116 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



than the hole, and kept it off about fa in. from the 

 front of box ; having some sections ready to come off, 

 I placed them in the box without smoking out the 

 bees from the sections. I then took a seat in front 

 of the box, to see how soon the bees would find their 

 way in. In a few moments the bees inside began to 

 come out, and the bees outside tried to get in, but 

 instead of going to the top to get in, they seemed 

 to spend their whole energy trying to get through 

 the wire cloth. I used this all the season (and 

 even after the honey-flow was over, and robbing 

 was the order of the daj^) with entire satisfaction, 

 for I could leave the honey then as long as I liked, 

 and not a bee would touch it. 



HONEY-BOARDS TO KEEP THE QUEEN BELOW. 



I think friend Heddon uses rather strong language 

 on p. 74 about the queen-excluding honey-boards. I 

 think he makes out that one of the strong points of 

 his honey-board is, that it keeps the queen from go- 

 ing up into the surplus-honey apartment; but they 

 will go up in spite of his honey-board; but I never 

 had any trouble with the perforated zinc. 



ONE-POUND SECTIONS STILL AHEAD. 



On page 77, G. J. Flansburg asks those who have 



used the 1 and 2 lb. sections to stand up and tell the 



difference in regard to the amount of honey stored 



in them. I used both 1 and 3 lb. sections last season, 



and I am satisfied I got a fifth more honey from 



those using the 2-lb. box; yet I sold all of the 1-lb. 



boxes befoi-e I sold a fifth of the 2-lb.; and one of 



our grocerymen told me he would give me 25 cts. per 



lb. for 1-lb. boxes rather than 15 cts. for the 2-lb.; so 



I have concluded to run all one-pound boxes next 



year. The 5^ -lb. section is too small for me. 



John Myers. 

 Stratford, Ont., Can., Jan. 15, 1883. 



^ ■ ^i 



SOME VALUABLE FACTS FROM AN OLD 

 BFE-KEEPER. 



WHY SWARMS SOMETIMES LEAVE WITHOUT CLUSTER- 

 ING. 



a'-i LEARNED, years ago, that If the bees had room 

 [ so that the whole of them could rush out they 

 would sometimes start for parts unknown with- 

 out clustering. I think the reason that they almost 

 always alight is, that they are tired of flying, being 

 loaded with honey, and want a rest before btarting 

 for their new home; always supposing that they 

 have it picked out before leaving the hive. 



CLUSTERINa out; HOW TO PREVENT. 



In the spring, when it gets about 80° in the shade, 

 as I go around just at dark I find the strongest want 

 more air, and I take off the oil cloth and put on a 

 burlap grain-sack, double; one thickness lets air 

 through loo freely. One bag will last all summer. 

 At first I leave the cover nearly down to the cloth; 

 and as it gets warmer I raise it higher; the warmest 

 days I raise it about 4 inches, and by so doing I 

 hardly ever have any bees hang out. The entrance 

 is left only large enough to give them working room. 

 When a swarm starts out they have to take time — 

 those first out flying around 15 or 20 feet above the 

 hives; by the time the most of them are out, those 

 first out, being heavy with honey, are tired, and, be- 

 ginning to cluster, draw the others with them. By 

 pursuing this course I have not lost a swarm to my 

 knowledge the last two seasons. 



Toward the last of swarming 1 devised a plan 



whereby I think we can almost always catch our 

 swarms. As I said above, the bees coming out 

 slowly fly around 15 or 20 feet above the hives, for 

 some time. We all know how strongly they are at- 

 tracted to and cluster around any queen, so I 

 thought if I could get a caged queen up where they 

 were flying, I could get the swarm to alight around 

 her. 



As soon as a swarm begins to come out we get a 

 frame of open brood and honey, knowing before- 

 hand the hive it is in, hanging on the side a caged 

 queen with 30 or 40 of her bees, that we have taken 

 from a hive to which we want to give a better one. 

 We keep her as long as she lives, and then cage an- 

 other poor one; we now hoist our frame among 

 the fljing bees, and catch them. 



BEE BALM, FOR MAKING SWARMS ALIGHT. 



Some time ago a rather large story-telling acquain- 

 tance told me that, when a young man, he hived 23 

 swarms from the same bush that he had sprinkled 

 with a decoction of bee balm. I did not give it much 

 attention at the time, on account of the source that 

 it came from; but a reliable neighbor, who is about 

 60, told me last spring that, when he was about 15, he 

 helped his father hive bees on a bush or fence-cor- 

 ner, or wherever he would sprinkle a tea made of 

 bee balm and salt. Can't some of our older friends 

 give us some light on the subject? 



MELTING CANDIED HONEY. 



In heating honey to make it liquid, I can not agree 

 with some of our friends who say," Heat it nearly to 

 the boiling-point," which will spoil the color and 

 flavor of our honey. My tank for heating honey 

 holds 4 five-gallon cans, and 1 take all day to heat it, 

 keeping the water about 130°, never over 140. A pail 

 of chips, using a few at a time, will do a batch. Our 

 honey is very sensitive, and a little too much heat 

 spoils it. I ought to know, for I have heated up 

 tons of it, as our honey almost all candies in poor or 

 moderate seasons. In good seasons our best honey 

 does not candy, generally. I have some 1876 honey, 

 perfectly clear. In 8 years we have had but two 

 good seasons. S. S. Butler, M. D., 00, 130. 



Los Gatos. Cal., Feb. 6, 1883. 



I believe, friend B., you are right about 

 large entrances, although it never occurred 

 to me before. I have often stood by swarms 

 going out, and observed the apparent im- 

 patience of those out first, when the entrance 

 was so small as to make it take considerable 

 time for all to get out, and I have even seen 

 them come back and try to go in again, 

 where the entrance was very small. I now 

 recall to mind a swarm that went right out 

 and off, and it had quite a large entrance. 

 Let ns bear this in mind, friends, and see if 

 it is not a new contribution to our stock of 

 bee knowledge. I know that we can, to a 

 great extent at least, prevent clustering by 

 shade and ventilation ; and I know, too, that 

 powerful colonies will often remain idle in 

 the very height of the honey-tlow, if the 

 hive is too close, and standing in the sun. — 

 The idea of a queen, or frame of brood, or 

 both, to collect the bees in the air, is old, 

 and I believe is usually a success. A queen , 

 with a few bees in a corn-popper, tied on a 

 pole, has been used quite successfully by 

 one of our lady writers.— After one swarm 

 has occupied a certain bush or limb, another 

 is quite apt to ; and after several have 

 alighted on it, it is pretty safe to say all the 



