292 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 



bee-editors tell us puncture the skin so that the bees can suck 

 the juice. 



I have also had bees to work on my grapes to such an ex- 

 tent that the damage was serious, and at such times I never 

 could see the birds, wasps, and hornets, that so obliginsly 

 came and punctured the skin for them. I also have watched 

 the bees at such times, and have seen them alight on a whole 

 grape, whose skin was unpunctured, and when the bee left 

 the grape the puncture vyas visible. 



Now, Mr. Editor, you knew better than to make the as- 

 sertion that a bee could not puncture the skin of a grape — for 

 if such is the case, will you please tell us how they sometimes 

 enlarge the entrances to their hives when too small ? Do they 

 hire their second cousins — the wasps and •hornets — or do they 

 get the birds to peck the wood away ? 



A few years ago, if I remember rightly, Dr. C. C. Miller 

 and Mrs. L. Harrison had quite a controversy on this matter, 

 of how the bees managed to enlarge the entrances to their 

 hives when necessary. Dr. Miller said they had a biter and 

 bit the wood away ; and Mrs. Harrison just as earnestly as- 

 serted that they did not have a biter, but that they had a 

 picker, and picked the wood away. Now, I am not quarrel- 

 ing with the Doctor or the lady, but both are good authority 

 among bee-keepers, and it doesn't make any difference 

 whether the bees have a biter or a picker, the same instru- 

 ment that enables them to cut away the hard wood of a hive 

 will enable them to puncture the soft skin of a grape or other 

 fruit. 



In the fall of 1S65, I purchased a copy of " Langstroth 

 on the Honey-Bee," and studied it during the winter, and the 

 next spring I transferred some of my bees from their box- 

 hives into Langstroth hives, and, as recommended in the 

 book, I tied the combs with cord, and the bees cut the cord to 

 pieces, and carried it out before they had properly fastened 

 the combs, and I had a sorry mess on my hands. I don't 

 know whether the bees used a biter or a picker to tear that 

 cord to pieces, but I firmly believe that they did not hire any 

 wasps or hornets to do the work for them, and that the same 

 instrument that enabled them to cut that cord to pieces could 

 be used to cut the skin of any kind of fruit. 



Along about the summer of 1870, before sections came 

 into use, we used 5-pound boxes in which our bees stored their 

 surplus honey. It was an extraordinarily good season for 

 honey, and I ran short of 5-pound boxes, and made boxes of 

 thin lumber ; these boxes were 5 inches wide and 16 inches 

 long, with a pasteboard bottom, in which were cut holes to fit 

 the holes in the honey-boards on the hives. There were some 

 80 of those boxes, and the bees cut the pasteboard bottoms to 

 pieces and carried them out of the hives, and I don't believe 

 that they hired the wasps and hornets to help them do it, but 

 that they did it with their biter or picker, and the same biter 

 or picker that enabled them to tear that pasteboard to pieces, 

 would enable them to tear open the soft skin of a grape, or 

 any other fruit. 



Of later years, we have been using sections in the surplus 

 arrangements on our hives, and we cover some of them with 

 enameled cloth, placing the smooth side down, and we have 

 had several of those covers eaten through by the bees, and I 

 firmly believe that it would not be any more of a task for bees 

 to eat through the smooth skin of a grape than for them to 

 eat through the cloth. 



There are other points in that comment that I would like 

 to notice, but it would require too much time and space, but I 

 want to say that it is not to be wondered at that horticul- 

 turists are gettiug disgusted at the patronizing manner in 

 which bee-keepers seek to teach them about their own busi- 

 ness, and insinuate that they (the horticulturists) lack the 

 brains necessary to know their own business. 



[See page 296. — Ed.J Muscatine, Iowa. 



Working Weak Colouies for Comb Honey. 



BV G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Soon after writing my last article for the American Bee 

 Journal, I received a letter from a correspondent telling how 

 glad he was that I was to write a few articles on working bees 

 so as to secure comb honey, and desiring that I would give an 

 article on how he could best work weak colonies so as to secure 

 comb honey from them, as many of his colonies were coming 

 out weak this year. After reading this letter I came to the 

 conclusion that I had best give an article on this subject, 

 although I had not intended so to do. 



In going over the apiary for the first time in the spring, 

 as spoken of on page 194, I do so by beginning on one side of 

 the yard and opening the first hive on the first row, and thus 

 continuing, taking row by row, so that there may be system to 

 the work, and should I not get over the yard in one day, or be 

 called away from some cause, I may know just where I left 

 off, etc. If the bees have not wintered well (as evidently our 

 correspondent's bees have not, else they would not be weak), 

 I may find this first colony has brood in only two frames, and 

 only small patches at that, while the little honey there is in 

 the frames is scattered throughout the hive. To best fix them, 

 I take the two frames having the brood in and set them close 

 to one side of the hive, and then take all the other combs 

 (after brushing the bees off which may be straggling on them) 

 to the shop. After getting a comb well filled with honey from 

 the shoo, which was leftover from the previous season, I re- 

 turn and place it close beside the other two combs having the 

 brood, after which a division-board is nicely adjusted to suitthe 

 requirements of the little colony, when the quilts are carefully 

 tucked about them on top and down the side of the division- 

 board, and the entrance to the hive is now regulated so but 

 one or two bees can pass at a time, and is so fixed that it comes 

 beyond the division-board, thus shutting off the cool outside 

 air from coming directly upon the bees. 



I now place a small stone in such a position on the "cover 

 that it tells me in the future at a glance that this is a weak 

 colony and how it is fixed, when I pass on to the next. 



This colony proves a good one, and needs no fixing save 

 as I have already given in the articles before this. 



The next one proves to be hardly a fair colony, and has 

 brood in only three or four combs, hence should be treated 

 similarly to the first, except that a frame of honey is placed 

 on either side of the brood, for such colonies are often apt to 

 get short of stores, as they have few bees to gather from the 

 early flowers, and are feeding much brood in proportion to the 

 number of old bees in the hive. 



In going over the yard the second lime, I commence at 

 the same place I did when first looking the bees over, and 

 upon opening the hive I look for the queen to see if her wings 

 are clipped. This clipping part I forgot to speak of in the 

 previous articles. In working for comb honey we are quite 

 apt to have swarms, and if the queen has her wings in perfect 

 condition she may go off with the swarm to the woods, or we 

 be bothered with swarms uniting, or climbing high trees after 

 swarms, etc. I know some do not favor queens with clipped 

 wings, but after an experience with them both ways, I still 

 adhere to the practice, and believe, all things considered, that 

 it is one of the things which pays in the apiary. 



If I find the queen has not been clipped, I now cut her 

 wing, which, being done, I observe the brood in the two 

 frames, and if I find it near one end of the frames, I change 

 ends with one of the frames, which causes the bees to fill the 

 other ends with brood. If there is still plenty of honey the 

 hive is closed, the stone put on another part of the cover to 

 the hive to tell what was done there last, and a tnark made to 

 show that the queen has her wing clipped. 



How tke next or full colony is treated, I told you about in 

 my last article. 



