ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



43 



has not come intQ general use. Where 

 one man is caring for a large apiary, all 

 alone, I know of no more perfect arrange- 

 ment for managing several swarms that 

 issue at nearly the same time. There is 

 no catching of queens, nor climbing of 

 trees, nor mixing of swarms. The con- 

 trol is perfect. 



The catcher is simply a light frame- 

 work, about three and one- half feet long, 

 sixteen inches square at the large, or out- 

 er end, then tapered down to about three 

 by sixteen inches at the other end. The 

 outer end is closed with a removable 

 door covered with wire cloth. The rest 

 of the frame-work is covered with can- 

 vas or ducking. The small end is so 

 made that it fits nicely to the entrance of 

 a hive, and a portion of the cloth cover- 

 ing is so made as to form a sort of flap 

 that can be drawn over the mouth of the 



catcher to keep the bees in after they 

 have entered. In a large apiary there 

 should be as many as half a dozen catch- 

 ers scattered about the yard. When a 

 swarm is seen issuing, a catcher is quick- 

 ly adjusted to the entrance of the s warm- 

 ing-hive. In five minutes, the whole 

 swarm is in the catcher, when the catch- 

 er is closed and set in the shade, or car- 

 ried to some cool place, like a cellar. 

 The queen is usually among the last to 

 leave the hive, so there is seldom a fail- 

 ure in catching her. If the swarms come 

 thick and fast, there is no objection to 

 leaving the swarms several hours with- 

 out hiving, provided they are not left in 

 the sun. Although there is probably no 

 necessity for it, they can be kept two 

 days in a cellar. When the bees have 

 been "cooled down" in this manner, and 

 are shaken in front of the hive that is to 

 be their home, they march in without 

 fifty bees taking wing. When swarms 

 are caught in this manner there are no 

 mixed or united swarms to separate — no 

 tangles to straighten out. It reduces the 

 hiving business to an exact system. 



^^•:>5V^^;»i«^U^^ 



Foul Brood. 



£/^ pv^HERE is no apiary in which 

 there is not a possibility that 

 foul brood will sometime ap- 

 pear, hence every bee-keeper 

 ought to be able to distinguish it, and to 

 know what to do when he is so unfortu- 

 nate as to find it in his apiary. From 

 reading the published descriptions, many 

 bee-keepers form exaggerated ideas of the 

 appearence of foul broodjt or rather of its 

 appearance in iis first stages. They are 

 looking for combs black with slime and 

 rottenness, a stench strong enough to 

 knock a man down and colonies dwin- 



dled to handfuls. Unless the bee-keeper 

 keeps a sharp lookout, foul brood may be 

 in his apiary some time before it is known. 

 At first but few cells of diseased brood 

 will be found. It is not advisable that a 

 bee-keeper be continually opening brood 

 nests and critically examining the combs 

 for foul brood. If a colony shows signs 

 of listlessness, or many dead bees are 

 seen in front of one or more of the hives, 

 or a peculiar, unpleasant odor is noticed, 

 it would be wise to make an examination. 

 Whenever handling frames of brood it 

 would be well to glance at the brood. 



