106 



THE BEE KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



have several times noticed the large amount 

 of editorial work done by Bro. York, of the 

 A. B. J., but I doubt if I could have ex- 

 pressed myself quite so nicely on this point 

 as has Bro. Root in Gleanings. He says : — 



"G. W. York is making the old reliable 

 American Bee Journal fairly boom. Every 

 page shows that he is putting a good deal of 

 hard work on it, and we hope that his sub- 

 scription list may roll up strong ; for we have 

 always noticed that, when any of our rival 

 publications are booming well, it helps boost 

 along Gleanings ; so you see we are interest- 

 ed from a selfish point of view. Why is it 

 that editors of publications in other lines 

 fail to see this ? They look upon a success- 

 ful rival as dangerous to their own success, 

 and then write more like an idiot than a re- 

 sponsible being. But perhaps a point should 

 be made here : An editor who takes no in- 

 terest in his own publication but to get out 

 copies of his paper filled with ' stuffing ' will 

 almost surely sufifer if there is an energetic 

 rival in the field. He who is jealous of a 

 rival, confesses the weakness of his own ef- 

 forts in the journalistic line, and he had bet- 

 ter step down and out. Such kind of editors 

 are not wanted, and sooner or later they are 

 obliged to step down and out." 



The Strengthning of Weak Colonies in 



Spring. 



\\ hat to do with weak colonies in spring is 

 often a puzzle. It may not be best to unite. 

 How shall they be strengthened and made to 

 " pull through " is what we would all like to 

 know. From an article contributed to 

 Gleanings last June by Mr. Gravenhorst I 

 make the following extract that has a bear- 

 ing on this point. Speaking of the manner 

 in which German bee-keepers manage their 

 bees in the spring, he says : — 



" In April and May, on some fine days he 

 visits his bees to look them over with the ut- 

 most care for three or four days. As he has 

 mostly colonies with young queens of the 

 previous year, he has seldom to unite queen- 

 less colonies with others. Weak colonies, if 

 he has such, he provides with bees from his 

 best colonies. This is accomplished in the 

 following manner : When the bees are fly- 

 ing best, he sets a weak colony in the place 

 of a stronger one, but never a very weak one 

 in place of a very strong one, because the 

 queen of the weaker one would be killed. 



Another way to build up a very weak col- 

 ony is this : Toward evening he puts a flat 

 feeding-trough, with honey, under a strong 

 colony. As soon as the bees cover the food, 

 upon which he has put some shavings or 

 straw, he takes the trough, with all the bees, 

 and sets it under the weak colony. This he 

 repeats for three or four evenings. In this 

 manner he goes on in April and May till he 



has equalized his colonies. If the honey-flow 

 in these two months is very good, then he 

 does not feed ; but if not, he will feed very 

 liberally for three or four days. By equaliz- 

 ing and feeding the colonies at the right 

 time he shortens the swarming season. All 

 his first swarms will issue, according to the 

 weather, within eight, nine, or ten days, and 

 those colonies that do not swarm at this 

 time he will swarm artificially by driving. 

 Most of the natural swarms he takes in 

 swarm-catchers to prevent missing the 

 swarms and killing the queens." 



How to Make Bees Stay in Their Hives 



"While Being Carried From the Cellar 



to Their Summer Stands. 



(Jne of the disagreeable features of cellar 

 wintering is that of carrying out the bees 

 and placing them on their summer stands. 

 The admission of fresh air and the excite- 

 ment stirs them up and they come rushing 

 out and sting the one who is carrying them. 

 Besides this, they have been in the hive so 

 long that their old location is forgotten, and 

 wherever they leave the hive there they seem 

 to "hang around," and assault anything that 

 comes near. When the bees are wintered in 

 hives with the bottoms removed these 

 troubles are aggravated. Mr. Doolittle, in 

 an article in Gleanings, tells how he over- 

 came these difficulties. From this article I 

 make the following extract : — 



" One day I thought of the spring wheel- 

 barrow, so I tried setting them on that and 

 wheeling them to their stands. This was 

 much easier for me ; but there was a certain 

 amount of jarring to it, in spite of the 

 springs, that irritated the bees so that they 

 were ready to rush out en. masse when I was 

 lifting the hive from the barrow to the 

 stand ; and often the bottom of the barrow 

 would be covered with the bees which had 

 come down before the stand was reached. 

 This saved all the bees, as they all marked 

 the right spot, but did not do away with the 

 stinging from the bees which flew in the air 

 before the hive was on the stand. I next 

 took an old sheet and wet it, and, after doub- 

 ling, put that on the bottom of the wheel- 

 barrow and up over the front end-board. 

 This took off all the jar, and also kept the few 

 bees which might straggle down on to the 

 bottom of the barrow from staying there ; 

 for as soon as they came in contact with the 

 wet sheet they would run back. 



I now went into the cellar, took a hive of 

 bees, nd placed it on the sheet, tipped it up 

 a little in front so as to blow under three or 

 four puffs of smoke, lowered it to its place, 

 and put a wet rag down in front over the en- 

 trance, when I had the thing just as I want- 

 ed it, for I could wheel them wherever I 

 wished, without their apparently breaking 



