inofi 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



n-21 



A BEE EXPERT WHO TAKES CAKE OF 

 ALL THE BEES IN HIS VICINITY. 



A Prime Swarm from a Prim*' Swanii in 

 the SaiiH' Year. 



BY M. L. BHEWEK. 



For :i ijiKirtiM- of ;i century I have kepi 

 l)ee.s in a small way. My text lK)oks have 

 been the ABC of Bee Culture, Cook'.s Man- 

 ual, and {iLEANiN(i.s, with sueh side lines of 

 study as can^.e in my way. I use a hive 

 soiuewhat .similar to tlie Dan/enhaker, which 

 I make for myself and others, as I do a small 

 supply business. 1 also use Hoffman framc>. 

 and for myself full sheets of wired founda- 

 tion, thereby insuring' straight worker combs 

 as well as more rapid work of my colonies. 

 All these have been worth more to me than 

 1 can tell. I usually have charge of most of 

 the farmers' bees in a radius of five or six 

 miles, tiiey preferi'ing to pay me rather than 

 do the work themselves. 



This year, JVIay 2S, 1 was calletl to hive a 

 prime swarm after they hail hung up thirty 

 to forty feet on a liml) all night. July 10 I 

 was called back after being told swarm No. 

 1 had east a swarm which also hung ovei- 

 night. It was my first experience of this 

 kind, and I was anxious to know why. On 

 examination I found they had made all due 

 preparation, and it was all in the regular 

 way. Is not this a little out of the ordinary, 

 especially in a poor year? Their brood-nest 

 was not complete by one side frame. I re- 

 moved all (jueen-celis started, and put them 

 back where they came from after smoking 

 both them and the hive well: and now, July 

 18, all is still satisfactory. 



I am always interested in the metliods of 

 the notables, especially on preventicni of 

 after-swarms and kee])ing ilown increase 

 when not desired, and so have l)een work- 

 ing some while studying methods of others. 



" WHO S AFRAID ? 



The camera and I are partners, and it will 

 help me tell my method. 



MY METHOD OF PREVENTING SWAR.AIS. 



June 25 our first prime sw^arm issued (I 

 say (>>/>% for, like A. I. Root, I believe a good 

 wife should have an equal share). After ig- 

 noring all low trees they clustered on a limb 

 fully thirty feet from the ground. No. 1 

 shows conditions after the descent. No. 2 is 

 a few hours after, when all (lueen-cells Imt 

 one were removed, by which method we 

 never had an after-swarm: and to prevent 

 increase our method is to doul^le back, which 

 has worke<l f<n" us whenever tried, keeping 

 all working force gathering and storing 

 honey. N(j. 3 shows something of what we 

 found in No. 2 — queen-cell in building, lar- 

 val qiieen, and cell complete, with a drone 

 and worker bee. 



I have spent some time in farmers' insti- 

 tutes trying to show our farmers the value 

 of bees as fertilizers, as well as honey-pro- 

 ducers. 



Philo. 111. 



[The idea of having one bee-expert for a 

 locality is excellent. If this were done in 

 more localities where there were small bee- 

 keepers. esi)ecially of the farming clas-i, the 

 results would be much more satisfactory. 

 Too many farmers have too many irons in 

 the tire alreadv to do some of their work 

 well.— Ed. 1 



"I don't want to HAVE MY PICTURE TAK- 

 EN, 'cause I COT A SWELLED EYE." 



TAVO Y0rNf4 BEE-KEEPERS 



Who Have Started out Well in the Busi- 

 ness. 



KY (t. BRUNDAGE. 



I am sentrmg you the photo of a young 

 bee-keeper and queen-breeder, Geoi'ge (ireg- 

 o.-y Bnnulage, of Salisbury Mills, N. Y. He 

 has helped his father in his apiary of 340 col- 

 (niies for the i)ast two years. He can cage 



