l>I3VOTE:r> TO BE^Ei!^ A.NX> MOISEY, AIVI> K0»£E: INTERJEST^. 



Vol. VI. 



APRIL 1, 1878. 



No. 4. 



A. I. RO«t>T, ~) Publisljed MoMlhly. ("ffKESITSS: $l.UO Per Anniiist in A*- 



Pubtisher and Proprietor, > -J vaiic«; 3 Copies /or »2.50; 5/or S3. 75 ; 



Medina, O. j ESstaljlislaecl in 1H73. (.lO or more, 60c. each. Single ISnmber 1 Oc. 



MY EXPERIENCE. NO. 4. 



TRANSFERRING. 



SI HAD never seen bees transferred, and I confess, 

 I rather dreaded the job. I had lately had a talk 

 J with a "bee man," and his "opening' remarks," 

 were not very encouraging-. He said the bees would 

 run all over, the honey would drip from the combs 

 and stand here and there in puddles, the combs would 

 be thick and crooked, and before the job was finished 

 1 would be completely discouraged. After talking a 

 while in this strain, he made the following encourag- 

 ing remark: "I'll comedown and transfer your bees 

 for $.5.00." 



"Oh ho!"thought I, "and so that is why you have 

 been talking in this doleful strain; I'll transfer my 

 own bees now, if for nothing more than to show you 

 I fan; and, after all, if I am going to handle bees, 

 whv not commence nowT' 



May 14th, I transferred my bees. Sugar Maple 

 was in blossom, and the yield of honey was quite 

 Inrge. If I had waited until fruit trees were in 

 bloom, I do not think it would have been so well, as 

 there was but little honey gathered at that time. 

 About 10 o'clock, on a pleasant day, I tried to drive 

 the bees from a hive into a box, but did not succeed. 

 T presume I did not drum long enough. After drum- 

 ming a few minutes, and finding they were not in- 

 clined to leave their home, I carried them into the 

 kitchen, and set them, bottom side up, upon the ta- 

 ble. I then put a box, about 7 inches deep, 6 inches 

 wide, and long enough to reach across the hive, on 

 the top of the hive, on the opposite side from which I 

 wished to commence taking out combs. I kept them 

 down among the combs with smoke, cut the combs— 

 by running down a hand-saw— from the side that I 

 wished to remove first, sawed off the cross sticks, 

 and pried off the side of the hivo. Whenever the 

 bees would show themselves I drove them down 

 with smoke, always drivinsrthem towards the small 

 box that spt on top of the hive. After prying off the 

 side, T commenced cutting out the combs, and piit- 

 ting them into the frames. I fastened them in with 

 thorns, using strings when It was necessary. After I 

 had one or two frames in the hive, I had my wife 

 brush the bees from the combs, at the entrance of 

 the hive, as I ttok them out. By the time I had ta- 

 ker- out all the combs, most of the bees were cluster- 

 ed in the small box. One swarm was so large that it 

 hung down from the box as a swarm does from the 

 limb of a tree. When the combs were all in, I closed 

 the hive, spread a newspaper in front of it. shook 

 the bees from the box upon it, and directed them to 

 the entrance with a quill, managing them just as I 

 would a new swarm. After the new hive was placed 

 upon its stand, the windows were opened, and the 

 bees that clustered upon them were driven out. 

 While I was transferring the first swarm, I was 

 considerably excited; I worked as though my life de- 

 pended on it, and the perspiration dropped down in 

 small showers. When I commenced upon the second 

 colony, I resolved to take matters a little more cool- 

 ly; and, to my delight, I found that it occupied about 

 half as much time as the first one. To transfer a col- 

 ony now, would be nothing but fun. 



SHADE, 



I think a grape vine shade, as described in the A 

 B C of bee culture, is the nicest an d most Profita- 



ble; but as 1 had neilher time nor money to make 

 such a shade, I will tell j-ou what I did do. I plant- 

 ed a row of sunflowers, a foot from the south side of 

 each hive. When ihcy were about a foot high 

 they were thinned out, leaving three, eighteen inch- 

 es apart, in each row. This gave ample shade; and 

 the "clouded" hives, with their different colored 

 caps, nestling among the green leaves and yellovr 

 blossoms, made a very pretty picture. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 

 Rogersville, Genesee Co.. Mich. 



Y'ou did a very wisethinaj when you trans- 

 ferred your own bees, and I am inclined tx> 

 think 'i great many of our new beginners 

 would come out all right if they would only 

 push ahead just as you did. Your plan is 

 exactly what I would have recommended, 

 only I would leave the hive near its summer 

 stand, moving it perhaps a yard backward. 

 I would never try to drum the bees; pry open 

 the hive and go to work, and you will have 

 them transferred, bees and all, almost as 

 quickly as you could drum them out. Be 

 careful about depending much upon strings, 

 for the bees sometimes bite them olf before 

 they have fastened the combs. Strips of 

 wood, wires, or the transferring clasps, are, 

 I think, safer. The sunflowers do very well^ 

 but they are not as substantial, and do not 

 bear grapes. It is true, tliey bear some hon- 

 ey, and the mammoth Russian, has been 

 considerably talked of as a honey plant; a 

 sunflower a])iary, would be rather a pretty 

 sight, would it iiotV 



^ lOi w 



PUTTING A CIKC^JLAR SAW IN OKCKK. 



S]Sr my directions for putting circular saws 

 in order, I forgot to say that the teelli, 

 — ■ must all be made of exactly the same 

 length. To do this, and to keep them so, 

 you must have your saw fit the mandrel cx- 

 acth/, and must, when putting it on the man- 

 drel, always observe to put it on in the same 

 position. To insure this, you will need a 

 mark on the saw, and a corresponding one 

 on the mandrel. Tut your saw on just as 

 you want it, and then screw the table up so 

 high, that the table will just clear the teeth. 

 Lay a piece of emery wheel— a whole onf^ 

 will do — on the table right over the saw, and 

 gently screw down the table until the points 

 of the teeth begin to be cut. Stop at inter- 

 vals and see how you get along ; when the 

 points of the shortest teeth are just touched, 

 you are to stop. Now file it as directed, and 



