370 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 16, 



tient a cripple from three to six months, whereas I never 

 failed to cure one in three days. 



My youngest boy, in Iowa,, was stung by a single bee on 

 the jugular vein. I am satisfied he would have been a corpse 

 In 30 minutes, as he swelled up, droptover insensible almost 

 instantly. I pulled off his clothes just as quickly as possible, 

 put him in a cold-sheet pack, and in '60 minutes he was well. 



Now, Mr. Fowl's horse lived in spite of his treatment, and 

 the poison had to run out in sores, according to his own state- 

 ment. Suppose he had poured on cold water and wet the 

 horse thoroughly, then wet a blanket in cold water and eu- 

 velopt every part that was stung ; then piled on dry blankets 

 or quilts over all, left the nose so the horse could breathe, left 

 the horse in the pack an hour, then rubbed him thoroughly — 

 is Mr. Fowls sure the horse would not have been entirely well 

 in two hours, with no poison to run out in sores? I am po.si- 

 ti-ue about this. Mr. Fowls' and the editor's are theory pure 

 and simple. 



I saw a little boy bitten Jby a rattlesnake. Two doctors 

 gave him the regulation whiskey and strychnine. Towards 

 morning they decided the boy was dying. Then I was called 

 in to see him die, I suppose, and I drew the whiskey, strych- 

 nine and snake poison all out with the cold-sheet packs, and 

 the little fellow did not die worth a cent. You say it would 

 have driven it in ? Facts say not. Orange Co., Calif. 



Forming Nuclei — How It is Done. 



Br G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Question. — In making nuclei I have always been troubled 

 by so many bees going back to the parent hive that the pros- 

 pective nuclei were nearly worthless. Then I wish to intro- 

 duce virgin queens to the nuclei formed, and in this way 1 am 

 not very successful. A friend tells me that you have a plan 

 for making nuclei and introducing virgin queens at the same 

 time, which you gave in the bee-papers some time ago. Will 

 you please tell the younger readers about it, and how it works 

 with you after years of trial ? 



Answer. — As it has been some years since I have said 

 anything regarding the matter of forming nuclei, it may be ex- 

 cusable with the older members of the fraternity if I say a few 

 words on this subject for those who have been added to the 

 ranks of apiculture in recent years, especially as the plan has 

 always proved successful. 



The first requisite to the plan I use is a box made as fol- 

 lows : Get out two pieces of lumber 8 inches long by 7 wide 

 by % or % thick ; also two pieces 14 inches long by 7 wide 

 by K thick. The latter are nailed to the former so as to form 

 a box about 12 by 7, inside measure, without sides. For sides 

 I use two pieces of wire-cloth, cut 1-i inches long by S>^ wide. 

 One of these is nailed on permanently, while the other Is left 

 so as to be easily removable, by nailing the wire-cloth to a 

 little frame like a slate-frame, which frame is lightly tackt to 

 the box, or hinged, according to the wishes of the operator. 

 In the top of the box is bored a large hole, into which a funnel 

 is to be inserted. This funnel is to be large enough to allow 

 one of the brood-frames from your hive being shaken inside 

 of it, and the hole in the small end should be 2,^< to S inches, 

 so that the bees will readily roll or pass down through it and 

 not clog. This funnel is very similar to those used five or ten 

 years ago in putting up bees, when so many were sold by the 

 pound. The hole in the box should also have something to 

 close it, like a large button, made from your Ji-inch stuff, or a 

 tin slide. 



Having a funnel and box ready, go to any hive that can 

 spare from it from a pint to two quarts of bees, according 

 to the size of the nuclei desired ; take out a frame or frames 

 having bees on the combs, and pla3e on the outside of the 

 hive. If at a time of honey-dearth, so that robber-bees may 

 be troublesome, hang the frame in an empty hive, and throw 

 some old bag or blanket over, thus running no risk of creat- 

 ing a row in the apiary, or having your nuclei robbed out after 

 made. Give the frames several sharp knocks with your 

 thumb-nail or a little stick, to cause the bees to fill themselves 

 with honey, and when so fillej, shake as many bees down 

 through the funnel into the bos as you wish in your nucleus. 

 Take out the funnel and close the hole, when you will put the 

 frames from which you shook the bees back into the hives, 

 and close them. 



In all such operations especial care must be used not to 

 take the old queen with the bees thus taken ; for if you do the 

 colony will be greatly injured, and the virgin queen you at- 

 tempt to introduce will be destroyed. To be sure you do not 

 get the queen, it is always well to see her, and then set the 



frame she is on out of the hive till you have taken all the bees 

 you wish at that time. 



