1881 



GLEANIXGS 12} BEE CULTURE. 



201 



as bad off as mj' poor little bees. They were brought 

 to starvation by the floods, and we are nearly in the 

 same fl.x from the same cause. But the clouds have 

 dispersed, and every tbinj? is reviving- a little. I 

 hope we shall be all right in a short time again. 

 Ofahoma, Miss , March 6, '81. A. G. Dento.v. 



Well, friend D., you make out a pretty sad 

 case, even down in your land of almost per- 

 petual flowers. There is certainly some 

 truth in your remark, that when bees get 

 demoralized and discouraged, feeding seems 

 to be of little avail ; but, my friend, even if 

 the bees do get thus, you must not. J.,ook 

 up ! there is a God above, and one too who 

 has left a letter, written expressly to just 

 such poor sinners as you and I, which says, 

 "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and 

 heavy laden, "■' etc. lio you not sometimes 

 read this letter, friend D.? 



MR. M£RRYB.\NKS AND HIS NEICa- 

 BOR. 



(^(g wpHIS hive," says Mr. JNIerrybanks, "is 

 Jjl"' not intended to be used so much for 

 — ' getting surplus honey, as for fur- 

 nishing bees by the pound, and rearing 

 queens for the market, etc. However, when 

 a heavy yield of honey comes, and it becomes 

 desirable to have it stored in a shape proper 

 for table use, we will take full combs built 

 on nice clean fdn., and when they are nicely 

 capped over, we will set them aside, either 

 for table use or for the use of colonies that 

 need such aid in the fall. These circular 

 cakes of honey can be laid on a plate, and 

 cut up as we cut up an ordinary pie, giving 

 the children, of course, a smaUer slice than 

 the older ones, lest they get sick by having 



SURPLUS HONEY FllOM THE PAIL BEEHIVE. 



too much sweets.'' Here friend M. gave 

 a glance at Mary, who sat over by the 

 stove, coughing from the effects of her bad 

 cold. " Should the colony get very strong," 

 resumed friend M., "and show no signs of 

 swarming, we will put another pail right up 

 against this one, placing the mouths oT both 

 close together. Xow there will be two ways 

 of getting surplus honey in this second pail. 

 One is to attach fdn. to the side, in such a 

 way as to have the bees build the pail full of 

 solid honey, the combs running from the 

 bottom to the top, so that when the pail is 

 carried by the handle, in ttie usual way, 

 there will be little danger of the combs 

 breaking down." 



" But what Avill prevent the queen from 

 rearing brood in this second pail, and vour 

 having brood and pollen in it instead of a 

 pail full of pure honey?" suggested John's 

 mother. 



" Oh!" said Mr. M., " we can easily manage 

 that by putting a separator of perforated tin 

 or zinc between the two pails. This bucket 

 of honey, you know, will be easily carried to 

 market, and even if a little should leak out 

 there will be no dripping, for the pail will 

 hold honey just as well as water. A round 



pane of glass can be put over the top of the 

 pail, to keep out dust and insects. By the 

 way, this round pane of glass can also be 

 used to close the mouth of the hive, so as to 

 make a very pretty observatory bee-liive, for 

 timid people. In this case, we should need 

 to sew a sort of cushion around the edges, so 

 as to make the glass fit bee-tight, and also 

 keep in the warm air of the hive." 



At this juncture, John's father pulled out 

 his pipe, and began feeling in his pockets 

 for tobacco and matches. Whenever he got 

 an idea in his head to which he wanted to 

 give utterance, he instinctively began to 

 seek for that self-same pipe. Friend M saw 

 the motion, and so pleasantly shook his head 

 at him th^it he put the pipe back in his pock- 

 et. Of course his neighbor never presumed 

 to dictate in such matters, but he had such 

 a pleasant, kind, good-natured Avay of re- 

 minding one of a failing, that the two were 

 never any the less friends, even though they 

 Avere not alike in many of their ways and 

 habits. He knew that his wife very much 

 disliked to have him smoke in-doors also, 

 and so he very pleasantly put the pipe back 

 in his pocket,' and proceeded to criticise the 

 new hive withoiit it. 



Friend M. here took a chair and sat down, 

 for he was well aware that the soundest and 

 most sensible criticisms would come from 

 John's father, for he was, despite his many 

 shiftless and dilatory ways, a man of good 

 practical common sense, and one who might 

 easily have been a man of means and intlu- 

 ence'had it not been for some failings of his, 

 and his love of the companionship of a class 

 that were really very much his inferiors. He 

 commences, — 



■' But, neighbor M.," says he, "even for 

 rearing bees and queens, you have got to 

 take out all the frames before you can get at 

 the last one, and you have not only got to 

 put each one back in its exact place every 

 time, but you have got to put each comb the 

 same side'to the front as well. Is this so?" 



"Exactly so." 



" And is not this a great objection? " 



" On the contrary, it is just what I think 

 w^e need to do, to make the most bees and 

 honey." 



" Why, then, do you not go back to the old 

 straw hive, or hollow gum, and be done with 

 it?" 



"I would go back to the straw hive, or 

 some thing pretty nearly like it, if the combs 

 were movable. JSTowjust look here a min- 

 ute. To say nothing of the advantage of 

 these round combs, to retain the animal 

 heat, we will consider a little the way many 

 of the movable combs are used. Hives are 

 made to open easily, nowadays, and with 

 the modern smokers it is easy to open a hive 

 safely any time we wish. Well, a new be- 

 ginner gets a hive of bees, and iiroceeds to 

 open up the brood-nest, some cool day in 

 April. He gets the combs all out, finds the 

 queen, turns the combs, many of them, end 

 for end, throwing a patch of unsealed brood 

 right opposite a cold cake of honey, or some 

 empty cells that the bees had not yet covered 

 with their cluster. Perhaps he thinks to put 

 the combs back in the same order they were 

 before, and perhaps he does not. j\lay be, 



