1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1509 



DZIERZOX'S HOME FOR 95 TEARS AT LOKO- 

 WITZ, UPPftR SILESIA. GERMANY. 



— From Gi'avenhorsVs Practical Bee-keeper. 



sold thousands of colonies dux'ing his long 

 career; and he maintained this business long 

 after he ceased to be an active clergyman. 

 He would have been called a queen-breeder 

 specialist in this country, and he was a very 

 able one, without a doubt. He was a very 

 prolific writer on apicultural subjects, both 

 in journals and books. As a practical bee- 

 keeper he possessed the keenest acumen 

 coupled with intense observation powers, so 

 that he was a wise guide to those in need of 



advice concerning bee-keeping operations. 

 He also possessed the power of bringing 

 people around to his way of thinking, and 

 compelling them to adopt improvements. 

 These attributes were necessary in him, liv- 

 ing as he did among a people who were in- 

 tensely conservative, and suspicious of all 

 improvements to a degree that Americans 

 can not understand. 



Thousands of our fellow bee-keepei'S in 

 Europe will mourn the death of their great 

 leader, and American followers of the craft 

 will sympathize very sincerely with them in 

 their loss, which is a bereavement to a world- 

 wide company of bee-keepers. 



THE DZIERZOX HIVE. 



— From G-ravenhorst's hook. 



HOW TO CLEAN DP EXTRi^CTING-COMBS AFT- 

 ER THE SEASON IS OVER. 



Should the combs, after extracting and be- 

 fore storing them away for the winter, be 

 placed somewhere on the hives or stacked 

 up at some distance from the apiary with a 

 very small entrance, so the bees can clean 

 out dry'.' This is my first season in produc- 

 mg extracted honey, so I should like some 

 advice, as I intend using the combs as many 

 years as possible. I extracted some, but the 

 cells are wet, and it seems to me all the hon- 

 ey ought to be cleaned out dry; or isn't ifc 

 necessary? E. L. Hofmann. 



Janesville, Minn. 



[Different honey-producers follow different 

 practices. Some put the combs, just as ex- 

 tracted, into empty supers and stack them 

 up in the honey-house over a drip-pan and 

 leave them there till next season. But the 

 great majority put them on the hives at least 

 long enough for the bees to clean them up; 

 but in doing so the bees may store l:)ack into 

 the coml)S a little honey. To overcome this, 

 some put all such combs, at the close of 

 the season, in upper stories, then pile them 

 out a little distance from the bee-yard, pro- 

 viding an entrance so that only one or two 

 l)ees can enter at a time, as you suggest. 

 This prevents the uproar of a lot of Hying 

 robbers to a great extent. Other bee-keepers 

 consider it just as well to expose the combs 

 right out in the open, a few rods from the 

 apiary, and let the bees clean them out with 

 a rush. While there will be a high keynote 

 of robbing, it will all subside as soon as the 

 combs are cleaned up dry; but don't take 

 the combs away until they are perfectly 

 clean and the bees have ceased going to them. 



But this plan has its objection, in that the 

 bees are ten times more alert to discover any 

 sweet the good housewife may have exposed 



