1005 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



919 



by the Heddon method? or would it be bet- 

 ter to wait until next spring? How could I 

 requeen during the process of transferring 

 by this method? J. W. Stoutzenbbrg. 

 Greenville, 111., July 10. 



[The colonies that you refer to are prac- 

 tically as though they were in box hives, be- 

 cause the combs are immovable. I would 

 advise you to proceed on the plan of the 

 Heddon short method of transferring, as 

 given in our ABC book. Drum two-thirds 

 of the bees up into a box. Be sure you get 

 the queen. Set the old hive to one side, and 

 a new hive with frames of foundation in its 

 place. Shake the bees and queens into the 

 new hive. When combs are partiy drawn 

 out, hunt up the queen, kill her, and intro- 

 duce another. Of course, you might re- 

 queen the hives just as they are by drum- 

 ming the queen and bees up into the box. 

 Put a strip of perforated metal over the 

 box, then smoke the bees out. When near- 

 ly all out, lift the metal and look for the 

 queen, which will probably be in the box, 

 where she can be easily located. Kill her, 

 then introduce an Italian queen on the old 

 combs. But you had better by all means 

 transfer by the Heddon short plan. You 

 will thus be enabled to kill two birds with 

 one stone. —Ed.] 



AN INCREASE IN WEIGHT OF TWO POUNDS 

 IN A MINUTE AND A HALF. 



To-day I weighed one colony of Italian 

 bees in my home apiary — the same I was 

 awarded the third premium in your contest 

 — and send you the particulars, as this is a 

 few days before the white clover will yield 

 any honey. The bees were flying freely, 

 and we placed them on the scale, and they 

 weighed 135 lbs. In a minute and a half by 

 my watch they weighed 137 lbs. ; then a 

 storm caught us and we lifted them from 

 the scale on Monday. I am going to remove 

 the surplus and give sections. I should like 

 some of the contributors to Gleanings to 

 make an estimate of the number of bees in 

 that colony. I am going to keep a record of 

 this particular colony, for the rest of the 

 season; they are in an eight-frame Dove- 

 tailed hive of four full-depth bodies. The 

 queen had free access to all until 16 days 

 ago, when I confined her to the lower story, 

 as I intend running them for comb honey. 

 There are 47 other colonies in this yard, and 

 very many of them appear to be nearly as 

 strong. Adam A. Clarke. 



Lemars, Iowa, June 17. 



greasy waste FOR SMOKER FUEL. 



Mr. Editor:—! wish to extend to you my 

 gratitude for calling attention to the value 

 of greasy waste as smoker fuel. I have 

 been trying it for several days with gratify- 

 ing success. I wish to say, however, that I 

 do not think you do the subject justice when 

 you simply say that it makes a good volume 

 of smoke and stays lighted a long time. 

 These things are certainly in its favor; but 



there are other advantages to be realized in 

 the use of greasy waste which, to my mind, 

 make a stronger argument for its use than 

 the ones you mention. So far as the volume 

 of smoke is concerned I think planer shav- 

 ings are ahead of the waste; but they do 

 not hold the fire so well. One thing I like 

 about the waste is that, in handling it, my 

 fingers are made propolis-proof. One of 

 the chief objections that I have to handling 

 bees is that the propolis is so hard to re- 

 move from my fingers. When I leave my 

 bees, to go to my books and papers, it is 

 very difficult to clean the hands so that no 

 mark will be left on the paper. Before I 

 began to use the waste I had to use gasoline 

 and hot soapy water, in the order named, to 

 remove the propolis; but now cold water 

 and ordinary toilet soap remove the propolis 

 without any difficulty. 



Another advantage which the waste has 

 over wood is that it does not choke the 

 smoker with creosote; and yet I must say 

 that the smell of burning pine is not so ob- 

 jectionable in my nostrils as that of the 

 waste. In fact, I rather like the odor of 

 burning pine. I have hit upon an expedient 

 to overcome this objection. I mix a few 

 shavings with the waste. 



Robert B. McCain. 



Coal City, 111., July 22, 1905. 



[We have experienced the other advan- 

 tages you speak of. The oil on the fingers 

 effectually protects them from propolis.— 

 Ed.] 



forming a nucleus. 

 If I take four frames of brood from a 

 hive with queen-cells in it, the middle of 

 July, do you think it will make a strong col- 

 ony by fall? Beginner. 



[Something would depend upon the local- 

 ity; but ordinarily, if the nucleus be given 

 stimulative feeding, if no honey is coming 

 in it ought to make a good colony for win- 

 ter. If the cells or the virgin fail, the nu- 

 cleus will be weaker instead of stronger. 

 The chances would be much better to give a 

 laying queen at the start. —Ed.] 



uniting colonies for winter. 



Is there any objection to this plan of unit- 

 ing two colonies, if you don't care to save 

 the extra queen and don't know which is 

 best? Put one colony over the other, with 

 a wire screen between, an outside entrance 

 for both. Leave about three days, then re- 

 move the screen and let the queens fight it 

 out. 0. S. Rexford. 



Winsted, Conn., July 17. 



[The plan is all right, but one queen is 

 quite liable to be better than the other. I 

 would select the better one and kill the oth- 

 er. If both lots of bees are from the same 

 yard the moved lot will give back many of 

 its old bees to the old stand. You may have 

 to return them a second time, then take 

 away the old hive. —Ed.] 



