ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION. 



33 



ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. 



open air with a drone from very inferior 

 stock. In the breeding of domestic animals it 

 is possible to mate together a choice male 

 and a choice female. Much could be accom- 

 plished in the way of improved stock if we 

 could also control the male parentage of 

 bees: and we do not know but that in-breed- 

 iug, according to modern methods now 

 known in stock-raising, might secm-e for us 

 a race of bees greatly superior to any thing 

 we now know. 



.Just at present it seems very desirable 

 that bees with longer tongues be bred, so 

 that the nectar in the deep corolla-tubes of 

 red clover, in the horsemint of Texas, and 

 the mountain sages of California, as well as 

 of hundreds of other llowers. could be reach- 

 ed. Tons and tons of honey might thus be 

 secured that otherwise goes to waste. See 

 Tongue of WorkekBee . 



ARTIFICZAIi HBAT. As strong 



colonies early in the season are the ones 

 that get the honey and furnish the early 

 swarms as well, and are in fact the real 

 som-ce of profit to the bee-keeper, it is not 

 to be wondered at that much time and mon- 

 ey have been spent in demising ways and 

 means whereby all might be brought up to 

 the desired strength in time for the first 

 yield of clover honey. As market-gardeners 

 and others hasten early vegetables by arti- 

 ficial heat, or by takmg advantage of the 

 sun"s rays by means of greenliouses. etc.. it 

 would seem that something of the kind 

 might be done with bees : in fact, we have, 

 by the aid of glass and the heat of a stove, 

 succeeded in rearing young bees every 

 month in the year, even while the weather 

 was at zero, or lower, outside; but so far as 

 we can learn, all artificial work of this kind 

 has resulted in failure, so far as profit is 

 concerned. The bees, it is true, learned to 

 fly under the glass and come back to their 

 hives ; but for every bee that was raised in 

 confinement, two or three were sure to die, 

 from one cause or another, and we at length 

 decided it was best to wait for summer 

 weather, and then take full advantage of it. 

 Later, we made experiments with artifi- 

 cial heat while the bees were allowed to fly 

 out at pleasure : and although it seemed at 

 first to have just the desired effect, so far as 

 hastening brood-rearing was concerned, the 

 result was. in the end. just about as before ; 

 more bees were hatched, but the unseason- 

 able activity, or something else, killed off 

 twice as many as were reared, and the stocks 

 that were let alone in the good old way came 

 out ahead. Since then we have rather en- 



deavored to check very early brood-rearing, 

 and with better results. 



A few experiments with artificial heat 

 have apparently succeeded, and it may be 

 that it will eventually be made a success ; 

 but my impression is, that we had much 

 better turn our energies to something else, 

 imtil we have warm settled weather. Pack- 

 ing the hives with chaff, sawdust, or any 

 other warm, dry, porous material, so as to 

 economize the natural heat of the cluster, 

 seems to answer the purpose much better, 

 and such treatment seems to have none of 

 the objectionable features of working with 

 artificial heat. The chaff needs to be as 

 close to the bees as possible : and to this end 

 we would have all the combs removed except 

 such as are needed to hold their stores. Bees 

 thus prepared seem to escape the ill effects 

 of frosty nights in the early part of the sea- 

 son, and we accomplish for brood-rearing 

 exactly what was hoped for by the use of ar- 

 tificial heat. 



For the benefit of those Avho may be in- 

 clined to experiment, we would state that 

 we covered almost our entire apiary with 

 maniu'e. on the plan of a hot-bed. one spring, 

 and had the mortification of seeing almost 

 all die of spring dwindling. Another time we 

 kept the house-apiary warmed up to a sum- 

 mer temperature with a large oil-lamp, for 

 several weeks, just to have them beat those 

 out of doors. The investment resvdted in 

 losing nearly all in the house-apiary with 

 spring dwindling, while those outside stayed 

 in their hives as honest bees should, until 

 settled warm weather, and then did finely, 

 just because we were " too busy to take care 

 of them" (?). as we used to exjiress it. Aft- 

 er you have had experience enough to coimt 

 your profitable colonies by the hundred, and 

 your crops of honey by the ton. it will do 

 very well to experiment with greenhouses 

 and cold-frames ; but beginners had better 

 let such appliances alone unless they have 

 plentv f f monev to spare for more bees. 



AB.TIFICZAL FASTTTHAGI!. Al 



though there used to be quite a trade in seeds 

 and plants to be cultivated for their honey 

 alone, we can give little encouragement to 

 those who expect to realize money by such 

 investments. There is certainly a much 

 greater need of taking care of the honey 

 that is almost constantly wasting just for 

 lack of bees to gather it. A field of buck- 

 wlieat will perhaps occasionally yield enough 

 honey to pay the expense of sowing, as it 

 comes in at a time when the bees in many 

 places would get little else : and if it does 



