2g 



GLE^^INGS m BEE CULTUKE. 



Jan. 



a week. Coming- fresh from a hive that has a queen, 

 they of course resist the cell-buildiug elf orts of their 

 comrades which were left (luecnless. I think it 

 reasonable to infer that they also eat up the royal 

 jelly, and tumble the royal larviv roughly about in 

 the cells, although I did not watch close enough to 

 catch them at it. After awhile the holes would be 

 mended up, and things go on very much as if noth- 

 ing had happened; but surely we can not rely on 

 such ill-used young queens tvirniug out well. I had 

 better success where the cells were built at a new 

 stand, and the queen left behind at the old one. Of 

 course, the desertion of the old bees is somewhat in- 

 jurious, but not so bad as discord and violence. I 

 feel confident that the better way is to take away 

 the queen only, without mussing up the colony in 

 any way, then to carry away all, or nearly all, the 

 frames together when the cells are capped, then to 

 divide into nuclei just before the tlrst queen hatches. 

 If I had known this much last spring, and my health 

 had not failed, I think I should have had my forty 

 colonies all nicely in pack this \ery minute. I vote 

 for the adoption of this plank in our bee platform: — 



For the rearing of good queens, it is necessary 

 that the bees be unanimous in wishing for a queen; 

 and there is no reliability in the result where bees 

 not in sympathy with queen-rearing ctforts are 

 coming in every hour. 



As to queens from too old larvir, they can be head- 

 ed off by looking in just before the time for cells to 

 be capped, and destroying any that are capped pre- 

 maturely. 



A branch thought, suggested by my forty-colony 

 experiment, is, that the possibilities of big yields of 

 honey have not been fully worked up to yet. It 

 would bo quite possible to have a colony to start 

 with twice as strong as mine was; and in a favorable 

 spring, dividing could be begun a month earlier 

 than last spring. Thus 20 colonics, twice as strong 

 as my ~0 were, could be made by the last of June in- 

 stead of the last of July. In one month more it 

 would not be unreasonable to expect them to begin 

 to work in sections. Now it happens, sometimes, in 

 this region of Ohio and Michigan, that the best run 

 of honey in the year is late in the fall. With colonies 

 started as above, 50 lbs. each would not be impossible, 

 aggregating 1000 lbs. of comb honey as a year's fruit 

 of one colony. 



Another thing I didn't do : I was going to re-queen 

 most of the apiary with the progeny of my favorite 

 queen. I chose the double-barreled method of rear- 

 ing cells — putting a tight division-board in the 

 middle of the colony, and continually shifting the 

 queen from side to side. The partial failure of this 

 plan I attribute to the same cause as the above — 

 too many bees from the side which has the queen, 

 going in on the side where cells should be built. Per- 

 haps total failure would be nearer the correct word 

 to use. I occupied the time of one of my precious 

 colonies for the whole season, preventing them from 

 making any surplus honey, and to-day I have to 

 show for it only eleven colonies, queened with that 

 family of queens. 



The proof just given, that 1000 lbs. is possible from 

 one colony, will make the actual result of my bee- 

 keeping this year look a little small. I think, how- 

 ever, that I have done very well. I have just been 

 looking at the record of the strength of my colonies 

 last spring. May 0th was the lowest point. Four 

 frames from the heart of a good colony in the height 

 of the season would carry more bees than the strong- 



est one. Eleven of the 1" colonies were not over 

 half as strong as this, several being mere wrecks, 

 with not bees enough to fully cover one comb. 

 Starting with these 1" colonies, two of them queen- 

 less to boot, I, without buying a bee. Increased to 7'.i, 

 and took 1070 lbs. of comb honey — enough to be 

 thankful for, if not enough to brag about. 



E. E. Hasty. 

 Richards, Lucas Co., (_)., Dec. 8, 18.S1. 



Many thanks, friend Hasty, for the partic- 

 ulars of your experiment, "which certainly 

 does you credit, tor it is one of the largest 

 results ever reported, in the way of increase 

 from a single colony in one season. If all 

 those bees had been sold at the regular price 

 of 32.00 per lb., it would have been, 1 imag- 

 ine, a pretty large result in dollars and cents. 

 — In regard to your criticism of the plan I 

 have given in tlie A B C, I would say that it 

 is intended, primarily, for the purpose of 

 teaching beginners a plain and simple way 

 of artiticial swarming, and not as a regular 

 plan to be followed by the expert when he is 

 trying to see how many stocks he can build 

 up from one in a season. It is used only in 

 increasing the number of colonies, and very 

 seldom in the regular work of getting queen- 

 cells by the quantity. — I have never no- 

 ticed the trouule yoii mention with queen- 

 I cells, but have sometimes, in introducing 

 queens, had them balled by bees which I 

 supposed had come in from the removed 

 colony. — Thanks for kind ci'iticism. I pre- 

 sume that you are well aware, that some 

 stocks behave quite differently from others, 

 under the same circumstances. 



CHERRIES, AND WIl^LOWS AS HOxNEV- 

 1»L.ANTS, ETC. 



ALSO SO.METniNO ABOUT VISITING OUU ESTABLISU- 

 I MENT. 



fSEE in Chas. Kingsley's advertisement that he 

 says, "The black Tartarian cherry is veril hardy." 

 — ' T)iis is iiiit true; in fact, it is right the reverse. 

 While it may be hardy iu Tennessee, it will not stand 

 the winters above 40 ', and very often kills down to 

 the ground at 38°. The advertisement might lead 

 some one in the North to buy trees, and be disap- 

 pointed. I know whereof I speak, as I have had 

 them in my nursery, and had them winter-kill. 



I indorse nearly all Doolittle says about the willow; 

 at least, it is true in my neighborhood. The pussy, 

 or tassel willow, blossoms vory early, and I have seen 

 each tassel entirely covered with bees. They never 

 seem to carry off much pollen on their legs from it. 

 and still they seem to be loaded. Golden willow is 

 quite a honey-producing tree, but blossoms later, and 

 I have never noticed the bees on them as much as 

 the pussywillow. Gray, white, or fence willow, is 

 about the same as the golden, while the pussy willow 

 is low, bushy, almost a shrub in growth. The golden 

 and gray willow grow to be large trees, especially 

 the golden. We have in our town golden-willow 

 trees 20 years old, 9 ft. in circumference. The gray 

 willow will do to set 1 toot apart in low places for 

 fence, and will stand cutting back to 5 and 6 feet in 

 height; equal to Osage orange. Golden willow will 

 not stand such severe treatment. We use it for ty- 

 ing up nursery stock. It is tough, pliable, and grows 

 in long slim withes. I have watched bees very close- 

 ly on the golden willow (and we have lots of it), but 



