THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



165 



case, as soon as they are entering the hive 

 rapidly I release the queen and let her run 

 in, and replace the trap leaving it for a few 

 days at least, to be certain that the swarm 

 does not gratify a desire to abscond. If two 

 or more swarms are out at the same time, 

 care must be taken by the use of sheets to 

 cover the hives, aided by a good smoker, to 

 see that they are properly divided. When 

 swarms are given to clustering, I entice 

 them to do so on some convenient branch, 

 and when the cluster is once formed, swarm 

 after swarm will join it, so that it is an easy 

 matter to divide them by shaking a sufficient 

 quantity for a swarm into a basket and hiv- 

 ing it as in the former case. A trap is also 

 placed at the entrance of the old hive, unless 

 the colony is divided to save young queens, 

 and by two or three movements in the course 

 of a week it is brought side and side with 

 the new hive and in a day or two it is re- 

 moved to a new stand, leaving most of the 

 field bees to join the swarm where they will 

 be of the greatest use. The trap on the old 

 hive prevents the absconding of after- 

 swarms and also prevents the young queen 

 from locating her hive until it is removed, 

 which should be done when the hive is placed 

 on its new stand. 



If the swarm issues quite early, I would 

 not strip the old hive to such an extent of 

 the field bees, for by removing one section 

 of the hive in twenty-one days, when the 

 young queen should be laying, and giving 

 the colony a case of sections, it should do 

 good work in storing a surplus. 



Of course, in all these matters there are 

 details which want of space forbids my men- 

 tioning, but the thoughtful person will have 

 no difficulty in working them out. 



Lapeee, Mich. May 23, 1893. 



>>^>7^^r^l 



Conveniences and Arrangements Needed to 



Make the Work of Extracting Pleasant 



and Profitable. 



FBANK m'NAY. 



" Man reaches truth only by passing through 

 all possible phases of error." 



^ NY work that may be done without 

 the trouble of learning, by careful 

 instructions, is seldom well done ; 

 and the greatest obstacle in the way of 

 thorough work in regard to extracting, is 

 the fact that it can be and is done with but 



little if any instructions. This is a great 

 mistake, for there is a right way and several 

 wrong ways of doing most kinds of work, 

 and one seldom hits upon the right way by 

 chance — it must either be by experience or 

 from instructions. 



The neglect to provide the proper conven- 

 iences for extracting, make it a very dis- 

 agreeable task and often causes trouble in 

 the apiary by inciting robbing and causing 

 the bees to become irritable and cross. 

 Much may be done to make extracting 

 pleasant work by purchasing proper conven- 

 iences for doing the work in a neat and 

 practical manner. 



The first requisite is a room to extract in. 

 This may be small and plain, but it must be 

 perfectly bee-tight and should be provided 

 with double screen windows, i. e., two wire 

 screens, one on each side of a frame, so as to 

 prevent bees on the outside from coming in 

 reach of those on the inside, for there are 

 always a few bees carried in on combs, that 

 will go to the windows to escape. It is a 

 good plan to have each window hung on a 

 pivot at the center so it can be reversed 

 quickly to let out bees. 



The extractor should be firmly secured to 

 the wall to prevent shaking, and it should be 

 high enough to let honey run from the gate 

 into a large pail. 



For a strainer I prefer a large barrel with 

 the head removed, also with the upper hoop 

 removed. I lay a cheese cloth over the top 

 of the barrel letting it sag down in the bar- 

 rel about a foot, then replace the hoop which 

 will hold the cloth securely and make it per- 

 fectly tight. 



By having a honey gate in barrel near the 

 bottom and setting the barrel on a stand of 

 sufficient height, the honey can be run from 

 the gate into barrels or any other receptacles. 



I would also urge the necessity of a tight 

 bottom in the box in which the combs are 

 carried from and to the hives. This is to 

 prevent dripping honey about the apiary. I 

 have known this dripping of honey to excite 

 robbing so that work had to be suspended. 



In getting bees off the combs, I find that a 

 slight trembling motion will dislodge them 

 much more quickly than a severe shake, and 

 for sweeping the balance off I find a com- 

 mon household whisk broom, cut down to 

 about one-third the usual thickness, is the 

 best thing that I have ever tried. 



Never store honey in a cellar. Many sup- 

 pose it should be kept in a cool place, but 



