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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



following plan, which I submit to you for 

 criticism : 



Let the colonies come down to swarming- 

 time, feeding where necessary. Just before 

 the swarm is to issue, shake nearly all the 

 bees on to starters in hive No. 2, taking 

 frames of No. 1, with enough young bees 

 chnging to them to protect brood, to a new 

 stand, placing hive No. 2 on the old stand. 

 Divide brood (in frames of hive No. 1 on 

 new stand) into two equal parts by placing 

 a queen-excluding board (such as is used in 

 queen-rearing) between them Place a ripe 

 queen-cell in each division. When these 

 cells have hatched, and the queens are lay- 

 ing heavily, remove the excluding-board. 

 take out one of the queens and introduce her 

 into hive No. 2, which has the old queen 

 that I wish superseded. Ed. Wray. 



Norton, Kan., March 1. 



[I think the plan you describe would work 

 satisfactorily. — Ed. ] 



CURVED ALIGHTING-BOARDS. 



I am sending you a picture of an alight- 

 ing-board which is simply a short piece 

 sawed from some very wide barrel staves. 

 If sawed right, the angles will come just 

 right to fit closely against the hive and 



strike the ground so as to keep it from slip- 

 ping. They can be used with hive near the 

 ground, or ten or twelve inches high. I find 

 them a very nice thing. C. S. Black. 



Ashby, Mass. 



ALEXANDER'S BEE-HAT; MAPLE SAP FOR THE 

 BEES IN SPRING. 



I have seen in Gleanings an account of a 

 new (1) bee-hat. I have used the same style 

 of hat for over forty years, and consider it 

 the cheapest and handiest hat in use. I 

 have carried out sixty colonies of bees from 

 the cellar. They have wintered well, and 

 are carrying a good deal of sap from the 

 maple-trees. Just take a knife and slit the 

 bark so the sap will run out. G. Briggs. 



New Sharon, la. , March 8. 



[The Alexander bee-hat is a modification 

 of the one described in the first edition of 

 Langstroth's bee-book issued in 1853. Mr. 

 Alexander never claimed it to be entirely 



original, although it is true that he made 

 some important changes that made it a more 

 practical working head-gear. It is an "or- 

 nery-looking " thing, but is cool and conven- 

 ient., as Mr. Alexander's men all testify.— 

 Ed.] 



MOVING BEES; HOW TO 

 OF i-IELD 



SS 



PREVENT THE L 

 BEES. 



To avoid the loss of bees when moving a 

 colony a short distance, leave the alightmg- 

 board in such a position on the old location 

 that the returning bees can cluster on it, 

 which they will do toward sundown The 

 cluster can then be carried back to the new 

 stand. E. B. 



Seguin, Texas, March 27. 



[What is better than an alighting- boar J is 

 an extra hive with one dry comb in it to 

 catch the bees,— Ed ] 



A GOOD RECORD IN MOVING BEES, BY ONE OF 



THE LARGEST BEE-KEEPERS IN 



THE WORLD. 



I am a little tired to-night from moving 

 100 colonies of bees, four in each chaff hive, 

 a mile without any mishaps. I feel now 

 like patting myself a little. In all the bees 

 I have moved, I have not had $1.00 lost by 

 accident with team or men, This may sound 

 braggy for a man who has the name of 

 slighting things. I move from 200 to 500 

 colonies a year. All is well that ends well. 

 Caution and experience will do it, and that 

 alone. W. L. Coggshall. 



Groton, N. Y. 



EARLY-REARED QUEENS. 



In Stray Straws, April 15th issue of 

 Gleanings, Dr. Miller says that queens 

 raised at his place before the middle of May 

 turn out poorly, but he says he does not 

 know why. Years ago, when we first en- 

 gaged in the queen-traffic, we had similar 

 experiences with very early queens. The 

 doctor says the queens may appear nice, 

 and look all right. Now, the trouble is not 

 with the queens, but with the drones with 

 which the queens mate. As a rule in most 

 yards, early in the spring there are but few 

 drones, and generally thdse which are on 

 hand are puny, runty fellows raised by fer- 

 tile workers or by drone-laying queens, the 

 latter raising them in worker- cells. We 

 have overcome this difficulty with early 

 queens by watching the best colonies at our 

 outyards, and inserting several frames of 

 drone comb fairly well filled with honey (this 

 must be done in the fall) , then in the early 

 spring at our first visit we generally find 

 plenty of drone brood and sometimes drones 

 already hatching. This we gather up, and 

 sometimes get a whole hiveful of drone 

 brood at each yard. This is hauled home at 

 or to our queen-rearing yard, and distribut- 

 ed among such colonies as w 11 harbor and 

 take care of drone brood. By the time we 

 have made several trips to each outyard, and 

 gathered up the drone brood, things begin 

 to get pretty noisy at the home yard, where 



