1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



tS5 



^ BY o.A^.Doot-iTirirE 



CHAPTER 4. 



HOW TO CONTROL SWARMS WHEN RUNNING 

 FOR COMB HONEY. 



It is now the 16th of June, many heads on 

 the white clover are fully in bloom, while 

 the black locust, from which the bees ob- 

 tained quite a little honey, has just gone, 

 and two of my bee-keeping neighbors re- 

 port "swarming commenced." Half -past 

 three o'clock a.m. finds me in my auto, 

 with the scythe done up in a blanket (to 

 -Iceep it from cutting and marring something 

 it was not intended for), occupying the 

 ' ' other seat. ' ' Those who have never rid- 

 den in an auto at the " peep o' day" can not 

 even imagine my delight that morning. 

 Birds were singing from every branch, 

 the barnyard fowls were out after the" ear- 

 ly worm," while now and then the smoke 

 from the chimney of an early, enterprising 

 farmer was rising up in wavy circles as 

 it ascended toward heaven. The eastern 

 sky soon became all aglow with its "gold 

 and carmine," telling of the advancing sun, 

 while the cattle and sheep on a "thousand 

 hills," were securing their morning repast 

 from the grass made so pleasant and palata- 

 ble from the " dew of the morning. ' ' When 

 nearing the apiary, a jolly, fun-loving farm- 

 er, who had "just pulled out " for his cows, 



N 



yard mown before the b. es got " waked up" 

 oy the rising sun. 



Arriving, the scythe was hastily un a rap- 

 ped, and, going to the front or south side of 

 row Nj. 1 (hives face south, rows run eabC 

 and west) , I begin at the east end and mow 

 a swath toward the west, allowing the 

 "pointing in " to come as near each hive as 

 is possible without hitting any of them. 

 By thus mowing, the swath of grass is car- 

 ried out and away from the entrances to 

 the hives so the bees need not be disturbed 

 when I come to the raking-up part, later on. 

 Arriving at the west side of the yard, I 

 quickly go back to the east or " beginning " 

 end, and mow through again, immediately 

 in front of row No. 2, but instead of coming 

 back "empty," as before, I mow back at 

 the rear of the hives on row No. 1, cutting 

 as close to the backs of the hive as is possi- 

 ble without hitting them enough to disturb 

 the bees materiilly. In this way the 

 double swath of grass is left in the center, 

 between the first and second rows of hives. 



I now begin in front of row No. 3, coming 

 back at the rear of No. 2. Next, I go to 

 the west end of No. 3 and mow at its rear, 

 turning the swath away from the rear of 

 the hives against the fence at the rear of 

 the apiary, the same as I turned the first 

 swath away from the entrances, or fronts 

 of the hives, against the fence in front of 

 the apiary. I now go to row No. 1 and cut 

 the grass between hive No. 1 and hive No. 2, 

 and so on till the grass is cut between all 

 the hives in each row. 



After years of practice and experiment- 

 ing, this is the best and quickest way to cut 

 the grass in any bee-yard laid out in rows, 

 that I know of; 



6*^Sw3th. 



30 29 28 27 26 25 



III l^'Al I 



6*^ftV3t/l' 



W 



3^Jwath'^' 



Jl 



DOOLITTLE'S METHOD OF MOWING THE GRASS IN A BEE- YARD 



accosted me, while pointing at the wrapped- 

 up scythe, with, "Taking the sick one in 

 your ambulance to the hospital?" "Yes," 

 I I'eplied, without stopping, as every mo- 

 ment was precious, if I was to get the bee- 



and, after a little 

 practice, very lit- 

 tle grass will be 

 left about any 

 hive to cut with 

 a knife, shears, 

 or sickle. At 

 half-past six the 

 grass is cut, rak- 

 ed up, and put in 

 a pile outside the 

 bee-yard fence, 

 for the farmer 

 who owns the 

 land to use, if he 

 so desires, and I 

 am ready for my 

 breakfast lunch, 

 P'Vwsth which I eat sit- 

 ting in the auto. 



That the read- 

 er may better un- 

 derstand, I will 

 say that the fence 

 enclosure is cal- 

 culated for 30 col- 

 onies, three rows with ten on each row 

 The rows are ten feet apart from center to 

 center, and the hives are six feet apart in 

 the row, which distance I prefer to any 

 thing else, after having tried distances both 



