1883 



GLEAXIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



IT 



PREVENTION OF AFTER-SWARMING. 



The Heddon method was described. It consists in 

 havingr the prime swarm in a new hive upon the old 

 stand, and setting- the old hive a few feet to one side 

 until the newly hived swarm is nicely at work, 

 when the old hive Is placed by the side of the new 

 one, with its entrance turnqfl to one side at an 

 angle of 4.5". Each day the entrance of the old hive 

 is slightly turned toward the new hive until the 

 hives stand in contact side by side. At the 7th day, 

 move the old hive to a new location. If placed at 

 the end of a row of hives there is but little danger 

 of queens being lost. 



OARNIOLA.N BEES. 



These resemble the German variet3', are good 

 workers, good comb-builders, very prolific, and in- 

 clined to swarm, and the iji.ntlest bees-known. 



THE POLLEN THEORV. | 



That the consumption is the immediate cause of 

 (lysenterj- among bees, there is littledoubt. Mature 

 bees do consume pollen, even when not rearing 

 brood. Analysis and microscopical examinations 

 show the excreta of bees to be largely composed of 

 pollen. Bees rfo not void their fteces in a dry state. 

 Dysentery has been produced by giving an abun- 

 dance of pollen, and i)revented by removing it in 

 the fall. The most prnrtiral plan of preventing 

 dysentery appears to be the removal of the honey 

 and pollen in the fall, and the feeding of cane- 

 sugar syrup; but that bees sometimes winter well 

 with pollen in the combs should not be forgotten; 

 perhaps we can yet learn how to induce them to let 

 the pollen alone. 



I'ROTEfTION JN WINTER 



liCSsens the consumption of stores, and the- more 

 perfect the protection the smaller will be the 

 amount consumed. 



" NOTES FOR THE YK\H " 



Was an essay read by Prof. Took. Some of its 

 points have already been covered in the discussions 

 reported above. Among other things, he said that 

 manj- bee-keepers were unscientific, and many of 

 their statements must necessarily be untrue; as, 

 for instance, the assertion that worker larvif turned 

 to drone, or that the tissues of a droni'-larva could 

 fecundate a r|ueen by being i)laced in the cell of the- 

 latter when it was in a larval state. We are not yet ' 

 ready to shout " Kureka " in regard to phenol as a ' 

 remedy for foul brood. The erossins- of ditlen-nt : 

 varieties of bees ought not to be discouraged; our j 

 best breeds of stock were developed from a cross, j 

 By means of fdn., drone-traps, and attention to the 

 kind of bees kept in the vicinit}-, the matter of ! 

 crossing bees satisfactorily is not hopeless. 



►STATISTICS. 



Bees, honey, an<l wax are not among the products 

 reported upon by the crop correspondents, and the 

 executive board of the society was appointed a 

 committee to secure the legislation necessary to 

 have apiarian products added to the list. 



DISTANCE APART FOR HIVES. j 



As a general thing, hives need be placed no 

 further apart than is net^essary to give room for 

 working among them. In a queen-rearing apiary it 

 is more imi)ortant that the hives or nuclei be scatter- 

 ed about promiscuously, than in one nui for honey. 



RAISING NICE HONEY. 



Upon requ(?st. Miss Wilkins told how she and her 

 sister raised the fine honey that they do. They used 

 the finest white-poplar sections, which they thought 

 important. Tbey used the DooUttle hive and sys- 



tem of management. The sections were removed as 

 soon as finished, and all traces of propolis carefully 

 scraped away. The source from which much of 

 their honey was gathered (willow herb) had much to 

 do with its fine appearance. 



TAKING BEES FRO.M THE CELLAR. 



When bees are taken from the cellar in the spring 

 it is not necessary that each colony should be placed 

 upon the same stand it occupied the previous 

 season. 



ALSIKE CLOVER 



Had been cut just as it was beginning to blossom, 

 with the hopes that it would again be in blossom 

 just after basswood. but it did not start again; the 

 drought might have been the cause. 



There were, of cour.se. many details and. minor 

 topics, not given in this short article; neither let it 

 be supposed that tvfrilhorly agreed with aU of the 

 above conclusions; but. as far as I was able to 

 judge, the majority agreed with them, and in some 

 instances the decision was nearly if not quite unan- 

 imous. 



There will be no State convention held in lS8a, but 

 the society will meet in conjunction with the North 

 American at Detnjit. 



W. Z. Hl'TCHINSON, 68— fU. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich., Dec. 'Xt, 1884. 



FLORIDA. 



SOMETHING} FROM NEAR FRIEND HART'S NEIOHBOH- 

 HOOI). 



0l!K experiment in bee-keeping among the pine- 

 of Florida has now co\ ered about one year, 

 and we can tell a little better what to expect 

 in the futurf-. Seasons will vary here as In 

 other places, yet the main source of hone\ 

 supply will not change much. The first of last De- 

 cember we had fifteen nuclei, 13 pure Italians and 

 a hybrid. Two were lost in transit from Honair, 

 If)wa; have fed aViout 15 lbs. of granulated sugar. 

 We did not dare to shij) much honey with the bees, 

 so they were short w hen they arrived. 



We have taken nearly 700 lbs. of extracted honey; 

 sold at lOcts. per lb. except what has been used in 

 the family. We sold SIS.DO worth of queens, and 

 have now 18 stning colonies and 4 iniclei, all pur< 

 Italians. This, of course, is no great showing, nor is 

 this a famous bee country. Bees gather a little pol- 

 len, and perhaps some honcjy, during every month 

 in the year, but no surplus except in January, from 

 scrub pine; in March, from orange-blossoms; and 

 in May. from saw-palmetto. There is a great varie- 

 ty of flowei-8 from January to NTovember, and bees 

 work on some of them, but not enougli to much 

 more than live. Palmetto honey is nearly equal to 

 white clover. Orange honey is darker and not 

 quite so good, but there is no honey that, we have 

 had that is so dark or strong-tasted as buckwheat 

 honey. Bees swarm here on orange or palmetto 

 honey. After the first of June, strong colonies 

 reared a good deal of broftd till October. Some- 

 times they would be nearly out of honey; but f ly 

 October most of them had enough on hand to last 

 them through. The small nuclei, however, had to 

 be fed or strengthened from strong colonies, to 

 keep them going. It is hard telling what they do 

 live on. Corn-blossoms in their season help .some, 

 and field peas, which are raised here, keep them 

 pretty busy. The bees would be very busy about 

 the pea-vines, but not on the flowers. The glands, 



