GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



87 



l:ill to >*]ii'iul tlio winter and regain tlicir-hoaltli. I'eo- 

 lilc wear tlieir winl(>r elothinjr and under elotlnnf; tlie 

 year ro\ind. l)iit rarely an uvereoat. At cliiireli you 

 ieeliall'tlie ladies weiiving Itirs or heavy dark winter 

 dresses, an<1 tlio other haH'in white or other summer 

 ■<'lotliiiig— so that every thing or any thing- is the 

 Tashion. 



1 think from eoraiitrnsoin ol'inices that goods in gen- 

 eral are ahont 20 jjor eent higher here in (/f>ld than at 

 the East in euiTencN-. Emigkant. 



San Diego, t'al. Ivlay :;ist. lt<7r). 



ARTJFlClAli SWARM1!V<; AND <irEEN 

 HlKAKJMJi. 



■^^f^EFOTiE gonig alieiul in tliis work, we 

 JLj)' want to he sure we are all ready, and to 

 illustrate one point, we will mention that our 

 neiftiibor Sliaw, of Chatham Center, made us a 

 call a few days ago, and after seeing one of our 

 hest colonies, was shown one of the poorest. 



"Ton say you have been making new eolo- 

 niesr' *;aid he. 



"Only about a half dozen."' 



"The first eoloay we examined is so full of 

 l)ees, brood and honey, that the Queen cannot 

 lay to advantage." 



We assented, and spoke of making more col- 

 onies. 



"And the latter," continued he, "cannot give 

 the Queen employment, because she has too 

 ■few bees. They have, in fact, at least 0, out of 

 their 10 combs, eutireij' unoccupied, have thev 

 not?" 



We assented, and ventured to add, that she 

 3iad been depositing two or three eggs in a cell 

 for a month or two, because she had insuffic- 

 ient room. 



"And yet you are using combs of hatching 

 hrood to make new colonies?" 



"But Mr. Sliaw do ywi practice what you 

 teach V do you make no new colonies until all 

 your Queens are furnished Avithplenty of bees ?" 



"Frankly, I do not. and it is just because I, 

 like many others, have been in so much haste 

 \<t count mj' colonies b.v the hundred, blindly 

 trusting all the time, that the weak ones would 

 by some chance build up before fall ; the re- 

 ;-iult has been, that I have always been 'putter- 

 ing' with weak colonies and nuclei. It is just 

 because we have not gor. the nerve to make all 

 Mroiirj before commencing Queen rearing, and 

 making artificial colonies ; that is the cause of 

 y^ of our losses, I verily do helievey 



Now dear readers, have you got the nerve, 

 "or energy, or "go-ahead," to make nil your 

 stocks good before conunenciug to make new 

 ones, or to raise Queens, or any thing else ? 

 We have to-day (June l!)th) colonies that cover 

 only 4 or 5 combs, that apparently do not store 

 one ounce of honey per daj% while those side 

 by side that cover 10 combs, and till their hives 

 full, are bringing in 2 or 'A lbs. of clover honey 

 per day. 



Said Mr. Shaw just before leaving, "If I had 

 oO colonies like some of your best, 1 would l)e 

 content to do nothing else than work with 

 thera during the summer," and were we not 

 uU so ambitious to have a few bees scattered 

 through a great many hives, we might make a 

 summer's work that would give some profit, 

 and not end in disaster before the return of 

 another season. One point more, and that is, 

 that each hive contains a Queen equal to the 

 task of /.rc;urtf7 a colony in full strength, and 

 we are ready to consider Queen rearing with 



tlie aid of the Lauip Nursery ; and by the way, 

 if you do not wish to go to the expense of :i 

 nursery until you have tried it, you can select 

 some kind of a tin uiensii tliat will hold one 

 or two of your combs, and will set inside of 

 your wife's wash boiler. Put in a fiat-iron or 

 two, or some weight sufiicient to hold it down, 

 while you fill the space between tliis utensil 

 and the boiler with water; a space filled with 

 water should also be left of about an inch be- 

 tween the l)ottoms, the idea l)cing simi)!yto 

 surround the vessel containing tlie combs, 

 with water that is kept constantly at a tem- 

 perature of from SO to 100 degrees, by means of 

 a common kerosene lamp kept burning under 

 the boiler. If the boiler is large, it will take 

 15 or 20 hours to get it all warmed up, and 

 then you can control the temperature very 

 easily, by turning the wick up or down. Pack 

 newspapers between the two vessels in such a 

 way as to prevent your Queens ffom tumbling 

 into the water. Whatever you do, please don't 

 have any family "jars" in regard to ownership 

 of the boiler, when wash day comes. Now for 

 business. 



As we advised last month, get your larvae 

 for Queen rearing, by putting a clean worker 

 comb in your colony containing tiie imported 

 or best Queen, leaving it not longer than to 

 allow the larvaj to be just visible as they 

 emerge from the egg. Now put it into a strong 

 Queenless colony, having no other brood. Re- 

 peat the operation every three days, and as 

 soon as all the cells are capped over on any 

 comb, brush the bees off" very carefully, — you 

 must not shake them at this stage — and place 

 it in the lamp nursery. As these Queens will 

 all be hatched before a single worker bee comes 

 out, we can easily avoid having any bees in 

 the nursery. When it is time for the Queens 

 to hatch,— 16 days from the time the eggs were 

 laid — you should examine the nursery the last 

 thing at night, the first thing in the morning, 

 and several times during the day. By holding 

 the comb near the ear you can hear the Queens 

 when they commence to gnaw out. Let thera 

 come out, or, if in a hurry, cut them out with 

 a sharp pea-knife ; and you have got fine 

 Queens that can be put any where with impu- 

 nity. If you put them in a hive containing a 

 Queen, they will be killed when they get old 

 enough to begin to show their royal preroga- 

 tives, but if put among ajiy bees that have no 

 Queen, they will behave precisely as if 

 hatched there, providing they have never seen 

 other bees, and have been hatched but a few 

 hours. To make a colony with such a Queen, 

 you have only to lift out about one-third the 

 bees, combs and all, from any strong hive, and 

 drop the Queen among them, or if yon choose, 

 let her run in at the entrance; this is all, for 

 she will commence laying before the brood 

 they have already, is "all hatched out. Our 

 plaia is to divide the colonies as fast as a Queen 

 hatches. A very fine colony was made last 

 season, by shaking the bees from 6 combs in 

 front of a hive containing empty combs only, 

 and while they were traveling in, throwing the 

 Queen among them. In fact, in one week, the 

 Queen had made a successful trip, and soon 

 the dry combs were teeming with brood and 

 honey! With this nursery you will observe 

 thai ":i.ll cutting out Qtieen cells is avoided. 



