1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



999 



they may be in rocks, or lodged in a chimney, 

 but invariably they will be found in a tree; 

 and if it is a large swarm, with evidences of 

 a large quantity of honey, the hunter's fore- 

 most desire is how to secure them with the 

 least work and loss of time. Therefore, 

 consider the case of five bee-trees having 

 been located the fall before, and in the fol- 

 lowing spring upon examination each one is 

 found to be worth the taking. Granted the 

 hunter has bees at home in some kind of 

 movable- frame hive, and that he is entirely 

 famihar with every condition surrounding 

 each location, he is ready to prepare the 

 hives. 



From a hive previously worked for the 

 purpose, take all the frames and divide the 

 bees and brood in five parts as nearly equal 

 as possible, placing each part in a hive and 

 filHng the vacant space with full sheets of 

 foundation or combs ready built, and then 

 after introducing an Italian queen to each 

 nucleus so made you may proceed to the 

 trees It is best to arrange the work so 

 that it can be done in one day, which is 

 generally possible. 



Take with you all the necessary tools, etc. , 

 so that progress may not be hindered in 

 substituting articles accidentally left at 

 home. Some necessities are the nucleus, 

 lumber for platforms, Porter bee escapes 

 for each hole; nails, hatchet, saw, hand-lines, 

 a good smoker— in fact, any little thing the 

 mind of the hunter can imagine. The help- 

 er is needed, either sex; and after getting a 

 position near the entrance to the wild-bee 

 hive, adjust the escape so that all bees in- 

 side must pass out not to return. Then con- 

 struct the platform so that, when the nucleus 

 hive is set thereon, the entrance of it will 

 face and be next to the exit of the escape. 

 Now blow a blast or two of smoke in both 

 entrances, and go on to the next tree, the 

 whole operation not taking half an hour. 



Having finished up the five trees and re- 

 turned home, nothing remains to be done 

 but to wait and consider, noting the progress 

 at each tree. Imagine two queens laying 

 for the building-up of one strong colony. 

 Can anybody expect less than a very strong 

 working force? After five or six weeks 

 have elapsed it is time to be up and doing, 

 for the queen in the tree has been through 

 laying for twelve or fifteen days, there be- 

 ing an insufficient number of bees to care 

 for the larvae, as all the young bees have 

 joined the colony on the outside. 



Therefore, fire up the smoker, throw in a 

 small handful of sulphur, pull off the escape, 

 and apply the fumes vigorously through the 

 hole, changing the air inside, leaving a 

 dainty harvest for your swarm on the out- 

 side to rob out, which they will surely do in 

 less than ten days. In fumigating, possibly 

 it would be well to puncture the tree a time 

 or two, near the top of the cavity, with an 

 inch auger, and to add a super of sections 

 or extracting-combs if the same hasn't been 

 done previously. 



After the robbing has ceased it is time to 

 take them home, which is more or less hard 



work. However, every thing is accomplish- 

 ed in a short time; and when fall comes 

 around again one can hardly comprehend the 

 little labor and time these trifling operations 

 cost him. 



But circumstances alter cases, and in the 

 beginning one should become assured each 

 colony so found fully warrants the undertak- 

 ing, as it is known that some bee- trees 

 never are strong in either bees or honey. 

 Therefore consider well; and if it is decided 

 the contents of the trees are worth the 

 gathering, use this method and I'm sure 

 pleasure and profit will crown your efforts. 



To conclude, I will state that one swarm 

 so taken and placed on a stand at home on 

 the 10th of last July stored up almost forty 

 Danzenbaker frames of honey, new and old, 

 there being some frames not perfectly fill- 

 ed, although the results as a whole were 

 perfectly satisfactory. 



Great Meadows, N. J. 



[Mr. Fisher answers a question that is 

 propounded to us annually a good many 

 times. I have always believed that the 

 bees and honey could be taken out of a bee- 

 tree or from between the walls of a house 

 without cutting the tree or mutilating the 

 house, in the manner that Mr. Fisher states. 

 Accordingly two years ago I outlined a plan 

 similar to the one here described. Never 

 having tried it I was not entirely sure it 

 would work out in all its details; but it ap- 

 pears that it does work, or at least Mr. 

 Fisher says so. It will not be necessary 

 hereafter to fell big trees or rip off the sid- 

 ing of a house or tear up the roof of a build- 

 ing to get at stray swarms of bees. The 

 modem bee-escape, in connection with prop- 

 er manipulation, will render this all unnec- 

 essary. 



I expect to incorporate this method of get- 

 ting bees from bee-trees and buildings in 

 the next edition of our A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture, under the general head of " Bee- him t- 

 ing," for there are times when the owner 

 of the trees where the bees may be located 

 would not allow his trees to be cut. Com- 

 mon law gives ownership to the man who 

 first discovers the bees in a tree and marks 

 the tree with his initials; but it does not 

 give him the tree, nor permit him to cut the 

 same without the consent of the owner of 

 the tree. In no State, so far as I know, is 

 there any special legislation covering this 

 point; so that common law decides both the 

 ownership of the tree and of the bees. —Ed. ] 



EXTRACTING HONEY BEFORE IT IS CAP- 

 PED OVER. 



What will this Practice Lead to? 



BY ALPINE M'GREGOR. 



I just wish to emphazise an editorial com- 

 ment on Mr. E. W. Alexander's article, p. 

 153, Feb. 1. Referring to the advisability 

 of allowing the extracting-combs to become 

 fully capped before extracting, you say, ' ' In 



