6Zi 



that they lap over outside the end-bars and 

 bottom-bar about ^4 inch. After nailing on 

 the side bars the space between may be 

 filled with packing- in the usual way. Secure 

 a strip of canvas the right length and width. 

 We use a piece 4V2 iu- wide and 42^^ in. 

 long. Sew the edges together on a sewing- 

 machine, making a long canvas tube._ A 

 large number of these may be sewed in a 

 very few minutes. Fill these with sawdust 

 through a large funnel, as in Fig. 4, the 

 lower end of the mbe being held shut by a 

 weight placed over it on the floor. Stretch 

 the tube around the frame, Fig. 5, letting it 

 lie snugly in the groove formed by the pro- 

 jection of the side boards. Fold the un- 

 stuffed ends of the tube neatly over the top 

 of the frame and secure by nailing on the 

 top-bar, Fig. 6. One or two nails should be 

 driven through the cushion up into the 

 bottom-bar to prevent sagging in the middle. 

 The packing in the old-style division- 

 board often matted down so that the cushion 

 effect was all but lost, the peculiar advan- 

 tage of the padded end then being lost. 

 By this new construction it is possible to 

 work the padding with the fingers so that 

 it is again soft and flexible. We have fouud 

 that these division-boards fit the hive much 

 better, but they are no harder to remove. 



What Makes Bees, that are Normally 



In our last issue, page 813, our old cor- 

 respondent, J. D. Fooshe, who has not writ- 

 ten much for Gleanings of late, but who 

 has had a very wide experience, writes on 

 this subject. When he says that bees are 

 most erratic creatures in the matter of 

 deportment on different days he is absolute- 

 ly right. Of course, old experienced bee- 

 keepers know that bees are crosser during 

 the chilly hours of the morning or night 

 than they are during the middle of the day 

 when it is warm. Beginners learn this to 

 their sorrow sometimes. But the thing that 

 we have noticed that will make bees crosser 

 than almost any thing else is the sudden 

 cessation of a heavy honey-flow or an ab- 

 rupt stoppage of the supply of honey, or 

 syrup, in a robbing rampage. We common- 

 ly say that robbing makes bees cross, 

 there will be no trouble so long as the 

 supply of food holds out; but just the 

 minute the owner removes the supply, there 

 is something doing. The same principle 

 operates in precisely the same way during 

 a natural honey-flow from basswood or 

 buckwheat that are both heavy yielders of 

 nectar. The cessation may be due to a 

 rain or to the natural closing of the flow. 

 It is a well-known fact that bees are apt 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



to be a little cross at the end of a buckwheat 

 or basswood flow — more so than from the 

 closing of clover which is more gradual. 



Some five or six years ago, about the 

 crossest bunch of bees we ever struck, that 

 previously had been as quiet as kittens, and 

 could be bumped around and handled in all 

 kinds of rough ways, were some fine Ital- 

 ians at our Harrington yard. At that time, 

 about ten or eleven o'clock, there would be 

 a heavy roar of bees on honey-dew. In the 

 mean time the sun would dry this honey- 

 dew down to a point where the bees could 

 not get it, and thpii there was trouble. The 

 dew of the next morning would loosen it 

 np again, when the bees would be working 

 on it as strong as ever; but in about half 

 an hour after the honey dew had dried up, 

 when there was no more to be had, the little 

 rascals would be, to put it mildly, ugly. 

 We attempted to go through a hive to see 

 how much of the black stuff they were gath- 

 ei-ing. No, sir, 'e. They let us know we 

 should mind our own business and let them 

 severely alone. They would rush out to 

 attack, literally by the hundreds, when we 

 opened the hive. Smoke was worse than 

 useless. Once or twice we beat an inglorious 

 retreat; for a hundred bees sending their 

 istings into the hands and through the 

 trousers was more than we could stand. The 

 minute we came to renew the fray with 

 gTeat clouds of smoke they would rush out 

 as furiously as ever. Nor was this condi- 

 tion confined to any particular hive. 



If any one had visited this yard at that 

 time he would have naturally concluded that 

 we had the crossest strain of bees that ever 

 was ; but in a few days after the honey-dew 

 flow was over, they were almost back to 

 their normal — as qaiet as kittens. 



In trijDS we have made through the State 

 of New York, when buckwheat was at its 

 height, we have noticed time and time again 

 that bees during the middle of the day were 

 awfully cross. We at one time concluded 

 the buckwheat men did not know what 

 gentle bees were. The reason of the cross- 

 ness was because the buckwheat stopped 

 along about nine or ten o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, and began again in the afternoon. This 

 sudden stoppage leaves the bees in bad 

 humor, as it did in the case of the honey- 

 dew. Again, we have noticed that, when 

 there are comparatively few bees, and large 

 areas of buckwheat, so that they can gath- 

 er nectar all daj^, they are comparatively 

 quiet. 



Another thing that will make bees cross 

 is the presence of snakes or skunks. The 

 latter will pry around the entrances of the 

 hives at night. Of course the bees rush out 



