1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



419 



They garner the same as the squirrel. Sev- 

 eral times I found as much as a gallon of 

 sweet-clover seed, with all the hulls taken 

 off, stored in an empty hive. I have found 

 a number of cases where the same mother 

 had two broods in the same nest, one fairly 

 matured, and the other very young. If the 

 poison is used judiciously there is no more 

 trouble from mice. Of course, great care 

 should be taken to keep it away from chil- 

 dren and also domestic animals. It is also 

 very effective in the home where mice are 

 troublesome. Last September we found our 

 house fairly overrun ; and in a week after 

 putting out the poison, the mice were all 

 gone, and we have not heard one since. 

 Denver, Colo. 



ANOTHER VENTILATED BOTTOM-BOARD. 



BY J. GRAY. 



I note a discussion in your journal regard- 

 ing a simple and inexpensive method of giv- 

 ing ventilation. I have the simplest method 

 —nothing to get fast. You are aware that 

 our English hives have sunken entrances. 

 If the board A which forms the sunken en- 

 trance be removed and let into the stand at 

 B, when you put the floor on the stand it 

 closes the opening; wire cloth put in place of 

 A; the board that goes across back of floor D 

 put in front C, to give ventilation; push your 

 hive forward on the stand (if you want it 

 permanent, turn your stand around back to 

 front) ; to close the ventilator, pull your 

 hive back till E touches Cc. 



I can not say whether you can adapt this 

 to your American hives, but it answers with 

 me. I get a 14X42 opening, and you make 

 it 8 inches if you wish. I am wintering one 

 stock with ventilator open, believing it will 

 have the effect of not tempting the bees out 

 when the sun shines too warm on the door 

 of the hive. 



Long Eaton, Eng., Aug. 2. 



[The objection to wire cloth in the floor, 

 as pointed out in a late issue, is it becomes 

 covered up with dirt, propolis, and in very 



eariy spring, with dead bees. The Hershi- 

 ser plan of wire cloth on the sides, I think 

 would be better; for by his plan the extra 

 ventilation can be very nicely cut off at 

 will. -Ed.] 



THE QUEEN-TRAP. 



Other Methods of Hiving Swarms ; Why the 

 Trap is a Labor-saver. 



BY C. H. DIBBERN. it 



Not many bee-keepers think they have 

 much use for a device to trap drones; and 

 yet when rightly used it becomes a matter 

 of very great importance. Nothing is more 

 important in achieving success with bees 

 than the quality and the progeny of all the 

 queens. It is easy enough to send to some 

 queen-breeder for a queen or two, and in- 

 troduce them, and thus secure nice industri- 

 ous bees; but to improve thus a whole apiary 

 of a hundred hives or more becomes an en- 

 tirely different proposition. Now is just 

 when the trap can be used to great advan- 

 tage. Often one has a few colonies of as 

 good bees for honey-gathering, right in the 

 apiary, as can be found anywhere. Now se- 

 lect one or two such, and insert a frame or 

 two of drone comb right in the middle of 

 the hive; clip the queen's wings and encour- 

 age these to produce all the drones neces- 

 sary for the whole apiary. No traps are to 

 be used on these hives, but the other drones 

 are to be vigorously trapped and destroyed. 

 This will greatly improve the young queens 

 and their progeny in the whole apiary; and 

 if this plan is continued for a few seasons 

 you will no longer think that the traps in- 

 terfere with the honey-gathering. 



Clipping queens' wings has become quite 

 popular of late years, and is practiced by 

 some of our best bee-keepers. While this 

 method partly answers the purpose, the la- 

 bor of hunting for a queen, and the uncer- 

 tainty that she is still there the next time 

 the hive is visited, is not to be compared to 

 the certainty of the traps. Then when a 

 second swarm comes out, how about its 

 alighting on some tall tree or leaving for the 

 woods ? In an out-apiary this becomes a se- 

 rious question. Of course, some bee-keep- 

 ers seem to be able to look over all the 

 combs in a large apiary in a few hours, and 

 make all safe for a whole week ahead. 

 When I tried this years ago I found it an 

 awful job, especially when the days were 

 hot and my time was limited. Then, too, 

 there is no control over the drones, which 

 ought not to be overlooked. I believe that 

 now the plan of the queen-wing cHppers is 

 to make their increase by the shaking or 

 brushing process. This, of course, is all 

 right when rightly done at the proper time; 

 but how many, especially amateurs or farm- 

 ers, would do this right ? And, besides, is 

 not this too a lot of useless extra work? I 

 have studied and practiced all the known 

 ( and unknown ) methods of controlling 

 swarming in my home apiary of 100 to 1^0 



