1436 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



If I am not mistaken it has been only a 

 few years since Mr. Doolittle practiced plac- 

 ing sections at the sides as well as at the top 

 of the brood-apartment to have them filled 

 with honey. In fact, this practice was in 

 common use some 25 years ago. I hardly 

 think Dr. Miller would wish to go on record 

 as saying that bees in Illinois are as likely to 

 store their surplus below the brood-apart- 

 ment as at the sides and above it, and yet 

 that is about the impression one receives 

 from reading the Straws above referred to. 

 My statement on page 899 to which the good 

 doctor takes exception is perfectly orthodox 

 in my location, and I suspect that bee nature 

 is very nearly the same in Illinois as it is in 

 Ohio. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



BEEHUNTING. 



More Profitable to Cut the Trees in the 

 Fall. 



BY ELIAS FOX. 



In reply to John R. Lockard, page 322 of 

 the March 1st issue, I would say that, unless 

 his bee-trees are better supplied with honey 

 than most of them are here, his profits (if 

 any) would be greater if he would cut them 

 in the fall, and it would also be much more 

 humane, for swarms could be saved that other- 

 wise would perish long before spring from 

 the want of sufficient stores to carry them 

 through. 



I hunt bees for recreation and to save 

 swarms that would starve if left in the tree 

 and take a chance on the possible profit, and 

 I have driven into the country in the fall and 

 brought home swarms where others had cut 

 the trees, robbed the bees of their honey, and 

 left them to perish. Two years ago I win- 

 tered ten swarms that I took from trees, 

 mostly of my own finding. My method is 

 this: 



I have a box made of thin boards, 17 inches 

 long, 11 inches wide and 6 inches deep, with 

 3 very thin boards 5 inches wide, slipped in- 

 side between thin cleats tacked inside the 

 ends (wooden combs or dummies), for the 

 bees to cluster on, with half-inch space at 

 bottom and top, so as not to crush the bees 

 and allow them free passage. The cover is 

 thin boards with half-inch cleats on each 

 side to slip down over the top of the box, 

 with four 1^-inch holes, one near each cor- 

 ner, with wire screen tacked on under 

 one side to give plenty of air, cover fastened 

 on with a wire hook and a screw-eye at each 

 end, and a sti'ap firmly nailed across the top 

 for a handle to carry it by. Then I bore a 

 1^-inch hole in the center of one side at the 

 bottom, and this is closed with a little slid- 

 ing gate that also has a l^-inch hole in, cov- 

 ered with wire screen. This box, by taking 

 the three division-boards out of the cleats and 

 laying them in one side of the box, makes 

 room for a whisk-broom, smoker, and honey- 

 knife; and when thus packed I slip it under 

 the buggy-seat with my ax and hunting-box, 



and set a lard-can, with the cover on, in 

 front of the seat, and hitch up my team, and 

 away I go to some place favorable for bees; 

 and, after getting permission from the land- 

 owner, I usually put my team in his barn 

 and feed them, and away I go with hunting- 

 box to attract the bees so I can trace them; 

 and when I find the tree I return to the bug- 

 gy and get my outfit and cut the tree by fall- 

 ing it on to some small tree to break the 

 force; blow a little smoke in at the entrance 

 and chop in two cuts and split off one side; 

 then I set my box on the log, close it, and 

 proceed to take out the combs and brush the 

 bees in front of the entrance (always making 

 sure to get the queen in ) ; and in they go. I 

 cut the noney out and put it in the can and 

 put the empty combs and brood on top of it 

 and put on the cover and wait an hour or so 

 for the flying bees to get in the box. 



When 1 get home I fit up a hive with hon- 

 ey, cut out some of the old combs, and insert 

 the brood in the combs, jar the box down on 

 the ground, which loosens the bees from the 

 cover which I remove, and dump the bees 

 in front of the hive, and in they go. 



I have eight swarms thus taken last fall 

 (the last one Nov. 28); all are apparently in 

 fine condition and perfectly contented. Out 

 of the eight, only three had enough honey 

 to have wintered them. I have had but one 

 man refuse to let me cut a tree, for I usual- 

 ly divide the honey with the owner of the 

 land. 



I enjoy hunting any and all kinds of game; 

 but there is a fascination about bee-hunting 

 that I find in no other kind. I like to watch 

 them as they cautiously at first approach the 

 box; then, after filling themselves, watch the 

 zigzag circles they describe before they make 

 straight away. 



Hillsboro, Wis. 



WINTER CASES. 



Cheap and Effective Ones Made out of a 

 Good Grade of Manilla or Flour sacking 

 Paper; Some General Sugffestions on 

 Outdoor Wintering in Mild Climates. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



A year ago we made some winter cases of 

 a heavy grade of roofing-paper; but the stock 

 was so heavy it was very difficult to fold it; 

 and, when once folded, it was necessary to 

 rivet it at the folds. Even when completed, 

 the thing was very flimsy and it did not look 

 as if it would possibly stand more than one 

 season's use. When we came to figure on 

 the cost of material and labor of making, it 

 was almost as much as a case made of f lum- 

 ber. While the roofing-paper itself was 

 cheaper than wood we discovered, somewhat 

 to our astonishment, that the labor of folding 

 and riveting it into a winter case was con- 

 siderably greater than when made of wood. 



But the suggestion has been made, and 

 made repeatedly, by different ones who have 

 tested it, that it is not necessary to use such 

 heavy paper. A good grade of manilla, about 



