506 



THE AMEBIC A2J BEE JOURNAL. 



Thirteen of them swarmed once, June 

 23 to July 9. 1 have now from them 

 31 colonies. July 15, 1 cut the queen- 

 cells from the 5 colonies that had not 

 swarmed. 



This experiment shows more favor- 

 able results from wintering, packed on 

 summer stands. 



Eocktord,^D Ills., July 2-5, 1885. 



Plowman. 



Marketing Honey— A Caution. 



C. H. DIBBERN. 



In most localities August is rather 

 a quiet one for the bees. The first or 

 white honey harvest is past, and if 

 for any reason the bee-keeper has 

 failed to secure a fair crop, the oppor- 

 tunity has now past. The season 

 was so late and cold that it has been 

 very difficult to get the bees in the 

 best condition to gather the honey 

 when it came. Only strong colonies 

 will store any surplus honey, and to 

 get these at the right time has been 

 the important problem to solve. 

 Swarming commenced late, and only 

 strong colonies with us have swarmed 

 at all. In the amount of honey pro- 

 duced the case is much the same ; 

 only strong colonies have produced 

 any surplus. The crop, from present 

 indications, will be a very moderate 

 one. In the first place, only about 

 one-fourth of the bees all over the 

 Northern States survived the winter 

 and early spring. The most colonies 

 were so weak that the honey flow was 

 well advanced before the bees could 

 store it rapidly, and the prospect now 

 is that the flow is nearly ended. Re- 

 ports from California are very gloomy, 

 and the prospect there is that there 

 will be little or none to ship. In 

 looking the country over and consid- 

 ing the great loss in wintering, and 

 the peculiar season, I do not think 

 that much more than one-half the 

 amount of honey will be produced 

 that there was last year, when only a 

 poor crop was gathered. 



Now, what about the honey mar- 

 ket V If you have been fortunate 

 enough to secure a fair crop, do not 

 be in a hurry to sell it at the nearest 

 store for a small price. There is an 

 increasing demand for the nicest 

 houey, and such will bring a fair price 

 if properly marketed. The worst 

 trouble is with those that have but 

 little to sell, and will bring it to town 

 as soon as taken off, and sell for what- 

 ever is offered. These lots are usually 

 in poor shape, and do not greatly 

 affect honey in nice packages. Occa- 

 sionally a very nice lot will be brought 

 to town and sold for a song. That 

 usually spoils the market for the sea- 

 son, and the larger bee-keeper Hnds it 

 necessary to ship his honey to some 

 distant market. While everything is 

 so cheap we cannot expect to get a 

 high price for our honey, but in view 

 of the limited amount secured, we 

 ought to insist on a fair price. 



The bees still require some atten- 

 tion this month. Keep watch of colo- 

 nies that have swarmed. If after IP 

 days after swarming they are found 

 gathering idly about the entrance 



while others are working, look them 

 over and see that they have a laying 

 queen. If no queen is present, one 

 should be given ; if none is at hand, a 

 frame with a queen-cell ; if that can- 

 not be found, then a comb with brood 

 and eggs should be given. All colo- 

 nies sliould still be kept strong. 

 There is yet a prospect for a good 

 crop of fall honey, and we must have 

 our bees in good condition if we hope 

 to secure it. This fall honey is yellow, 

 or dark, and will not bring as good a 

 price as the white. In some sections 

 this late crop is abundant, and is a 

 great help to the bees, as it causes 

 them to rear brood late, which are the 

 bees to winter over. Keep a sharp 

 look to your honey, and if any signs 

 of the moth, give it more sulphur. If 

 you still have empty comb, it had bet- 

 ter be melted into wax if any signs of 

 the moth appear ; if not, store such in 

 a cool, dry cellar, and hang them an 

 inch apart. If not closely watched, 

 the moths will surely destroy them. 

 Milan, ^3 Ills. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Direct Introduction of Queens. 



ABEL GRESH, (23—51). 



In answer to S. Simmins article on 

 this subject, on page 472 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1S85, 1 would say that I 

 am fully convinced that the method 

 there described is not a safe one, and 

 I doubt if I could succeed with it in a 

 single instance, unless it might hap- 

 pen under peculiar circuinstances. 

