484 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



CALIFORNIA 



AS A BEE 

 STATE. 



KEEPINCl 



ARTICLE NO. 4. 



sjjrajpITOR OF GLEANINGS; On page 231, 

 lpl/j| No., you think Mr. J. Archer's feat f ron 



June 

 from one 



— J stock hardly possible. I have visited Mr. 

 Archer's apiary several times, and I think it is cer- 

 tainly possible. In Mr. Archer's apiary, located one 

 and a half miles from the beautiful city of Santa 

 Barbara, bees can gather pollen or honey the entire 

 year. You can commence dividing in February, 

 and keep it up until the first of October, in a good 

 season, and the last season was a good one. I know 

 of even a greater multiplication and a larger pro- 

 duction, just by natural increase. Mr. Archer was 

 fortunate in selling his bees and honey at those 

 prices; but T personally knew of the transaction. I 

 do not say that he did not use some ready made 

 comb, as he had quite a quantity on hand in the 

 spring; but some allowance should be made for Cal- 

 ifornia and Californians, as, in a good season, it can 

 beat the whole world, while, in a bad season, it is 

 just as far the other way. As they have had two 

 bad seasons out of three, it certainly does not look 

 very encouraging. Californians invariably report 

 the best side of every thing, especially to strangers. 

 I have met one very enthusiastic bee-keeper here, 

 who says he could make 100 swarms from one stock 

 in one season, providing the season was a good one. 

 I should like to try my hand at increase from one 

 stock, just to see what could be done; but shall 

 have to wait for a good season before commencing 

 operations. 



Many bees are starving to death now, but it is 

 from bad management. E. Gallup. 



Scenega, Ventui-aCo., Cal. 



ANTS VERSUS QUEEN BEES. 



fHAT ants will kill straggling bees, when caught 

 alone, either from the native animosity which 

 ' one tribe of insects bears towards another 

 tribe, or from a desire to extract the honey contain- 

 ed within the bee, is a notorious fact; and more cer- 

 tainly will they attack a queen just issuing with a 

 swarm, if she accidentally falls to the ground, for 

 then she is overloaded with a full supply of honey, 

 and rendered comparatively helpless from her sur- 

 charged ovaries. Last summer, I caught two young 

 queens in a second swarm, and caged them in wood- 

 en cages, with wire cloth on one side, intending to 

 take them a few miles to some queenless colonies. 

 In order to keep them in good condition, I placed 

 them on top of the quilt, in the second story of a 

 frame hive, wire downward. In six hours, I went 

 for them, and found both dead. I saw no cause for 

 their death. There were no ants visible, no spiders, 

 or any other of the many enemies of the bee genus, 

 and I was inclined to believe they died from suffoca- 

 tion, although I had confined many others more 

 closely than these, with no bad results. Two weeks 

 later, I repeated precisely the same operation, and, 

 in a few hours, say three or perhaps four, went for 

 the caged queens as before. One of them was just 

 dead, and four common sized, red ants were cling- 

 ing to her thorax, under the wings. The other queen 

 was in articuhi mortis, with a lot of voracious ants 

 clinging to her in the same manner, as to the first 

 queen. This sad result explained the cause of the 

 fate of the first two queens, under the same circum- 



stances. And thus I readily approve of the warning 

 given by some correspondents of the bea journals, 

 in regard to queens with clipped wings, and suggest- 

 ing the danger that threatens them, when, in at- 

 tempting to follow a swarm, they fall to the earth,— 

 the danger of being victimized by the antipathy or 

 cupidity of a remorseless set of ants. 



I have often seen large numbers of ants secreted 

 about bee hives, particularly in wet seasons, but 

 have been inclined to think they selected such lo- 

 calities to escape the wet, saturated earth, which is 

 the natural nidus of such insects, and also to house 

 in some congnial den, which the temperature of a 

 colony of bees affords. With the present light be- 

 fore me, I do not believe ants destroy much honey, 

 when they can obtain other preferable food. 



Geo. B. Peters. 



Council Bend, Ark., Oct. 28, 1879. 



While it is quite evident, friend P., that 

 the two latter queens were killed by the ants, 

 I cannot feel sure that this was the case with 

 the former ones, as you say you saw no ants 

 about. I have often had queens die thus in * 

 a few hours after being caged, but always 

 when they were without food, and it was to 

 this fact that I attributed their death. I 

 once was inclined to think ants enemies, but 

 a closer examination made me think other- 

 wise. I may still be mistaken, and it may 

 be that the ants, with you, friend P., are 

 different from ours. 



HOW MANY FRAMES SHOULD THE 

 BEES COVER IN WINTER? 



HOW MANY IN SUMMER? &C. 



SnS'j AM "in a peck of trouble" about my bees and 



jjl hives. I am using the Langstroth frame in 

 Simplicity and chaff hives. I used a two story 

 chaff hive, but it seemed too large. Since then, I 

 have made and used a single story hive, and a dou- 

 ble tenement, story and a half hive. Not any of 

 these suit me, as, since the approach of cold weath- 

 er, my strongest stocks occupy 5 frames only. 



The brood in any one of my hives, during the past 

 season, could have been put into 3 frames; but, in- 

 stead of being in 3 frames, it was scattered through 

 from 4 to 7, the remaining portions of the frames 

 being occupied by honey and pollen. 



Perhaps this honey was in the way, but you tell 

 us the bees willremove it from the comb when the 

 cells occupied Dy it are needed for brood rearing. 

 A neighbor extracted 100ft). from 5 stocks, while my 

 6 gave less than 10B>. of comb honey. These few 

 sections sold well, in the village. Perhaps it would 

 pay me better to extract than work for comb honey. 



Now, a few questions. How many L. frames are 

 used for brood rearing? What is the average num- 

 ber of frames your bees cover when ready for win- 

 ter? Should chaff cushion division boards be used 

 in a chaff hive when there is room for one or more? 

 Are colonies larger in some localities than in others? 



Fairfield, Ct., Oct. 27, '79. Wm, S. Morehouse. 



If I understand you correctly, friend M., 

 I do not think you have any cause to worry. 

 If the cluster of bees extends to 5 frames, 

 during freezing weather, it is a very fair 

 colony. If the brood that would go into 3 

 frames is scattered through 7, it is an indi- 

 cation that you have given them more room, 

 a little too fast. More brood will be raised, 

 if you make them fill each frame full, before 



