760 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



dresses when at work in his apiary, and it 

 seems that he has reduced the number of 

 garments to the lowest minimum possible 

 and yet be clad. This would not suit me, 

 nor meet the requirements of Coggshall, I 

 am sure. My bees do not respect a single 

 thickness of covering as would be desirable, 

 and I therefore prefer a light suit of under- 

 wear in addition to what the doctor wears. 

 When not too sultry and warm I add anoth- 

 er garment, a white jacket, close-fitting at 

 the wrists. I am then prepared for almost 

 any emergency. I don't wish to carry the 

 idea that my bees are extremely vicious; 

 but handling bees as rapidly as possible, 

 one is quite apt to excite their stinging pro- 

 pensities more or less, and it is better to be 

 well protected. To prevent bees from as- 

 cending the connections my upper self has 

 with mother earth, and make unpleasant 

 investigation in the space between under- 

 wear and outside covering, I incidentally 

 hit on the guards used by bicj-cle- riders. 

 They are quickly applied, and answer well. 

 The new pattern of the Corneil smoker I 

 regard as a success. An asbestos covering 

 and wide shield might be added advanta- 

 geously, and heavy iron substituted in the 

 making of the fire-barrel; but I can not see 

 what better Mr. Arthur C. Miller could 

 want. I don't know that it would be de- 

 sirous to get up these smokers so they would 

 last a lifetime. I like to have and use a 

 new implement occasionally, and I am 

 glad one of my old Cornells, after five or 

 six years' use in the home yard, where the 

 work is harder on the smoker than in the 

 outyards, begins to show signs of old age. 

 It is a good plan to clean out the smbker 

 after it has been used hard and while it is 

 still hot. The greater part of the accumu- 

 lations are then quite soft, and may be 

 scraped off with a suitable tool. 



Many of the bee-keepers in Germany 

 know nothing about the convenience of a 

 good smoker, but handle their bees by the 

 use of cigars. This would not suit me, and 

 I notice that even Americans given to smok- 

 ing tobacco consider it better, more conven- 

 ient, and more business-like, to use the 

 smoker. 



Before closing my communication I wish 

 to speak of a contrivance which might help 

 some bee-keeper somewhere and some time. 

 It is not any thing particularly new. The 

 bee, drone, and queen sifter I wish to de- 

 scribe has been used by the inventor, Mr. 

 Hannemann, of Brazil, in some form or other 

 for a great many years. The way I have 

 constructed it is this: A light open box, the 

 size of a hive-body, was covered at the bot- 

 tom with a sheet of queen-excluding zinc. 

 A cover was hinged to this box, and also 

 covered by the same material. This device 

 comes handy many times when unexpected- 

 ly a swarm is found hanging in a tree. 

 Many, who may not wish to increase their 

 colonies any more, may sometimes be puz- 

 zled to know what to do with such a swarm. 

 They might wish to return it. Particular- 

 ly in case of late swarms, buckwheat 



swarms, etc., such as would not be able to 

 fix up for winter in good shape, it is al- 

 ways best to return tliem. 



I have come home occasionally from the 

 work in an out3'ard and found a swarm 

 hanging on a bush, although I practice 

 clipping. In such a case I would at once 

 proceed to shake the cluster of bees into my 



sifter, and shake and shake till all the bees 

 are in the air except the imprisoned drones 

 and queen or queens. Of course, the bees 

 would soon go back to their old home, and 

 could be located. 



The bee-keeper will find this sifter con- 

 venient to use at other times. The occasions, 

 will present themselves sooner or later, and 

 I need not say any more about it. 



Naples, N. Y., Aug. 5. 



[The wiring-device and the article cred- 

 ited to you on page 677 we find should have 

 been credited to your brother, G. C. Grei- 

 ner. Through some mistake the substitu- 

 tion was made. The fact is, both of you 

 have almost the same handwriting, and 

 your general style is much the same. 



Your bee-sifter seems to be a good thing. 

 We should like to hear from others who 

 have tried it or who may try it after mak- 

 ing one. I have used bicycle pants-guards 

 with a great deal of satisfaction in the 

 manner you have shown. We at one time 

 thought of cataloging and selling them; 

 but we concluded that such a common arti- 

 cle of sale, and used so universally, would 

 hardly pay us for giving it space in the 

 catalog. — Ed.] 



A THREE-BAND-ITALIAN-BEE CLUB. 



Whither Are we Driftiag? is there Danger ia Pur- 

 suing the Fad for Four and Five Yellow 

 Bands? 



BY J. M. GIBBS. 



I am slow to ask for the space aff'orded 

 by Gleanings, for fear I shall not be able 

 to write something that will benefit some 

 one somewhere. I have become alarmed at 

 the extent that our queen-breeders are ad- 

 vertising almost all breeds of queens " in 

 their purity." Now, I have been taught by- 



