BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Let us assume that the hives, having been received in the flat, are put together and painted, and contain frames of wired foundation ready for the bees. Light the smoker and use a bee-veil. Move the old hive, back four or five feet, and put the new hive in its place. Prepare a small box about eight inches deep having one sideopen, that will just cover (not slip over) the bottom of the box hive. Turn the old hive upside down; place the hiving-box over it, and then drum on the sides of the hive with a couple of sticks until about two-thirds of the bees pass up into the box. Gently lift off the box containing the bees, and dump them in front of the entrance of the new hive. Make sure the queen is among them, by watching for her as she passes with the rest toward the entrance. If you do not discover her, look inside the hive. When you still fail to find her, drum moe bees from the old hive again until you do get her, for, to make the plan a success, she must enter the new hive.
Replace the box hive right side up, two feet back of the new one, with its entrance turned at right angles. It still retains about one-third of the original colony, together with all the combs and brood. Allow the old hive to stand at least 21 days, by which time the brood will be hatched out, with the exception of a few drones of no value. Turn the hive upside down, and drum out the remaining bees into the hiving-box, as before. Next put an entrance-guard of perforated size (see Dignes) over the entrance of the new hive. Smoke the bees of the hive and also those in the hiving-box, after which dump it in front of the entrance of the new hive, as before. The smoking is to prevent any fighting on the part of the bees at the second shake, and the entrance-guard will catch the queen or queens that have been raised meantime in the old hive. These one or two, if virgins, should be caught on the perforated metal and given to queenless stocks. Where the old queen in the new hive is valuable she should be caged at the time of making the second drive. If neither the one in the old hive nor that in the new is preferred, perforated zinc need not be used, nor the old queen caged.
The work of transferring is now completshortly after the honey season the combs are apt to be filled with honey. How shall we get it out? When the bees have all been driven out for the last time, we may cut the combs in pieces and extract the honey from them. But a better way is to stand the box alive 100 yards or so from the apiary, on a board, and contract the entrance so that only one bee can get through at a time, as explained at the close of the subject of Robbing, which see. A little furore of bees may start up at first; but it soon quiets down, and in a few days the bees will have quietly removed all the honey from the combs. No unpleasant disturbance follows in the apiary, because the bees have taken the honey slowly, about as they do from natural sources. When the hive is emptied of honey the bees stop visiting it, of course, and then you may cut out the combs, put them in a solar wax-extractor, and consign the old hive to the kindling-pile.
**TAVEL-STAIN.--**See Comi Honey.
**TULIP-TREE.--**See Whitewood.
**TUPELO,** a common southern tree, and a liberal producer of honey of fine quality. There are four species of upelo or gum trees. The first and most common is the sourgum (_Nyssa multiiflora_), or the common upelo. This tree is very common in some sections of the South, but is rapidly being destroyed by the sawnills, as it is popular for making orange-boxes and for similar uses. _Nyssa quatiet_ is common in Southern Georgia and Western Florida, where it is the standby for professional bee-keepers. The honey obtained is of high quality, but the copious flow is of short duration.
Further north there is the large tupelo _Nyssa uniforma_) growing largely in swamp places from Virginia and Kentucky southward. There is also another tupelo often termed the Ogeechee line (_Nyssa cupitate_) confined to swamps in the extreme south. Ordinary observers usually confuse all these trees under the common name of " gum" tree, or tupelo, so it is with difficulty we can sift our information in regard to them. It is clear, however, that all four are extra honey-yielders, probably producing as much as basswood. Tupelo honey has been sold in the North for orange honey, but there is quite a difference between the two. It is somewhat unfortunate that the tupelos are being ruthlessly cut down for lumber purposes all over the South. Tupelo should not be confused with Southwood, which see.
