1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



593 



A COLONY OF BEES WITHOUT A HIVE. 



About six weeks ago a friend of mine 

 found a bee-tree in an old lipple-orchard, 

 and wanted me to go 

 with him and get the 

 honey. ] supposed from 

 what he said that they 

 were in a hoi low tree, asd 

 is generally the case, an 

 was very much surprised 

 to lind them in a branch 

 of ihe tree, where thej' 

 had evidently been since 

 early last summer. They 

 must have had an uuhap 

 p_vtime during the m my 

 cold rainy days we have 

 had here in Connecticut 

 the past season. The lat- 

 ter part of October we 

 had a good many frosty 

 nights, and that we 

 should have found any 

 bees at all on the combs 

 was surprising to me. 

 There were not i\ny bees 

 on the outside, but from 

 betwen the combs I shook 

 into m}' nucleus box about 

 a quart of golden Ital- 

 ians. I inclose two pho- 

 tographs, one showing 

 the apple-tree on which 

 the runaway swarm had 

 made their home. The other one shows a 

 closer view of the home; but we did not get 

 an}' hone}': not a trace could we find in 

 anv of the cells. W. W. Lathrop. 



Bridgeport, Ct., Dec. 16. 



[As will be seen from the date, the photos 

 and letter came to us some time ago. After 

 we had the engravings made we lost track 

 of the manuscript until now. 



It is very unusual in the northern and 

 eastern States for a swarm of bees to build 

 combs in the open air; but it is not an un- 



HIVELESS BEES FROM THE LIMB OF AN APPLE-TREE. 



common thing in California, and some of 

 the climates warmer than we have it here 

 in the East 



Several years ago I myself photographed 

 one such colony hanging to the eaves of the 

 honey-house of R. C. Aikin, at Loveland, 

 Colorado. It was a swarm he said that 

 had clustered under the eaves of the build- 

 ing, and not having time to take care of it 

 he left it with the result that it built comb, 

 and he was proposing to leave it out 

 all winter. He did so, but the col- 

 on}' died. My photo that I secured at 

 the time I now present for the first 

 time in connection with the one by Mr. 

 Lathrop. — Ed.] 



% 



HI\'K1.1 SS I'. I KS IN CON Ni:C TRU I 



COMBINATION OF SOLAR AND ARTI- 

 FICIAL HEAT. 



To render wax on a large scale, es- 

 pecially from old combs, and do it 

 effectively, that is, leave as little wax 

 as possible in the refuse, pressure un- 

 der steam is probaly the only success- 

 ful way. At the same time, a solar 

 wax-extractor is a very desirable im- 

 plement in any apiary. We are well 

 aware that it is not a perfect machine 

 — it is too slow in its operation. I 

 have watched it many times, trying to 

 find some way to make some improve- 

 ment whereby its eflficiency might be 

 increased. I could see the wax drop 

 off from the little chunks of comb, 

 could see it run down the sheet-iron 

 bottom, but yet it would take a good 



