214 



glea:n^ings in bee culture. 



Aug. 



(lows to keep out the flies, you will have to 

 bundle ui) your sticks of cages as soon as 

 you get the candy in them, or the flies will 

 soon make them — inipresentable. After the 

 candy is all in, dress both edges of your 

 strips nicely, put them side by side, screw 

 them in the iron clamp shown in section 

 BOXES, and saw them up into square blocks. 

 Boys of 10 years old, will cut and nail on the 

 tinned wire cloth with tinned tacks, and 

 sandpaper the rough edges as well as any- 

 body else. If you make them do their work 

 well, your cages should look about like this : 



we are very careful, bees are killed, and if 

 the day is a windy one, the comb is quite 

 apt to be blown down in the dirt. To avoid 

 all these mishaps, we have sometimes car- 

 ried about an empty hive, but this is un- 

 wieldy, and does not keep away robbers 

 either, unless a cover is carried with it. 

 Comb baskets have been made of wood, but 

 these are unsightly unless kept painted, and 

 if any honey drips from the combs, it soaks 

 into the wood in a way that is far from be- 

 ing tidy. The one shown in the engraving 

 below, is made of light tin, and I believe 

 meets all recpiirements. 



QUEEN CAGE COMPLETE. 



We have abandoned the all metal cages 

 both on account of the expense, and because 

 the bees would slip about in them more than 

 in a wooden cage. These wood cages can 

 easily be made for 5c. each, or 50c. per dozen, 

 candy and all. For long distances cut the 

 wood out so that two cages can be used as 

 one, and for a still longer trip, let the bees 

 pass into 3 or even 4 of them, of course saw- 

 ing them off in longer lengths, and cutting 

 a passage from one to the other. "VVe think 

 this cheaper than making cages of different 

 sizes. 



C03l^>: TASKZ:?. When the bees are 

 gathering no lioney, especially dining the 

 lull that usually intervenes between spring 

 and fall pasturage, it is many times quite 

 difficult to remove combs of brood, or open 

 hives at all, without getting robbers at work. 

 Any one who has had quite a time witli rob- 

 bing bees, will remember that for some 

 (lays, it makes troiible to leave a comb out- 

 side tlie liive while we are liandling others 

 inside, without robbing bees getting at 

 tliem, and soon tliey learn to follow us about 

 and linally "dive" right into the luisealed 

 lioney the minute a comb is exposed. Sup- 

 pose we do not have robbers, when we take 

 a frame out of a hive, it is very convenient 

 to Irave some place where we can set it 

 down safely, while we look at the rest. If 

 we stand them up against the hive, or (me 

 of the posts of tlie grape vine trellis, unless 



COMB BASKET. 



It can be readily carried from hive to hive, 

 and the light cover is very quickly closed 

 bee-tight, wlienever occasion may re(iuii-e. 

 Where extracting is done indoors, the bas- 

 ket can be used to very good advantage, for 

 five heavy comljs are about as many as one 

 cares to carry at once. Tlie combs sliould 

 hang on metal rabbets the same as they do 

 in the hive, to avoid crushing bees when 

 they are set in hastily. Your tin-smith 

 should be able to make you one like the 

 above, for about §1.50. 



ITSTTLOHUCING QUEEN'S. I do 



not know, my friends, how I can give any 

 specific directions that will do for all cases, 

 while bees do so differently <it times, an(l 

 different colonies have such different dispo- 

 sitions. I tliink it is possible to introduce 

 any fertile ciueen to almost any colony, but 

 it will reciuire a close and careful study of 

 the habits of each, and sometimes niuch 

 time and patience. Lest beginners should 

 l)e discouraged at the outset, I would re- 

 mark that in perhaps the majority of cases 

 the queen can be let loose at once, witliout 

 any caging wliatever. Tlie point is, to de- 

 terniine wlieii this can be done, and when 

 it cannot be. 



I'lie very first thing to be determined is 

 that your old colony is ccrtabdij (lueenless. 

 Many will think if they have found the old 

 qiieen and removed her, that there can be 

 no doubt about it, but this is far from being 

 true, for a hive quite often contains two 

 (lueens, and very frequently two laying 



