1188 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



about I inch, and a chaff cushion on top, of 6 

 inches, to al)sorb the moisture. This, I be- 

 lieve, was a great help. L. Beaupke. 

 Simcoe, Ont. 



[The fact that you were a])le to winter your 

 bees successfully in a tiaiup cellar does" not 

 prove that dampness is a good thing for win- 

 tering. As a rule, au excess of mcnsture in a 

 bee-cellar does harm; and in the majority of 

 cases it causes disastrous results. The drier 

 and the l)etter ventilated one can have his 

 bee-cellar, the better will his wintering be. — 

 p]i).] 



THE YOUNGEST BEE-KEEPEK IN INDIANA. 



L^Mr. Boot: — I inclose you a picture of Eu- 

 gene Nutting, and I think I am safe in say- 

 ing he is the youngest bee-keeper in the 

 county, if not in Indiana. He would rather 

 watch or work with the bees than play. It 

 is remarkal)le the interest he takes in the 

 science. He reads every thing that he can 

 find on the subject. Though he is only iif- 



EUGENE NUTTING, PKOBABLY THE YOUNGEST 

 BEE-KEEPER IN INDIANA. 



teen years of age, we have so much confi- 

 dence in him that we will leave our apiary 

 in his care while we ai-e absent the next 

 month. Mks. Fked O. Jackson. 



Muncie, Ind., July 12. 



[Well begun is half done. This young bee- 

 keeper has surely made a good beginning, 

 and so his success in bee-keeping is alreatly 

 more than half realized. We admire espe- 

 cially his interest in the current literature, 

 and to encourage him we are sending him 

 a new Root smoker, with all the latest im- 

 provements. — Ed . ] 



PREVENTING ROBBING BY THE USE OF GLASS 

 PLATES. 



I think I can give a better remedy for rob- 

 bing than I ever saw in print. I have used 

 it for many years, antl I never saw it fail 

 except once, and that was when the colony 

 had entirely given up. Of course, after they 

 have given up, nothing is better than cover- 



ing them with a cloth. I use old photo- 

 graphic negative glasses, cleaned with pot- 

 ash. Set them close against the front, leav- 

 ing room for only one bee to pass between 

 the glasses in the middle. If a portico hive 

 is used, all right; if not, the sides must be 

 l)locked up. Leave a small opening on each 

 side of the hive-entrance, one inch or more. 

 As soon as a robber gets through the slot 

 between the glasses he seems to realize that 

 he is trapped, and is frantic to get out. I 

 have transferred a number of hives this year 

 in rol)ber time; and by glassing them I have 

 no trouble. " Irving Long. 



Marceline, Mo. 



[Something like this has been suggested 

 before. Like it, did I say? Well, not (juite; 

 for the thing described in our back numl)ers 

 consisted of only two sheets of glass leaning 

 up against the front of the hive; but it failed 

 because the rol)bers could get around the 

 sides. This plan here shown prevents this. 

 Not having tried it, it seems to me to be ex- 

 cellent; in fact, I am sure it wcmld so dis- 

 concert the thieves that robbing woukl very 

 soon be broken up in that hive. — Ed.] 



TOADS AS ENEMIES OF BEES. 



I have seen some discussion of late con- 

 cerning toads. They nearly spoiled four col- 

 onies for me last year. 1 put my bees up 

 ten inches from the ground, and put a board 

 from the ground up for the bees to crawl up, 

 and I noticed four strong colonies decrease 

 rapidly. I went out just at dark with a lan- 

 tern, and fountl a large toad had crawled up 

 the board, and was catching bees faster than 

 I could count. I took a stick and knocked 

 him over, and then went to the other and 

 found the toads hiding under the boards aft- 

 er getting their supper. The bees were all 

 right after that; but I killed every toad I 

 could find. To-night I found another had 



