596 



sional mild sunny day came. With the re- 

 turn of spring, our demonstrations at the 

 open hive were resumed. Not only were 

 those who had watched the bees in the fall 

 eager to see the hive opened again, but new 

 classes which had entered the school in Feb- 

 ruary were curious about the big white box. 

 With more confidence the teachers who had 

 been studying bee-literature zealously dur- 

 ing the winter months handled the frames 

 before the ever interested audience. 



It was one of the students who came into 

 the laboratory on May 25 with the words 

 that sent such a thrill thru us all : " The 

 be«s have swarmed ! They're up in an ap- 

 ple-tree ! " Forty feet up on the branch of 

 an apple-tree was a wonderful compact 

 conical cluster of thousands of bees which 

 we had known heretofore only in books. A 

 real problem confronted us. Never did a 

 teacher have a more delighted and attentive 

 class, remaining long after the dismissal bell 

 to watch the hiving of the swarm. A new 

 hive had been provided weeks before for 

 just such an occurrence. The Grermantown 

 school was now the proud possessor of two 

 colonies of bees. 



In the fall of 1915, when school was re- 

 sumed, the students were attracted to one 

 of the hives, at that time increased in height 

 by two supers. To give a practical turn to 

 our study of bees, we sold the sections to 

 the students. And very attractive they 

 looked, too, in printed cartons on which we 

 stamped the school name. Incomplete sec- 

 tions were cut into small cubes placed on 

 crackers. Two students played shopkeeper, 

 and sold these " tastes " for a few cents to 

 the eager purchasers. These funds are to 

 place the colonies on a self-supporting ba- 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



sis, SO that we need not apply to the school 

 board to defray expenses for the equipment 

 of the past season and the coming one. Last 

 autumn we had bought sugar for feeding, 

 so that the bees would surely have sufficient 

 winter stores. We also bought a new queen 

 to replace the one reared in the old colony, 

 and which had mated with a black drone. 

 The offspring, hybrids, were unpleasant to 

 handle in class demonstrations. 



In our year and a half acquaintanceship 

 with the bees there came the new experience 

 of moving the hives. The old school was 

 vacated on the first of November, when we 

 moved into a fine new building. One day in 

 December the janitors carried the two hives 

 to their new stand. They constructed a 

 wooden carrier or support on which they 

 bore each hive a distance of two city blocks, 

 being most careful to avoid jolting the 

 hives. 



When we tell of incorporating the rudi- 

 ments of beekeeping with our lessons in 

 zoology we are usually asked, " Do not the 

 students get stung? " 



The question is easily and definitely an- 

 swered. Now and then a girl is stung, but 

 there have not been any serious swellings 

 among the students. They rather glory in 

 their intense but brief suffering, for the 

 spirit of martyrdom assumes strange forms 

 in this age. In view of the fact that in the 

 spring and fall over a hundred girls receive 

 instruction at the open hive, the number 

 stung is a very small percentage. 



In any event, the lessons in zoology have 

 been vivified by contact with a living sub- 

 ject, and an intimate knowledge has been 

 gained of one of the most remarkable phases 

 of insect life. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



HOW TO GET ALL THE HONEY FROM CAPPINGS 



BY H. H. M^INTYRE 



Any contrivance that will get all the 

 honey from cappings, and have it stored 

 and sealed in combs without danger of 

 transmitting possible . foul brood to more 

 than one colony in the yard, will save bee- 

 keepers much disagreeable work, and thou- 

 sands of dollars in spoiled and wasted hon- 

 ey. I have invented a plan along tliis line 

 which I predict will supersede all contri- 

 vances for squeezing, melting, and draining 

 cappings. 



I use a cleaning-box made like the dia- 

 gram shown herewith. It is very simple 

 and inexpensive, and a pleasure to operate. 

 I allow the day's cappings to drain over 

 night in the uncapping box or tank, and 



the next morning dump them into the clean- 

 ing-box. The bees will do the rest. If 

 there is a colony in the yard slightly dis- 



COVER 



TOP BOX^c^06}^Cr^,.^^ 



SECOND 



Super 



o^i^ "- Pry Cap pi NO'S, cleaned by dE£5. 



Opening for Be £3. " 



Only opening /nbox. 



Excluder- 



^ 



riRST. 

 Super 



Colony 



