32 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



PROFITS IN TAKING BEES FROM TREES 



BY ELIAS FOX 



T have been reading your comments on 

 taking bees from trees. Now, I am in no 

 position to tell upon what your ideas are 

 based; but they are surely not based on 

 facts — at least as applied to my experience, 

 which was set forth in Gleanings some 

 years ago, and again in my comments upon 

 the writings of Mr. Chadwiek, of California. 



As to whether or not it was profitable to 

 save bees from trees when cut, I thought I 

 had proven conclusively that it was; but, 

 judging from your conclusions, Mr. Chad- 

 wick's ideas, based upon guesswork, were 

 accepted in preference to mine, based upon 

 a personal and practical experience ; but, 

 no matter. I know I am right, and pre- 

 sume I have had as much practical experi- 

 ence as any man in the United States, and 

 that is taking in a lot of territory. I realize 

 it, and I am willing to take back numbers 

 of Gleanings on your file and compare 

 notes with anybody along this line. 



All of my transferring from trees to hives 

 has been done in the fall, and most of them 

 late at that, and as late as November 27. 

 I have yet my first colony to lose in winter- 

 ing, so taken. Many of them have given me 

 100 lbs. of choice extracted honey the fol- 

 lowing season, and had plenty left for 

 wintering. Only a few years ago I cut 

 fourteen trees in the fall, and out of the 

 trees cut I saved ten good colonies. Some- 

 times a tree will break in falling where no 

 small trees are handy to let them fall upon, 

 and in such cases a queen may be lost or a 

 portion of the bees mashed. At such times 

 T doubled ; but you can see that the per cent 

 of such was small when I had ten good 

 swarms out of the fourteen ; and the beauty 

 of it was, I had ten good colonies the next 

 spring; and when fall came I had twenty 

 good stocks and 1000 lbs. of fine honey. 



Now, who, in the face of this, can say it 

 is not wisdom to transfer bees from trees 

 cut in the fall? I have never done this, 

 simply because I have never had the oppor- 

 tunity; but I will bet some money that I can 

 transfer a swarm in this manner in Decem- 

 ber or January, and save them. When you 

 look at it from a reasonable standpoint, 

 why not? If trees are cut after the brood 

 is all hatched you have exactly the same 

 conditions that you have in the hive — viz., 

 a colony of young bees, and, as a rule, a 

 young queen ; and if properly done they 

 stand just as good a chance to survive the 

 winter and build up early in the season as 

 if they were hatched in the hive. 



So far as adjusting themselves to new 



surroundings, it has no ill effect whatever; 

 ard 1 wish to relate my first attempt in this 

 direction. 



An old experienced bee-hunter found a 

 tree that he knew was useless, sold it to a 

 man running a hardware store in the village 

 of Hillsboro, and the tree was in sight of 

 the village. The purchaser asked me to help 

 liim cut it, saying he would divide with me. 

 I told liim I did not care for a division, but 

 he was welcome to the honey, and I would 

 take the bees and empty combs. This was 

 highly satisfactory to him; and when we 

 cut it and opened it up there was a little 

 bunch of bees and a nice young queen. I 

 actually believe a quart cup would have held 

 every bee (though we might not have been 

 able to get the queen in). They had two 

 pieces of comb, a little larger than my hand, 

 which had been filled with brood, though all 

 were hatched. There was no honey. 



The purchaser sat there on the little log, 

 about ten inches in diameter, looking at the 

 contents, and finally said, " Well, Elias, you 

 know what the contract was; help yourself." 



To show that I was game I proceeded to 

 drive the little yellow-banded fellows into 

 my box, and picked up the two pieces of 

 comb, and away we went (on Sunday at 

 that as that was the only time he could get 

 away ) . 



When I reached home I prepared a hive 

 — I think with four frames of honey taken 

 from an upper story, and the way those 

 little fellows took possession was not slow. 

 I took them to my yard, two miles from the 

 tree, and they went into the cellar with the 

 rest later; and when brought out in the 

 spring they were as bright as the day they 

 were put in. 



They built the hives up rapidly, and were 

 a nice colony when clover was ready, and at 

 the close of basswood I extracted 100 lbs. 

 of honey from them, and they had plenty 

 for winter, but tliey did not swarm. 



Now, come on, brother bee-hunters, who 

 don't rob the bees and leave them to starve 

 in the woods. Let us settle this question 

 once for all. 



Union Center, Wis. 



[Perhaps our statements referred to in 

 the foregoing were rather too sweeping; but 

 we had in mind advice for beginners rather 

 than for experts. We consider our corres- 

 pondent an expert in taking bees from trees, 

 and we believe, that he can do what many 

 others should not attempt to do along this 

 line. — Ed.] 



