i883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



737 



employs the best and noblest minds and in- 

 tellects, and it can be taken up and tested 

 on a small scale by thousands who would do 

 nothing if they did not have the bees. Boys 

 and girls botli find recreation in bee culture 

 that they might otherwise find in pastimes 

 that are a waste of time, to say nothing of 

 harmful amusements. I know we are jnib- 

 lishing constantly reports from beginners, 

 and, begging your pardon (and the rest of 

 those who have taken up your line of thought) 

 Gleanings means to continue publishing 

 such reports as long as it lives. If boys and 

 girls, and men and women, who have spare 

 time on their hands can be taught a branch 

 of industry by the use of books and papers, 

 and nothing else, so they can take it up in 

 one single year, almost, and make a success 

 of it, and close with more money in their 

 pockets than all their expenditures, I should 

 consider it a gift of God more worthy of 

 thankfulness and praise, than if he should 

 send down gold dollars in answer to our 

 longings. ±.ven supposing there be a dark 

 side that does not get into the journals, the 

 great flood of reports from beginners indi- 

 cates clearly and unmistakably that hun- 

 dreds — nay, thousands — have been blessed 

 and made happy by bountiful crops of hon- 

 ey, where the Jabor given was simply |a pas- 

 time, and afforded them more joy, perhaps, 

 than any thing else they ever did in their 

 lives. It has been said", that the success of 

 Gleanings is owing to the pains 1 have 

 taken to publish letters and answer ques- 

 tions from the great throng of A 13 C schol- 

 ars that are growing up, instead of devot- 

 ing space to learned essays on the coming 

 bee, and theoretical disquistions of that ilk. 



PREVENTING SUNDAY SAVARMINO, A.C. 



D. A. .JONES'S PERFORATED ZINC. 



^jJ^jELIEVJNG that it is right to hive swarms 

 J>([)^ which can not be kept from issuing on Sun- 



day, let me make some suggestions to those 



who, like myself, wish on this clay to have as little 

 as possible to do with bees. 



1. By giving the material for starting queen-cells 

 on Saturday, there will be no occasion to care for 

 them on Sunday. 



3. Use some proper device for contining the 

 queens on Sunday, or any other day when you do 

 not wish them to lead out swarms. This is a point 

 to which I have given much attention. On p. I'U of 

 the third edition (1859) of my work I say,— 



"As the queen can not get through an opening 

 ij-32 of an inch high, which will just pass a loaded 

 worker,* if the entrance to the hive be contracted to 

 this dimension, she will not be able to leave with a 

 swarm. This method of preventing swarming re- 

 quires great accuracy of measurement, for a very 



*Huber does not give-the size necessary for confining a 

 queen, but he spoke of a glass tube adjusted so as to pass out 

 a worker, and not a queen. The smallest queen I ever saw 

 could not get through my blocks. Althougli the workers are 

 at first slightly annoyed by them, they soon become accustom- 

 ed to them, as" they do not contuse them by presenting the en- 

 trance in a new place. The ventilation not depending on this 

 contracted entrance, abundance of air can be slven to the 

 bees when the blocks are adjusted so as to confine the queen. 

 Ill health tor the last two summers has prevented me from 

 giving this method of preventing swaiming such a full trial 

 that I can endorse it, except for temporary purposes. * * * 

 A THEORY which may seem so plausible as almo^t to amount to 

 positive demonstration, may be encumbered by some unfore- 

 seen difflculty, which speedily convinces even the most san- 

 ifuloe that it has no practical value. 



trifling deviation from the dimensions given will 

 either shut out the loaded worker, or let out the 

 queen. These (adjusted) blocks, if tirmly fastened, 

 will exclude mice from the hive in winter. When 

 used to prevent all swarming, it will bf^ necessary to 

 adjust them a little after sunrise and before sunset, 

 to allow the bees to carry out any drones that have 

 died." 



In my second edition (1858), p. 203, referring to this 

 device, I say: 



"By this arrangement, all swarming on Sunday, 

 or any other day when the apiarian does not desire 

 it, may be prevented." 



Also, p. 203,— 



"It maybe found, on further experiment, that 

 the entrauces to all the spare honey-receptacles may 

 be so adjusted that the queens will never be able to 

 enter them for the purpose of depositing eggs." 



Also, p. 202,— 



"A very important use may be made of blocks 

 thus arranged, to get rid of the drones. In that 

 part of the day when they are in full flight, adjust 

 the blocks so that they can not enter. Toward d«rk, 

 or early next morning, they will be found sprawled 

 out upon the alighting-board, or hanging in clusters 

 under the portico, and may be given to chickens, 

 which can easily be taught to devour them. In a 

 few days nearly all the drones in the apiary may be 

 thus destroyed." 



Further experience showing that it was often 

 quite diOicult to maintain the 5-32 of an inch by de- 

 pressions cut in the entrance-regulating blocks, I 

 fastened a few 5-32 strips with clinching naili be- 

 tween two pieces, each U's in. long (the length of the 

 usual entrance), the lower strip having two bevels 

 to facilitate the exit and entrance of the bees. A 

 central hole, governed by a cork, allowed dead drones 

 to be easily dragged out, or a young queen to fly for 

 mating. Still the bees would worry from having to 

 crawl too far under such narrow dimensions. At 

 last the 5-32 was cut in a thin metal strip, and such a 

 device enabled me both to prevent my costly im- 

 ported queens from eloping, or running the risk of 

 being destroyed by stray queens. 



On a recent visit to the large apiaries of my friend 

 Mr. D. A. Jones, of Beeton, Ontario, I saw all th» 

 points, on which I had labored so long, carried out in 

 a much more satisfactory manner by means of his 

 perforated zinc plates. His Z*ee-(/ua)ds, made of these 

 plates, allow the workers to pass In the freest possi- 

 ble manner, while the ventilation of the hive is not 

 in the least interfered with. The only improvement 

 in them which I can suggest would be to punch out 

 a central hole, governed as in my device, by a small 

 cork. These can be adjusted in a few moments, and 

 Sunday swarming, or swarming on any day not con- 

 venient, be prevented without at all worrying the 

 bees. By them, all bad or sup'^rfluous drones may 

 be quietly destroyed, by shaking oflf the bees from 

 their combs, in front of their hive, the queen, of 

 course, being properly rescued. Some may find this 

 the easiest way, more especially with bb.ck bees, for 

 finding a queen, or of making it absolutely sure that 

 there is none in a colony to which we wish to intro- 

 duce a valuable queen. Mr. Jones uses sheets of 

 this perforated zinc to confine the queen to the low- 

 er story of the hive, or to any desired part of the 

 brood-chamber, so that she can not enter the sur- 

 plus-honey receptacles. These sheets also prevent 

 the bees from building small combs between the up- 

 per and lower sets of frames— a thing which has 

 often caused so much trouble in hives where more 

 than one story is used. 



I see no reason why sections for comb honey may 

 not be set to the best advantage directly on these 

 sheets. Before giving up my apiary I fouad tb«t 



