270 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllL. 



June 



QUEENS REARED UNDER THE SWARMING IMPULSE 

 NOT ALWAYS UP TO THE STANDARD. 



I am very sorry, friend Doolittle, if I have offended 

 you by my extreme inquisltiveness. But shouldn't 

 you bear with me, even if answering so many ques- 

 tions does put you somewhat "out of breath," es- 

 pecially when such questioning brings out such val- 

 uable facts? For instance, it brought out the fact, 

 that queens raised under the swarming impulse, and 

 with Doolittle's management at that, do not always 

 come up to the standard, nearly 25 per cent being 

 culls. 



LEARNING OUR BUSINESS. 



Friend Heddon, it is a fact, that " the great basic 

 principles, not only of apiculture, but agriculture, 

 are facts the world over;" but it is equally true, 

 that there are hundreds of details in the manage- 

 ment of either business; that these details differ 

 with the locality, and that success is largely depend- 

 ent upon these details, no one is more fully aware 

 than is Mr. Heddon. Friend H., were you going to 

 engage in bee-keeping or farming in Michigan, 

 would you not preferto learn lioiv at our State Ag- 

 ricultural College, rather than at an agricultural 

 college in Mississippi? Yes, in a certain sense a 

 journal devoted to articles from North and South, 

 Germany and England, is only half a journal to each 

 faction. No, friend H., I do not consider it as " sim- 

 ply a question of a great many pounds from a few 

 producers," or "a few pounds from a great many 

 producers." I am in favor of both a great many 

 pounds from a few, and a few pounds from a great 

 many. I do not think, friend H., that you and I will 

 live to see the time when too much honey is pro* 

 duced,any more than we will to see too much biscuit 

 and butter. 



My NEW HOBBY — MANAGING BEES WITH AS LITTLE 

 LABOR AS POSSIBLE. 



On page 225, friend Cummiugs wishes to know if 

 that uneasy colony of mine was breeding. Friend 

 C, I don't know. During the first two or three years 

 that I kept bees, I opened the hives and examined 

 the bees at every warm spell during the winter and 

 spring; but now I have a new hobby, and it is that 

 of managing my bees with as little labor as possible. 

 I don't intend to neglect them, but to so manage 

 that they will require as little attention as possible. 

 In the fall I see that they have plenty of honey; are 

 strong enough in numbers, and have vigorous young 

 queens. I then protect them upon their summer 

 stands, bury them, or place them in the cellar, and 

 I don't open a hive again until the latter part of 

 April. I prefer to raise extracted honey, and am 

 rather inclined to favor the tienng-up plan of 

 friend Dadant, which gives me time to extract the 

 honey at my leisure. With this method of manage- 

 ment, one does not need to open hives very often, 

 and larger numbers of colonies can be cared for. 

 With each succeeding year, I find myself more and 

 more inclined to building up a large apiary, perhaps 

 more than one, and making a specialty of raising 

 extracted honey. W.Z.Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Mich. 



I fear, friends, we are taking np too much 

 space over this " yellow-band " business, and 

 I fear, too, we shall some of us get into an 

 unfriendly mood, if we don't look out. I 

 very much dislike to refuse the publication 

 of articles that have been prepared for print, 

 and I should therefore feel very much oblig- 

 ed to all concerned if they would drop the 



matter just where it is. The swarming sea- 

 son is now upon us, and we haven't time to 

 argue. Sliall we not roll up our sleeves, 

 shake hands, and then pitch into the work 

 that is to be done? Tell us about your work, 

 and I shall be glad to print it. 



HOW THEY DO DOWN IN GEORGIA. 



SWARMING EXTRAORDINARY. 



/jpS\N the first day of April I had Ifl colonies, all 

 IJI^ in good condition except one, which I sold to 

 a friend at his own price, as he seemed to 

 have more faith in them than I had. He says that, 

 with a young queen which I gave him, they are do- 

 ing well. April 3d my first swarm issued, and on 

 the 29th my 25th swarm issued, all from 11 calonies 

 except one, which came from one of the new swarms 

 eleven days after it was hived, so they were all fi-om 

 the 11, after all. Up to the present writing, May 2d, 

 I have had 27 swarms, all from 13 of the original 18. 

 These 12 have cast, some one, some two, some three, 

 and one, four swarms. This I call swarming extra- 

 ordinary. I have now 40 colonics, and a one-card 

 nucleus, with queen fertilized to-day. I have Ijst 

 three or four swarms with young queens; have di- 

 vided two, captured one that was running away 

 from some other place, united some, so that, with 

 the 27 swarms, I have Increased only 22. Five of the 

 40 are double-size hives, so I consider theai equal to 

 two ordinary hives. 



It our bees here have plenty of food to winter on, 

 they require lit*le or no attention during winter. I 

 find it a good idea to feed a little during March, so 

 as to get the bees stirred up to business during 

 peach-bloom, which is any time in March when the 

 weather is warm enough. Dees at this time, and, in 

 fact, through April, have very little honey; but as 

 they build new comb, the queen fills it with eggs. 

 We never lose any swarms with old queens. As soon 

 as I flad a young queen is laying, I clip off one wing. 



GIRLS AND BEES. 



My daughters, I find, are very handy in the apiary. 

 Some one of the four is on the lookout, and as soon 

 as she sees them start out, she hastens to the place; 

 and the queen must be quick on the fly, or she is 

 sure to b3 captured before she leaves the alighting- 

 board. We have had several swarms leave the hive 

 after being hived; but I find, when we succeed in 

 capturing the queen, and let them return to the 

 hive themselves, they never attempt to leave. I 

 hear of a great many bees running away this spring, 

 some losing nearly every swarm that Issues. One 

 man asked me what he must do to his bees. Of 

 course, I asked,— 



" What is the matter with them?" 



"Exactly what 1 want to know," said he. 



" Well, what do they dof I asked. 



" Why, run away as fast as they swarm." 



"Tie them, man, tie them." 



Of course, this was Dutch to him, as ho did not 

 know how to " tie " them. After I explained to him 

 how to tie them by cutting the queen's wing, he ac- 

 knowledged that he could not do that, as he was 

 afraid of them. 



" Then sell them, or give them to some one who 

 is not afraid of them; for If you can not take care 

 of them yo» have no business with them." 



And this is the advice I give to all who try to keep 



