1882 



GLEAi^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



245 



the season of '81 with 10 colonies. They commenced 

 swarmiiig' June 4th ; cnde 1 July 10th. July 3 [ took 

 oflf first section?. Got no fall honey, on account of 

 the drought. Have taken liil3 lbs. of honey, 89ti in 

 section^?, and 116 extracted, and increased to 33 col- 

 onies, with which number I went into winter quar- 

 ters last fall. Thos. Decker. 

 Otsdiiwa, N. r., April 10, 1SS3. 



thansfekking; how and when. 



My business in the spring- of the year is selling 

 hives and transferring bee^ for my neighbors, and 

 many at a distance; and as I transfer from all sorts 

 of hives and boxes to the Langstroth hive, I have 

 had considerable experience. I transfer from the 

 middle of April until swarming time; but the best 

 time is in fruit-bloom. My method is to puff a little 

 smoke in the entrance of the old hive; invert, and 

 carry to some old house or shade-tree, placing a box 

 where the hive stood, to catch returning bees; then 

 with a coll chisel about three feet long, and a saw, 

 I remove two sides of the box. I don't drum the 

 bees out unless the swarm is very strong, but com- 

 mence to cut out the comb5, placing them in pans; 

 and as you commence cutting out the combs, smok- 

 ing the bees a little occasionallj'. They will crawl 

 to the opposite side of the hive, and ofttimes they 

 will cluster on the outside, out of the way. There I 

 let them remain for a time while cutting out comb«; 

 and if any young bees remain on them, I brush them 

 off into the new hive, which I have close by. They 

 will not fly out, but stay there. After this is done I 

 commence to fit the combs into the frames, taking 

 nothing but nice straight worker comb; but now 

 how are we g nng to fasten these nice white heavy 

 combs, filled with honey, in hot weather? I have 

 tried tin clasps, wire, cord, and, in fact, almost every 

 thing I " ever heard tell of." But nothing gave sat- 

 isfaction, for ofttimes when I went to examine them, 

 what would I find? Well, sime,of the heavy combs 

 had fallen down, and packed bees and honey into 

 one side of the hive. Bro. Root, I tell you I did not 

 feel good on such occasions. At last I concluded 

 something had to be done to keep the combs where 

 I put them; and now I think I have that part about 

 to perfection. Instead of using tin, wire, yarn, etc., 

 I use little sticks '4 inch square (or about that), 

 reaching from the upper edge of the top-bar to the 

 bottom of hive; place from 3 to 6 sticks between 

 every frame of comb (ir as many as are necessary), 

 letting them rest on the bottom of hive. If there 

 are not combs enough to fill hive, fill with fdn; by 

 this method it is impossible for combs to fall down. 

 After the hive is filled I shake the remaining bees 

 right on top, or in front, and let them crawl in and 

 carry to old stand. Always remove the sticks as 

 soon as the combs are built fast. 



Mr. Root, perhaps this is not new to you, but I 

 never saw it in print. When robbers are trouble- 

 some I transfer in a cage; and after placing the 

 hive on tha stand I cover it with a large sheet of 

 mu«lin lor about half an hour, when all is well, gen- 

 erally. Speed in transferring is necessary in all 

 cases. H. A. Simon. 



Lordstown, Trumbull Co., O., April, 1883. 



If you Will look in our ])rice list, friend S., 

 you will see tliat we illustrate clasps, sticks, 

 and wires. Your idea, of liavinji: the sticks 

 long enough to rest on the bottom- board, is 

 somewhat new; and as I read it, the idea 

 occurred to me that they might be made to 



stay in place by simply wedging the whole 

 of the frames until they are kept in place. 



Here I come again, with something to tell this 

 time. 1 had a drone-laying queen; sent her to T>r. 

 Armstrong, Flemingsbxu-g, Ky., so as to give two 

 chances to test and solve that mooted question, 

 whether or not such drones can fertilize a queen. I 

 had a queen hatched March 35th, and on the 8th of 

 this month she was laying splendidly, and I know, 

 beyond a doubt, that there was not a drone from any 

 other queen. Now, if a large amount of royal jelly 

 is essential in the production of good queens, the 

 two I have are not good, because they seemed to be 

 raised without any, as I could see the larvjB plainly 

 just before sealing. M. L. Williams. 



Vanceburg, Ky., April 13, 1883. 



I agree with you, friend W.,that the facts 

 go pretty strongly to show, of late, that these 

 drones are as good as any ; but still, I do 

 not feel it is quite proven beyond a question. 



a "peck" of bees. 



That little magnetic tack-hammer is a wonder for 

 ten cents. I can pick up tacks, and drive them 

 faster now than I could pick them up before. My 

 bees that swarmed the 7th of March have built 8 

 combs, and have something in nearly every cell. Is 

 a peck any thing extra for a swarm of blacks? I 

 now have two colonies of Italians and 10 of blacks; 

 am a little less than a year old in bee culture, and 

 want to wake up myself and this part of Arkansas 

 pretty soon. A. R. Nisbet. 



Dobyville, Clark Co., Ark., April, 18S3. 



As a quart of bees averages about a pound, 

 your peck would be about 8 lbs., and that is 

 rather above average good swarms, friend N. 



WANT OF water FOR BEES. 



Bees have wintered well in this vicinity, and were 

 doing well up to the 9th of April; had commenced 

 to work oa soft maple, when a polar wave came 

 from the north, the thermometer going 11 degrees 

 below freezing, and is cold and freezing yet. Bees 

 died off rapidly for want of water, flying out for 

 some when too cold to return. First natural pollen, 

 March 39, from aspen-tree. Fruit-bloom is partly 

 killed by frost; also maple. Samuel Heath. 



Reimer, Armstrong Co., Pa., April IV, 1883. 



There it is again, frien<l H. It was want 

 of wat'^r, as you say, and [ begin to think it 

 has been want of water all along. Ileddon 

 says it's pollen, but I say — beg pardon, sug- 

 gest, that the w^ant of water is what has 

 killed all our bees except, if you please, those 

 of our friends down South. It wasn't quite 

 want of water that ailed the bees there for a 

 few weeks past. It has turned off warm 

 now (April is), and the sap has dried up, so 

 I tilled their jars with water, and they take 

 the water just about as well as they did the 

 sap. 



CYPRIANS. 



My Cyprians are bringing in pollen and honey 

 with tremendous energy. The peach-blossoms are 

 alive with them. They have been visited but once 

 by robbers (blacks). It was laughable to see them 

 go for the robbers, which they vanquished in a very 

 short time. I saw one catch a robber on the wing, 

 six inches from the front of the hive. Hurrah for 

 the Cypriiins! C. S. Callihan. 



Jem, Mo., April 5, 1883. 



