918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



once see what an advantage this is going to 

 be in the improvement of stock. It places at 

 the disposal of every queen breeder in the 

 country the finest queens of every other 

 queen-bree ler, and the criss cross ferlilizalion 

 obtained will certainly be productive of won- 

 derful developments. My own golden-all- 

 overs have been much improved by the intro- 

 duction of the finest drone brood, posted to 

 me in egg-form at very little cost, etc. Then 

 I have arrangements for fertilizing 40 virgins 

 to the full colony, at a minimum of cost; im- 

 provements in nuclei management ; an en- 

 tirely new plan for securing comb honey in 

 larger amounts and on surer bases than the 

 old methods; new honey-packages not en- 

 tirely perfected. I need the help of the fra- 

 ternity to bring complete success in many of 

 these experiments. Several are trying my 

 U. D. arrangements. I have succeeded finely 

 with it myself ; but I do not know what it 

 will do in the hands of others. 



LSwarthmore's queen-cell hatchery is very 

 similar in general design and principle to the 

 hatchery described some time ago by W. H. 

 Pridgen, in the Bee-keepers^ Revieiu, and later 

 in the American Bee Jqurnal. The principal 

 difference consists, not in the general con- 

 struction of the hatchery itself, but in the 

 manner of making the queen-cups. A careful 

 reading of the article, in connection with the 

 illustration, will show how this is done ; and 

 although I have not had an opportunity to try 

 it, it strikes me as being the simplest of any of 

 the methods heretofore proposed. Whether 

 this is an improvement on the Pridgen queen- 

 cups or goblets I can not say; but it appears to 

 me as being simpler, and certainly easier for 

 the average bee-keeper to undertake. In a 

 word, Pridgen and Doolittle make their queen- 

 goblets by dipping. Mr. H. E. Hill, of the 

 American Bee keeper, by molding ; and Mr. 

 Swarthmore by compression, using a mold- 

 ing stick. The last named is cleaner, and 

 more expeditiously performed. 



As Mr. Swarthmore says, these cup's can be 

 grafted or not, according to the notion of the 

 queen-breeder ; or they can be supplied with 

 " cradles " containing young larvae and larval 

 food. 



With this exception the plan is essentially 

 the same as the Pridgen, which he will de- 

 scribe elaborately very soon in our columns. 

 We are now preparing a large number of en- 

 gravings which will illustrate each successive 

 step.— Ed ] 



MOVING BEES SHORT DISTANCES. 



How Far do Bees Ordinarily Fly in Quest of 



Honey ; Moving Bees Short Distances ; a True 



Bee and Bear Story. 



BY I. S. TII,T. 



Mr. Root .—On page 772, Oct. 1, you ask 

 for the experience of others in regard to loss 

 of bees when moved short distances. I have 

 for a number of years moved my apiary, or 

 nearly all of it, just after white clover is past, 



two miles from home to catch the willow-herb 

 honeyflow, and later the mint and fall blos- 

 soms, and I would say, before I forget it, that 

 the flow from willow-herb seems to be very 

 uncertain in this locality. I have had only 

 one good yield from it in four years, although 

 there was just a sea of blossoms each year. 

 Some one may say, "Why move at all when 

 you are only 2 miles from pasturage? " We 

 are told by good authority that bees will 

 fly seven miles in search of nectar, in extreme 

 cases, but, so far as my observation goes, I 

 find that they will not do much at storing sur- 

 plus when obliged to go even two miles. 



But we will say that they do go two miles 

 in search of nectar (from my observation only 

 very few do); they could not make nearly as 

 many trips in a day as if they had only half a 

 mile or less to go. 



In regard to loss of bees when moving in 

 the working season, I would say that I never 

 had more than very slight loss. I use the 

 eight-frame hive with flat cover, leaving on 

 from one to two supers in warm weather, us- 

 ing wedges so as to make an entrance 12j4Xl 

 inch. I nail strips up the sides of the hive, 

 reaching from the cover to the bottom-board 

 to insure against shifting, and letting out 

 bees. I generally do this toward evening, us- 

 ing the smoker to keep them quiet ; then when 

 they quit flying I go around and put on the 

 entrance-closers, and, presto ! we are ready to 

 load up. I always move at night. 



My entrance-closers are made similar to 

 your entrance-guards, only instead of zinc I 

 use wire screen bound with tin around the 

 edges with three blocks to hold them in shape, 

 instead of two on your entrance-guards, one 

 block being in the center of the closer. To 

 fasten to the hive I use three 6 penny wire 

 nails driven through the blocks into the bot- 

 tom-board. I move with one horse, using a 

 low steel wheel truck with bolster springs and 

 a platform thereon, taking 16 colonies at a 

 load. 



I always leave a few of the weakest colonies 

 at home to catch the returning bees ; but there 

 are never more than 100 bees that return home 

 from each colony moved. I always leave the 

 bees closed in next day until they become 

 uneasy, then I use smoke in opening them, 

 and set up a board or stick in front of the hive 

 to bother them in coming out, so that they 

 will mark their location. 



In the fall, when the honey-flow is over I 

 move home again for winter, and have had 

 but very few bees go back to the old location 

 then. 



My bees are all on wired frames, and I have 

 never had any trouble in breaking down 

 combs. This year I averaged 50 lbs. to the 

 colony after moving. 



Now for a real bear story. There is occa- 

 sionally a bear seen around these parts yet, 

 but they are getting to be scarce. Every year, 

 about the middle of September, one comes 

 around to see the bees and get a share of the 

 honey. They seem to have a "mouth for 

 honey," as the fellow said. Well, this year 

 one came on a Tuesday night and picked a 

 hive up and carried it about 6 feet, took all of 



