22 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jam. 1 



COGGSHALL STUDENT BEE-KEEPER. 



A few of Coggshall's Short Cuts; Kicking Supers 

 off; how to mal<e an Uncapping*can of a Keg. 



BY LOUIS F. WAHL. 



After I became interested in bee-keeping 

 I subscribed for Gleanings, where I saw 

 a notice of the Ontario Co. Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation, and was fortunate in meeting W. 

 L. Coggshall, and engaged to work for him 

 during the buckwheat season of 1900. The 

 bee-fever was so contagious therethat I could 

 not escape catching it. and have no hope.s 

 of recovery. 



This year I felt the need of reviewing my 

 enthusiasm and learning a few more of his 

 short cuts. 



During one week with him this year, W. 

 L,, Archie Coggshall, and I drove a dis- 

 tance of about 75 miles, extracted 11,500 lbs. 

 of honey from 7 apiaries, numbering about 

 600 colonies. This being the close of the 



overalls and jumper in one complete suit, 

 that just buttons in front; a pair of bicycle 

 pants-guards; and a black bobinet veil, 

 with sometimes a pair of gloves added. 



You will see by the engraving that my 

 method is practically' the same as Cogg- 

 shall's, so I have little to say now about my 

 method. There are a few things that I do 

 differently, being led astray by false 

 prophets, and, like Saul's conversion on his 

 way to Damascus, it is hard for me to kick 

 against the pricks. 



I am about through buying stuff that is 

 costly, for quick and practical work. On a 

 visit to Mr. Coggshall's and I. L. Scho- 

 field's, he showed us several things he 

 bought and put Away, never using them. 

 One was an uncapping-can with a rig- 

 ging to hold the frame. It made me 

 laugh, and I thought I wasn't the only 

 black sheep in the l^ock. Just look at the 

 keg in the engraving of the inside of my 

 hone3'-house, with a narrow piece of board 

 on the top to rest the frame on. When it is 





BKt;-YAKD OF LOUIS F. WAHL, CHILI CFNTRE. N. V. 



harvest, and right after the heavy wind and 

 rain storms, our best day was 3000 lbs. I 

 took off all the combs and supers, wheeled 

 them in, and received only about a dozen 

 stings, and used the kick act too. Most 

 people do their kicking over general opin- 

 ions, and don't use it in the right place. 



Right here is an important point: After a 

 colony is once subdued by a little smoke 

 which is puffed under the oilcloth covering 

 while flopping it, and the frames taken out, 

 no matter how much kicking is done with 

 the super any more than prying it with a 

 screwdriver or hive- tool. 



But one thing I noticed in particular. 

 The bees were more vicious on the ends of 

 some rows where the skunks had been at 

 work. On page 760 F. Greiner speaks of 

 Dr. Miller's bee- suit not meeting the re- 

 quirements of Coggshall. Well, the suit 

 that does meet his requirements is a white 

 duck combination suit, or double-decker 



full, stir it up like mincemeat; put a screen 

 on top and turn it upside down over the 

 store-can. and it will drain out as dry as 

 powder. 



I am one of the twelve that W. L. spoke 

 of on page 758, who made a success in the 

 bee-business by reading the bee-journals 

 from cover to cover. There is one thing 

 about reading that we need — some methotl 

 of keeping track of things so we don't for- 

 get. 



I have 70 colonies in my home apiary, 

 and 55 in my out-apiary. I am peddling 

 extracted amber honey at 15 cts. without 

 package, or Si. 50 per gallon. I sell from 

 70 to 80 lbs. a day, and will tell later how 

 I do it. 



Chili Centre, N. Y. 



[Your uncapping-can (keg^), or perhaps 

 it is Coggshall's, is a very good arrange- 

 ment, and I don't doubt it fulfills a very 

 excellent purpose. 



