212 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



and perfect as a newly laid egg and there is 

 no trouble about having them so, if you do 

 not yield to the temptation to take any that 

 are almost finished. Just as surely as you 

 send cases to market with the honey drip- 

 ping and daubing every thing they touch, 

 just so surely will you have to take up with 

 an inferior price for your crop ; do not rest 

 satisfied until you can show as nice goods in 

 your line as any other person in the busi- 

 ness. You will get along just as fast, by 

 keeping everything neat and tidy. If you 

 sliould be so awkward as to get some of the 

 comb broken and the honey running, just 

 place all the leaky sections in a hive for a 

 half hour, and the bees will clean them all 

 up, empty all broken cells and clean up bet- 

 ter and with more economy, than you could 

 ever do it. 



Lest this notice should induce a great 

 many to write to Messrs. Stair & Kendel to 

 sell their honey, I would remark that it will 

 be of no use probably, unless you have some- 

 thing in small sections of about one pound 

 each, and put up as neatly and nicely as I 

 have described. Nice comb honey in boxes 

 is quite plenty at 15 cents, in many i)laces. 



In order to test the shipping qualities of 

 our cases, as well as the markets in our dif- 

 ferent cities, we sent a case, such as we 

 have figured, to Cincinnati, one to Chi- 

 cago, and one to New York city. They 

 had no protection at all, but all went safely ; 

 and I know of no reason why a glass case of 

 honey should not have as careful treatment 

 as a basket of peaches, or a crate of straw- 

 berries. Chicago and Cinciniiati, being full 

 of honey, only offered loc. ; New York of- 

 fered 18 and thought more might l)e given 

 in a couple of months. All praised the case 

 and honey, some of them extravagantly, and 

 most of them wanted more. It is so clean 

 and convenient for retailing that a brisk de- 

 mand has sprung up at home, and it looks 

 now as though we might sell a ton or more 

 right in the apiary, without stirring a " peg " 

 to hunt up a customer. My friends, we can 

 sell oiir honey, our qiieens, aye, and our bees 

 too, all in this very way, if we will keep ful- 

 ly up to the light we now have. Throw 

 away ])atents, adopt one uniform hive, hon- 

 ey package, etc., and let those who choose 

 to follow the old jumbled i^p way of doing 

 things, hunt for customers, and sell at half 

 price even then. 



CLIPPING QUEEN'S WINGS. I'rovide 

 yourself with a pair of keen sli.irp pointed 

 scissors and you are ready for the work. 

 You are not to touch the queen at all, or to 



frighten her in any Avay, but the clipping is 

 to be done, Avhile she is walking leisurely 

 about the combs. If she gets frightened, 

 runs, and tries to hide, you had better clqse 

 the hive, and try to be more careful some 

 other time. If your hive is properly made, 

 so that you can open it without shake or 

 jar, you will have no trouble in lifting the 

 frame while she is laying, without disturb- 

 ing her. With the slender point of one of 

 the blades of your scissors, lift one of her 

 wings, and clip off fully one-half, or if you 

 choose, clip off nearly the whole of both the 

 large wings, leaving the small pair entire. 

 This latter plan, leaves her looking rather 

 more respectable, than when only one of the 

 larger wings is clipped. If you are undeci- 

 ded as to whether you wish your queen's 

 wings clipped or not, see absconding 

 SWARMS. If you ever find it necessary to 

 pick up a queen, take her by the shoulders, 

 and never by the soft part of her body. 



QUEEM CAG-^S. These are used for 

 introducing queens, for sending them both 

 by mail and express and for keeping them 

 safely many times about the apiary, espec- 

 ially when we find several just hatched out 

 in a hive. For introducing simply, many 

 times, a cage made by simply rolling up a 

 piece of wire cloth will do, but as this gives 

 us no perfectly sure method of supplying 

 the queen with food, I can but regard it un- 

 safe, for queens have frequently been found 

 starved when the cage was pushed between 

 two combs of sealed honey, the bees having 

 removed all the honey from around the cage, 

 as they almost always do when a comb is 

 crushed. To be on the safe side, it would 

 seem best to have a good supply of food in 

 the cage at all times. If this supply is given 

 in the form of honey, there is almost always 

 a liability of the bees and queen getting 

 more or less daubed or smeared with it, and 

 unless this can be soon removed by other 

 bees they are sure to die sooner or later, for 

 the breathing tubes located in different 

 parts of their bodies, are easjly closed by 

 sugar or honey, if it is allowed to dry on 

 them. Honey in a sponge has been one of 

 the most successful ways of giving a supply 

 for long journeys, but even this is apt to 

 give them a dauby look and I have several 

 times found bees, and sometimes the queen 

 wedged into or under the sponge, dead. 

 One of these was an imi)orted queen, and as 

 all the bees with her were spry and active, I 

 could Ijut think she had got entangled under 

 the sponge, and died from this alone. Can- 

 dy has been for some time, used quite sue- 



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