1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



161 



got in their work so lively that all hands ad- 

 journed to Mrs. Shumard's kitchen, and the 

 task seemed to fall "kind o' naterally " on 

 the two women to clear up the muss 



There was very little brood in any hive, as 

 I have said; and in one we transferred, not 

 even an egg could we find, although there 

 was a great plenty of as gentle and nicely 

 striped Italians as one could ask for. As 

 we found no queen we gave them Caucasian 

 eggs; but as no queen-cells were started we 

 looked more carefully and found a beautiful 

 Italian queen. As there were plenty of bees 

 we divided them, giving the eggs to the 

 queenless part, but still no queen-cells. A 

 second search revealed a queen in each half 

 of the divided colony. We killed the poor- 

 est-looking one, and then got queen-cells all 

 right. Now, am I correct in deciding that 

 this strong colony, when transferred, con- 

 tained tivo virgin queens, own sisters? I 

 feel sure neither one was the old mother; 

 and I think neither was fertilized, as we 

 could not make them lay, even with stimu- 

 lative feeding. We gave new brood three 

 times before we got queen-cells. My old 

 and tried friend Dr. Miller is reading this, I 

 take it. What does he say? It is pretty 

 certain there are no drones on the island, 

 and I presume we can't go on with queen- 

 rearing until we can secure drone brood. 

 We have placed drone comb in our strongest 

 colonies, and have been feeding outdoors to 

 push brood. We are getting some pollen, 

 but, I am sure, not enough. This morning, 

 Dec. 28 the bees are getting so much honey 

 I do not think we shall need to feed any 

 more. Our island is about 200 yards wide, 

 as you have been told; but it is nearly ten 

 miles long. The width is quite regular the 

 whole length. 



HOW TO HANDLE BEES WITHOUT VEIL, SMO- 

 KER, OR GLOVES. 



Aren't you glad, friends, I have started to 

 "teach school" again— I mean " bee-keep- 

 ing " school? Well, I am managing nicely 

 here on my island, without the above-men- 

 tioned inconveniences, and if you don't suc- 

 ceed with my instructions perhaps you will 

 have to get an " island " too. Our five col- 

 onies are blacks, hybrids (vicious ones too), 

 and Italians. At transferring-time they got 

 to buzzing around in that snarling way eve- 

 ry time I opened a hive, and I remembered 

 what Ernest said about open air feeding. A 

 little bag made of thick sail cloth was tack- 

 ed to a palmetto- tree, and into this the syr- 

 up was poured. As it leaked some, a sau- 

 cer was placed under it with some little 

 sticks for floats. The ugly bees soon found 

 this; and when I wanted to open hives I 

 poured a little sugar and water into the bag. 

 Burr-combs and propolis were fearful in 

 those old hives, and I went at the remedy. 

 I found one extra old hive. I scraped the 

 inside, then spaced the back and front < nd 

 just right, and nailed it thoroughly. Then 

 I put this in place of the first hive; and as I 

 removed each comb I scraped off all propolis 

 and all burr- combs. If dimensions were not 

 " orthodox ' I made them so -trimmed pro- 



jecting ends, if need be, and drove in sta- 

 ples, so every frame went nicely in my hive- 

 body that was right. When 1 got through 

 the five- colony apiary every comb could be 

 picked up with one hand, if need be, and 

 not a bee crushed or pinched. There are 

 Hoffman frames, old- fashioned frames, and 

 even a few metal-cornered frames; but we 

 have made the outside dimensions all exact- 

 ly alike. You can hardly imagine what a 

 relief it is to me (and to the bees) compared 

 with opening hives as I first found them. 



This is to be a Home paper, dear reader; 

 and when I use the words "dear reader" I 

 am well aware it means a "whole lot" of 

 you. May God bless each and every one of 

 you— yes, exactly as he has recently blessed 

 myself and the dear wife. I am very happy 

 to night, and I long to tell you why, so that 

 you may find happiness, and that your hearts 

 may be full of thanks and praise to God, ex- 

 actly as ours are. It's a long story I have 

 to tell, so let us get at it. 



Last fall, when we were so happy at the 

 cabin in the woods in Northern Michigan, a 

 letter came from Ernest suggesting that we 

 take a trip to Florida and try what could be 

 done at queen-rearing in the extreme south- 

 ern part of the United States during the 

 winter. After thinking the matter over I 

 decided I should like to try it; i«ut ihe dear 

 wife objected to the long trip, and she also 

 felt blue over the prospect of being again 

 taken away from the dear children and 

 grandchildren (especially that "nameless" 

 last arrival shp is just beginnirg to love so 

 much, particjilarly iS he seems to have al- 

 ready learned to love her just as much in re- 

 turn). I, however, felt fure that God was 

 calling us off among strangers to learn some 

 new lesson he had in store for us. When I 

 received that letter from brother Shumard 

 (see page 1353, Dec. 15), I said it was God's 

 providence that prompted him to write it; 

 and to-day, Jan. 12, after having been with 

 him and a part of his family for almost a 

 month I feel more sure of it. You will re- 

 member he suggests a ' ' cabin in the woods' ' 

 on his island ; but Mrs. Root was so averse 

 to putting a lot of money into another cabin, 

 and still another lot into an outfit for house- 

 keeping, that we tried boarding at a hotel 

 for a couple of weeks. Now, the hotel is a 

 very good one for the price ($14.00 a week 

 for us two) ; but as it was a mile away from 

 my work, and for other reasons, Mrs. R. 

 finally, although somewkat reluctantly, con- 

 st nted to building some sort of a "home" 



