102 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



Queen nursery occupyius: its position at pres- 

 ent — and we fear it will be somewliat annoy ini? 

 to shalie and brush off tlie bees in the usual 

 way, but so far as all other operations are con- 

 cerned, and the storing- of the honey, the mat- 

 ter is fully demonstrated to oar satisfaction 

 already. 



Our plan of nnikins; colonies has been to car- 

 ry in all the frames of an upper story, bees and 

 all — they usually contain some broo.l, as soon 

 as a Queen is hatched ; these bees have so far 

 protected them-<olves from robbers at once, with 

 one exception, and this upper story contained 

 no brood. As there were plenty of bees on the 

 Avell filled combs, we thou^jht it would not 

 matter, l)at found our mistake after nearly ev- 

 ery bee had started for his old home with as 

 biii: a load as he could carry, and the robbers 

 very quickly volunteered to help. AVe prompt- 

 ly gave them a comb of brood and stopped the 

 mischief, but not before the robbers had g-ot 

 3o well ai2;oin:>- that they pounced on, and over- 

 powered by sheer force of numbers, four more 

 colonies in the house Apiary. \Ve had no 

 choice but to close the enti'ances, and th^i 

 open them just at dark to let the robbers go 

 home, hoping they would all get ready to keep 

 down such attacks ))efore morning. We tho't 

 it best to get up next morning before 5 o'clock 

 — so did the robbers. What was to be done V 

 Our young Queens could not come out with 

 their door ways "corked np." We sat on a hive 

 and debated ; then looked up the thievish col- 

 ony — -au easy matter on account of their exci- 

 ted and crazy activity — while the rest were all 

 still. A minute more and their hive was in 

 the house Apiary, and one containing empty 

 combs only, in its place; all the entrances 

 were then opened, and the robbers poured in 

 and got their "till," and then fairly made the 

 gravel fly behind them, in their haste to get 

 liome and get another. Of course we were 

 right at the entrance, and such astonishment, 

 and lamentatations as they set uj), when they 

 l)acked out and took wing, and tried it again ! 

 Their ambition' was completely crushed, and 

 after every robber had got om load we had 

 peace and quietness. What Avas the use to put 

 their precious load in empty combs, with nei- 

 ther a Queen nor brood ? They are now humb- 

 ly bringing pollen to rear a fresh lot of Queen 

 cells, from some eggs we have given them. 

 Another colony persisted in hanging out in 

 front and would not work ; we took all their 

 upper story oil', but then they hung out ; we 

 Anally took all their brood away^ and now 

 they get up in the morning and go after pollen 

 like the rest. We can't have any aristocrats 

 in our Apiary; if it is necessary to make "poor 

 folks" of them to make them go to work, then 

 poor they must be made. Strong colonies are* 

 still storing a little honey, perhaps ^.^ lb. per 

 day. Brood and Queen rearing work" beauti- 

 fully, and but little care is needed to avoid 

 robbing. 



Jul/j -ZMh—Tiuslve IJueeus have liat.chcil since ves- 

 terday, and our house will soon be full; three Queens 

 AVcre found at one time running about, but they sel- 

 dom hurt oaoh other where no bees arc with them. 

 Occasionally they bite oijcn the unhatclied cells, but 

 this does no injury unless they pull oft' a les or wing; 

 many of them thus mature In full view. One cell that 

 was ])ut in unsealed bids fair to produce a perfect 

 (Jiiecn; the cell is now capped with the coccoon of 

 her own spinning. We certainly never before saw so 

 many very large, long yellow Queens, ami the hi^h 



temperature (100') mu=5t be very favorable to their per- 

 fect development. With a house Apiarv, like our 

 own, and a lamp nursery, there is certainly a mint of 

 money to bo maile in reaviui; Queens at SI. 00 each. 



