ns'2 



GLEANINGS IN iJEE CULTURE. 



Junk 



and fall from the couibs motionless into the mass of 

 dead bees on the bottom of the hive. Before I was 

 aware of it the robbers were on hand, making 

 thinj,'s livel}-, I shut up the hive, and left. The 

 next hive (bo.\) was entirely gone; every bee dead. 

 The remainder appear to be all right. Now, where 

 the /w>? part comes in is this: Some of these hives 

 are two stories, and the top one with ten frames all 

 solidly full of honey. I went into them to see and 

 know they were full, with perhaps a single row of 

 cells running diagonally from top to bottom that 

 the bees have emptied, or perhaps never filled. 

 Now, what ought to be done with a chap who neg- 

 lects his business so shamefully as this? Suppose 

 Henry Bergh should have a lieutenant here in 

 Missouri, what is to hinder him having me pil- 

 loried before the public as a warning to beekeepers 

 every where? I don't know that he could, but I feel 

 that he ought to anyway. If putting a horse in a 

 stable and leaving him there until he starved to 

 death is "cruelty to animals," what is it to let a 

 hive of bees starve with a surplus of honey on 

 hand? Of course, I did not know that they were 

 starving, neither did I put myself to any trouble to 

 find out, and consequently have no excuse what- 

 ever to offer. P. A. ]M.\LLoy. 

 Arno, V -'^lo., .March 2t, ISS.j. 



1 am glad to see you so williii<j; to confess 

 your sins, I'liend M.. and may be the lashing 

 will hit a few others besides yourself. It is 

 a shame, I agree with you, for a bee-keeper 

 to starve his bees when he can give them 

 enough in tifteen minutes to last tliem as 

 many weeks. Just thiidi of it I only a 

 minute a week demanded by each colony ; 

 and then in the face of that, to let bees 

 starve to death in the spring of the year 1 

 I thinK 3Ir. IJergh had better come and set- 

 tle where bee-men are. 



A NOVICES EXPERIENCE WITH 

 QUEENS. 



A CIIAPTEK FKO.M HEAI- LIFE. 



E began the spring of 1884 with five fair colo- 

 ' nies. They built up well, and the first 

 swarm issued May 24; soon came a second 

 and third swarm from the same colony. 

 The other colonies swarmed at intervals 

 until the middle of June. We began to find our 

 young queens missing; they ventured out, but 

 never returned. Then we gave eggs and young 

 larvie, and tried to rear queens. One colony reared 

 a large fine-looking queen, but she had imperfect 

 wings. We discovered her at the entrance of the 

 hive with bees around her, evidently anxious for 

 her fiight. Several times we saw her looking over 

 the field. At last we caught her and gave the bees 

 a frame of larvni. For some reason they did not 

 succeed in rearing a queen. 



We now had four or five colonies (lueeuless, and 

 began to think of some redress. Afriendin Furwell 

 gave us a very nice-looking queen. We sent to 

 A. I. Root for a dollar queen. She came, a small 

 dark-looking one. We succeeded in safely intro- 

 ducing her, and watched her progress. The brood 

 looked patchy, and the bees seemed to die more 

 than from other colonies. We pronounced her " no 

 good," and thought, when spring came, we would 

 supersede her. The spring has come; the bees 

 seem working well, and the (lueen has improved so 



much ill appearance that we have changed our 

 opinion. 



We had read "Alley on (Jueen-Kearing," and con- 

 cluded, with tlie credulity of a child, that if we could 

 get some Alley queens we should revolutionize 

 things. We sent to Alley for two queens— one a 

 tested queen, the other a warranted selected one, 

 and the ApicuUurit<t. The ijueens came, nice-look- 

 ing ones, and directions for introducing them. 

 Surely Ave shall now succeed. We gave the tested 

 queen to a colony that had long been queenless, 

 following directions. She was balled— the bees 

 utterly refused her. We caught the queen, and in 

 our efforts to cage her she flew away. Our dismay 

 can better be imagined than described. We looked 

 here and there. Soon we saw, from the commotion 

 of the bees on the frames outside the hh'e, that the 

 queen had returned. This time we caged her and 

 tried introducing her in a Peet cage. It was of no 

 use. The bees would have none of her. 



We now tried another colony; and when all 

 seemed right we let her run down the frames. We 

 kept a careful watch, and soon found all was not 

 right. In our attempts to secure her this time she 

 was lost indeed— we have always thought she was 

 stung to death. The warranted queen we gave to a 

 nucleus, and she was gladly received. She did well 

 through the fall, and we thought we had a treasure. 

 Her bees suffered severely from disease last 

 winter, but I felt sure, by contracting the brood- 

 chanibcr, they would build up. A day or two ago I 

 examined the colony, and found bees enough only 

 to cover the palm of the hand. The queen looked 

 dilapidated, discouraged, and forsaken. I immedi- 

 ately gave them two frames, with bees and larvie 

 in all stages, not being able to find full frames of 

 brood with bees just eating through. Undoubtedly 

 it was a bad ease of spring dwindling. We await 

 results. 



After our loss of the tested Alley (jueen 1 sent 

 for another, stating expressly that I wanted it to 

 rear queens from, and would send raoi-e money if 

 needed. A queen came that was safely introduced. 

 The fall was mild. The other queens were laying, 

 but this queen seemed idle. I wrote to Mr. AUej', 

 inquiring about her. I received no answer. After a 

 time she did rear a little brood, and we had hopes of 

 a better result in the spring. In Februarj' the bees 

 from this colony seemed restless, looking for some- 

 thing they could not find. In a day or two 1 found 

 the dead queen outside the hive. In April this colo- 

 ny was united to a ver.v weak one that came 

 through with a queen and a corporal's guai-d. 



At present they seem to be doing well. My hopes 

 of rearing queens from the Alley stock are blasted. 

 The ApicuUurist has ceased to visit me, and I give 

 our expei'ience in the hope that some beginner 

 may realize how unsafe it is to "count the chick- 

 ens before they are hatched." M. A. P. 



Friend P.. it does seem from your little 

 story as if bee-keeping were a precarious 

 business at best. It seems to me that, if we 

 could get down to it, Av'e should lind the key 

 to all your troubles to be that you had vio- 

 lated some simple rule in bee culture. For 

 instance. I can not understand how it is that 

 you lost so many queens unless you set your 

 hives too (dose together. If it should trans- 

 pire that you set your whole four, together 

 with the new swarm as it came out, all close 

 together in a row (on a long bench, for in- 



