August. 1909. 



American Hee JournaT| 



years that we had in our section of 

 country, no question but that the plant 

 caused a good many bee-keepers, the 

 writer among the number, to be able to 

 have the balance on the right side of the 

 ledger. 



Tieriiig-Up Colonies — Bee-Escapes. 



While there may be a question as to 

 whether it pays to tier up colonies run 

 for extracted honey with more than 2 

 extracting supers, there is no doubt but 

 that in times of a rapid flow of honey, 

 and the bee-keeper being very busy — 

 especially if more than one yard is being 

 managed — that it pays immensely, and 

 saves a lot of worry, to have sufficient 

 super-combs handy to enalile one to give 

 more than 2 supers to colonies that may 

 so require them. At least it helps one at 

 the time the flow is on, but as I view 

 one yard that has a number of colonies 

 w'ith 3 supers on, yet to be extracted, I 

 really wish the honey was off, especially 

 as it looks as if the work will have to 

 be done at a time when there is no flow 

 of honey in progress. 



I have never used bee-escapes in tak- 

 ing off the honey, and for various reas- 

 ons believe I would not like them, yet I 

 might possibly fall in line with their use, 

 if I were to have them on hand to take 

 honey off the 3-super colonies mentioned. 

 Well, I will not give up hope of enough 

 basswood honey coming in yet to enable 

 me to work with pleasure while remov- 

 ing this honey. 



At the yard in question, the honey- 

 house is not bee-tight — so now you see 

 the cause of my plaint. Of course such 

 should not be the case, but I might as 

 well confess that there are a whole lot 

 of things in my apiaries that "should not 

 be.'' and while two out of three of my 

 yards have houses that are supposed to 

 be bcc-cxclusii'c, often in the running of 

 out-apiaries I do not know if it will pay 

 to have anything in shape as in the case 

 with those who own their home and 

 have but one yard of bees, the same be- 

 ing right on their own property perman- 

 ently. With a tight honey-house that 

 will surely exclude all bees, I do not 

 dread taking off honey at any time of 

 the season, whether honey is coming in 

 or not ; but with a honey-house not bee- 

 tight, that is altogether a different propo- 

 sition. 



Using the Capping->Ielter. 



I am trying the capping melter quite 

 extensively this year, and so far my ex- 

 periences are rather conflicting. By 

 next month I hope to be able to give my 

 ideas of the device, after having tested 

 it more thoroughly. One thing is cer- 

 tain, it is quite a relief to have the cap- 

 pings all out of the way, at the end of 

 the day's extracting: but there are other 

 problems that enter into tlic deal as well, 

 which I will consider in a later issue. 



Ba.sBwood as a Honey-Vielder. 



It is the generally accepted idea, I be- 

 lieve, that basswood yields little if any 

 pollen. This year, if any one was here 

 now, he would easily be convinced of 

 the fallacy of this idea. For the past 

 week the weather has been showery and 

 very cool for the season of the year, and 

 today (July 22) the basswoods are in 

 full bloom. On trees near the house 



here, the bees are working on the bloom 

 during the rain which is falling lightly, 

 and although they are getting but little 

 nectar, nearly all the bees have minute 

 light yellow pollen-balls attached to them 

 as they enter the hives. 



Strange to say. the bumble-bees are in 

 full force in the bloom, and nearly every 

 one of them has quite large loads of 

 this same light-colored pollen attached 

 to them, as they can be seen flitting 

 among the blossoms. Personally, I have 

 not the least doubt but that the pollen 

 is coming from the blossoms on which 

 they are working, and, indeed, what 



other reasonable solution could be made 

 of the problem? 



It is tile first time I have ever noticed 

 the like, and when I first saw the bum- 

 ble-bees with the pollen, I could hardly 

 believe my own eyes. I believe it is gen- 

 erally the case that when pollen is being 

 yielded by a plant in an abnormal pro- 

 portion, the nectar is scarce — at least 

 this is always the case with clover, and 

 at present it is true with the basswood, 

 as practically no honey is coming in. Of 

 course, the weafher is really too cool 

 and showery to expect nectar to come 

 in from anv source. 



(^onfribufed 



:a 



Hiving Swarms With Clipped 

 Queens 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes, "I have trou- 

 ble hiving swarms having queens with 

 clipped wings. Will you please tell us 

 through the columns of the American 

 Bee Journal how this is best done?" 



The simplest plan, and one which I 

 used for years, or till I concluded that 

 I wished no more natural swarming for 

 myself, is as follows : 



Go to some woods where you can cut 

 a light tough pole, which will reach to 

 the top of your tallest trees, which we 

 will take for granted are not more than 

 25 feet high. If you are in a locality 

 where your trees are liable to cause 

 your bees to cluster higher than this, 

 then I would on no account tolerate 

 natural swarming. Have the large or 

 butt end of the pole sharpened so that 

 it can be pressed into the ground when- 

 ever necessary, or when you may so de- 

 sire. At the upper or small end of the 

 pole, tie on a bunch of brown rags 

 about 4 inches in diameter and S inches 

 along to the top of the pole, when the 

 same is ready for use. 



When a swarm issues, proceed to find 

 the queen, which is easily done by step- 

 ping to the rear of the hive from which 

 the bees are pouring, when the queen 

 will be seen, as soon as she comes out, 

 hopping around in front of the hive on 

 the ground. As soon as seen, put the 

 open end of a wirecloth cage you will 

 keep her in, down in front of her, when 

 she will run in, after which you will 

 close the cage with a stopper. This 

 cage should be about one inch in diam- 

 eter and 6 inches long. 



When the queen is caught, secure the 

 cage to the brown bunch with a wire or 

 two. so bent that it will fasten the cage 

 quickly and securely where you wish it. 

 Now raise the pole in the air and keep 

 it where the bees are thickest, when 

 they will often begin to alight on the 



brown bunch with the queen. As soon 

 as a pint or more have settled on the 

 bunch, slowly carry the pole to where 

 you can lean it up against something, 

 and the bees will follow along and keep 

 alighting as you go, and continue to do 

 so till all have settled. If they do not 

 alight on the pole they will soon select 

 a spot to alight upon the same as they 

 would if the queen was flying with them, 

 for her presence is known to them just 

 the same as if site had her wings whole 

 and was amongst them in the air. 



As soon as they begin to alight, place 

 the pole in such a position that the 

 queen and brown bunch comes at the 

 place they are clustering, and leave it 

 thus while you are preparing a hive for 

 them. When they are partially clus- 

 tered, raise the pole or push it up and 

 out, so that the queen and bunch of 

 rags, with the bees on them, is a foot 

 or so away from their selected cluster- 

 ing place, when all the bees will cluster 

 with the queen, after which you can 

 carry them wherever you please, the 

 same as you would had you cut off a 

 limb with the cluster upon it. 



Having the bees on our pole, they are 

 carried to the hive where you wish to 

 place them, when a small portion of the 

 cluster is detached from the rest by pok- 

 ing them off with the pocket-knife, the 

 hive-opener, or anything which is con- 

 venient, having these bees drop right in 

 front of the entrance to the hive, into 

 which they will run, setting up the call 

 of ".\ home is found," when all the 

 bees which may have taken wing 

 through this process of detaching the 

 pint or so of bees, or otherwise, will 

 begin to alight down with those running 

 in. When these are nicely started go- 

 ing into the hive, another poke of the 

 cluster is made, dislodging this time a 

 quart or so, and when this last lot are 

 well under way into the hive, we are to 

 shake all of the bees off the bunch of 

 rags on the pole, shaking them along 

 from one to 2 feet out from the en- 

 trance, so they will not clog the same 



