68 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
June. 
P. G, objects that we have not given the rea- 
sons for advising that the nuclei be given fresh 
eggs every three days. They are fourfold: 
First, that their population may be kept up ; 
secondly, that all hands may lie kept employ- 
ed; thirdly, to keep the bees at home when the 
young Queen goes out, and lastly and most 
important of all, that there be no possibility 
of cells or Queens being reared from any other 
than choice brood, even should some accident 
happen to the Queen. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING, 
consists simply in giving these nuclei, as soon 
as they have laying Queens, combs of brood, 
from strong colonies, until they are good colo- 
nics of themselves. See page 72, last para- 
graph. 
AL.L. ABOUT SMOKERS. 
[ALL WE KNO W ABOUT' EM.] 
ST fjjSR NOVICE & Co.— Please give us the easiest and 
best method of smoking tees. This may appear 
“/“j to some of yonr readers a very simple request— 
that any one knows how to smoke bees— well 1 must 
confess I for ono, do not. I have been using a short 
iron lube with a plug of wood at each end, the plug at 
the firing end removable. I get a full share through 
this end Into my eyes and nose. 1 saw Mr. E. lvretch- 
mer’s advertisement, A "Bee Pipe'' to direct the smoke 
where needed, eyes and nose perfectly safe, price 40e. 
I ordered one forthwith rec'd it, loaded up — the soft 
solder melted down, my new 40c. tin smoker tumbled 
down— burnt my lingers— eyes and nose received full 
charge. Mr. Quinby’s blacksmith forgo arrangement 
Is too big and unwieldy — 1 apply to you for relief— 
please help, “VuMl’O. 
Our first smoker w.qs tobacco, rolled up in a 
rag, and we blew the vile stuff in their poor 
little faces and eyes under all circumstances 
and conditions, and at all times, whether they 
were cross or not, and many times when they 
stood in the door of their own domicile with- 
out any feeling of ill will, or evil designs 
toward any one on the face of the earth. But 
smoking them was a part of the programme, 
and smoked they must be, so we thought; and 
we really pity them now, when we look back 
and think of it. After a while we got out of 
tobacco and tried the rags alone and they did 
very well ; pretty soon Mrs. N. got out of rags 
— we burned such an awful sight of ’em — and 
,’twas such a bother to be fussing so much, roll- 
ing them up etc., before we could do anything, 
that we felt grateful to Dr. C. C. Miller, now of 
Chicago, when lie paid us a visit and demon- 
strated that rotten wood was not only as good, 
but even better. After that, we had our chunk 
of rotten wood, and went on our way rejoicing 
until we burned up a hive of fine Italians, by 
sparks blowing in the sawdust. Then we read 
over the A. II. J. and made a tin smoker with 
wire-cloth and a knob to blow through, this 
worked beautifully to be sure, but who could 
watch a smoker to see that it didn’t “go out” 
when intent on the interior of a hive ? 
Well, it had to be tinkered so much to be 
kept “going” that we got out of all patience, 
at being obliged to fuss so long just to open a 
bee hive, and so we threw it away- -no, we put 
it “in the loft” and by the way if that loft isn’t 
getting to be an “old curiosity shop” we don’t 
know. 
Now 'twas Gallup we think, who said :: pan 
of chips was just as good as any thing, !b: I! 
could be set one side and would burn nearly 
half a day ; and if you found you didn’t need it 
at all, why, all the better, but ’twould always 
be ready if you did want it. We never like 
great clumsy implements so we got a nice lit- 
tle tin basin, and it worked beautifully till 
tlie pesky thing got hot and burnt our lingers, 
when we picked it up excitedly. If we remem- 
ber rightly we set it down again, and made 
some remarks ; can’t say now what the re- 
marks were but think they were not concerning 
the weather. 
Shortly after, we saw Mrs. N. using a very 
pretty, small, enameled sauce pan, in her culi- 
nary operations, and we innocently asked if 
tlie handle never got hot? 
“Certainly not. See how thin and light it is.” 
As she persistently declined listening to any 
proposal to trade it for our tin basin, we bought 
a “bran new one” for' 40c., at the “tin shop,” 
put in some coals of fire, some rotten wood, 
and from Unit day to this, we have had no 
trouble. Fire will keep in it an hour or two, 
any thing will burn in it that is dry. For a 
brisk smoke in a hurry, we sprinkle on a little 
saw-dust because ’tis always handy, and if 
placed at the windward side of an open hive, 
tlie cloud of smoke tliat arises is all that is 
many times needed, and it requires almost no 
attention. We should add before concluding, 
that we have a square tin box — bought at the 
druggists for a few cents, (they get them with 
Castor oil in, or something) large enough to 
set our sauce pan in, out of the rain, and also 
to contain the fuel, that we scatter around, 
when we wish it to go out. The opening being 
on the east end, our fuel is always dry, and 
when scraped into the sauce pan with a few 
live coals from the kitchen stove, it is all in 
running order, and the faster we travel about 
with it the more it smokes. 
We can’t imagine how “cog wheels” or “bel- 
lows” would add to its efficiency, and when we 
take into consideration that 'tis very often 
allowed to smoke away for hours without 
being required at all, it seems to us that its 
greatest merit is its simplicity. Occasionally 
a stubborn colony will need considerable smoke, 
but the practice of “smoking" them until Queen, 
workers and all, tumble “pell-mell” on the 
bottom-board, when they haven’t even “said a 
word,” it seems to us is barbarous, and he who 
does it should have the “machine” pointed at 
his own eyes until he sees how it is. Now 
don’t undertake to use utensils made with sol- 
der, for they will just prove a bother. 
At least two persons, whose eyes will meet 
these pages, have tried old brittannia teapots, 
and when the block tin melted and caved in, 
they concluded they wouldn’t do “first rate.” 
I s . S. — “P. G.” remarks we have only consid- 
ered one side of the question. The other side 
is, that occasionally our “pet smoker” gets go- 
ing at a rate that sometimes makes one think 
they had almost as lief be stung to death, as 
smoked to death ; to which we reply, ’tis a 
matter easily remedied; take out some of the 
fuel and make it “go slower.” 
A subscriber from Middlebury, Vt., writes; 
rrawc 
l the summe 
Wormwood was first used by us in subduing bees in 
er ol' 1872. We were almost overpowered 
warm, and had tried a great variety ol' articles 
h roil, n wood, rags, tobacco, catnip etc., When 
son. a bad of tweivo years proposed to try worin- 
oti : and u •• wc*i <• b.iopih -v\ ’prised at our success, 
l now 1 would mu hhv ’ : » ' without it. 
A. 0. I looker. 
