THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



201 



singular that bees slioiilil eat a sub- 

 stance that will prove so destructive, 

 especially when they are well-supplied 

 with hoiiev. 

 North Manchester, lud. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Planting for Bee-Pasturage, etc. 



LEONIDAS CAKSON. 



From the first of February to the 

 evening of the 27th, we had tnie, open 

 spring weather, and bees that were on 

 their summer stands could tly almost 

 every day. On the evening of Feb. 

 27, we were struck by the cold wave 

 that came down from the west, and 

 ever since we have had cold winter 

 again, the ground being frozen and 

 covered with snow. 



Bees, as far as I can learn, appear to 

 be in fine condition. I left 14 colonies 

 of my bees on their summer stands, 

 and lost two through the month of 

 January ; the others are in fine condi- 

 tion. I set 67 colonies in my winter 

 depository. They appear to be in 

 good condition up to this date, March 

 4th. 



On page 1.39 L. K. Dickey, of High 

 Point, Ga., enquires why enterprising 

 bee-keepers of the Korth, who are 

 seeking a better Held for their busi- 

 ness, do not go to Xorthwest Georgia 

 and help develop the honey resourcesV 

 The answer is plain. Enterprising men 

 of all occupations at the North, are 

 loth to settle in the Southern States 

 so long as lawlessness is excused and 

 goes unpunished. I have reference to 

 the trouble at Danville, Miss., last 

 fall. I have long had my eye South- 

 ward. 1 have traveled over many of 

 your pleasant hills and vallies. You 

 are blest with the finest climate in the 

 world. Many of your States would be 

 the paradise of the bee-keeper. 



I am pleased to see that bee keepers 

 are becoming awake on the subject of 

 foul brood. 1 do not know of any in 

 this county, but if bee-keepers con- 

 tinue to procure queens from abroad, 

 how long will it be until we have it 

 here too V Why do not the State As- 

 sociations see that there are similar 

 laws enacted in every state in the 

 Union, to the one they have in Mich.V 

 It is to the interest of every bee-keep- 

 er in the land. 



I am very much interested in pas- 

 turage for bees, and I would like to 

 impress on bee-keepers the necessity 

 of a continual honey flow all summer. 

 If we are not so situated, we should 

 not suffer another spring to pass with- 

 out considerable effort on our part. 

 After fruit bloom, comes the w^ld 

 cherry with its abundance of bloom, 

 and if the weather is favorable, our 

 pets gather considerable fine honey ; 

 but if the weather is cold and wet, 

 bees can do nothing until white clo- 

 ver. I would admonish bee-keepers 

 to set out cuttings of the golden wil- 

 willow and plant the black or com- 

 mon locust, plant basswood or linden. 

 Do not forget to set out a nice patch 

 of raspberries ; for black caps, plant 

 the Tyler & Sonhegan for early, and 

 Gregg for late ; of the reds, plant Han- 

 sen, or crimson beauty, for early ; and 



Cuthbert, for late, and you will not 

 only secure a fine lot of raspberry 

 honey, but plenty of fine berries. I 

 have'yet to see tlie man, woman or 

 child that do not love raspberries. 

 After raspberries, plant the black- 

 berry ; the hardiest blackberry is tlie 

 Snyder ; Taylor's prolific is fine, and 

 is some larger than the Snyder. 



It is claimed that the box-elder and 

 catalpa are profuse bloomers, and 

 yield considerable honey. The clo- 

 vers all yield honey, and are all good 

 forage plants, unless it is melilot, and 

 I have seen cattle eat melilot clover, 

 when it was young, with great relish. 



Diamond, O., jNIarch 4, 1884. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Swarm Controller. 



JOHN LONGMATE. 



In accordance with my promise I 

 now give a description of my swarm 

 controller and queen and drone trap. 

 By reference to the engraving, the 

 reader will see that it is a box about 

 12 inches long, 6 wide, and 6 high, 



traeted by the light at the large pas- 

 sage way", they pass out that way, and 

 do not li'nd tlie end of tlie tube ; and 

 if they should, the force of the incom- 

 ing workers would turn them away 

 from it, and t hey are compelled to 

 pass into the box. 



This attachment can be made very 

 useful in many ways, some of which I 

 will mention : \Vhen we wish to re- 

 duce the number of drones in a hive, 

 we place the trap at the entrance, and 

 in the latter part of the day, when the 

 drones have attempted to tly out, we 

 find them in the trap, and can destroy 

 tliem. Or, if we wish to use them for 

 any purpose, we can easily catch them 

 in this manner. 



When a swarm Issues, the workers 

 pass out, then quietly step to the hive 

 and be ready for their return, for it 

 will be only a few minutes before they 

 will be rushing back. Look into the 

 queen cage, to be sure that the queen 

 is there. Now move the old hive to 

 a new stand, and place a new one on 

 the old stand, and when the swarm 

 returns, draw back the sliding floor 

 between the upper and lower rooms, 

 and cover the cage to darken it, and 



Swarm Controller and Drone and Queen Trap. 



A, Entrance. B, Perforated Zinc (or egress of Workers. C, Tube of Wire Cloth for Queen 

 and Drones to pass into upper room. D. Zinc cover slid back to show inside of Trap. 



having the front side open to within 

 \}>£ inches of the top. From the left- 

 hand front corner to within 2 inches 

 of the opposite corner, is a plate of 

 zinc perforated from the inside. 



The back side of the box is open 

 along the bottom up to the second 

 floor, to let the bees pass freely from 

 the hive into the box. When the bees 

 pass into it, they are directed by the 

 angling side to the right, and the 

 workers pass out through the holes 

 near the corner and make their es- 

 cape. The queen and drones cannot 

 pass these holes, and are attracted by 

 the light from above and pass up 

 througli a tube into the upper room, 

 and are there confined. Tlie workers 

 that find their way into the upper 

 room, pass out through the perforated 

 side. When the workers return from 

 the fields, they naturally alight at the 

 point of egress, and in their laden 

 and distended condition cannot pass 

 readily through the holes, having the 

 rough edges outward, and are directed 

 by the angling front to the right and 

 to the lower corner through a tube of 

 ample size for the heavy-laden workers 

 to pass readily into the hive. This 

 tube reaches about 3 inches into the 

 hive, where it is comparatively dark, 

 and as the queen and drones are at- 



let the queen pass back into the hive, 

 and the large swarm, perhaps with a 

 valuable queen that we were so fear- 

 ful might go to the woods, are nicely 

 located in their new home. Let the 

 controller remain at the hive for a few 

 days, or until there is no danger of 

 the swarm re-issuing. 



When we have after-swarms, and 

 the controller is used, we can ascer- 

 tain if there is more than one queen, 

 return the one of our choice and 

 utilize or destroy the others, and our 

 swarm is returned to the old hive with 

 no further trouble. If the division 

 floor is left out, and the swarm issues 

 in our absence, it and the queen are 

 returned to the old hive without any 

 attention. 



It is not intended to prevent swarm- 

 ing, but to control it. I agree with 

 Mr. Chas. Dadant in his article on 

 page 57, that swarming can be pre- 

 vented, or nearly so by proper manage- 

 ment, but when we do not prevent it 

 by this previous management, either 

 by design or failure, then we should 

 control tlie swarms, and I am of the 

 opinion that it is best to hive the first 

 swarms in new hives, and if that had 

 been done, and they had not been re- 

 turned, the " ill-treatment " of the 

 queens would not have occurred. 



