472 



THE AMElllCAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and labor, of both ourselves and the 

 bees. 



My hives are the same depth as the 

 Langstroth hive, and I now have 

 some of them four stories high, and 

 it makes me tremble every time 

 we get a high wind, although"! have 

 100 pounds of stone on them, and the 

 hives full of honey. If thev were 

 blown over and rolled down the hill, 

 it would ruin me, sure I I hope to 

 read of some good plitns in future 

 numbers of the Bee Journal, for 

 protection of apiaries against the 

 high winds. 



Orion,? Wis., July 17, 188.5. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



"Driving Bees,' Empty Combs, etc. 



J. H. ANDRE. 



I have read in the Bee .Journal 

 of several experiments in driving 

 bees ; some have succeeded well and 

 and some have not. Now, let us take 

 it for granted that the colony to be 

 operated on is in a box-hive (if it was 

 not, 1 suppose it would be divided), 

 well filled with bees and honey ; such 

 being the case, if boxes are put on in 

 two or three days they will be hlled 

 with bees. Take off the boxes and 

 set them aside, holes down, so the 

 bees cannot get out ; smoke tlie hive, 

 turn it over, place the new hive on 

 top of it, and drum out the bees ; put 

 the new hive in the place of the old 

 one, and move the old one away, put- 

 ting back the boxes containing the 

 bees. In doing it that way, the 

 drumming may be thorough to make 

 sure of the queen, and there will be 

 enough bees in the boxes to take care 

 of the brood, if they do not desert it. 



It is an easy matter, with a little 

 practice, to put foundation in a box- 

 hive. Cut it the Simplicitv or Lang- 

 stroth size, half or three-quarters of 

 an inch longer than the hive is wide, 

 turn it up at both ends and one side, 

 wax the hiye well, place the tirst 

 piece one inch from the side of the 

 hive, pressing the turned part down 

 solid, and place the next sheet l^^ or 

 IM inches from it. A wide, tliin 

 board held down straight and solid 

 will help get the foinidation in 

 straight, and a thin narrow one well 

 wetted will press the last pieces in. 



Driven swarms usually have a lay- 

 ing queen, and a colony prepared for 

 in this way will do well if driven late 

 in the season. Cut two sticks that 

 will just reach across the hive, press 

 them down until they just touch the 

 foundation crosswise, stick them fast 

 and nail them through the outside of 

 the hive. 



USING EMPTY COMBS. 



I used frames of brood to build up a 

 weak, queenless colonv, from a sti-ong 

 one that had been' hived on full 

 combs, and about the time the brood 

 began to liatch, I examined it, and 

 found it full of channels made bv 

 worms; it looked clean and neat with 

 sealed brood on both sides when given 

 to the weak colonv. The eggs of the 

 moth must have been in the comb 

 when the queen laid the eggs. Of 



course the combs had been given poor 

 care, but I supposed that they would 

 be cleaned out before the queens 

 would lay eggs in the cells containing 

 them. If that is the way empty combs 

 turn out, I want no more of them, 

 but will prefer foundation. I notice 

 a mistake in my article on page 440. 

 The side-pieces of the frames should 

 be IOJ4 inches, and the hive is a hang- 

 ing-frame hive ; that is why the cross 

 is put in. 



SQUEEZING BEE-STINGS. 



Mr. E. M. Coombs, page 444, is quite 

 right about squeezing out the poison 

 when stung by bees. I have prac- 

 ticed the plan for 20 years. If one 

 gets out blood or water, no bad effects 

 will follow ; if the blood will not start, 

 prick it at once and start it in that 

 way. If it is on the back of the hand 

 where it may be reached by the lips, 

 suck it hard, and the poison will be 

 nearly all drawn out. If this is prac- 

 ticed on some persons when stung on 

 the face or neck, shutting the teeth 

 on a small fold of skin will save much 

 suffering, and perhaps in some cases 

 it may save life. 



Lockwood,? N. Y. 



Prairie I'^armer. 



Sweet Clover, Storing Honey, etc. 



3IRS. L. HARRISON. 



