February, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



119 



:^ 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



ere kuriiuks rite thay no sumthin. wen yu 

 go tu cannurdy ergin halterman er tu en sea 

 fu oawnt git sum mor tu rite gude stuf. i 

 ges i cude rite mor but it ortter du fer 

 Avonset Yures trewlv 



Hen E. Rich 

 mush rat holler 



mishigun 



they 



When Bees Want to Swarm 

 Swarm 



About forty years ago we boys rescued 

 a cluster of bees left in a bee-tree after 

 the honey had been taken out. We sawed 

 off about five feet of the trunk, wrapjied a 

 sheet around the whole tiling, and carried 

 it home. There we set the trunk on end, 

 placed a board on top, and fastened a wide 

 board across the opening that had been split 

 off with the exceiJtiou of a large hole near 

 the bottom about 8 by 12 inches. We left 

 this so we could put a dish in to feed the 

 bees. 



The colony built up rapidly; and before 

 getting the cavity in the trunk half full of 

 honey it sent out three swarms. The bees 

 did not have to crawl in and out thru an 

 entrance — they just flew in and out thru 

 that large hole. Talk about bees swarming 

 less if they have room and ventilation ! 

 These bees had both. 



I can make more money buying bees and 

 wearing them out than I can by raising 

 them. I buy bees every year and I find 

 they swarm the most the first year; but I 

 get more honey out of them the second year. 

 When bees are kept busy they will not 

 swarm very much. I never allow my bees 

 to hang outside of the hive. 



WIDE VERSUS NARROW SPACING. 



I bought 60 colonies of bees a few years 

 ago in hives that had no frames, the combs 

 being built on bars only, these bars being 

 spaced 1% inches from center to center. 

 These w-ere the largest bees I ever saw, 

 and they brought in the honey too. There 

 were very small entrances to the hive, so I 

 put each block underneath to give more 

 ventilation. Did they swarm? I guess so, 

 but only the first summer. 



Bees will raise some drones; and when 

 the frames are crow'ded too close together 

 the drones are likely to be dwarfed. In 

 breeding domestic animals we take great 

 ]iaiiis to develop the sire. 



Some bees do not require more than 1%- 

 inch spacing. Why is it tliat most of the 



improved bees are broad and short? Is it 

 because the frames were spaced ton (lose? 

 The bees that gather honey are long-bodied. 

 Why not breed for long slender bees? 



I have bought a few queens every year 

 for the last ten years, and have tried queens 

 from two different experiment stalions, but 

 can find none to equal my own stock ob- 

 tained by buying bees and sifting out the 

 best. 



Ridgeland, Wis. W. E. Krause. 



New Style Picture Frame 



This is not the picture of an Eskimo wear- 

 ing a Persian-lamb hood in Arctic regions 

 in winter time. It is just Mr. P. W. Stowell, 

 of Otsego, Mich., in hot July, sticking his 

 face into a hole in the screen of a swarm- 

 catcher when loaded down with bees, and 

 then having his neighbor " snap " him in 

 that unique position. Picture-frames of this 

 design are not on sale generally; and, even if 

 they were, it is not likely that they would 

 be popular with the great American public. 

 Just the same, a swarm-catcher with a hole 

 in the screen and a good-looking beekeeper's 

 face in the hole makes a novel picture. 



