1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



473 



He thinks the juice of the late crop more use- 

 ful to birds and insects than as an intoxicant, 

 and upon that point Mr. McCubbin and the 

 Rambler are in accord. 



When bees store this juice in the hives, no 

 evil effects follow. It seems to answer all the 

 purposes of honey. 



Peachtree Utter should come here and see 

 the harmony between the peach-growers and 

 the bee - men — no disagreements. Apricots, 

 while drying, are badly infested by the bees ; 

 but the owner of a large apricot- orchard has a 

 few colonies of bees himself. He is so much 

 civilized that he thinks a few colonies placed 

 in his fruit-orchard of prunes, peaches, and 

 apricots, are more benefit than a damage. 



The umbrella-tree, though not numerous, is 

 a honey-producer, and the eucalyptus is in 

 evidence in this portion of California, and it 

 gives a good record as a honey-producer. 



To give the reader some idea of the value 

 of this tree as a wood-producer, I present the 

 accompanying photo. This tree was planted 

 eleven years ago by Mr. McCubbin, who, with 

 his two children, Grace and Bruce, are sitting 

 under it. It was about twelve inches in 

 height, and as large as a wheat straw. By 

 actual measurement when the photo was taken, 

 it was 85 feet in height and three feet in diam- 

 eter. The eucalyptus is planted here mostly 

 for shade around the house, or in avenues 

 along the highway. 



There are but few plantations of it for wood. 

 If the acreage of it were increased for this 

 purpose it would have a happy effect upon 

 the bee-keepers. 



INCREASE AND ITS PREVENTION. 



"Good morning, Mr. Doolittle. I came 

 over to have a little talk with you on the 

 swarming question, as some of my bees are 

 becoming crowded so they hang out on the 

 outside of the hives." 



"Well, Mr. Brown, swarming is a large 

 subject, and one very many bee-keepers have 

 studied over ; but up to the present time no 

 one has fully stopped all swarming when 

 working for comb honey. But I do not wish 

 to stop all swarming, for I believe that swarms 

 which issue previous to ten days before the 

 honey harvest are a good investment ; and to 

 try to prevent such swarms as are disposed to 

 issue at that time, or earlier, has proven noth- 

 ing but vexatious with me, the result being a 

 loss in honey — or, at least, I think so, and so 

 I let all first swarms which come ten days or 

 more before the main honey harvest com- 

 mences be hived in a new hive." 



" Very well. And how do you manage 

 these swarms? " 



" As soon as the hive is half to two-thirds 

 full of comb I put on the sections ; or where I 

 furnish the new hive with empty combs, or 



fill the frames with comb foundation, I put on 

 the sections at once." 



" I see you are pretty well posted in manag- 

 ing prime swarms ; but what about after- 

 swarms ? ' ' 



' ' I have very little trouble with these, as I 

 generally set the new hive with the swarm on 

 the stand the parent colony occupied, placing 

 the old hive on a new stand where I wish a 

 colony to be. This draws the most of the 

 field-bees in with the swarm so that the parent 

 colony has little , desire to swarm when the 

 first young queen hatches, therefore allow her 

 to destroy the other queen-cells." 



" But can you depend on this always? " 



" No, not always ; and for this reason I look 

 over the combs in the moved hives nine days 

 after moving ; and if the bees have destroyed 

 the cells, and no piping is heard, I am sure 

 that colony will not swarm. If I hear piping, 

 or find the cells not torn down, then I destroy 

 all but one myself, saving the best-looking one, 

 unless I find a cell from which the queen has 

 emerged, which I always do where piping is 

 heard, in which case I destroy all. But what 

 I wish to know is, what I shall do with such 

 colonies as have not swarmed within five or 

 ten days of the honey harvest. To allow them 

 to swarm at the very commencement of the 

 harvest spoils the old colony from doing any 

 thing in sections." 



" Well, so far you have been instructing me, 

 and now I will try to see if I can help you. 

 My plan to prevent swarming at the com- 

 mencement of the honey-flow has been to stop 

 them by way of a moderate increase, by the 

 following plan : Shake all the bees and queen 

 from a populous colony into an empty hive — 

 that is, a hive having frames filled with foun- 

 dation, and a super on containing sections fill- 

 ed with thin foundation, for this shaken colo- 

 ny will contain a half more bees than would a 

 swarm from the same hive. The combs taken, 

 freed from bees, but full of brood, are arranged 

 back in the old hive, when I move another 

 colony to a new stand and place this hive hav- 

 ing the combs of brood in its place, giving 

 them a laying queen. This last colony moved 

 may be the weaker of those which have not 

 swarmed, as any colony strong enough to 

 think of swarming at all will furnish field-bees 

 enough to care for the brood, providing the 

 change is made at a time when the bees are 

 flying freely. You will see that I make one 

 new colony from two old ones, having all in 

 the best possible condition to store comb hon- 

 ey by the time the harvest arrives." 



"Yes, I think I understand the plan, and I 

 will try it. But suppose that I have all the 

 increase I desire from the swarms which issue 

 previous to ten days before the honey harvest. 

 Is there no way of stopping the rest from 

 swarming, and still have them work to advan- 

 tage in sections ? ' ' 



" Do you clip the wings of your queens? " 



" Yes, always." 



" All right. Now, if we have decided that 

 prevention of increase will be more profitable 

 than further increase, when a swarm issues 

 catch the queen as she is found running around 

 in front of the hive, and place her in a wire- 



