worked the plan there outlined, for securing 

 drones from a choice young queen, until it 

 will work no more, remove the queen with 

 enough bees to keep her laying, and a day or 

 two later remove all brood, substituting an 

 abundance of drone comb ; allow them to be 

 hopelessly queenless two or three days, and 

 feed during the time. Then return the queen 

 or a younger one, without introducing by the 

 caging plan, and see if the drone comb is not 

 filled with eggs first. Of course, the queen 

 must again be removed to secure the develop- 

 ment of the drones. This is not a new idea, 

 but no doubt many of your readers are not 

 aware of the fact that, if a young queen be 

 given to a populous colony of hopelessly 

 queenless bees, the first demand is for drone 

 eggs. 



I am not in " the extreme south " by a good 

 deal ; in fact, I have known the temperature 



