At?GirsT i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



103 



should only have taken place within the past few years ; and 

 it is uo less notable that in 1883 the Langstroth hives are 

 making their way all over America with little alteration in 

 their design to those first submitted by Mr. Langstroth in 

 1K51. Instead of the old straw hive, in which the bees were 

 smothered previous to the honey being promiscuously 

 tumbled out, all mixed up with larva;, wax and broken comb, 

 the modern hive is fitted with square frames, which can be 

 lilted out and dropped in again at will, just as panes of 

 gUss are handled in a glazier's box. These frames are what 

 the bees build their comb upon, and set to work at filling 

 with "extracted" or "box" honey respectively, just as their 

 owner may desire. 



Extracted honey is that which is separated from the 

 com,b and box honey the Mud that is sold in hoses holding 

 a pound or so of honey, and in the form that it comes 

 from the hive. For extracted honey, full sized frames are 

 used in the hive, but for box honey the frames are sub- 

 divided into the boxes within which the bees are to con- 

 struct the honeyfilled comb in the shape intended for market. 

 When the full frames are charged with honey, another 

 achievement in the new beekeeping system is brought into 

 operation, viz., the honey extractor. This is an ingenious 

 contivance, resembling in appearance the square frame of 

 ft street lamp, the sides of which are fitted with honey- 

 charged frames from the hives, and the whole then in- 

 serted within an enclosure like an oil drum, fitted with a 

 top, The apparatus, with its frames of honey, is fitted into 

 pivots above and below, and is then swiftly rotated by a 

 tooth and pinion attachment. The honey, by centrifugal 

 force, is thus thrown from the frames, and is drawn off by 

 the tap in the enclosing drum. 



"Comb foundation" is another of the improvements. 

 The bees, it appears, if left to themselves, not only occupy 

 too much of the honey-making season in comb building, 

 but also work up too much valuable material to suit tho 

 commercial notions of the modern bee manager. Honey- 

 comb is made of pure wax, which the working bees exude 

 from minute folds of their bodies in the shape of thin 

 flakes or scales. It is estimated that every square inch of 

 comb built by the bees is done at the expense of from 

 15 to 20 times its weight in honey. Thus the beekeeper 

 resorts to comb foundation, and by saving the bee the 

 work of making it, obtains the extra honey. A little 

 machine with iron rollers, resembling in form "the wringer 

 in a clothes washer, is used to roll out beeswax into thin 

 sheets of comb foundation. These are fastened on the 

 frames, and the frames dropped into their places in the hive, 

 when the bee proceeds at once to business. 



At first, comb foundation was not a success, and it was 

 discovered that the hitch occurred in the sheets being rolled 

 out plain. The bees would not work because they co:dd 

 find no trace of cells. Then an enterprising inventor en- 

 graved his rollers, so as to stamp the sheets of beeswax 

 with a perfect imitation of the bees 'cells, when' thenceforth, 

 the busy little insects buckled down to work with as much 

 satisfaction as if they had made the sheets themselves. 

 Some bee keepers roll out their own foundation, but most 

 obtain it from one of the many suppliers of bee-keeping 

 requisites that are to be found all over the United States. 

 Here is one of their advertisements : — " We are prepared 

 to promptly fill all comb foundation orders at the following 

 prices— one to ten lb., 65 cents per lb.; fifty lb. or over, 

 50 cents per lb.; 100 lb. or over, 45 cents, per lb. Our 

 largest sheets are 12 « 12 inches, and run from 5 to 8 

 square feet to the pound. In ordering give inside dimen- 

 sions of frames. If ordered by mail add 25 cents per pound 

 to above charges for postage and extra packing; samples 

 by mail, post paid, 5 cents." 



Another triumph of the new system is the " smoker," by 

 which the most nervous person can handle and work among 

 the bees with the utmost safety. Formerly a few individuals 

 in a locality were regarded with considerable veneration, 

 owing to their possession of a supposed mysterious influence 

 that prevented bees from stinging. The whole art of bee 

 taming is now found to consist in the fact that bees will 

 not stmg when filled with honey ; that to get them to- 

 fill themselves it is necessary to frighten them, and that 

 the necessary frightening is effected by puffing a little 

 smoke into their hives. For this purpose the smoker 

 which is a point..,! tin funnel filled with smouldering rags 

 and having a small bellows attached, forms one of the 



beekeeper's indispensable tools of trade. The handy man, 

 ner in which the bees can be inspected by putting a little 

 smoke into the hive, and then lifting out any section of 

 the movable combs, enables the condition of the colonies 

 to be constantly noted. 



