1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



375 



place, thinking each swarm would return. They had 

 scarcely settled when they began to fly in the air, 

 circling around for some time; some entering other 

 blves, and in a short time clustered on the same 

 peach-tree. I then got the fountain pump and gave 

 them a good shower, and put them in four hives, 

 giving each one a queen. Well, now, what would 

 have happened had the queen's wings not been clip- 

 ped? Will those who are averse to clippiug queens' 

 wings please explain how to manage such affairs? 

 Friend Doolittle, you advise clipping the queen's 

 wings, and so do I; but you don't explain how to 

 manage swarms when they cluster together. Won't 

 you explain? 



QUEENS NOT FOLLOWING THE SWARM. 



If you can not find the queen when they swarm, 

 and she has her wing clipped, just open the hive and 

 see if she is not yet in there. She will sometimes 

 not come out with the bees. 



CHAFF HIVES FOR A COLD SPRING. 



I prepared 33 colonies for winter — 19 in Simplicity, 

 and U in chaff hives. Those in the Simplicity hives 

 were packed with chaff, and division-boards used. I 

 also use division-boards in my chaff hives. They 

 seemed to winter about alike, and were fully as 

 strong in bees when they were unpacked, as those 

 in the chaff hives; but after they were unpacked, 

 they seemed to dwindle some, and increased very 

 slowly, while those in the chaff hives increased 

 right along, and were not much affected by the cold, 

 unfavorable spring. H. J. Schkociv. 



Goshen, Ind., June 17, 1883. 



Or Dcpartiucnt for duties to b2 attended to 

 tliis luontli. 



GREAT flood of honey is upon us. 

 Reports of the wonderful crop of 

 white clover come from all sides ; and 

 the best part of it is, that there is honey in 

 the blossoms, and has been from the lirst. 

 Usually we have a period of from two to 

 three weeks between fruit-bloom and clover ; 

 but this year clover came right on the heels 

 of fruit-bloom, and, in some localities, even 

 before locust-bloom. Now, the thing to be 

 done is to save the honey. Dou't sit down 

 helpless, and say you can't, but just take 

 care of it, and save every particle, in spite of 

 circumstances. Ever so many are just now 

 writing for more hives, frames, and boxes, 

 saying they had no idea of such a flood of 

 honey, and were unprepared for it ; and that 

 if they can't have their things at once, the 

 honey will be lost. Of course, we will do all 

 we can for you ; but I tell you, the honey 

 must not be lost, and need not be lost. It 

 does a bee-keeper good to be pushed once in 

 a while, and to be thrown on liis own 

 resources. It develops his inventive genius. 

 I^et us see what can be done while you are 

 waiting for your things, or at a time when 

 honey and swarms are coming, and you 

 have no accommodations for either. 



Before I would hive swarms in kegs and 

 boxes, as is often done, 1 would drive stakes 

 in the ground, and tack a strip across, to 

 hang the frames on. If you can't get the 



strips and stakes otherwise, buy common 

 plasterer's lath, and I think you can all 

 get these, without mucli trouble. Put the 

 lath up edgewise, for the frames to hang on, 

 and have them come just tlie rigTit distance 

 apart. Now hang in one frame of unsealed 

 brood, to hold your swarm, and to stai^t the 

 bees right ; then lay strips of lath along on 

 top, in place of frames. Watch them every 

 day, to make the bees build the combs 

 straight and true. I think it is the nicest 

 fun in the world to guide them in the struct- 

 ure of these new, nice combs. Of course, 

 you will let this work go on only until yoiir 

 frames and hives come. AVhen they do, 

 break out the new combs and fasten them in 

 the frames with melted wax. T would take 

 all white combs without brood, for fastening 

 into section boxes. I almost forgot to say, 

 our impromptu hive is to be covered with a 

 cloth, held down at the edges with bricks 

 and stones, to give the bees protection 

 enough, so they won't swarm out. To keep 

 off the rain, lay a board on too, held in place 

 by a stone. If you run out of section boxes, 

 split common lath, plane the in.side and 

 edges, and cut them up in a miter-box, and 

 nail with wire nails or brads. This is slow 

 and expensive work; but it is better, than 

 losing the honey. Find somebody in your 

 neighborhood who wants a job, and make 

 him happy by setting him to work. School 

 children, with some older person to look 

 after them, will take to this kind of employ- 

 ment like ducks to water; and if you are 

 the man you ought to be, or woman either, 

 you can teach them to do nice work. 



If your hives want extracting, and no 

 extractor is to be had, make some kind of a 

 home-made extractor. Any barrel or can 

 will do that will hold the honey, and allow 

 the frames to revolve. A wooden frame, 

 covered with wire cloth, can be made in a 

 little while, and a crank, directly on the top 

 of the shaft, will extract very well, only it 

 takes a little more time. Dont let a drop of 

 Jioncy he lost. You can stand it to work 

 until 10 o'clock at night, and be up by four 

 in the morning, for a little while, until you 

 get ahead of the bees a little. If you get 

 very sleepy, you can go to bed a little earlier ; 

 but don't cut off ttie morning hours. I 

 rather like being crowded that way for a 

 while. It is fun to go to bed and drop 

 asleep almost as soon as your head touches 

 the pillow, and it is fun, too, after you are 

 up, to see the sun roll up and herald in the 

 new day, while the bees rub their noses and 

 " light out " to their work. Mind you, there 

 is to be no gossiping and loaling these days ; 

 no picnicking or excursions for a bee-keeper 

 in the montli of June, unless he is a smarter 

 man than the most of us. 



Look out, too, about queenless colonies. 

 If you are raising queens, never let a great 

 big strong swarm be idling away its time, 

 waiting for a queen-cell to hatch, or for a 

 young queen to get to laying. A bee-keeper 

 can always find something profitable to do in 

 June, if he has as many as 40 or 50 colonies, 

 and I never saw the apiary yet of that num- 

 ber, where I could not point out something 

 that needed immediate attentian. " Do ye 

 mind j* " 



