GLEANINGS IN B i: K C U L T U R E 



Junk, 1922 



HEADS OF GRAJr^n PpwQ T DIFFERENT FIELDS 



To Take Swarms When the bees cluster on 

 Down from a high limb and one can 



High Trees. not get out to them, we 



throw a line — at least my 

 son James does. He was in the navy on 

 the "Kearsage" and can "throw lines" 

 pretty well — over a limb above the one 

 the bees are on. Then we hoist up a hive 

 with one brood-comb and several empty 

 combs in it. The bottom of this hive pro- 

 jects about a foot (or more) in front. We 

 liave another line attached to the hive so we 

 can swing it in any position we wish. By 

 jerking down on the line we jar the bees 

 on to the jjlatform and top of the hive. It 

 is well to have tlie top set back, say, an 

 inch or two, so the bees can enter directly 

 through the top. John M. Ware. 



Opelousas, La. 



Short and to A good queen is worth from 

 the Point. five to twenty-five dollars, but 



a poor queen is worth very 

 little. 



A large working force at the beginning 

 of the honey flow is the same as money in 

 the beekeeper's pocket; but a weak colony 

 at this time is worthless as a surplus-honey 

 producer. 



One worker bee of the right age, at the 

 beginning of the honey flow, is worth more 

 than three after the flow is over. 



Plenty of super room discourages swarm- 

 ing. Insufficient super room is a stimulation 

 to swarming. 



A large amount of drone comb in the 

 brood-chamber signifies a poor beekeeper. 



The amount of food used in rearing two 

 drones will rear three workers. A worker 

 is a producer; while a drone is a consumer. 



Weak, queenless colonies denote a neg- 

 lected apiary. 



A modern hive in the hands of a slipshod 

 beekeeper is no better then the old box hive 

 or log gum. 



A scientific beekeeper is not judged by 

 the number of colonies he keeps, but how 

 he keeps them. 



A super of lioney on the hive is worth 

 two in the field. Eugene Holloway. 



Marietta, Okla. 



:2i3^C»= 



Good Results from 

 Colony . Transferred 

 from Tree. 



r transferred from a 

 tree a large colony of 

 bees, with brood and 

 all suitable comb, into 

 three ten-frame hives, dividing the bees and 

 brood as equally as I could, introducing 

 southern-reared queens in the two queen- 

 less ones, adding two frames of foundation 

 to each colony and placing a division-board 

 beside the frames. This was done at the 

 beginning of the fruit bloom. About two 

 weeks later one of these little colonies 



swarmed. I put the swarm in a ten-frame 

 liive, giving them a comb from one of the 

 other colonies. I commenced to feed these 

 colonies a little sugar syrup in an Alexander 

 feeder as soon as they were transferred, 

 adding full frames of foundation as needed. 

 I also cut out queen-cells from the one that 

 swarmed, introducing a southern queen. I 

 was surprised how fast they increased in 

 numbers and filled their hives. About the 

 20th of June 1 put on full-depth supers, 

 raising up a frame of brood and filling out 

 with frames of foundation. These four colo- 

 nies drew out 65 full frames of combs, and 

 I extracted 180 pounds of honey from them. 

 Nashville, Mich. ' Will G. Hyde. 



Beekeepers It has appeared to me that 



Less Observant during the latter years the 

 Than Formerly, scientific interest which 

 formerly made beekeeping 

 so enhancing has been somewhat on the 

 wane, and been substituted by articles of 

 practical results, which can be very inter- 

 esting; but, as long as we have not a full 

 understanding of the swarming problem, I 

 regret that such is the case. So much has 

 been done for us modern beemen in the time 

 past that we ought to "take up the burden 

 and the lesson" and solve the swarming 

 problem within the next decade. And this 

 can surely be done only by keeping up the 

 scientific interest. Here I must say that, 

 in my own experience, the large number of 

 colonies in modern beeyards is not conducive 

 to scientific observations. Axel Hoist. 



St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, U. S. A. 



Reaueening While keeping bees in New 

 Without Mexico, I tried out a plan of 



Dequeening. requeening without dequeen- 

 ing, that might interest some 

 of the readers of Gleanings. I tried to get 

 virgin queens to mate from the lower story 

 with an excluder between the lower and the 

 upper stories, the old queen being in the up- 

 per story, but met with very poor success. 

 T tried the plan with the virgin queen in 

 tlie upper story and the old queen below 

 with an entrance in the upper storv, but that 

 would not work either. T found by the use 

 of a wire screen between the two stories to 

 stop the bees from mingling and by giving 

 them a separate entrance in the upper story 

 the virgin queen will mate all 0. K. I 

 found the best plan is to make up a nucleus 

 in the upper story and give it a ripe queen- 

 cell, then after the young queen begins to 

 lay, the old queen can be removed and the 

 wire screen taken away. T make the -en- 

 trance for the nucleus in the back end of 

 the hive. A. N. Norton. 



Homedale, Idaho. 



