248 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



drive it up. Now tighten and secure to 

 tack A, drive up, and twist off the wire. 



A. P. Young. 

 Cave City, Ky., Feb. 7. 



[Your plan is very simple and good. The 

 scheme of having nails driven in a zigzag 

 line next to the spool is excellent, because 

 it will make just enough friction to enable 

 drawing the wires reasonably taut. — Ed.] 



FORCED SWARMS. 



After having read so much about forced 

 swarms I am prompted to suggest that 

 there will be many novices who will make 

 many serious mistakes in this line. In the 

 first place, very few will know when the 

 colony is ready to be forced, and then it is 

 not any simple matter to get the bees in just 

 the right condition In my opinion a colony 

 that is in moderatel}' good strength should 

 not be bothered unless there is unmistaka- 

 ble evidence that it is preparing to swarm. 

 I think this forcing business is for people 

 who have out-yards which they can not at- 

 tend to; but for the average bee-keeper I 

 think the matter of swarming should be 

 left to the bees. I shall have about 30 col- 

 onies this spring, and shall be satisfied to 

 clip the queens and allow the bees to do the 

 swarming. 



I think we shall have the earliest season 

 I have ever seen. I was out in the j^ard 

 yesterday, and noticed the bees bringing in 

 pollen to a considerable extent. Will you 

 please tell me if this is an indication that 

 there is brood in the hive, or do they bring 

 in pollen before the queen goes to laying? 

 If we do not have anj^ unusually cold weath- 

 er during this month my bees should be 

 ready to swarm by April 1, as they will 

 have nearly two months to breed up, and 

 they have the greatest abundance of good 

 stores, and a few trees are beginning to 

 bloom. J. S. Wise. 



Hazlehurst, Miss., Feb. 2. 



[The question of forced swarming depends 

 entirely on whether you want to take care 

 of the swarming at your convenience, or 

 have it take place on the hit-and-miss plan 

 when you are away from home, or when }'ou 

 are busily engaged. From the mass of evi- 

 dence that has been submitted, it seems 

 clear now that one can, by the forcing plan, 

 make the bees swarm at a time when it suits 

 his convenience. While clipping queens' 

 wings does away with climbing trees and 

 chasing after swarms, yet if you happen to 

 be absent the swarm will come back and 

 try the same trick again. It may keep on 

 maneuvering thus for several daj-s, wasting 

 their most precious time. Mj' opinion is, 

 judging from what I read, that you can not 

 afford to let nature have her own way. 



When bees go in quest of natural pollen 

 it may be before or after they have brood 

 in their hives. The presence of new pollen 

 in the hives is quite apt to start the queen 

 to laying, although the probabilities are 

 that the queen has laid some eggs before 



pollen has been brought in. In our locality 

 the queen will lay a few eggs, sometimes in 

 February, but not usually before March. 

 A few warm daj'S of sunshine breaks up 

 the cluster, with the result that the queen 

 will lay a small patch of eggs. When the 

 next cold spell comes on, if the cluster can 

 cover these eggs, well and good; if not, the 

 brood dies. Egg-laying is pretty apt to 

 precede pollen-gathering by a good many 

 days; but when the natural pollen does 

 come in, it usually means settled warm 

 weather, and the queen usually tries to 

 make the best of the opportunity offered. — 

 Ed.] 



Will you kindly tell me how to fix up a 

 room in a barn, and about what size to have 

 it for stores, bees, hives, etc. 



Edward G. C. Dubois. 



Providence, R. I., Nov. 24. 



[The size of the room will depend alto- 

 gether on the number of bees you expect to 

 keep. For an apiary of 100 colonies a 

 workshop or room 10x10 ought to be fairly 

 ample. The room should be absolutely bee- 

 tight — that is, if you expect to store honey 

 in it. A self-closing screen-door should be 

 used in connection with the regular door. 

 The windows should be provided with bee- 

 escapes so the bees can escape in case they 

 get inside. — Ed.] 



paste for labels. 



In making paste for labels on tin I use 

 equal parts of hot water and honey, and 

 dissolve enough corn starch to make a thick 

 paste. This works perfectly. 



West Bend, Wis. H. C. Ahlers. 



The Samson hive, first used by the ancient Egyp- 

 tians, afterward adopted by England as a national 

 emb'em 



Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the 

 strong came forth sweetness. — Judges 14:14. 



