682 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



" poison " introduced by the sting. 

 Soft mud or clay lias been successfully 

 used as a remedy. Will Dr. Tinker 

 please reply about the camphor. — Ed.] 



Kiir the American Bee JoamaU 



New Method of Uniting Nuclei. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE.0 



Many plans have been given for 

 wintering nuclei or weak colonies in 

 the fall, the best one of which was to 

 move the little colonies to be united 

 toward each other a foot or so each 

 day until they were brought together; 

 so that after uniting (by alternating 

 the frames, or otherwise mixing the 

 bees up so that tliey would not quar- 

 rel), they would occupy so nearly tlie 

 same place wliich they did before 

 uniting, that no bees would be lost by 

 their going back to their former loca- 

 tion, whicuthey always will do unless 

 some precaution is taken. This plan 

 involved a large amoiuit of work, es- 

 pecially if the nuclei were far apart, 

 and it would often happen tliat they 

 did not occupy such a position that 

 they could be thus brought together 

 at all. AVhen the work was consid- 

 ered too great, or the colonies could 

 not be moved a little each day, they 

 were carried and united at once ; and 

 to avoid having the bees return to 

 their old location, a wide board was 

 leaned against the hive in front of the 

 entrance, so that the bees would see 

 that they were in a new spot by bump- 

 ing this board, if they attempted to 

 fly without marking where they were. 

 With nie, many bees would return to 

 the old spot in spite of these precau- 

 tions; and, although, heretofore I 

 have always used these plans, yet 1 

 have never been quite satislied with 

 them. 



In looking over the first volumes of 

 the Bee Journal, not long ago, I 

 chanced to turn to page 11 of Vol. 4, 

 wliere E. Gallup tells ■• how to make 

 natural swarms artificially," by first 

 smoking the bees and then alarming 

 them by rapping on the hive with a 

 stick, thus causing them to fill them- 

 selves with honey. After they were 

 filled witii honey, they were, the Inrger 

 part of them, to" be drummed into the 

 cap of the hive by the means usually 

 pursued in drummingout bees. "When 

 they were gotten in the cap, the cap 

 was taken and carried to where tlie 

 swarm was to be located, where it 

 (the cap) was to be set leaning np 

 against something for about an hour, 

 at which time they w-ere to be hived 

 the same as any natural swarm, when, 

 he says, " they will work precisely 

 like one in every respect." 



Having a large number of nuclei to 

 unite this fall, I thought. " Why can 

 1 not use something similar to this 

 plan, in unitingV" but I foimd that 

 I could not make oueenless bees stay 

 until I could get two or more nuclei 

 put together, at which time I wished 

 to give them such a queen as I desired. 

 After considerable study, proving of 

 no value at the end of an experiment, 

 I chanced to think of what I had read 

 of the traflic in bees by the pound, 



and applying this to the Gallup plan, 

 I soon saw that I could control the 

 bees as I pleased. Accordingly I went 

 to a tinsmith and told him I wanted a 

 funnel made 14 inches in diameter at 

 the top and slowly tapering to ii'2%- 

 inch hole in the bottom, which hole 

 was to have a 2-inch piece of 23^-inch 

 conductor pipe soldered into "it. I 

 next made a box by getting out two 

 pieces of wood 9 inches long by 8 

 wide by ?| of an inch thick, and two 

 other pieces 14 inclies long by 9 wide 

 by H thick, which were naile'd to the 

 first two pieces so as to form a box 14 

 inches long by 9 wide by 8 deep, with- 

 out sides, I next got two pieces of 

 wire-cloth 14 inches long by S}4 wide, 

 one of which was permanently nailed 

 to one side of the box, and the other 

 piece was nailed to strips of wood M 

 of an inch squai'e, and then placed 

 around the outside of it, after which 

 it was fastened to the other side of the 

 box by means of a small wire nail 

 being driven through each of the 

 strips of wood into the box, so that 

 four nails held it nicely ; still it could 

 be easily pried off. I next bored a 25^- 

 inch hole through the centre of the 

 top for the funnel, over which hole I 

 fixed a tin slide. Near one end I bored 

 a 1-inch hole through which I could 

 drop the queen that I wished to put 

 with the united bees, which hole I 

 closed with a large cork. 



