444 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



apiaries and has to use the force-swarm 

 method; and this is, the bees will build 

 more worker comb after they are shaken 

 oflF on to two half bodies, and the final re- 

 moval of the lower half. I have had them 

 build every comb of the ten used worker- 

 cells; but more often the outside combs, and 

 perhaps one or two more, would contain 

 small corners of drone cells, which corners 

 could easily be cut out and replaced with 

 worker comb; whereas, by using- the deep 

 frames I had no end of drone- cells, besides 

 the trouble of making- the bees stay. 



This question of making them stay after 

 shaking off has troubled many bee-keepers 

 besides myself a good deal formerly; but by 

 close attention to details this trouble can be 

 easily overcome. When I first practiced 

 the shaking-off plan I would, as many do 

 it to day, shake the bees off after they indi- 

 cated their intention to swarm by deposit- 

 ing eggs in queen-cells. I thought I had 

 no time to fool away. As a rule I had to 

 hive them again the next day, and perhaps 

 a few times more, thereby losing more time 

 than if I had done it right at first. 



The first instructions I had about shak- 

 ing off bees, as given by Mr. Stachelhau- 

 sen, plainly point out that the prospective 

 ssvarm should be thoroughly aroused by 

 smoking, and pounding on the hive, so that 

 the bees will fill themselves with honey, 

 just as they do before leaving the hive as a 

 swarm. Is it any wonder the bees refuse 

 to stay in an empty hive with a prospect of 

 starving before them? It took me quite a 

 while to find out that this arousing the bees 

 was the most important point; and I find 

 that many bee-keepers entirely overlook 

 this, and therefore denounce the forced- 

 swarm method as impracticable — the same 

 as I reasoned not so very long ago. 



But, to come back to Ihe shallow-frame 

 and hive question. I consider the use of the 

 shallow hive as invaluable in the production 

 of comb honey. After I reduce the hive to 

 but one super, with every frame of the ten 

 filled with brood, egg-s, larvae, the bees 

 have simply no room for storage of honey, 

 and therefore all has to go up into the sec- 

 tions. Plenty of bees hatch every day, so 

 the queen has empty cells to lay in. This 

 has to be closely watched, as the queen 

 must be given room to lay in or she will 

 swarm out. 



Of course, this makes extra work; but 

 who would not be willing to do a little ex- 

 tra work for a superful of nice honey? 

 When the honey season draws to an end, 

 the section supers must be taken off and 

 shallow extracting frames given for the 

 bees to fill for winter or they will starve. 



To sum it all up, the whole secret oi suc- 

 cess is not so much how you do things, but 

 how conscientiotisly you do things — how 

 much attention you pay to details. A very 

 small item overlooked means failure, espe- 

 cially in ccmb honey production. 



In closing this article I should like to ask 

 the following question: Why do you not use 

 white Cottonwood for sections? This will 



bend as readil3' as bass wood, if not better; 

 is cheaper, and more easily obtained along 

 our great river bottoms. There is a certain 

 kind just as white as basswoor, and takes 

 as good a finish, to my knowledge. As to 

 four-piece sections, it seems to me that 

 would be too much tinkering when you have 

 to put from 6000 to 10 000 sections together 

 at a time. The only advantage would be 

 that a bee-keeper could make them himself 

 with very little machinery. 

 Pomona, Cal. 



[The idea of getting bees well filled with 

 honey before shaking is important, and may 

 account for the failures of some who may 

 have overlooked it. The reader may read 

 this article over very carefully, and some 

 parts of it he had better " paste in his hat." 



Regarding sectional brood chambers, if 

 the truth were known we would find that 

 very few who have given them a compara- 

 tive test (I know of only one) have aban- 

 doned them. There is not enough cotton- 

 wood for section-making. — Ed.] 



SWARMS WITH CLIPPED QUEENS; THE POP- 

 PLETON SULPHUR CURE FOR BEE PA- 

 RALYSIS A SUCCESS. 



I write to ask about clipping the wings 

 of queens. I have only twenty colonies, so 

 of course I can not afford to put in much of 

 my time around them. During the swarm- 

 ing season, I look at them at noon when I 

 come from the field to dinner, and then look 

 at them again just before going to work. 

 What would be the result if I should clip 

 my queens, and they should swarm when I 

 am not around? 



My hives all rest on the ground with only 

 a li'tle piece of board under them. 



Would you advise me to clip my queens 

 under the circumstances? 



I had three colonies affected with paraly- 

 sis about three weeks ago, so I tried the 

 sulphur remedy of Mr. O. O. Poppleton, 

 page 796, Sept. 15, 1903. 



I made a small bag of cheese-cloth, put 

 about a heaping tablespoonful of sulphur 

 into it, then took out two frames from the 

 brood chamber, shook the sulphur over 

 them thoroughly, then shook the bag in ihe 

 space left by them; slid the next frame 

 along, shook between it and the next, and 

 so on through the hive. I think every bee 

 on the combs got a thorough dusting with 

 the sulphur, and there was plenty on the 

 combs for the bees that should come in from 

 the fields. I then dusted the sulphur in 



