618 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Aug. 



Our readers will find the article, "A Pro- tDe l r >th of September, and finished by dividing 



fessor Mistaken,' 1 on page 620 or this issue, some of the first nuclei that I made. The result 



We are very much obliged, friend B., for was that I increased the said nine hives, or, rather, 



your full particulars. We now agree with the one second swarm of the previous year, to 61 



you, that there is some honey raised in Tex- three-frame colonies. 



as that is just as good as any white Clover Of Although they hatched all their queens, I found, to- 



the North. I Should be glad indeed to visit ward the last, that they were not meeting drones, 



the locality Where you get that white honey. for the reason that there were none to meet. I 



— ^m — • — ^^— then, as a forlorn hope, when too late, as it proved, 



AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT. 8ent off ror queens, 18 or 30 in all. Some of them 



were accepted, some were missing after being ac- 



THE POSSIBILITIES OF INCREASE FROM A SINGLE cepted> & few commence d laying, hut SOOn Stopped, 



SWARM. , 



and, of course, for want of more eggs or brood, 



K. HOOT: — As I promised you a year ago, I they were unable to get through the winter far 

 will now give you a report of an experi- enough to rally, but succumbed to their fate, 

 ment T made last year with a single hive, a queens and bees alike. Not a queen of all I pur- 

 second swarm of the previous year, chased, nor the hives to which they were introduc- 

 I made this experiment in order to test ed, survived, except the last hybrid I got of you ; so 

 the ability of bees to increase during one year, and that 16 died, leaving me 45, which up to date have 

 build their own cells and hatch their own queens, not had nor do they need, an ounce of feed, 

 and draw out their own combs from foundation, all I sold during the winter and spring, 27, which are 

 of which I compelled them to do by feeding. Sugar gone and paid for. Their valuation is as follows: 



was the only means by which they were enabled to Sold 32 at $5 00 each $110.00 



build up their stores, for there was no surplus hon- " 5 " 6.00 " 30.00 



ey taken last year in this township, that I know of: Retained 18 at $5.00 each 90.00 



and what little honey there was, was gathered in Total.. $230 00 



the early part of the season. All the rest was hon- The above lg j kept andI pufc 'them at $5.00 each, 



ey-dew, and, as a consequence, fully 50 or 60 per although they are now worth $7.00 each, for they 



cent of the bees in this vicinity dwindled to nothing, have increased to full hives with top stories on, and 



leaving their unhealthy stores behind them. I B ome have even swarmed. In regard to feeding, I 



know of a number of persons who lost all their wa8 very part icular to weigh every ounce that I 



stands, and one man in particular (a friend of mine) f e q- to the parent hive, her children, and grand- 



who went into winter with 40 full colonies and lost children. They got no stimulation except what the v 



all but one. I will now proceed togive you the result der ived from the sugar I fed them. The sugar item 



of the experiment, as copied from my memoran- is as follows: 



dum-not in detail, however, as I fear it would Fed during April and May 30 pounds. 



make my report too long. " " July 62 



June 7, the hive in question swarmed; and know- " \[ August. "tSJ !! 



ing that it would swarm no more, as the queen-cells " " October V.V .15(1 " 



were cut down after the first queen hatched, I di- 



vided them during June into nine colonies, placing Total 850 pounds. 



them in one-story hives, contracting them by divi- iili_ /2 cents ' 



sion-boards to the necessary space. My queens $70.00 



then gave me some trouble, for I never before lost T extracted 45 pounds from the combs left by the 



so many during mating time. Some of them were bees that died, which contained 32 pounds of sugar, 



caught by bee-birds. I take the following note or its money equivalent, $2.00, leaving the total cost 



from my memorandum: of sugar used, $68.00. My net profit then was $162. 



June 27.— Only two of the eight queens of the ex- Had last year been such a year as 1886, or even 



penment hive are laying. such a year as this, and had I known what I do now, 



The following month I gave them frames of foun- I could more easily have increased the one to 100 



dation as they needed them, and often they were with the same amount of sugar than I did last year 



not full frames, for I was compelled to cut the to 61, and I am satisfied I would not have lost any 



foundation into four starters, for fear I should run in wintering. But even this increase seems in- 



out altogether. credible. Supposing the population of the earth to 



August 3 I commenced dividing the aforesaid be fifteen hundred millions, this ratio of increase 



nine hives, which had from seven to ten frames in for six years would furnish every man, woman, 



each, by taking two frames of hatching brood each and child on the globe with a fraction over 5H colo- 



day from the two hives that could spare them best, nies each. 



and putting them in nuclei, made deep enough to If there is any thing you would like to have ex- 

 admit of feeding inside, on top of the frames. I plained in detail, put your queries in the form of 

 then closed the entrance of each one as soon as questions, and 1 will answer them very readily, 

 made, and let it remain so until the second night Wbigville, O, May 30, 1889. Henry Large. 



about twilight, and sometimes until the third night. If we understand you, friend L., you com- 



After the first ten days I was able to mature queen- menced June 7 with a single colony of bees 



cells every day, and replace any that might have and its swarm. The parent and the swarm 



been cut down or otherwise delayed, in this way I were again divided so as to make nine. 



made one and two nuclei a day, sometimes none, as These nine would probably be fair- sized 



for instance a wet day or Sunday. Of course, I re- two-frame nuclei, each nucleus containing, 



placed every frame of brood taken out, with a perhaps, a pound of bees and one frame of 



frame of foundation; and to each nucleus, when brood. The nine were then built lip to tol- 



made, I also gave a frame. Thus i worked on till erably good-sized colonies as fast as they 



