582 



AMERICAM BEE lOURNAL 



Sept. 12, isxl 



experience that nearly as much again white honey could be 

 secured than if the forces were divided up. 



It is a simple and easj- matter to unite successfully 

 swarms that come out within three or four days of each 

 other. All that is necessary is to hive the swarm that 

 issues last in a separate hive, and leave it in this till even- 

 ing, then carry it to the hive that contains the swarm which 

 it is desired to unite it with. The tiees of this swarm, that 

 issued first, are now smoked enough so they will thoroughly 

 fill themselves with honey : or the plan will work if there 

 is no honey in the hive for them to fill up on. if they are 

 smoked enough to take the fight all out of them. 



They are now all shaken, in any way most handy, down 

 on the ground in front of their hive. Then the bees of the 

 last swarm are dumped on top of them and all allowed to 

 crawl into the hive together. The whole operation need 

 not take over five minutes, and has always been a success 

 with me. The bees of the last swarm need no smoke if 

 they are united the same day they swarm, but the plan will 

 also work just as well as if the second swarm is left until 

 the second or third daj- ; but in this case the bees of both 

 swarms would need to be well smoked, and, of course, the 

 hive that contained one swarm would, the first day. have to 

 be set close beside the other, or the bees from the swarm 

 moved would return to the location or place where their 

 hive was first set. if there is a laying queen with each 

 swarm, and as I have no particular preference as to which 

 survives, no attention is paid to them. Of course, one is 

 always killed, and this is almost invariably done the first 

 night. Whether this murder is committed by the bees, or 

 settled by royalty itself, I am not able to say. but my opin- 

 ion is that the bees are not guilty, for I have often noticed 

 these queens that would he found dead in front of the hives 

 the next morning, and their wings and the hair or fuzz on 

 their bodies was not gnawed or marred up, which, so far as 

 I have observed, is usually the case when a queen is balled 

 and worried to death by the bees. However this may be, I 

 never knew one queen to fail to survive, though when one 

 swarm has a virgin queen it is usually the virgin that sur- 

 vives and she may be lost on her wedding-trip. Such cases 

 have occurred with me. but of late I always have a laying 

 queen with these double swarms, for it may be a number of 

 days before a virgin queen gets to laying, when all goes 

 well, and a swarm with a laying queen does much better 

 section work than one with a virgin, and a very few days in 

 a good flow may mean a great deal with these allied forces. 



But Iwould advise all who try this plan of hiving two 

 swarms in one hive, not to have a laying queen only, but 

 also .to have her wings clipped, or else use an entrance- 

 guard until fully satisfied that they have settled down to 

 work and intend to stay : for these big double swarms are 

 more liable to desert than a single swarm is. I lost an 

 immense one last year ; there were nearly three full 

 swarms in it. Of course it was carelessness, and might 

 have been prevented. 



The hiving of two swarms together is very profitable 

 with me. Others may not meet with the same success ; we 

 can not all obtain the same results with the same plan. 

 For instance, in the American Bee Journal for May 24. 

 1900, is an extract from the Canadian Bee Journal in which 

 Mr. Hail — one of Canada's largest and most succesfnl bee- 

 keepers — is quoted as follows : 



"We hived every swarm on half combs and half foundation, full 

 sheets of foundation ifour sheets to the pound), placing the old colo- 

 nies alongside the new swarm : six or seven days after we shook all 

 the young bees that had hatched in that time into or in front of the 

 swarm, making it very strong, and took the brood away and hived a 

 swarm on it. There were no eggs and little or no uncapped larvae. 

 Every swarm of bees we put upon those combs stayed and went right 

 to work : we carried that out throughout the season. We started with 

 200 colonies of bees and we finished with 212. and we took 2.5.0tio 

 pounds of honey.'" 



Previous to what I have quoted he said that this was 

 comb honey. I was much impressed with this plan, and 

 the results obtained from it. and last season I tried it in 

 quite a large way, but the whole thing was practically a 

 failure in my hands, compared with the results I can obtain 

 in other ways, and it would no doubt be of interest to many 

 if others who tried the plan last season would report 

 results. I do not mean that the plan may not be all right — 

 I only wish to insinuate in a mild way so as not to injure 

 my own feelings too much, that I do not know enough to 

 make the method a success. With me, swarms would in 

 some cases refuse to stay on those combs containing, as 

 they did. (and must when this plan is practicedi a great 

 deal of sealed brood. If forced to stay by an entrance- 

 guard or clipped queen they did not work with anything 



like the vim and energy that a swarm hived on starters 

 would, and the results in section work was less than even 

 the languid, indifferent way in which they in some instances 

 worked would lead one to expect. 