Having the hees in the box, take the same to any room or 

 shady place, or to the cellar, and throw a blanket, old coat, or 

 piece of carpet over it, to darken it, where it is to be left for 

 four to six hours. In an hour the bees will begin to realize 

 their queenless condition, and tell of it by breaking the clus- 

 ter they had formed, and running frantically about the cage ; 

 and, as time goes on, this distress will be more manifest till 

 they fairly beg for something in the shape of a queen ; and 

 the longer they are kept without one the more sure you will 

 be of their accepting the one you give them. 



When the time has arrived that I think it proper to give 

 the queen, which in no case should be in less than four hours 

 from the times they were shaken into the cage, I go to the 

 queen-nursery and get a virgin queen and give them. To put 

 the queen in, set the box down suddenly, so that all the bees 

 will fall to the bottom, when the hole is opened in the box and 

 the queen allowed to run in with the bees. The bees will at 

 once set up a-most joyous hum, thus telling of their new-found 

 treasure as plainly as if they could talk. 



The box is now left as it was before the queen was put in, 

 for from 5 to 12 hours, just in accord with the time the bees 

 were put iu. If put in during the early forenoon, then they 

 are taken out near sunset ; if during the afternoon, then not 

 till the next morning. When ready to take from the box, a 

 hive is prepared by placing in it a division-board, a frame con- 

 taining a little brood, and one having two or three pounds of 

 honey, all of which are put on the opposite side of the hive 

 from where you wish the bees. 



Now get the box, in which you will find the bees all com- 

 pactly clustered like a swarm, and carefully remove the wire- 

 cloth movable side, when, with a quick jerk, the bees can be 

 dislodged from the box to the bottom of the hive. Now quickly 

 draw the comb of honey, brood and division-board across the 

 rabbets of the hive, in the order named, to where the bees are, 

 and they will be immediately on them. The hive is now 

 closed, the entrance opened on the side farthest from the 

 combs; and if all has been rightly conducted, and works as it 

 should, in a week you will have a nice little colony with a lay- 

 ing queen, from which a full colony can bs built up, or queens 

 reared for market. 



If you do not wish to make the box and funnel, the bees 

 can be shaken into a tight hive, some wire-cloth fastened to 

 the top, the queen run in through a hole in the side, or under 

 one corner of the wire-cloth, and the hive left bottom up after 

 the queen is put in, so that the bees will cluster on the bottom. 

 In hiving, turn the hive right side up, remove the wire-cloth, 

 set in the combs and division-board, doing all so quickly that 

 the bees will not have time to crawl up the sides before you 

 get the combs in. Now close the hive at the top and open the 

 entrance, when you have the same thing as before, tho the 

 box plan makes one much more independent of the whims of 

 ihe bees ; and where many nuclei are to be formed, it amply 

 pays for all cost in construction. — Gleanings. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



MaHagement of Shallow Brood-Chambers. 



BY H. D. EDWARDS. 



On page 262, a writer asks a number of questions in re- 

 gard to shallow brood-chambers. As I have been using a 

 shallow brood-chamber hive for a number of years I thought 

 perhaps I might give the enquirer some information in regard 

 to them. 



In regard to his second question — What kind of a hive to 

 use — I use a hive invented by a Mr. Armstrong some years 

 ago. It is side-opening, self-locking, and is reversible, either 

 the case or the frames separately ; it is the best and most con- 

 venient hive I have ever used, and I have tried almost all the 

 dififerent hives placed on the market. The brood-frames are 

 5x17 inches, inside, and are interchangeable with wide frames 

 that take the -Ix.j section by putting a dummy one inch thick 

 in the end of the wide frame. 



Question 4 — They will not build brace-combs between the 

 brood-chambers to any great extent; sometimes a colony will 

 build some brace-combs, while other colonies will not build any. 



As to Question 6, I do not know that I can answer it any 

 better than to give my way of managing during the honey 

 season bere in Illinois, where we have to depend on white 

 clover for our surplus, having no basswood. What surplus 

 we get here comes between May 15 and July 1 — a period of 5 

 or 6 weeks, unless we have a fall run of honey, which has not 

 often occurred of late years. My plan is not new or original, 

 but seems to succeed better with me than any plan I have tried. 



When the colony swarms, I move the old colony away and 



