1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE 



■53 



of soil and climate of Uvalde Co. At that 

 time I will give pictures of some of the cele- 

 brated houey-plauls which, without irriga- 

 tion, and on lands that are too dry to grow 

 any thing else, yield such immense quantities 

 of fine beautiful honey. These will show 

 why some of the western counties of Texas 

 are veritable bee paradises. 



IS IT A CASE OF LOCALITY? 



" Here I am from ' over the border ' to have 

 a little talk with you in regard to a part of 

 what you told Mr. Brown in July 15th Gl^EAN- 

 INGS, page 596, near the bottom of the second 

 column. There you tell how you take combs 

 of brood, together with the queen and one 

 frame of bees from a nucleus, and, by setting 

 the same on the stand of a populous colony 

 which has not swarmed, make a colony ready 

 to go into the sections in a few days, from this 

 brood, frame of bees, and the queen, together 

 wita the returning field bees from the moved 

 cjlony. Is this right? " 



" That is the way I intended " 



"Hjwmauy colonies did you ever make 

 that way ? " 



" I do not think I can tell the exact number, 

 but probably 150 to 200, as I used the plan 

 quite largely each year (during the week be- 

 fore the blooming of basswood) before I went 

 into queen-rearing, and have used it several 

 limes since then." 



■ But are not the bees disconcerted by this 

 mode of treatment?" 



■' Yes, to a considerable extent for an hour 

 or so, but soon become accustomed to the 

 changed state of affairs, very much as they 

 do when a weaker colony is exchanged with a 

 stronger, so that both may be benefited by the 

 t xchange. Those who have practiced strengih- 

 e ling weak colonies in this way know that 

 t .ere is considerable commotion in front of 

 tlie hive for an hour or so, caused by the bees 

 coming out of the hive and returning sevtral 

 limes to see if they have not made a mistake 

 as to entering the wrong hive. But after a 

 little they make up their minds, apparently, 

 that it is all right, and soon go to work the 

 same as if no exchange of hives had been 

 made." 



" But don't you find that the returning bees 

 from the moved colony kill all or nearly all 

 of the bees you took from the nucleus?" 

 • "No, I have never been troubled in that 

 way, nor did I suppose others had been. Do 

 you have bees killed when working that way ? ' ' 



" Yes, they always kill the majority of the 

 bees I put in the hive in this way" 



" Well, this is news to me. We have been 

 told for nearly half a century that laden bees, 

 returning from the fields, will not quarrel with 

 any thing, and I have always so found it. I 



am well aware that where you undertake to 

 run a swarm into a colony, either large or 

 small, where no precautions are taken, that 

 there will be a terrible slaughter of bees ; but 

 I never had such an experience where the bees 

 returned singly, or individually, as it were, 

 and especially where each bee is laden wi'th 

 provisions- which it has collected from the 

 fields. Which party is it that does the killing, 

 in your opinion ? " 



" I calculate, as I hinted at in my last reply, 

 that the bees from the removed colony kill 

 the majority of those set in the hive from the 

 nucleus." 



"If you have bees killed in this way, and I 

 do not dispute yoitr word, it is somettiing en- 

 tirely new to me ; for in all cases of quarrel- 

 ing which have come under my observation 

 (and I have had scores of such cases), it has 

 always been the bees inside of the hive, or 

 those composing the colony, which have 

 caught, stung, and killed those trying to en- 

 ter- -not those entering killing those inside. 

 In one instance a little colony of less than a 

 qtiart of bees killed a large swarm which I 

 tried to run into it, and I knew which did the 

 killing from the little colony being composed 

 of Italian bees, while the swarm was compos- 

 ed of black bees. After the struggle was over, 

 the ground in front of the hive was two or 

 three inches deep with dead black bees, with 

 scarcely a dead Italian bee to be found." 



" But they not only kill the bees, but (with 

 me) the queen as well ; or, if she is not killed, 

 she ' takes to her heels and is gone.' " 



" This is fully as strange as the bees being 

 killed. When I first tried the plan I was 

 afraid they would kill the queen ; and so I 

 caged her for a few days, when she was re- 

 leased ; but I finally became more bold, work- 

 ing on the plan ' that with a general mixing 

 of bees the queen is safe,' and never lost a 

 queen except in one or two instances, which I 

 could account for in some other way. I really 

 do not know how to account for our different 

 experiences unless 'locality' will so account. 

 It is possible that, if the plan was tried at a 

 tiu'e when robbers were plentiful there would 

 be a general fight, and then the queen would 

 probably be killed ; but no one should attempt 

 the muliiplication of colonies at a time when 

 nothing was coming in from the fields, for at 

 such times the bees do not undertake such a 

 thing themselves." 



"I had not thought of locality making a 

 difference. Perhaps it would, but I doubt it. 

 Then you say colonies made as you advise are 

 ' ready to go into the sectiors in a very few 

 days.' I never, in one instance, have succeed- 

 ed in getting one pound of section honey that 

 way ; for without a laying queen bees will not 

 make section honey, or almost but very little." 



"Of course, if in your locality the bees 

 and queen are killed, the plan is not one which 

 you should adopt, nor do I advise any to adopt 

 any new plan, only on the most limited scale, 

 till they have proven it will work with them ; 

 and I here and now caution you to go slow on 

 all plans which you have never tried, especial- 

 ly so on a plan which is under dispute. And 

 the caution which I would give you, I would 