 After giving my experience on page 

 521 for 18S4, 1 found I was too confi- 

 dent of my success, even after the 

 heroic treatment I gave the bees to 

 compel them to accept a queen ; I 

 found, when looking her up, that she 

 had been roughly handled, as she had 

 one of her limbs totally disabled, and 

 I superseded her at the close of the 

 season. Again, this season, I had a 

 queen fail in the midst of the swarm- 

 ing season, and I found the colony in 

 such a condition as to be wholly un- 

 able to remedy the failure by rearing a 

 young queen to supersede the old one. 



I waited until I had a laying queen 

 in a 3-fraine nucleus, then hoped to 

 be able to introduce her direct by 

 transferring the three frames in a 

 body, and exchanging others of the 

 hive with a colony that had recently 

 swarmed, to reform my nucleus, and 

 so mix the bees as to take the " fight'' 

 out of them. I carried out the pro- 

 gramme by removing the old queen, 

 carried my nucleus, in its hive, to the 

 stand, and carried the hive for mixing 

 with to the same place. I flist re- 

 moved three combs, setting them out- 

 side, set in the comb containing the 

 queen, and placed the other two from 

 the nucleus, one on each side, and 

 then alternated the balance of the 

 combs with combs and brood from 

 the second hive, then closed it, and 

 alternated the balance of the combs 

 in the second hive and the nucleus, 

 and set each on its proper stand. 



I then opened the hive in which I 

 had placed the queen, to see if she 

 was molested, and found she had 



traveled to one of the old combs, 

 originally belonging to the hive, 

 where the old bees attacked her, and 

 began to ball her. I rescued her, and 

 after caging 12 hours, she was ac- 

 cepted. I have never lost a queen by 

 introducing on Frank Benton's 

 method, though I had to re-cage one 

 five times, but as a rule 24 hours cag- 

 ing is sufficient ; and I need no quicker 

 method, especially since it is such a 

 safe one. 



I have no doubt Mr. Simmins suc- 

 ceeds in the manner he describes ; 

 and where it succeeds, the practice is 

 desirable. But as for myself, I judge 

 that many conditions "must change 

 before I can hope to succeed by it. 

 In this connection it will pay any one 

 to turn to page 4-53 of the Bee Jour- 

 nal for 1884, and read " What do we 

 Know," by G. M. Doolittle, which 

 treats of a point similar to the one 

 under consideration here. It will be 

 found that his success is not always 

 assured when working on plans differ- 

 ent from the old stand-by ways. An 

 old hand is not likely to suffer much 

 in trying srch experiments, but to a 

 beginher who, perhaps, is risking the 

 only queen he has ou hand, and she 

 may be quite valuable, I would say, 

 "don't do it." 



AVeedville, <i Pa. 



Spirit of the Farm. 



My Experience in Hiving Swarms. 



ARNOLD DELFFS. 



Though the swarming season is 

 mainly over, and the very few swarms 

 that may still be expected hardly ever 

 amount to much, unless assisted by 

 brood, empty combs, comb founda- 

 tion, or (night) feeding, 1, neverthe- 

 less, deem it of importance to make a 

 few remarks on that subject ; the 

 more so, as under circumstances — ex- 

 ceptional, it is true— hiving may be a 

 very dangerous undertaking. 

 ■ Most people know that bees, when 

 filled with honey, are disinclined to 

 sting ; also, that they, ere starting, 

 fill themselves with that substance, 

 carrying enough to last them about; 

 three or four days. They also go 

 " fattened up," so to say, for comb 

 building, having prepared themselves 

 beforehand by rest and liberal feed- 

 ing. But all armies have their strag- 

 glers. A few bees almost invariably 

 fail to provide themselves with ra- 

 tions ; these are exceedingly ill-na- 

 tured, and almost sure to sting; be- 

 sides, the most peaceful bee will sting 

 when becoming entangled in your 

 hair or beard. Ordinarily speaking, 

 incredible liberties may be taken 

 witli a swarm of bees ; but, as I shaU 

 proceed to show, it is at times unsafe 

 to put too much confidence in an 

 "untested" swarm- i. e., one you 

 have not tested as to their tempers. 



About two weeks ago one of my 

 neighbors, whilst plowing one mile 

 from here, came to inform me that a 

 remarkably strong swarm was hang- 

 ing about 16 feet above the ground, 

 on a small ash tree, which could be 

 ascended by means of a cedar close 

 by. The evening was hot, and both 