The method, in brief, by which I can" obtain the best 

 results in section work with swarms, either natural or arti- 

 ficial ones, if, as is the case with ine. sections filled with 

 white honey is the object fought, regardless of increase or 

 stores in the brood-chamber, is to hive a large force in one 

 hive with small starters in the brood-chamber, and use full 

 sheets in the sections. The queen, if a good one. will 

 occupy most of the comb below as fast as it is built, so the 

 honey must of necessity be stored in the sections ; and, 

 what is of more importance, the bees under this system 

 work with great energy from the start to the end of the 

 flow. 



There are some disadvantages about this plan, such as 

 pollen in sections some seasons, and all seasons a good 

 deal of drone-comb below. Southern Minnesota. 



Bee-Keeping on the Island of Sicily. 



BY F. GREIXER. 



THE peasants of Sicily, in particular those living along 

 the Southern coast of the island, have followed bee- 

 keeping as a business for a great many years. The 

 movable comb and the divisable brood-chamber have been 

 in use atnong them for centuries. Indeed, it would be difii- 

 cult to trace up who the originator, or originators, of their 

 hives and methods were. 



The bee-knowledge these people possess has been trans- 

 mitted to them by the Greeks and Romans, and. according 

 to their ideas, can not be improved upon, putting Dzierzon, 

 Langstroth, Hoffman and Heddon clear into the shade. 

 From the following the reader can judge for himself. The 

 Long-Idea-Hive is the hive in use ; and long it is — only 

 about five feet long, single story, of course. The size of 

 frame is eight inches by eight inches in the clear. The 

 frames theraseU-es are made of a sort of bamboo species. 

 Ferula). This bamboo is selected of such thickness as cor- 

 responds with the thickness of the combs, or about 1 = s inch. 

 It is said that the bees build their combs into these frames 

 with regularitj- without any other comb guide than the nat- 

 ural shape iroundingi of the material they are made of. 



The peculiar feature of the hive is, that the frames 

 form the hive. Nothing more simple could be thought of 

 in the shape of a frame hive. Of course the frames must 

 all be of exact size: they are fastened one to the other by 

 small wooden pins. As many as 42 such frames are thus 

 united, and all the interstices and joints are filled and cov- 

 ered with a mixture of clay and fresh droppings of cattle 

 in order to exclude insects and rain. Only two small 

 entrances at one end are provided for this 5-foot tunnel. 



The method of managing these hives is as unique as 

 are the hives themselves. It is a well known fact that the 

 brood-nest in a hive is generally located near its entrance, 

 the honey being stored in the further end. So. accordingly, 

 if honey is wanted, a part of the frames from the end 

 opposite the entrance are separated, and empty ones are 

 substituted : if increase of bees is desired, a part of the 

 frames at the front are separated, and thus the division is 

 made. 



The dead-airspaces in the frame material, as well as 

 the covering above mentioned, seem to be sufficient pro- 

 tection to prevent the melting down of the combs, even in 

 as hot a climate as Sicily. Ontario Co., N. Y. 



P. S. — The above information was gained from an 

 article written bv V. Kauschenfels. in Imkerschule. 



F. G. 



Rearing aueens— Help for Those Who Fail. 



BY G. M. DOOLITILE. 



A CORRESPOXDEXT writes as follows: "I have attempted, the 

 past snmmer, to rear queens as you give in yonr book, bnl the bees 

 refused lo accept the prepared cups. As far as I know I have fol- 

 lowed your directions. Where does the fault lie, with me or the 

 bees?" 



It seems a little strange that about one in 100 who try 

 the plan of rearing queens as given in my book make a 

 partial or entire failure of it. Of the other 99 who try, 

 ninety report a perfect success, while the other nine are 

 puzzled and perplexed over not being able to do better than 

 to secure from three to five perfect queens out of every lot 