**UNITING BEES.** Uniting colonies is much like introducing queens, inasmuch as no fixed rule can be given for all cases. It is a very simple matter to lift the frames, bees and all, out of one hive and set them into another, where the two are situated side by side. Usually there will be no quarreling, if this is done when the weather is too cold for the bees to fly, but this is not always the case. If one colony is placed close to one side of the hive, and the other to the other side, and there is room enough for a v.acant comb or two between them, they will very rarely fight. After two or three days the bees will be found to have united peaceably, when the brood and stores may be placed compactly together, and division-1 oirds put in at each side. If there are frames containing some honey that can not be put in, they should be placed in an upper story, and the bees allowed to carry it down. You should always look to them 20 minutes or half an hour after they are put into one hive, to see if every thing is amicable on " both sides of the house." If you find any bees fighting, or doubled up on the bottom board, give them such a smoking that they can not tell " which from t'other," and after 15 or 20 minutes, if they are fighting again, give them another " dose," and repeat until they are good to each other. We have never failed in getting them peaceable after two or three smokings.
When you wish to unite two colonies so large that a single story will not easily contain them, which, by the way, we feel sure is always poor policy, or if their honey is scattered through the whole ten combs in each hive, proceed as before, only set one hive over the other. When done during cool weather, and the bees kept in for two or three days, few, if any, will go back to the old stand. If the hives stand within six feet of each other, they all get back without trouble any way, for they hear the call of their comrades who have discovered the new order of things. Sometimes you can take two colonies while flying, and put them together without trouble, by making their conrades call the lost bees. Only actual practice, and acquaintance with their habits, will enable you to do this; and if you lack that knowdirected. If you have followed the advice we have given, you will have little uniting to do, except with queen-rearing nuclei; and with these you have only to take their lives away and set the frames in the hive below, when you are done with them. If the hive below is a strong one, as it should of course be, just set the frames from the nucleus into the upper story, until all the brood has hatched. If you wish to make a colony of the various nuclei, collect them during a cold day, and put them all into one hive. If you have bees from three or four, they will nnite better than if they came from only two hives, and you will seldom see a bee go back to its old home. A beginner should bewire of having many weak colonies in the fall to unite. It is much safer to have them all strong and ready for winter, long before winter comes.
## 10.1 Uniting bees.
This is so easily done that we hardly need give directions; in fact, if two swarms come out at the same time, they are almost sure to unite, and we do not know of two such swarms quarreling. One of the queens will very soon be killed, but you may easily find the extra one by looking for the ball of bees that will be found clinging about her, very soon after the bees have been joined together. A swarm can almost always be given without trouble, to any swarm that has come out the day previous; and if you will take the trouble to watch them a little, you may mite any swarm with any other new swarm, even if it came out a week or more before. Smoke them when inclined to fight, as we told you before, and make them be good to the new comers.
## 10.2 Uniting bees in the spring.
As we have pointed out elsewhere, uniting two weak colonies in the spring is usually unprofitable.* When there are two little weak colonies, or nuclei, one having a queen, it would seem the most natural thing in the world to put the two together for additional warmth and to provide a queen for all the bees; but, unfortunately, theory is not here borne out by facts. We have united nuclei in the spring; and while at the very time of uniting they would seem to make up a fairly good colony, yet in two or three days there would seem to be just about as few bees as there were before the uniting took place. The trouble is, that, if there is weather when they can fly, the bees that have been moved will go back to the old home to die, and, as a natural result, in three or four days there will be only a little cluster where there was the fair colony before. Uniting, when practiced to any advantage at all, is usually done late in the fall.
Footnote *: Uniting a weak to a strong colony is quite a different thing, as will be presently explained.
\(\Lambda\) nucleus from an out - apiary can be brought home and united with a nucleus at the home yard, or at any other yard. There would be no returning of bees then, and the two clusters will stay together, shining each other's heat and enjoying the privilege of having a queen over all.
