April 23, 1874. J 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICOIiTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



339 



the beea doabtlesa in most inatanoea deatroy one of them to 

 prevent a battle." In such circamatancea I have to point out 

 that the qaeeaa are never allowed to do battle, and one of the 

 queena ia always destroyed by the bees. 



Again. Mr. Pettigrew says, " Bat really doea she [the queen] 

 lay and set her egga in the cella ? Moat writers think and assert 

 that she ia not assisted by the beea in thia work. We differ in 

 opinion from almoat everybody else on this point, and believe 

 that the beea do aaaiat in the diatribution and setting of the egga 

 laid by the queen, for ahe frequently laya two or three egga in 

 one cell, and the supernumerariea are removed by the bees, and 

 we think set in unoccupied cella. Beaides, a queen has not 

 power to retain her egga, they come so fast." 



These opinions and beUefa, let me aay, have no foundation in 

 fact. The queen requires no such aid aa ia here auggested by 

 Mr. Pettigrew. I have often watched and carefully noted the 

 movements of the queen when engaged in the important and 

 interesting duty of ovipositing. In a normally-peopled hive, 

 and with adequate apace, she does her laborious work with in- 

 stinctive accuracy ; and when on examination she finds an egg 

 already in the cell she paaaea on to another, and very seldom 

 indeed any irregularity or mistake occurs. In limited space and 

 with limited workers her instinct no doubt is affected preju- 

 dicially, and abnormal ovipoaition is the result ; but in such 

 cases we cannot wonder to find more than one egg in a cell, and 

 to see her, under the prompting of Nature's laws, involuntarily 

 as it were, drop her egga on the combs which she is traversing. 

 The bees may destroy or eat the supernumerary eggs, but they 

 certainly never transfer them to other cella. 



Yet again Mr. Pettigrew saya, " Who has not seen and admired 

 in a unicomb hive the vigilant attention of the bees attending 

 the queen aa she moves about the hive ? Three or four of them 

 have their heads towards her abdomen, apparently watching for 

 and catching the egga as they drop from her. We therefore 

 come to the belief that the beea help in the distribution of the 

 eggs ; and we all know that beea take eggs from worker cells 

 and set them in royal cells when they wish to raise queens." 



In regard to this, I can only say for myself that I have no such 

 knowledge as ia here attributed to all apiarians, and regard the 

 whole matter as a complete chimera. 



Once more. Mr. Pettigrew aaya in reference to the fertility 

 of the queen, " Some trustworthy experiments have indicated 



four thousand and six thousand eggs per day each queen 



What prodigious fertility ! At what time and how long 



does she sleep ? Who says she sleeps at all ? How can she 

 find time to sleep if she lay two to four thousand eggs in cells 

 in twenty-four hours ?" 



Now in regard to the fertility of the queen bee, it is certainly 

 enormous ; but it would be satisfactory to be told the trust- 

 worthy experiments which prove that she does lay such a number 

 of eggs as stated. Six thousand eggs per day represent upwards 

 of half a million in the three summer months, '25U per hour, and 

 about four each minute, and that without making any allowance 

 for rest or repose. Verily the question is very pertinently put, 

 " Doea the queen ever sleep ?" Whether she sleeps or no may 

 be difficult to prove ; but one thing certain is that ahe rests, and 

 that very frequently, and can, I have no doubt, enjoy a nap like 

 most other creatures. 



For such statements, opinions, and beliefs to which I have 

 adverted I am at a loss to account. How they could be put 

 forward or entertained by any experienced or advanced apiarian 

 ia to me a mystery; for had it not been that Mr. Pettigrew 

 speaks of his having a unicomb hive I ahould have aacribed auch 

 abaurd vagariea to the lack of those facilities for observation 

 and study of the internal economy of the hive which unicomb, 

 Huber, and frame hives supply. — J. Lowe. 



DRIVING BEES, AND ARTIFICIAL 



SWARMING. 



From the many letters received seeking information on those 

 points, one is led to believe that the number of apiarians 

 is ever increasing, and that many of these letters come from 

 beginners. It has been my happiness to meet people who be- 

 came expert and advanced bee-keepers in three months, and it 

 has been my lot to meet many others who are ever seeking but 

 never able to learn the art of managing bees. These latter live 

 ir the maze of haphazard and peradventure. How doea thia 

 happen ? They will not put their bands to the work and master 

 it. A man doea not become an artist unless he handles a brush 

 and palette; and those who learn carpentry, masonry, or gar- 

 dening have to clutch the tools naed in the trade. " Union is 

 strength " only when embodied in action ; and " knowledge ia 

 power " when called into play. " I can't do it," never did any- 

 thing ; " I'll try," has done wonders ; but " I will do it," has per- 

 formed prodigies. From many parties all over England and 

 Scotland come letters, stating that the writers have succeeded 

 well and beyond their expectations in swarming beea artificially 

 on their firat attempt to follow the instructions we have given. 

 Every bee-keeper should know that a bit of smoking corduroy 



is the talisman in the work of managing and mastering bees. 

