1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



181 



■RON FOK FASTENING IN STARTERS. 



1 



ise to fasten 

 Mine is 314 in. 



rn^iRIEND ROOT;^Here is what I 



Wi "' the foundation in the sections. 



■^ long-, '2 in. wide, •»' in. thick, 

 at the top, % in. at the bottr>m. It 

 will hold the heat a long- time, and 

 works splendidly. I had it made 

 of wrouffht iron at a cost of 35 cts; 

 it could lie made of cast iron for 

 very much less, and I suppose it 

 would be just as good. 



I put 11 swarms In the bee room 

 last fall, and all came out in good 

 condition this spring. The tem- 

 perature was from 26^ to 45^ above 

 «). Let us hear from Mr. Perrino 

 every month. Give us all the en- 

 gravings you can afford to. They 

 are a great addition to Gleanings. 



Horace Libby. 

 Lewiston, Mo., April 29th, 187S. 



If heat is to be used, I think your arrange- 

 ment, t'riend I.,., woukl be a splendid idea; 

 but I would suggest that the irons be made 

 of copper, and that you have a pair of them. 

 For fastening natural comb stiirters, they 

 would be just tlie thing. 



Just as soon as Mr. Perrine sends us the 

 photo, the engraving shall appear in 

 Gleanings. 



SWAR.'VIS AND SWARMING. 



HOW TO MANAGE. 



Yfr STARTED out to give you a little of my e.xperi- 

 M ence about taking care of bees, in swarming 

 ~) time. For the first two or three years of my 

 l)oe keeping, when I had onlj' from 10 to 30 colonies, 

 I lost by having swarms leave me, also by ha\'ing 

 large first swarms go together when they came out 

 nearly at the same time. After j-ears of experience 

 and practice, I have learned that I can prevent both 

 their going to the Tcoods and their going together; 

 and for the last 5 or 6 years, though 1 have increased 

 my number to 10(1 swarms and, some seasons, to 200, 

 I have not lost a swarm, or had two large swarms 

 iget together; but this result I could never have 

 reached, except by the help of certain implements 

 I have, and use in swarming time. With these, I 

 can attend to 100 colonies as easily as I could to 20 

 without them, and, at the same time, be more sure 

 of keeping them sepnrate. With these, I can hive all 

 my swarms and stand on the ground; 1 cut no limbs 

 off, and I brush no bees from bodies and large limbs 

 <if trees. Let them swarm as fast as they pleast, 10 

 or 1.5 in iin hour, I can take care of them, and keep 

 them nil separate, and it is only ftm. I do not 

 dread the "everlasting swarming." My hiving 

 aparatus is a bo.x made of H inch basswood boards, 

 about 8 inches square, by 16 inches deep; one end is 

 closed, and the other open. This sho Id be nailed 

 together so as to be as strong as possible, then with 

 a ^i bit, bore it full of holes on each side. Put this 

 on the end of a pole which is light and yet strong 

 enough to let down a large swarm and not break. 

 A straight grained pine or basswood stick 1'4 inches 

 square will answer; take off the corners, bore 1% 

 iineh hole thi-ough the center of the box, and fasten 

 it on tig'it. Then you want a pole of corresponding 

 length, with astro"ng hook fastened to the end of it. 

 This is one set for hiving. I want 6 or 8 of these, if 

 I have 80 or 100 colonies. With these you need not 

 wait for all the bees to light, but when 'i or ^j have 

 clustered, hold the box close under them, and, with 

 the hook, jar the limb once or twice, holding your 

 box still, and you will soon have them all out and 

 into it. Then if another swarm comes, carry off 

 these. In the bo.x, to a safe distance, or let them 

 down and cover them closely with a sheet. The 

 other swarm will nearly always light on the same 

 limb. I have taken as many as 6 off the same limb, 

 setting away the box with each swarm, until I could 

 get time to hive them. Then, to prevent their 

 lighting in places where they are hard to get at, 

 and much time is required to hive them, I have one 

 or two long poles with a bunch of grass tied tightly 

 on the end. Put this in any place where they iirgt 

 commence lUjlitini), and keep it in motion for a few 

 nunnents, and they will leave for some other place. 



When the swarm is all clustered in the box, you can 

 hive them at your leisure. Let them down careful- 

 ly, holding the bo.x horizontally until you get them 

 whefe you want to shake them by the side of the 

 hive or into it, then turn it so the open end is down, 

 jar or shake them out just as you choose, and the 

 work is done, only you must constantly be on the 

 lookout for other swarms coming out to get with 

 them. Have 3 or 4 good sheets where you can get 

 them in a moment, if needed to cover a swarm. 

 But this epistle is already too long. Perhaps at 

 some future time, I will say something about their 

 leaving, or not leaving rather, for the woods. 

 Cochranton, Pa., Apr. 22, '78. N. N. Shepard. 



Not a bit too long, friend 8. May I sug- 

 gest a basket instead of your light box, and 

 the arrangement given on page 179, of Vol. 

 IVV Your ideas are excellent, and I ad- 

 mire the ingenuity with which you have 

 made yourself master in nearly all the vari- 

 ous contingencies of natural swarming. 

 Your remark about having the sheets ready 

 for covering the extra swarms, is excellent; 

 and not only the sheets, but your poles, 

 boxes, queen cages, empty hives, and every- 

 thing which you have learned by experience 

 you may need, should be kept in a neat, 

 handy place, a small, neat shed, for in- 

 stance, such a place as would be always eas- 

 ily "get-at-able," and would protect the 

 utensils sufficiently from the weather. I 

 think I will have our engraver give us a 

 view of sucli a 



repository for swarming implements. 



I guess that is what we shall have to call 

 it. By the way, our engraver has just be- 

 gun to be a bee-keeper ; has wintered over 

 successfully, a nucleus containing one of 

 friend Pike's Albino queens, and he has just 

 purchased 3 more colonies of black bees. 

 He transferred one of them last Monday, 

 and I guess he did it well, even if he did 

 leave tlie entrance open so wide that tliey 

 got to robbing rather vigorously. 



m i»-esm 



ARC CI..4SS. 



^ff^jHE colony of Italians shipped the 2Tth,. arrived 



at my office, Friday 29tli, and seem to be all 

 OK." I am a 'bran new" hand, and never 

 saw a "movable frame" hive before, and you may 

 guess I was puzzled to unship them, and set them 

 up in a condition to work, with no person present 



I or near to explain; but, with the e.vercise of com- 



I mon sense and the aid of Gleanings, (tly leaf) I 

 finally found where the "enameled cloth" was to go, 

 and the "poft" in one of the covers, &c. They are 



! loinliituj, and I am studyiinj, puzzled and confused 

 vmrr over "brood comb," "(jueen cells," "larviE," 

 "fdn.," &:c., &c., that I find in your ABC hook, than 



! I am in managing my farm of 200 acres. Well, I 

 am going to try to learn "bee business," and wll 



' de))end upon you to carry me through the school, 

 and will cheerfully compensate you for all you may 



. do for me. I have ."> strong colonies of black bees 