## 10.3 The Alexander plan of uniting weak colonies.
During the year 1905, and again in 1906 and 197, a good deal of interest was manifested through _Gleunings in _Isc Culture_ in the Alexander plan of uniting a weak colony to a strong one in the spring. Many of those who followed the method were very successful. A few, however, failed. To these latter we will refer later. The Alexander plan of uniting is given by Mr. Alexander himself as follows after he had carefully revised it:
\[egin{array}{l}\mbox{\it alexander method of bridging ep wfax colonies in early spring.}\end{array}\]
About six or seven days after taking your bees from their winter quarters, pick out and unurk all weak colonies, also your strongest ones, marking an equal number of each; then all weak colonies that have a patch of brood in one comb about as large as your hand. set all such on top of a strong colony with with a queen-escaliber between, closing up nil entrance to the weak colony except through the excludor. Then there are those that are very weak that have only a queen, and perhaps not more than a handful of bees with no brood. Fix these last named in _this way_ : Go to the strong colony you wish to get them over, and get a frame of brood with its adhering bees, being sure not to take their queen; then put the queen of the weak colony on this comb to nith the strange keeps, and put it into the weak thio; leave them in this way about half a day; then set them on top of the strong colony where you got the breed with a queen-escaliber between. Do all this with very little smoke, and avoid exiting the strong colony in any way. If a cool day, and the bees are not flying, I usually leave the strong colony uncovered, except with the excluder, for a few hours before settling on the weak colony. The whole thing should be done as quietly as possible, so that nolt or colony hardly realizes that it has been touched. When the weak colony has been given some treods, and put on top in this careful and still manners hardly one queen in a hundred will be lost, and in about 30 days each hive will be crowded with be es and maturing brood. Then when you wish to se a rate then, set the strongest colony on a new star and give it also some of the bees from the hive that is left on the old stand, as a few of the working force will return to the old location, especially if they are black bees or degenerate Italians.
In every case that has come to my notice where this method has been reported a failure it has been from one of two euses--either lack of brood in a weak colony to hold the queen and her few bees in the upper hive, or smoking the strong colony so that, as soon as the weak one was set on top, the bees from below would rush up and sting every one above. Therefore avoid using smoke or doing any thing to excite the strong colony.
If done in a careful manner the bees in the lower hive never seem to realize that any strangers have been put above them, and they all work'in harmony to rather.
At the outset we spoke of those who met with failure in following the method. As Mr. Alexander says, the difficulty doubtless arose from the fact that they failed to put brood along with the weak nucleus to hold the queen and her few bees, or else the uniting was so clumsily done that it stirred up both lots of bees, with the result that they came together before they had the same ascent; and the queen, having a strange odor, was killed. (See Introduction.) Mr. Alexander's injunction is to put the bees together (see arefully that the clusters do not really unite for some two days, at which time there is a peaceful union, and the two queens go on laying so as to make up one ronsing colony,which can be divided, making twostrong colonies where before there would have been only one, since the nucleus left to itself would have died.
Where one desires to proceed with extreme caution he is advised to put a wire-cloth screen between the two lots of bees at the time of uniting, and keeping it there for two or three days, after which its place is taken by a perforated zinc honey-board. In this connection we would remark that the wire-cloth screen should be mounted in a wooden frame about \(\sharp\) inch thick, and of the same outside dimensions as the hive.
While this plan of uniting contemplates performing the act in early spring, something can be done at it in the fall. Mr. Josiah Johnston, in a communication sent to _Gleanings in Ike Culture_ in 1907, tells how he unites on the Alexander plan in the fall.
Some have had trouble in following the Alexander plan of building up weak colonies. I think the trouble in many eases is due to rousing up the bees and getting them uneasy before the weak colony is put over the strong one. Then the two colonies have war for a while. I always use wire cloth between the two hives and never have any trouble from the lower colony going up and killing the bees in the upper hive. For some time I have wintered my weak colonies this way, on the summer stands. Last winter I had several weak colonies, and I put them all over strong colonies, making an entrance in the back with my knife through the hand-hole of the upper hive. This should be just large enough to allow two or three bees to pass out at a time. This is done on some cloudy day after very cold weather comes and the bees have quit flying.
