•550 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURf 



lo'wa and Wisconsin beekeepers at McGregor, la.. May 19. 



would show that the success of this method 

 that has recently become so popular depends 

 almost entirely upon exciting the emotion of 

 fear or fright in the bees. 



There is really not much that is new in 

 this method, at least in the principle, al- 

 though there may be in the method of man- 

 ipulation, Mr. Doolittle having described it 

 very fully in his book on queen-rearing, 

 page 112, first edition, some twentj^-flve 

 years ago. He says, " Having found the 

 queen, she is killed or otherwise taken care 

 of, and the hive closed. 1 next blow in at 

 the entrance enough smoke to alarm the 

 whole colony, pounding with my fist on the 

 lop of the hive until I hear a loud roaring 

 inside, which shows (hat the bees are filling 

 themselves with honey. I now let the queen 



that I have in the cage run in at the en- 

 trance, smoking hev as she goes in, while I 

 still keep i^ounding on the hive. In doing 

 this, nothing but wood smoke should be 

 used." 



Mr. Doolittle uses smoke and pounding 

 to frighten the bees, while Mr. Miller uses 

 smoke alone, although he says he can do it 

 by pounding alone. The princiiDle in both 

 appears to be to frighten the bees. Mr. 

 Doolittle seems to think success depends 

 ranch on the bees filling themselves wirh 

 honey, and the odor of the smoke, while Mr. 

 Miller says the odor has nothing to do with 

 it, as he can secure the same results by 

 pounding on the hive to frighten the bees 

 without the use of any smoke. 



Middleburv. Vt 



IOWA AND WISCONSIN BEEMEN AT McGREGOR 



BY FRANK (_'. PELLETT 



Tlie joint meeting of Iowa and Wisconsin 

 beekeepers, which was the first of eight 

 meetings announced for the summer by the 

 Iowa beekeepers' association, was an un- 

 qualified success. The meeting was held on 

 May 19 at the Heights overlooking the 

 Mississippi River, one of the most beautiful 

 spots in the middle West. From the top of 

 tlie blutf where tlie picnic dinner was spread 



one could see up and down the river for 

 many miles and get a splendid view of the 

 Wisconsin shore across the stream. Aside 

 from a wreck on the Milwaukee railroad 

 which prevented some from reaching the 

 place, every thing was ideal. The day was 

 fine, and abundant shade made an outdoor 

 meeting very enjoj'able. Many came from 

 considerable distances to listen to Hon. N. 



