"novice's" gleanings in bee culture. 



75 



Since the cool weather they are very 

 tardy indeed in beginning to lay, but 

 should they not become fertilized this fall, 

 we can, at least, give the matter of hatch- 

 ing queens by artificial heat a good test 

 and bo ready to commence early next 

 season. 



The combs are covered with a quilt, of 

 course, to prevent too much escape of the 

 heat, and it is essential that a stove be 

 used with a pipe to eary oft' the products 

 of combustion, for even a lamp burning 

 continually would render the air impure. 

 The expense of oil is from one to two 

 cents per day and our bee house is kept 

 comfortably warm by it even during 

 frosty nights. We have no doubt but that 

 the apparatus could be used for hatching 

 eggs and may be brooding the chicks 

 afterward, also for a miniature conserva- 

 tory for plants, if a glass case be put over 

 it ; but we leave the subject for others as 

 our province is only bee culture. In case 

 of a weak colony suffering from dysen- 

 tery, they could be quickly warmed up 

 and fed wholesome food and then, combs, 

 bees and all returned to their own hives. 

 The expense of the whole need not ex- 

 ceed four dollars, for any tall stove will 

 answer; but we presume the expense of 

 oil necessary to give the required temper- 

 ature, would depend very much on the 

 room in which the whole is' located ; our 

 bee house retaining heat a long time 

 when once warmed up. We have no 

 trouble at all, as yet, in introducing 

 queens just hatched, and as a proof that 

 the bees do not recognize such as queens, 

 we will mention that on giving brood to a 

 colony when the queen (given them the 

 day before) was called missing, they 

 started cells and produced two large fine 

 ones. On cutting these out on the tenth 

 day to give them another queen just hatch- 

 ed, a live queen, appearing at least a week 

 old, was found endeavoring to destroy 

 them, but was prevented by the bees. We 

 explain this by supposing they had not 

 noticed her being in the hive until the 

 cells were sealed and then they prevented 

 her destroying them. These two cells 

 produced two fine queens which were 

 found crawling about in our conservatory 

 next morning. 



Should any one ridicule rearing queens 

 by artificial heat, bid them ask experi- 

 enced Florist or Market, Hardeners if plants 

 thus reared are not equal to those produc- 

 ed in the open air. 



We should add that Mr. F. R. Shaw 

 first gave us the idea of using a lamp but 

 he used warm air instead of water. 



Mi:. E. ('. Blak.esi,EE and Willis A. 

 Phelps, of this place, add their names to 

 the list given last month of those offering 

 queens for $1. With the aid of the im- 

 provement mentioned in this No., we, 

 hope to be able to furnish ihem at the 

 same rates during the whole of next sea- 

 son. 



OUR FALL DILEMMA. 



OUNCE 'tis the fashion, we too have 



r<rv been moving our bees "where the 

 (lowers bloom," and Novice was dispatch- 

 ed yesterday with fort}- colonies and takes 

 sixteen more to-day (Sept. 20) to a swamp 

 twelve miles distant, where hundreds of 

 acres of yellow "posies" are "wasting 

 their sweets on ihc desert'' or rather 

 swampy "air." 



Thirty-one colonies of two story Langs; 

 troth hives, with nuclei in the upper 

 stories, were carried safely on a hay rack 

 placed on a common lumber wagon. 

 Strips were sawed just right to slip be- 

 tween the frames at each end and wire 

 cloth was then nailed over the portico. 

 As the covers to the upper stories would 

 not fit over the lower ones, we wore 

 obliged to cary the whole bulky apparatus 

 even if the upper story was empty. 

 Never before did the Simplicity hives 

 show their advantage more plainly; 

 for they only required wire cloth over 

 the bottom and the}' were ready, no mat- 

 ter how strong the colony, and as the.} 

 could be packed close up, almost as many 

 stocks could be carried in a light spring 

 wagon as on the aforesaid liny rack, The 

 advantage of handling a light, plain, 

 smooth box compared with the others 

 (and yet their inside capacity is precisely 

 the same) has decided us to offer our 

 whole lot of two story Langstroth hives, 

 minus frames, for litty cents each, if they 

 don't sell for that, we propose breaking 

 them up in the spring. 



The first thing to-day will be to hang a 

 colony on the spring scales, and wo will 

 report progress before going to press. 

 There has been a reason besides the 

 aforesaid flowers, for this sudden migra- 

 tion, and that is a neighboring cider mill. 

 We were invited to call and see the "cider 

 works'' a few days ago and beheld per 

 haps more Italians in a body than we 

 ever did before. They covered the 

 pomace, had ranged themselves along t lie 

 channels whore the cider coursed, or 

 generally coursed, and seemed all ready 

 for the moment when the screws wore 

 turned; and indeed so well had they fol- 

 lowed the business that almost every 

 drop was sucked up as fast as expressed, 

 and "nary" left for the "cider man." We 

 told our neighbor, who seemed very fair 

 and friendly when he found that we were 

 so disposed, that we would l:i,ke the bees 

 out of his way at once : aud as some of 

 our subscribers tell us that the "swamp" 

 never fails to furnish fall honey, cannot 

 we "kill two birds, etc.," by moving our 

 bees every fall- Had our neighbor not 

 hesitated to tell us the true state of af- 

 fairs sooner, we should have had them 

 removed a month ago. Of course everj 

 drop of cider and swam)) honey will be 

 removed by the middle of October, and 

 we shall have to trust to "tea-kettles" and 

 "Novices skill," to put our colonies all 

 in winter trim so much later than we 

 have recommended. 