Last year I had a weak swarm of bees. There was just one frame of bees and a young queen. I put this frame of bees in with nine frames of honey, and put the frames in a hive and set it on top of one of the strongest colonies I had, and in February they got pretty strong, and I left them on till April ; and when I set them off I had two strong colonies.
Milan, III. Josiah Johnston.
**V.**
**VETHS.** The necessity of using face detectors will depend largely upon the race of bees to be handled. To deal with hybrids, Cyprians, or Holy-Lands, we would recommend one to wear a veil. With pure Italians it is not so necessary; still we always prefer to have one handy. Its use in any case gives the apiarist a sense of security to enable him to work to much better advantage than he would if continually in fear of every cross bee that chanced to buzz near his eyes.
The two great objections to the use of veils are that they necessarily obstruct the vision more or less, and obstruct the free circulation of air in hot weather, and thus tend to make the wearer sweaty and uncomfortable.
The very _nicest_ veil is one made entirely -- holding is used one can raise or lower and of silk -- tulle, although somewhat expensive. The material is so fine that a whole veil of it can be folded to go in a small vest-pocket. We carry one of these constantly during the working season of the bees, and it is always ready for an emergency. It neither obstructs the vision nor prevents the free circulation of air on hot days. A cheaper one, though not so light nor cool, is made of great-adine with a facing of silk tulle net sewed in. The grenodine is strong, and the brussels-net facing obstructs the vision but little if any. The top of the veil is gathered with a rubber cord, so that it may be made to fit closely around the crown of the hut.
Our boys wear a broad-brimmel cloth hat, costing about 20 cents each. These hats are very light, will fit any head, and can be folded and put in a cout-pocket. The under side of the brini is green; the upper side of the crown is a drab color. This broad brini is supported and held out by means of a steel hoop; and when the veil is placed over the hat and properly drawn down it can not touch the face or neck, and hence leaves no possible chance for stings. During hot days when bees require the most attention in the apiary, a cout or vest is simply intolerable. In the absence of either one of these garments the corners of the veil may be drawn under the suspenders. The four plates herewith show successively this manner of drawing the veil under the suspenders, and its position when in use. The last view of the series shows how easily it can be drawn out from under the suspenders and raised above the hat while not in use. Many apiarists work a good part of the time with the veil raised. When the suspender method ofveil must be drawn down as shown in the view at the extreme left, or No. 1.
The one to the extreme right shows a good method of fastening by means of a long string, inserted in the bottom edge of the veil. The ends are crossed in front of the waist, brought to the rear, pulled clear around to the front again, and tied. This holds the veil very securely as shown, and some seem to prefer it. An objection is that one can not very well push his hand up under the veil to get at his face to wipe off the perspiration as he can where rubber cord is used as shown, or where the edges of the veil are tucked under the suspenders. It is very important to have a protection that will secure freedom and ready access to the face. While a stray bee may get under without much danger of being stung, it is annoying to have it crawl around promiscuously. With the veil properly adjusted, one can easily reach his hand up under, pick up the bee, and at the same time be very little disconnected in this work.
The next illustration shows a wire-cloth-screen headgeur that is used by some of on again. The muslin skirt fits loosely yet fairly snugly around the shoulders and neck.
There are many practical bee men who prefer wire-cloth head-protectors to any thing else. When first used they seem a little awkward; but the extreme comfort that one enjoys more than compensates for its apparent outlandishness. The one shown in the ent uses a strip of wire cloth approximately a foot wide and a yard long. A yard of muslin completes the material required. Where one uses a coat, the skirt of this head protection can readily be tucked inside; but even without coat or vest, the loose folds of the cloth fit with a fair degree of snugness around the shoulders and neck.