The linden is now in full bloom, 

 and to-day the bees are holding high 

 carnival. The dry, hot wind ot yes- 

 terday was followed by gentle showers 

 in the evening, during the night, and 

 this morning. All nature is refreshed 

 and adorned in holiday attire. The 

 bloom of white clover will be pro- 

 longed by tlie recent rain, and sweet 

 clover will stool out abundantly ; the 

 latter is greatly on the increase in 

 this locality, and wherever it once 

 gains a foothold, it is sure to be found 

 blooming, year after year, when other 

 flowers are scarce. 



Bees now need very careful atten- 

 tion, and every effort ought to be 

 made to have them secure as much 

 while honey as possible. As fast as 

 sections are sealed, remove them, lest 

 their delicate whiteness be impaired 

 by tlie travel of the bees. Every un- 

 sealed cell will leak, cause stickiness, 

 and be an abomination to all who may 

 handle the honey. Where one-poiuid 

 sections are used, remove the sealed 

 ones and put those nearly completed 

 in their place. If the honey-flow 

 slackens, do not enlarge the surplus 

 space, but as fast as sealed sections 

 are removed, and those partly fllled put 

 In their place, conline the bees to 

 them ; and thus, if possible, have 

 them finished, for comb partly tilled is 

 of little value. 



When honey is removed from a 

 hive, put it where it will cure ; if it is 

 in moist cellars, it will get watery, 

 ooze from the cells, and be a nuisance. 

 After tryi'ig different rooms and cel- 

 lars, I meet with best success in a hot, 

 airy room. Some bee-keepers con- 

 struct a room or house with the 

 southern exposure of glass, to insure 

 heat, and have it well ventilated If 



the conditions are perfect, the honey 

 will noi ooze from the cells, but be 

 dry and free from drip. Others again 

 claim success in keeping honey in a 

 cool, airy place. Localities no doubt 

 differ in this respect, owing to the 

 humidity of the atmosphere, and 

 other causes not explained. 



If bees having a queen are shut in 

 a box, and put into a dark place for 48 

 hours, they will remain. In forming 

 nuclei where frames of bees and brood 

 are taken, the old bee.) return home, 

 not leaving enough for the nuclei. A 

 poor queen could be used in bMming 

 many nuclei, for as soon as the bees 

 are located, she may be removed, and 

 a queen-cell given them. The other 

 day some bees were clustered on the 

 outside of a hive, and wishing to 

 form a nucleus, I took two diminu- 

 tive frames of comb belonging to a 

 hive, in which a queen had been im- 

 ported, and dipped up a quantity of 

 bees. I put these frames into the 

 little hive with a sealed queen-cell, 

 and shut them up in the dark in the 

 cellar ; after fvo days I set them out- 

 doors where I wished them to stand, 

 and the bees remained. When the 

 queen is fertile and laying, she can be 

 introduced into any hive where a 

 queen is needed, giving them a queen- 

 cell. Bees accept other queen-cells, 

 even when they have queen-cells of 

 their own. 



Peoria,© Ills., July 6, 1885. 



For tbe American Bee JourcaL 



Direct Introduction of Queens. 



S. SIMMINS, 175—100). 



In all large apiaries, conducted 

 solely as a means of profit, the point 

 to be aimed at is, " IIow to perform 

 all operations with the greatest econ- 

 omy of time, labor, and material;" 

 hence in regard to one item in par- 

 ticular, which I have under considera- 

 tion at present, the subject of queen- 

 introduction, has been made a special 

 study by myself for a number of 

 years. The caging process retards 

 egg-laying, and occupies too much 

 time, especially where queens are 

 sliifted in the same yard. Feeling 

 the need of some alteration, I experi- 

 mented in several directions, but it 

 was not until 1880 that I succeeded in 

 establishing a system which enabled 

 me to inseirt queens into any hive at 

 the same operation the original one 

 was removed, and no notice was 

 taken of the change. The new queen 

 was inserted on a'comb of honey and 

 brood, surrounded by a number of 

 her own attendants, and the plan was 

 suggested to my mind by the fact that 

 two or more colonies could be safely 

 united by intermixing their respective 

 combs, while the bees remained clus- 

 tering on them, when the -one queen 

 left by the operator, would be accepted 

 as sovereign of all. 



For two whole seasons I continued 

 to experiment in the same direction, 

 and out of a large number of intro- 

 ductions during that time, not one 

 failure occurred. One queen was 

 actually removed during 1881 to more 

 lhnn six different hives, so each turn 



