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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mw 15 



pailful of sawdust, and threw a handful at 

 each entrance, and in that way closed or 

 contracted the entrances of 600 colonies 

 scattered in I do not know how many out- 

 yards — perhaps eight or ten. When warm- 

 er weather comes, the bees will push this 

 sawdust away themselves; and in the mean 

 time, while it remains cool, the closing or 

 contracting- of the entrances will confine 

 the heat on the cluster, putting the bees in 

 better condition to resist the cold. 



This is a good point, and I am sure it 

 must have saved Mr. Coggshall a great 

 amount of brood, many bees, and possibly 

 earned for him a good many tons of honey. 



That leads me to say that, during very 

 cold weather, I believe it would be good 

 policy to close the hives of outdoor-wintered 

 colonies in the same way. If there should 

 come on a warm spell the bees could very 

 easily remove the obstruction. When it is 

 very cold they do not need much ventilation; 

 but when it is warm, they can of their own 

 will enlarge the entrance to suit their own 

 requirements. 



Beginners as well as some of the veterans 

 had better paste this kink (from one of the 

 most extensive bee-keepers in the world — 

 perhaps the most so) in their hats, against 

 the cold of next winter or spring. Mr. 

 Coggshall has apiaries in Cuba, New York, 

 Colorado, and Arizona. The number of 

 colonies he owns runs up to something over 

 3000. Most of the men who work for him 

 have acquired the name of "lightning op- 

 erators." One of them is Harry Howe, 

 now of Cuba. I saw one of his operators 

 (not Mr. Howe) shake the bees off from 

 something like 50 colonies during extract- 

 ing time. It was on this occasion that Mr. 

 Coggshall himself went through the "light- 

 ning act," and also exhibited that "pro- 

 fessional kick" by which he removed or 

 loosened the supers from the top of the 

 brood-nests. Things were "lightning" 

 there that day, let me tell you. I was al- 

 most glad when I got out of the yard; for 

 the bees were just beginning to push their 

 lightning stings clear through my clothing. 



A CHEAP AND SIMPLE METHOD OF FASTEN- 

 ING BOTTOM-BOARDS AND COVERS FOR 

 MOVING BEES TO OUTYARDS. 



There are many of the veteran bee-keep- 

 ers who do not even yet know of a cheap 

 and simple method of fastening their bottom- 

 boards to the hive-bodies. We have been 

 using for years double-pointed tacks, or 

 crate- staples, as they are sometimes called, 

 and I supposed that every one knew of the 

 trick. But in my travels over the country 

 among bee-keepers I find a good many are 

 still using ropes, and others are nailing 

 through the covers into the bodies. When 

 the bottom-boards are nailed from the under 

 side up into the hive-body with an ordinary 

 wire nail it is not an easy matter to sepa- 

 ate the two parts when one desires to use 

 an extra hive-body without the bottom, and 

 it is harder still to drive the nails in if the 



bees are in. But four crate-staples, some- 

 times three, will make a very secure and 

 reliable fastening, and yet one which can 

 be easily broken with a common screwdriver, 

 and whether bees are in the hives or not the 

 staples can be driven in very easily. Two 

 staples driven on each side, so as to span 

 the crack between the bottom-board and 

 body, will hold the two together very firmly. 

 Or two staples in front and one in the rear 

 or in the back end do very well. The cover 

 may be secured in the same way. 



But now let me tell you of a little trick we 

 stumbled on to last summer, which will 

 save dollars in time and wire cloth and wire 

 screens. Instead of using an ordinary wire- 

 cloth screen, take some pieces of one-piece 

 section, >^-inch thick, and lay one piece at 

 each of the four corners, on top of the hive- 

 body. The cover is now set on top; and, as 

 will be seen, there will be a ^s-inch crack 



on the sides, front, and rear, between the 

 cover and the bodjs and just narrow enough 

 to exclude bees. The knee is now placed on 

 the cover, when a crate-staple is driven in, 

 spanning the body and cover just opposite 

 or near one of these section pieces — see A A 

 in the illustration, also the enlarged view 

 in the lower left-hand corner. With wire 

 cloth nailed over the entrance, and the cov- 

 er secured 's-inch above the hive-bodies, we 

 get sufficient ventilation, even on hot days, 

 if the bees are not to be moved more than 

 about two or three miles. But I would not 

 move during the heat of the day. Let it be 

 in the morning or evening. 



Now, then, on arriving at the outyard 

 one can very easily draw the staples, that 

 secure the cover or bottom-board, with a 

 common screwdriver. I would use, however, 

 one larger and stronger than the one shown 

 in the cut — one that will stand a good deal 

 of twisting and prying. Push the point of 

 the blade under the staple, near one of the 



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