One of our boys has used with much satisfaction a sort of chopping-bowl or basket inverted. It is a hat that is worn in India and other hot countries, and is slowly working its way into this country, particularly in the South. It is made of palm-leaf, and it is
supported above the head in the manner shown above. The cut will render further description unnecessary.
As light breezes can circulate above and around the head, it is perhaps the coolest sun-shade of any herein illustrated and described. If you can not secure one of these, and would like to get the ventilating feature, take an ordinary palm-leaf hat several sizes too large. On the inside of the hat-bab sew four or five \(
atural\)-inch corks that have been cut in halves lengthwise. These, if spaced at regular distances, will keep the hat from the head, and permit ventilation.
We have before remarked that one object to bee-veils is the obstruction to the eyesight. To overcome this, Mr. John C. Capehart, of St. Albuns,West Va., glue:l a piece of glass in front of the veil. The difficulty with this was, that the glass would hardly ever be in range with the eyes, on account of its weight, and then it would be covered with steam from the breath; and,worse than all, it would get broken. The brussels net is open to none of these objections, and is almost as transparent as glass itself.
Mr. Walter S. Pouder made an improvement on this by substituting celluloid film such as is used for photographic film negatives. While this overcomes the objection of weight it does not prevent the moisture of the breath from accumulating on it. So far we have found nothing better nor as good as silk tulle.
Mr. Martin and Mr. Cogrshall both make use of sleeve-protectors. They will be found exceedingly useful for protecting the hands and wrists, and also prevent their getting daubed.
THE globe bee-veil.
This is a veil that has had a very large sale, and is preferred by a great number,
because it is large enough to extend down over an ordinary hat or cap: and it is so constructed that it can not possibly get against one's face at any point. Sometimes an ordinary veil will touch one's nose or the back of his neck. At these points a bee can, if it will, insert its sting through the meshes of the veil. The globe veil is made so as to fold up compactly and can be carried in the pocket. With cross bees to handle, this is by all odds the best veil in the lot.
Mrs. R. H. Holmes, of Shoreham, Vt., uses a bee-hat like that shown in the above cut. It is simply a straw hat with a broad rim, the veil being made of mosquito-bar, and the facing of brussels net. A strip of cloth lines the lower edge of the veil, and is made just large enough to fit snugly around the shoulders. \(\lambda\) couple of cloth straps hitched to buttons pass under the arm-pits, and button on behind. While this arrangement is good, the rubber cord and safety-pin is better.
How to get along without a veil.
It is a very great convenience to be _able_ to dispense with a veil altogether, when circumstances permit it. The only obstacle is natural dread that a bee may possibly sting the face if it has a chance.
This fear will wear off as you become more and more accustomed to handling bees. When without a veil, if a bee comes up, and, by its hun, reveals anger, to not dodge nor strike at it, but control the muscles of the face as perfectly as though you were not at all aware of its presence. A little wine of the check or of the eye encourages its lighting qualities. A careless, indifferent behavior, on the other hand, shows you are not afraid, and it therefore very sensibly concludes that there is no use in wasting a sting for nothing. Sometimes we put our hand up to the face when one of these rascals persists in its annoyance. Should it actually begin to sting, smash it. In your community you will probably acquire the reputation of a bee-keeper, and, as such, when suddenly called upon to hive a swarm of bees without preparation for a neighbor, it would be a little unbecoming, and perhaps a little humiliating, for you to show signs of fear. You should learn to "astonish the natives"?"arehanded and bare-faced, and you need not incur risk, either, if you manage rightly.
Wee drees or clothing for bee-kepepies.
Under the head of Gloves, following in its alphabetical order, will be found some long-sleeved gloves or gamnitles that reach away up above the elbows. Many bee-keepers use these to keep bees from getting up the sleeve, and at the same time protect the wrists, especially the inside fleshy portions of them where they are very sensitive. Others carry this same principle further, combining the gloves and headgear all in one.