844 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



friend Mitchell, but Dooliltle and Tinker on 

 this question. 



Hello I here is another article on the subject, 

 from J. A. Golden.] 



KEEPING TWO QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 



HOW THEY MAY 



ENSURE A LARGE 

 HONEY. 



CROP OF 



Friend Root:— I see by Gleanings of Sept. 15 

 that B. Taylor is claiming for himself a new 

 discovery — namely, a process in which two 

 queens are kept permanently in one hive, and 

 their progeny worli promiscuously in all the 

 apartments of the same. Now, please allow me 

 to call to your mind a period some three or four 

 years ago when I wrote an article for your jour- 

 nal, on my experiment relating to the same 

 process and manipulation, but which, for some 

 reason, was not published. I supposed it was 

 some old project tested before I went into the 

 bee business, and was found to be impractica- 

 ble ; notwithstanding, had the honey-flow con- 

 tinued I should have proved, to my own satis- 

 faction at least, that it is the greatest honey- 

 producing theory of any that I know. I think I 

 stated in that article, that every thing was 

 working harmoniously — bees were crowding the 

 surplus arrangement, and had fairly commenced 

 the storing of surplus, when suddenly the hon- 

 ey-flow stopped, and drones were driven from 

 the hives, surplus crates taken from the hives, 

 and I thought I would try the experiment the 

 following season; but as circumstances and re- 

 verses to some extent prevented, the experiment 

 was conducted in the house-apiary. The fol- 

 lowing winter I had made several ten-frame 

 dovetailed hives with two entrances, for out- 

 door use the following season ; but as my bees 

 were suffering from paralysis, I still abandoned 

 the experiment until this fall, when 1 have been 

 and am now doubling up my stocks in proper 

 order to put in operation next season, should I 

 be permitted to live, and if my bees get through 

 the winter safely. I am pretty certain that I 

 stated my plan of operation in my article, but 

 will state it again here, as follows: 



I build up a strong colony. A wire-cloth di- 

 vision-board is placed in the center, and a queen 

 is introduced to the queenless side, after which 

 a queen-excluding zinc division-board takes the 

 place of the wire cloth. Queen-excluding zinc 

 is placed over the brood-combs, and a surplus 

 arrangement is put on, the same as for single 

 colonies; and by using the house-apiary with 

 troughs in place of hives, one can manipulate 

 and use as many queens as he wishes in the 

 combined arrangement, all workers having ac- 

 cess to all apartments, with no fears of molesta- 

 tion. My experiment was very convincing to 

 my mind, so far as tested, that the plan would 

 be profitable so far as surplus honey was concern- 

 ed; but I have £ome doubts as to the non- 

 swarming idea, for I think that, when bees take 

 a notion to swarm, they are going to have their 

 way about it; and all we can do to prevent only 

 causes the bees to become dumpish, sullen, and 

 habitual loafers. As for me, I ivant my bees to 

 swarm, and I will continue to manipulate them 

 in the same home with profit, which I expect to 

 mai<e known to all bee-keepers next year, free 

 of any patent. 



Now, if friend Taylor commenced his experi- 

 ment prior to my article to Gleanings four 

 years ago this past season, then he has the 

 right, as being first to discover the aforesaid 

 practical manipulating, so far as I know; if not, 

 then I claim the title he lays claim to, and free- 

 ly donate the right to all bee-keepers to use, if 

 desirable, without any legal restrictions what- 



ever; and in conclusion I voice friend Taylor's 

 views as to the house-apiary, for it is a source 

 of pleasure as well as a safe repository, in all 

 branches of apiculture. J. A. Golden. 



Reinersville, O., Oct. lO. 



[This is a very practical question, and we 

 should be glad to receive contributions from a 

 large numbt-r who have had experience along 

 these lines.] 



CALIFORNIA. 



ANSWERS TO MR. PRYAL; SOUTHERN VERSUS 

 NORTHERN PART OF THE STATE. 



I notice on page 781 that your correspondent 

 from North Temescal, Mr. Pryal, gives us some 

 valuable infoimation about California; but, 

 like every writer and talker who lives near 

 San Francisco, he allows his vision to extend 

 but a little beyond the northern portion of the 

 State, and gives that part below the Tehachapi 

 Mountains a short shrift. The persistent ignor- 

 ing of the capabilities and resources of our 

 portion of the State by our northern friends 

 leads some of our people to talk quite strongly 

 of State division, and with a desire to see 

 Southern California stand upon its own unri- 

 valed merits. The Rambler is, however, not a 

 State divisionist. but would rather cultivate 

 harmonious feelings, and try to educate our 

 erring brethren of the North into the fact that 

 we have quite a fine country down this way. 



In writing about orange-growing we are 

 aware that there are localities in the northern 

 portion of the State where they can be grown; 

 but the area planted is like garden-patches 

 beside our miles and miles of orchards; and 

 where, in the northern counties, two or three or 

 more towns join to load a car. Riverside alone 

 has this year shipped over 2000 carloads, while 

 other towns have shipped their hundreds of 

 carloads. When you realize the acreage of 

 trees required to produce the above amount of 

 oranges you can realize something of the value 

 of the orange-blossom for honey. During its 

 bloom the bees work upon it with as much 

 vigor as they do upon the basswood in the East. 

 The orchards being under irrigation, there is 

 something of a yield every year; and when the 

 irrigational and atmospheric conditions are 

 just right, the yield is indeed bounteous; and, 

 instead of building up the colonies for a future 

 work, the orange honey is nearly all surplus, 

 for they have been made strong in brood from 

 alfilaree and other honey- producing plants. 

 Several bee-keepers around Riverside, recog- 

 nizing the value of the orange-blossom for 

 honey, locate their apiaries in or near the 

 orchard districts; and, after securing a bounti- 

 ful flow therefrom, move their bees a few miles 

 to the foot-hills, and get the benefits from a 

 great acreage of sage. In this move the bees 

 are interrupted only a few hours, and it seems 

 to make no difference to the bees how abrupt 

 the change may be; they continue just as vig- 

 orous work if they can find the sage-flowers 

 laden with nectar. 



It is very true, that eastern people are im- 

 posed upon in tlie quality of honey that is sold 

 to them. The dealer is just as liable to sell the 

 orange honey under the name of sage, and sage 

 for orange honey, as any way. While orange 

 honey is a trifle darker than pure sage, it is 

 very easy to sell them both under the same 

 name. I think it is the same with the various 

 grades of honey, both east and west. The 

 dealer is always ready to sell what is called for, 

 even if he has to substitute another kind. It is 

 possible that, when the thousands of acres of 



