1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1325 



ed. 1 dou't know yet for a dead certainty 

 whether bees will not build in so large a 

 space as | inch below the brood-nest; and if 

 they do, then the thing must be clianged. 

 If it works all right you will easily see that 

 it will interfere very little with free air under 

 bottom-bars in hot weather. 



In the fall, or any time after storing ceas- 

 es, the bottom-rack is taken out, and during 

 winter the entrance is left wide open; but in 

 the spring, just as soon as the hive is set on 

 its stand, the entrance is closed as seen in 

 Fig 3. 



The board that closes the entrance is 12 X 

 4xi, fastened in place by two small nails 

 partly driven in. At the right-hand lower 

 corner of the boai'd you will see a hole about 

 an inch square— perhaps less. At the left- 

 hand lower corner it looks like a hole, bvit 

 there's no hole there — it's merely a shadow. 

 I think that closing down to this small en- 

 trance befoi-e the bees begin to fly, after be- 

 ing taken from the cellar, has no little ten- 

 dency to prevent '-drifting" of the bees — 

 that is, a number of the bees settling on some 

 particular hive not their own. At any rate, 

 years ago, when I had shallow entrances I 

 wasn't troubled with '"drifting." After 

 adopting deep bottom-boards and allowing 

 liees to take their first flight with entrances 



commode the bees; and unless a colony is 

 very strong, that does not happen so very 

 long before time to put on supers. 



Fl(.. ;J — IKiW lUK E.NTliAM;K.S AKE CON- 

 TRACTED IN THE SPRING. 



wide open I did have trouble that way, which 

 trouble has ceased since using the small en- 

 trances shown in Fig. 3. 



The entrance-boards are taken away when 

 the smallness of the entrance seems to dis- 



BUILDING UP WEAK COLONIES 

 GIVING THEM YOUNG BEES. 



BY 



BY LOUIS F. WAHL. 



This spring I had some vei'y weak colonies, 

 each consisting of a queen 

 with only a small handful of 

 bees and about two square 

 inches of brood. We had cold 

 rainy weather all through the 

 month of May, and ice form- 

 ed even as late as the 25th. 

 To let the little colonies go 

 for themselves meant certain 

 death; and to build them up 



"" '" "*" — thatwas the pi'oblem to me. 



1 read of the Alexander and other meth- 

 ods; but this time I happened to think of 

 something new which proved a great suc- 

 cess. My first thought was to supply more 

 bees; but I was afraid these strange bees 

 would kill the queen, so I endeavored to give 

 young bees only. I went to a strong colony, 

 on a warm day, and shook the bees off from 

 three or four combs into a hive-cover, shak- 

 ing them slowly, being careful to see that 

 the queen was left in the hive from which I 

 took the combs. 



By shaking slowly the old bees took wing 

 and flew back to the old hive, while the 

 younger ones remained in the hive-cover. I 

 then carried the young bees, about a pint, 

 over to the weak colonies, and let them in at 

 the entrance. To-day, June 12, those little 

 colonies that would have died have two 

 frames of brood, and are prospering. 

 Chili Center, N. Y. 



EUCALYPTUS. 



BY C. F. ENGLAND. 



On page 327 I notice an article by W. K. 

 Morrison, stating that it is I'ather difficult to 

 get literature on the subject of these trees. 

 The New Zealand government published a 

 most valuable book in 1905 entitled "Tree 

 Culture in New Zealand," by Henry J. ^lat- 

 thews, chief forester. It can be obtained 

 from the government printer, Wellington, 

 N. Z. The price is 60 cents. The book con- 

 tains 126 pages of print, and 64 plates from 

 photos, and it fully describes the methods 

 adopted in raising young ti'ees, ti'ansplant- 

 ing, etc. It states that the blue gum of Tas- 

 mania is now taking an insect blight in some 

 parts of the colony; that it will not stand 

 the severe frosts in certain parts of the 

 South Island, and extensive planting of the 

 blue gum has practically ceased in New 

 Zealand. 



Mr. H. J. Matthews gives the following in 

 their order of hardiness as observed by him: 



E. paid'iflora ascends to 4600 feet in Tas- 

 mania 