Thus rigged, I proceeded to a queen- 

 less nucleus and blew a little smoke 

 into tlie entrance, after which I struck 

 5 or heavy blows on the top of the 

 hive, when I went to another and did 

 the same thing. I next waited a 

 minute or two for the bees in the first 

 hive to fill themselves with honey. As 

 soon as they were filled, I proceeded 

 to shake them into the funnel which 

 had been placed in the hole in the 

 box, when as fast as they struck the 

 sides of the funnel, they rolled into 

 the box below. In this way I soon 

 had all the bees in that nucleus (ex- 

 cept a few that were in the corners of 

 the hive, or that might take wing be- 

 fore they struck the funnel) in the 

 box, when I went to the next one 1 

 had smoked and served it in the same 

 manner. However, before doing this, 

 if I wished to put more than two to- 

 gether (I often use 5 or 6 nuclei to 

 form one colony), I would smoke the 

 next one the same as I did the first, 

 so that each could be filling with 

 honey while I was shaking tlie pre- 

 vious one into the box. When I had 

 all that 1 wished in the box, the fun- 

 nel taken out and the hole closed, I 

 proceeded to get the queen I wished 

 for tliem, when, by a sudden jar of 

 the box, I brought all the bees down 

 on the bottom, at which time I im- 

 mediately uncorked the small hole 

 and put in the queen. I now rolled 

 and tumbled the bees about in the 

 box until all were mixed up, when the 

 box was put in my bee-cellar and the 

 door closed so all was dark, when it 

 was left until sunset, when a hive 

 was prepared with combs of sealed 

 honey sufficient for their winter 

 stores. 



Next I brought the box from the 

 cellar, took off the movable wire-cloth 

 side, dumped out the bees and hived 



them as I would a natural swarm. If 

 I did not have enough combs of sealed 

 honey for all, I gave empty combs and 

 fed enough sugar syrup for winter. 

 By making four such boxes I soon had 

 my nuclei all united iu the best pos- 

 sible manner, and all the bees would 

 stay where put— provided all were 

 well-filled with lioney. I find this 

 part very essential, for if they are 

 only Dartially filled, they are inclined 

 to l3e cross, and a few will go back to 

 tlie old stand upon the first flight ; 

 but if all are well- filled none will re- 

 turn. If they have not all the lioney 

 that they can hold, I jar them down 

 as I did to put in the queen, when ij; 

 of a pound of syrup or honey is turned 

 in upon them," and by rolling them 

 about each gets a share till all are 

 filled. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



" Honor to Whom Honor is Due." 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. (^ 



It may " tear agape the healing 

 wound afresh," but I feel that I must 

 say a few words in self-defense upon 

 the above subject. 



Mr. Fradenburg says that he has 

 never claimed that he first discovered 

 the " pollen theory," but that he was 

 the one who first discovered that pol- 

 len was the cause of bee-diarrhcea. 

 This is getting it down pretivfine; 

 but is the assertion true? Is Mr. 

 Fradenburg the one who flr.'it dis- 

 covered that pollen is the cause of 

 bee-diarrhoea ? 



On page 536, Mr. F., himself, admits 

 that he does not consider his experi- 

 ment as the " first ;" if so, why does 

 he claim to be the one who first dis- 

 covered that pollen is tlie cause of 

 bee-diarrhcea V Farther along, upon 

 the same page, he says that the dis- 

 covery upon which he bases his claim 

 was made on Jan. 31, 1884. Mr. Hed- 

 don had previously reported experi- 

 ments tliat were as conclusive as this 

 experiment of ^Ir. Fradenburg 's. Con- 

 sidering all this, is it not strange that 

 Mr. Fradenburg should put forth the 

 claim which he does V 



Mr. Fradenburg says that the re- 

 port of his experiment (the one upon 

 which he bases his claim), made dur- 

 ing the winter of 1SS3-84. was pub- 

 lished prior to Mr. Heddon's report of 

 his experiment of the same winter ; in 

 this he is mistaken, as he will see by 

 turning to the Kansas Bee-Keeper of 

 June 1, 1884. 



Mr. F. quotes from Gleanings to 

 show that he (Fradenburg) publicly 

 hinted, prior to Mr. Heddon, that 

 pollen might be the cause of bee- 

 diarrhoea; but it appears, from refer- 

 ence to the Bee-Keepers' Instructor for 

 February ISSl.that Mr. Heddon was 

 more than a month ahead of him. 



LATE SW^AKMING. 



In reply to the questions of ilr, 

 Gresh, on page -599. I would say that I 

 have had no experience with Septem- 

 ber swarms, and I know of no prac- 

 tical method of controlling swarming 

 at such times ; i. e., of preventing the 



