4pnl, 1915. 



119 



American ISae Journal 



nies are strong enough for division, 

 but it is not likely to be just before 

 clover bloom. 



a. Yes, you will see more than trou- 

 ble. If you divide when fruit bloom is 

 at its best, and then again just before 

 white clover, you will have some val- 

 uable experience. If you tone down 

 your expectations a little, and divide 

 only when strength of colony allows it, 

 you will probably have satisfactory 

 results. 



get a new queen. You can order from 

 any who advertise in this journal 

 whether North or South. 



Transferring — Buying Queens 



1. I own one colony of bees. I hived 

 it last June in a sugar keg. When 

 should I transfer it to a patent hive ? 

 I have just bought five colonies 

 from a neighbor, and am going to 

 move them in a few dajs. They are 

 in old-fashioned square hives about 4 

 feet high. When should I transfer 

 these ? 



2. Do you think I shall get a swarm 

 from each of these six hives ? 



3. When is the proper time to take 

 honey? I live in Tidewater, Va., -"iO 

 miles west of Norfolk. Is a hive rob- 

 bed more than once during the season ? 



4. Would you advise that I buy a new 

 queen now or wait until I have had 

 some experience with bees ? If you 

 advise, where can I get a queen ? 

 Would it be best to get it from the 

 North or South ? Virginia. 



1. You can transfer all infruit bloom. 

 Perhaps, however, the better way 

 would be to wait until the colonies 

 swarm when the swarm can be hived 

 and placed on the old stand, and the 

 old colony placed close beside it. A 

 week later move the old colony to a 

 new stand 6 feet or more away. Two 

 weeks later still, or three weeks from 

 the time of swarming, when all the 

 worker brood in the old hive will be 

 hatched out, break up the old hive, 

 adding the bees to the swarm, and 

 melting up the old combs. Instead of 

 giving the bees to the swarm and melt- 

 ing the combs you can transfer at this 

 time to a new hive. Although there is 

 not much danger of losing their queen, 

 as a precaution, you might give them a 

 frame containing eggs and young 

 brood from the swarm. 



If you are anxious for increase an- 

 other plan may suit you better. When 

 the colony swarms, hive it in your new 

 hive and put it on a new stand. In 

 something like eight days the old col- 

 ony will likely swarm again, and this 

 swarm can be put on a new stand. 

 Then at the end of three weeks from 

 the first swarm, transfer what is left in 

 the old hive. 



2. Yes, if they are strong and the 

 season is good. But if you transfer in 

 fruit bloom they will not be so certain 

 to swarm. 



•3. If you are working for section 

 honey the sections can be taken off as 

 soon as all but the corner sections are 

 finished. If working for extracted 

 honey, the combs can be extracted as 

 soon as filled and sealed; or you may 

 wait until the harvest is over and ex- 

 tract all. You will see that except in 

 this last case the honey may be har- 

 vested as often as ready. 



4. If your bees are of good Italian 

 stock no need of requeening ; other- 

 wise as soon as the weather permits 



Queer Tricks of Queens 



In the British Bee Journal, D. Wilson 

 tells about being called upon to hive a 

 large swarm which had settled on the 

 stump of a tree on the station embank- 

 ment. He says : 



" In such a public place it was not 

 long before I had a crowd of specta- 

 tors. One lady with her little boy 

 scaled the embankment to have a bet- 

 ter view, and for her safety I lent her a 

 veil. The conversation ran something 

 like this : 



"'Is there a queen in the swarm? I 

 should like to see one.' 



" ' Yes,' I replied, ' and if I see her I 

 will show her to you.' 



" A few minutes later the lady ex- 

 claimed, ' Oh ! there's a bee on my 

 veil.' I asked her to keep quiet and I 

 would remove it. It was now nearly 

 dusk, and with scarcely another glance 

 I took hold of this bee and tossed it 

 into the air. Just as it left my fingers 

 I recognized that it was the queen 

 I had so served. I called to a friend 

 who was near to keep an eye on the 

 bee, and we saw it alight on the boy's 

 head. Fro n there it was removed 

 (carefully this time) and returned to 

 the swarm, half of which was now in 

 the skep. 