_ The first step on the part of new beginners in bee keep- 

 ing is to post themselves in the interesting study of bee 

 physiology by obtaining one of the numerous books on the 

 subject. The best works among American publications are — 

 Kings Bee Reefers' Text Book, Langstroth's Bee Book, 



'"["'!' %i ,". '!'■ A "V"".'/. boots's A. B. C. of Bee Culture, 

 and Cook s Bee h eepers' Umde. A prosperous hive or colony 

 of bees consists of a fertile queen, a few hundred drones 

 ami about 40,000 workers. The queen is the prolific parent 

 of the whole colony and laying eggs is the sole end of 

 her existence. In the height of the honey gathering season, 



. l U o}.Z favorable circumstances, the queen will deposit 

 about .000 eggs per day. She is distinguished from the 

 other bees I iy being larger and having smaller wings The 

 drones are bulkier than the queens, but shorter, and have 

 large wings, but are destitute of a sac for carrying bonev 

 and incapable of performing the duties of the workers 

 Their business is the fertilisation of the queens, and as 

 impregnation is effected while on the wing, the drones leave 

 the hive in considerable numbers about noon on fine days, 



ft *£• f °! low ? d b y the yo»ng queens. -When the service 

 of fertilisation is supposed to be accomplished the workers 

 drive out the drones and keep them out till they die of 

 starvation. J 



One of the many advantages of working the movable 

 comb hives is that all excess of drone comb (which differs 

 from the honeycomb) can be removed, and the production 

 ot useless consumers thus kept in check. The workers are 

 the smallest in size of the three classes of bees, and al- 

 though femaes are incapable of fertilisation by the drones 

 so that, although they occasionally lay eggs, these never 

 produce working bees. Upon the workers devolve all the 

 labor of building comb, collecting the honey and feeding 

 the queen and brood. Their average age varies from a few 

 weeks in summer to from six to nine months during the 

 remainder of the year The queen's average age is from 

 three to four years, and should her death occur the workers 

 construct large cells, supplying them with what is described 

 as • royal jelly," so that the eggs or lame that other- 

 wise would have produced worker bees are developed into 

 queens. Only one queen is allowed to remain in each-hive 

 The queen usually leaves the hive when about five davs 

 old to meet the drones in the air for fertilisation, which 

 being accomplished serves her for life, as she seldom 

 afterwards leaves the hive, excepting in company with her 

 first swarm. J 



The average time from the laying of the egg to the 

 appearance of the perfect insect is for the queen 10, for 



tZTJ, ■ 2 VTV° r th , e dr0ne 24 ^respectively. 

 The cells m which the workers are reared are the smallest 

 in size ; those for the drones nearly one-third larger, and 

 for the queen still larger and of peculiar form, requiring 

 as much material for their construction as 50 worker cells 

 In stroiig colonies, having plenty of stores, the queen wili 

 otteii deposit eggs during every month in the year the 

 least brood being during the three winter months. On the 

 approach of spring an increase of brood rapidly sets in, and 

 the bee keepers prepare for their annual harvest of swarms 

 and surplus honey. From three to ten queen cells are 

 generally constructed m each hive, and in about eight days 

 after the first queen leaves with the first swarm the next 

 queen is ready to emerge from her cell. 



An important feature in connection with the movable 

 comb system of bee management consists in the old chance 

 metbod of swarming being supplanted by what is called 

 arr.ncml swarming. Instead of the bees being left to swarm 

 naturally with the- risk of being lost, the swarming is con- 

 ducted at the will of the operator bv the removal of the 

 queen to a new hive, where she is followed in the most 

 docde manner by the swarming bees. Another important 

 advantage that the new system of beekeeping affords 

 consists in what is called nucleus swarming, bv which a 

 queen is reared amid a small cluster of bees in a separate 

 hive until she matures and becomes fertilised, when the 

 hvie that is to be swarmed is shifted, and the nucleus hive 



P u',J", 'u- p,are - T " this wa y the sur Pl«s bees from the 

 shifted hive go out as usual, to their work of honey gather- 