 When a hive ia to be examined, or swarmed, or honey taken 

 from it, let the smoke be used first and plentifully. Holding it 

 cloae to the door of the hive and blowing the amoke into it, the 

 bees run to escape from ita power. How much smoke is neces- 

 sary for a large hive full of bees ? Six or eight full inspira- 

 tions blown back on the amoke, forcing it into the hive, will 

 maater the moat irritable beea. Thia amoke does no harm to 

 the health of the bees, and doea not hinder them from work 

 many minutes. 



The other week the readers of thia Journal were told that 

 hives become ready for swarming in ordinary seasons and cir- 

 cumstances in about three weeks after the beea cover their 

 combs and fill the cells with egga and brood. The moisture of 

 hives, or, in other words, the sweat and breath of bees, at thia 

 time ia great, and gradually becomea greater till the time of 

 awarming. As this moisture paaaes out of the hives part of it is 

 condensed on the flight-boards at nights, and may be seen in 

 considerable quantity every morning. As the internal heat 

 increases, the moisture of the hives is, as it were, driven farther 

 out, or rather is dried-up in the doorway and on the flight-board 

 2 or 3 inches outside. By noticing the space dried anyone may 

 know when a hive is approaching the awarming point. By 

 using the smoke from corduroy, and turning-up a hive, we as- 

 certain whether it is ripe enough for being swarmed artificially. 

 If queens are set in royal cells, we know that, weather permitting, 

 it is on the eve of awarming naturally. If the bees do not run- 

 up amongst the combs on being fumigated by the corduroy, but 

 are found in heaps on the floor-board, or like a rope round the 

 outer edgea of the board inside, the hive ia ready to be swarmed 

 artificially. Such examinations should be made when the bees 

 are all at home. If the beea hang in a cluster outside the door 

 we know the hive ia ripe for swarming and need not be examined 

 at all, but it should be known that large hives seldom cluster 

 outside before swarming. 



Now we come to describe our mode of artificial swarming 

 The hive to contain the swarm is prepared with cross-sticks 

 and guide-comba. Another hive, quite empty, is necessary ; also 

 a tablecloth or piece of calico. The hive to be swarmed ia 

 smoked, tnrned-up, and placed on ita crown. The empty hive 

 is placed on it, mouth to mouth, and the tablecloth ia rolled 

 round both, over the junction, to keep in the bees. The hive 

 prepared to receive the swarm is placed on the board, to cover 

 and keep together all the bees left there. At once we com- 

 mence to drum on the full hive, and continue to drum for about 

 four minutes, causing a swarm to run-up into the empty hive. 

 Then we unroll the tablecloth, take off the swarm, and spread 

 the cloth over the combs of the old hive. As soon as we have 

 seen the queen amongst the beea of the swarm, we cast all into 

 the hive on the board, put the old hive on another board, and 

 place it a yard or two from the spot on which it stood before. 

 All this is frequently done in the space of six or seven minutes, 

 and sometimes we fail to notice the queen for a few minutes. 

 How easy, natural, and simple ia this mode of artificial swarm- 

 ing ! As the queens go with the awarms in nineteen caaes out 

 of twenty, it ia not abaolutely necessary to search for or see the 

 queens amongst the bees. If a queen is not with a swarm, but 

 stiU in the old hive, the bees wiU return in a short time, and 

 nothing has been lost save the five minutes spent in the effort. 

 A second effort may be more successful. As most of our hives 

 are at a distance from home in the swarming season, we see that 

 the queens are with the awarms before we place them as de- 

 scribed and leave them. What a boon to poor bee-keepers is 

 this easy mode of artificial swarming ! No time lost in waiting 

 and watching for swarms. About seventy years ago my father, 

 who was a common labouring man, practised it, and, I think, 

 invented it about that time. 



There are other ways of swarming artificially, but none of 

 them appears half so natural as thia, and sure enough none can 

 be more successfully carried into practice. 



The bar-frame hive is managed differently. So many bars 

 and bees are taken from the hive and placed in another. The 

 queen may either remain in the old hive or go to the new one. 

 As there are eggs in the combs of both hives, the bees without 

 the queen have it in their power to raise another. The combs, 

 brood and bees of the old hive are divided into two hives, 

 causing a split or rupture— quite the reverse of an mutation of 

 Nature. StUl, it ia practised, and answers to a certain extent. 

 I think it would answer better, even in the case of bar-framera, 

 to divide the beea and give the coloniea the queena, aa I prac- 

 tiae and recommend. The swarms with the queens rapidly fiU 

 their hives with combs, the old ones are rapidly strengthened 

 by the brood becoming population. Aa soon as aU is hatched 

 the honey could be taken from the hives, and the bars be re- 

 turned to be fiUed with freah comba and honey. Another con- 

 aideration ia, in dividing the comba and leaving each hive hall 

 full there ia a great likelihood of the bees without the queen 

 making a superabundance of drone comb, for bees mvanably 

 build a prodigious amount of drone comb ia empty space when 

 they are rearing queena. 