"This incident, Mr. Editor, would be 

 discounted as impossible if it were in- 



cluded iti an article of fiction, but it is 

 the bare truth." 



An experienced beekeeper can read- 

 ily believe that a queen-bee with whole 

 wings can be found almost anywhere 

 that her fancy leads her. Why not ? 

 When out with a swarm why should 

 she not go wherever a worker can go ? 

 The performances of clipped queens, 

 however, are not always so easy to un- 

 derstand. A number of times the 

 writer has found a clipped queen in 

 places where she was least expected. 



Once while looking for the queen in 

 front of the hive while the swarm was 

 out, I was suddenly surprised to find 

 my hat was growing heavy. In some 

 way the queen had found her way to 

 my hat, and the entire returning swarm 

 had settled there, .\gain, she has been 

 found on my apron, sleeves, etc., while 

 I was at work at the hive. Just how 

 she came there was a problem, and a 

 bigger problem to find out where she 

 belonged, for it was by no means sure 

 that she belonged to the hive I was 

 working at when she was discovered. 

 Indeed, she has often been found to 

 belong to a colony some distance 

 away, and after I had been through 

 some half dozen other colonies. Some- 

 times I have been obliged to cage the 

 queen until I found out where she did 

 belong. I have learned to be careful 

 when setting down a frame of brood 

 covered with bees to place it in such a 

 position that it will not come in con- 

 tact with any clothing, as I have a sus- 

 picion that the queens sometimes crawl 

 off the frames, and that explains why 

 they are sometimes missing. 



Conducted by Wesley Foster. Boulder. Colo. 



Garfield County Beelteepers Organize 



The beekeepers of Grand Valley in 

 Garfield county, Colo., organized at Rifle 

 in February and elected C. B. Coffin 

 president, J. H. Gardner vice-president, 

 and Robert E. Foster secretary-treas- 

 urer. There are quite a large number 

 of beekeepers in the county, and the 

 association starts out with good pros- 

 pects of life and usefulness. 



League. The Colorado Honey Pro- 

 ducers' Association furnished the ban- 

 quet and looked after their exhibits 

 while the Local Committee furnished 

 the custodian for exhibits. 



About 40 beekeepers contributed in- 

 dividually to the entertainment fund, 

 and credit should be given to all. 



The National 



In the March number of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal it is reported that the 

 Colorado Honey Producers' .Associa- 

 tion looked after the entertainment of 

 the visitors at the National convention 

 in Denver and furnished the banquet. 

 I do not want to detract in any way 

 from the work done by the Colorado 

 Honey Producers' Association, as we 

 all did our best, but the entertainment 

 features and arrangements were made 

 by the Local Committee appointed by 

 Dr. Gates, which was comprised of the 

 officers of the Colorado State Bee- 

 keepers' Association. This committee 

 raised over $85 besides securing a $40 

 contribution from the Convention 



Hulled and Unhulled Sweet Clover Seed 



There is considerable misinforma- 

 tion regarding the germination char- 

 acteristics of unhulled and hulled white 

 sweet clover seed. The farm papers 

 have it mixed up themselves and they 

 are responsible, partly. First, the seed 

 coat of white sweet clover is very hard 

 and so impervious to water that but a 

 comparatively low percentage of the 

 seed germinates the first year unless 

 the seed coat is softened by the use of 

 an acid solution (This process is ex- 

 plained in the Government bulletin on 

 sweet clover), or the seed is sown in 

 the fall and allowed to lie in the 

 ground all winter. 



The seed coat of sweet clover seed is 

 >tol the hull. This is where the misin- 

 formation comes in. Unhulled seed 



