710 



GLEANII^GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Skpt. 



that he hatl to hive, and that came out one Satur- 

 day for the first time, and they went back: but they 

 came out Sunday ag-ain, and he put them back into 

 the old hive. They stayed that day, but they came 

 out ajrain Monday, and he put them into a new 

 hive, but they would not stay. They went back in- 

 to the old hive ag-ain. Tuesday they came out 

 ag-ain. He put them into the new hive, and put a 

 frame of brood into the hive, and they stayed. 

 They did not alig-ht in the same place any of the 

 four times; and the last time they swarmed they 

 alig-hted on the corner of a fence. We had one 

 swarm that came out just as a hard shower was 

 coming up. It had commenced raining- before they 

 had all got out, and it was raining- quite hard before 

 papa had them hived. It was the hardest shower 

 of the season. We had another colony that did not 

 swarm until two or three days after papa knew that 

 the queen-cell was sealed. 



Papa has taken otf .510 lbs. of white honey, and has 

 extracted nearly 80 lbs. One day he had a couple 

 of queens tliat hatched from the newly cut-out 

 queen-cells. He had a couple of colonies that had 

 just swarmed, and he thought he would let them 

 run in at the entrance. He made a mistake, and 

 let them both iiin in at the same entrance. A day 

 or so afterward he was looking for them, and found 

 one of them in front of the hive. 



Harford, Pa. Clara B. Lindsey, age 11. 



THE SEASON OF 1887. 



SOMETHING FROM OUR YOUNG FRIEND CHARLIE 

 GREENFIELD. 



R. ROOT:— As the honey season has long- 

 been past, I will now send in my report for 

 1887. This season was the poorest one for 

 bees ever known here. Bees came out of 

 winter quarters in fine condition. The 

 maples came in bloom March 6th and the bees be- 

 gan work on them quite lively, gathering honey as 

 well as pollen. The first part of the season up to 

 June was cold, cloudy, and breezy, with only occa- 

 sional warm spells, and the nights were quite cool. 

 Consequently all this time bees made but a living. 

 Then white clover cpened up and I never saw as 

 heavy a crop of bloom, liut for all that, it contain- 

 ed but very little honey. The bees worked on it 

 som", slowly collecting honey, and in course of 

 time most oC the hives were fairly supplied. Bass- 

 wood opened up in a dry time,|and'did.not last long. 

 Not more than one-third of the trees produced 

 bloom. All of the bees raised drones early in the 

 spring; but buckeye bloom [stopped suddenly, and 

 all the drones were killed. Immediately after they 

 were killed, locust began blooming, and a second 

 lot was raised. We did not have a swarm this sea- 

 son, and we did not get much surplus. After bass- 

 wood closed, a few scattered wild flowers kept the 

 bees in honey for brood-rearing for a while, but 

 they soon quieted down. Then came the long- 

 scorching* drought of several weeks, during which 

 time the bees did nothing. At present, all of the 

 bees are gathering immense quantities of pollen, 

 and a little honey. All of our colonies are very 

 strong, and are raising brood heavily. Although 

 nearly September, two colonies have drones Hying 

 strong. These drones were hatched out lately, and 

 were reared during the drought. The bees show u') 

 tendency to kill them. The hives are populous, and 



have good queens. I never saw bees less inclined 

 to rob than this year. I rarely ever see a robber 

 prying about. I have done lots of feeding lately in 

 the day time, and have examined hives in the mid- 

 dle of the day, but never had a robber to bother. 



BEES STEALING EGGS. 



In the spring- we had one weak colony that re- 

 mained so throughout the season. It had a (jueen, 

 and raised brood right along; but owing to the 

 poor season it did not increase much. It no more 

 than made a living all summer. In June I looked 

 into it and saw some sealed brood. I did not look at 

 it again until the last of July. Then I examined it. 

 There was no queen in it, nor any brood or eggs. 

 There were two queen-cells containing larvte. 

 With the exception of these two larvte there was 

 not an egg nor any brood in the hive. In due time 

 the queens were hatched. Now, the question is. 

 Where did the eggs come from? I do not know 

 of any way that they could have obtained them, 

 only by stealing them from some other hive. 



BEES DYING AROUND HIVES IN JUNE. 



Along in June, several swarms suddenlj' began to 

 die. The bees would crawl out and die on the 

 ground in front of the hives. I exatnined them, 

 and found them all to be as I supposed, young bees, 

 because all had a clean bright appearance, and all 

 had perfect wings. They were all of their natural 

 color and size, and not one thing could I see wrong 

 with them. In the morning they would be scatter- 

 ed around the entrance. Of nineteen colonies, 

 about half were atfected. I have seen the black, 

 shiny, nameless-diseased bees, but not one of these 

 was black. They were not dragged out, but they 

 crawled out of their own accord. It was not starva- 

 tion, for they had plenty of honey at the time. They 

 died for about a week, and ceased as suddenly as 

 they commenced, and I have never seen a trace of 

 it since. What do you suppose was the matter? 



Somerviile, O.. Aug. 28, 1887. C. L. Gheenfield. 



Friend G., in regard to bees stealing eggs, 

 I would suggest that the queen failed grad- 

 ually ; that is, she laid fewer and fewer 

 eggs, until tinally she laid only one or two a 

 day. These last one or two, the bees used 

 for those queen- cells ; therefore you discov- 

 ered there were no other eggs in the hive. 

 In regard to the young bees that came out 

 and died, 1 have seen something of the kind, 

 but I don't know that I can offer any ex- 

 planation, unless it is that the dearth of 

 honey might have caused them to neglect 

 giving the larva* the prop'.^r amount of nu- 

 triment, therefore they were so enfeebled 

 they died before they were able to fly. This 

 might have happened because the bees were 

 out of stores, say not more than 24 or 48 

 lionrs. just at a time when these young 

 bees in the larval state needed food. 1 once 

 cut a l)ee-tree in the woods, where not a 

 drop of honey of any kind could l)e found 

 in any of tiie combs. The 1)ees had been 

 living from day to day oji tiie honey tliey 

 obtained from tlie feeder in our hunting- 

 box ; and as we were a week or ten days in 

 finding them, they had probably been desti- 

 tute of stores for that length of time. Of 

 course, they h;id not a particle of brood. 

 Now, had they tried to rear brood under 

 such circumstances, I can readily imagine 

 the young bees might be so feeble they 

 woulil never be able to fly. 



