1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



97 



in possession of a queen. To prevent this 

 loss, Mr. Quinby invented what is called 



A QUEEN YARD. 



This was a little box, perhaps 20 inches 

 square, with sides 2i in. high. On the top 



edge of thes? sides tin was nailed, so as to 

 project inward perhaps a half inch. This 

 was so placed before the hive that the en- 

 trance opened directly into one side of the 

 yard. The bees, when at work, came out in- 

 to it and took wing. When they swarmed, 

 they took wins without any trouble, but the 

 queen, after trying to fly, would try to crawl 

 up the sides, and could not on account of the 

 tin ledge. She could only get back into the 

 hive, which she would be sure to do about as 

 soon as the bees got back. I believe these 

 worked all right, except that they were cum- 

 brous things to have about in an apiary, and 

 that the bees often killed the queen after 

 trying several times and finding she was 

 never with them. 



Before we had Italians, it used to be con- 

 sidered that cutting out all the queen cells, 

 as fast as built, was a preventive of swarm- 

 ing. But as Italians often swarm without 

 any sign of a queen cell, the plan has been 

 pretty universally dropped. Cutting out all 

 the queen cells except one, after the first 

 swarm has gone out, will of course prevent 

 any third or fourth swarms from coming 

 out, if you are careful not to overlook any 

 cells. See aftek swarming. I believe, 

 however, that this plan is not much in vogue 

 at the present time. Perhaps it is because, 

 where colonies are in the habit of being 

 overhauled enough to perform such opera- 

 tions, artificial swarming is made to take the 

 place of natural swarming, or what is still 

 better, a judicious combination of the two 

 modes is practiced. 



A few years ago,, it was quite common to 

 talk of non-swarming hives, and there were 

 many inventors who claimed to have accom- 

 plished the end desired. The most of these 

 hives were covered by a patent, and they 

 have gone the way of most, if not all, patent- 

 ed bee hives. Giving the bees abundant 

 room, both over the cluster and at its sides, 

 will do very much towards making a non- 

 swarming hive, but they will swarm occa- 

 sionally, in spite of us. Keeping the hive 

 well shaded, or having the walls entirely pro- 

 tected from the sun, will do much to discour- 

 age swarming, and the chaff hive has for 

 this reason proved about as good a non- 

 swarmer as any brought out. 



KEEPTNO BEES IX TAPPER ROOMS AND (iAR- 

 RET6. 



This plan for keeping a single colony, to 

 furnish honey for the table simply, has been 

 in vogue for perhaps centuries back. If the 

 room is small, and made perfectly dark, the 

 hive being placed back a few feet from the 

 entrance in the wall, the bees will seldom 

 swarm. One or more sides of the hive are 

 generally removed, and the bees build their 

 combs on the outside of the hive, or against 

 the walls of the room, where the owner can 

 go with knife, plate, and smoker, and cut 

 out a piece for the table, without opening 

 any hive, or disturbing anybody. In fart, 

 he can consider this his 'iioney room," and 

 leave the honey stored there year after year, 

 if he chooses. When a friend calls, he can 

 say, "Will you have a slice of new honey? 

 or will you have one a year old? or two years 

 old?" He might even have it ten or a dozen 

 years old, for aught I know, if he has a taste 

 for antiquated honey. Would not such a 

 honey room be nice? While writing about 

 it, it has occurred to me that a room of this 

 kind, fitted up with all modern appliances, 

 might be a very pretty and a very useful 

 thing. With the experience I have had in 

 the house apiary, however, I am inclined to 

 think that, where there is so much room, 

 there would be a great disposition in the 

 bees to loaf and cluster on the sides of the 

 room, in the shade, instead of going to work. 

 Now for the objections. 



If the liive and honey is close by the en- 

 trance, the bees will swarm as much as in 

 the house apiary. If it is a yard or more 

 back from the wall, the bees, not being able 

 to take wing in the dark, will crawl all this 

 distance on foot, which would prove a great 

 loss of time and strength, and consequently, 

 of honey. Providing the plan succeeds, you 

 get a good crop of honey year after year, it 

 is true, but you have all the time only the 

 efforts of a single queen. While your honey 

 increases, your gathering force is no more, 

 after the lapse of 10 years, than it was be- 

 fore. If one colony is all you want, this may 

 be all right. The queen cannot live more 

 than three or four years, and at her demise a 

 new one must be reared and fertilized. For 

 some reason, I know not what, she is very 

 often lost, in these garrets, and the colony 

 dies of queenlessness. Worst of all, they 

 will often swarm, and keep swarming, until 

 nothing is left of them; but I believe swarm- 

 ing is rather the exception, and not the rule. 

 Now who will have the nicest honey room, 

 close to, or adjoining the pantry? Have it 

 so your wife can cut out the honey any day 

 in the year, without saying a word to any- 