Jult/ ■)0(h~The whole .^S hives are filled witli bees- 

 all but one have Queens, and all is peaceful. Th<- 

 trouble came about in this way: it rained vesterdav 

 morning, but the Queens luo'uld hatch. When the 

 rain was over we made colonies as usual liy removing 

 upper stories, bees and all. Now our first S. liives 

 were made with K inch space for quilt aljove the 

 frames; when made two story v.'e have nearly Di 

 Inches, which the bees are sure to fill with comb. 

 [This is a very bail fault, and we have since learned 

 that a quilt can be worked very conveniently with 

 only V inch above the frames.] Well, as it was after 

 the rain, robbers commenced work, and the honey 

 that was set a running by the breakage of this comb, 

 became so demoralizing that we feared our house 

 Apiary would be a wreck, before night shed its wel- 

 come jireseiice over the scene of warfare. We con- 

 tracteil the "-2 inch holes," and ceased operations even 

 if the Queens did keep hatching; and a long breath of 

 relief we drew, when darkness came, for the wounded 

 and ilying lay all around tlie .s/x sides of our "octagon." 

 Two more colonies were fixed for Queens between 

 dusk and dark, and then what was to be done with 

 o\ir pile of (5 aged Queens? "Faint heart, etc.,"' we 

 got Mrs. X\s best lamp, oi)ened wide both doors, put 

 in trim order our Qninby smoker— nothing else would 

 ever have answered then, and by 10 o'clock we had. 

 made strong colonies for the remaining S hives, hunt- 

 ed Queens, looked up combs containing eggs and 

 brood for each colonv, and in short did just what we 

 wanted to do, mentally putting our thumb to our nose 

 at the robbers, at the door wavs of their hives, as we 

 liassed them with the lamp. Very few bees flew about 

 the light when we kept it pretty well elevated, but 

 It require? a free use of smoke. Didn't we come out 

 ahead of adverse circumstances? 



P. S.— Tliat you nvAj know "'we too" '-have troubles," 

 we will remark that nearly every frame in the house 

 Apiary had to have the arms of the metal corners 

 clii)pcd with a jiair of pruning shears and then 

 straightened with plyers, just because in our firit ex- 

 ])eriments, we could not foresee that the supporting 

 arms should be not to exceed % instead of 's of an inch ; 

 this all had to be done in the night, and was perhaps 

 the sorest trial of patience, both to ourselves, as veell 

 as to the "hybrids." The fuU bloods took it quite phil- 

 osaiihically,"and showed little disposition to flutter 

 about the lamp. Not one of the .35 Queens was mo- 

 Icsfnl in introilucinri. 



Gle_anings^in_^e Culture, 



PMbHisSsed IHonthlv* 



-A._ I- I?,OOX- 

 EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR 



MEDINA, OHIO 



[Inchidinri Poslaae.] 

 For Club Rates see Last Paqe. 



js^EDiisrA., .A:-cra-. 1, ists. 



But seek ye lirst the kingdom of God, and his right- 

 eousness; and all these things shall be added unto 

 you. Matthew vi, :13. 



Editorials all crowded out. 



Bee World is sent to our subscribers for only $1..50. 



Huoo!) by mail for Queen rearing, is proving re- 

 markably successful this season. 



We have just commenced to send out our Extract- 

 ors made after the new model. If vou want your 

 frames to hang in them the same as they do in' the 

 hive, be sure and give width of frame 'iu»t under the 

 top bar. If made for a frame 1?,% wide, ami only ll>4 

 deep, price $a00; all other dimensions flO.Oi'. We can 

 now prepay express charges and secure low rates; 

 tell us where you live and we will tell you how much. 



»— « — •_ _ 



AUSTRAI^IA. 



^]j1?%^E.VIl NC»VICE : -I liave to say that 95 out of ev- 

 il' Jy) '-'■^y ^'"^ stocks have been overtaken by the bee 

 ^=^ moth ; and in less than twelve months, I don't 

 think there will be a single colony lei't in the country, 

 except my own. Now who do you think is blamed 

 for this wholesale destruction ? " Your humble friend. 



