568 



THE AMERICA]^ BEE JOURNAL. 



Journal of Horticulture. 



Syrian Bees TJninanageable. 



A LANARKSHIRE BEE-KEEPER. 



During the month of September, 

 1884. 1 arranged my colonies to stand 

 the winter and spring, marking tliose 

 hives whi)se colonies I wished to 

 swarm and those not. Not only have 

 I had my wishes fulMlled, but notwith- 

 standing the very untoward and cold 

 season they have done well— far be- 

 yond my " expectations. The only 

 honey-storing days the bees have had 

 this year, since April, were the days 

 ■of the last week of June, and froQi 

 July L'Oth to the 29th, with two wet 

 ■days during that time. At present 

 my colonies have stored about 70 

 ■pounds of surplus honey ; with a con- 

 tinuance of this tine weather for 

 another week, each should yield 100 

 pounds. 



My little apiary giving so much sat- 

 isfaction, is not only cheering to me, 

 but will, I hope, be encouraging to 

 •others. There are many bees near 

 me, and if the bee-keeping readers 

 reverse the foregoing picture, they 

 will have an idea what they are like. 

 Good management has this year given 

 abundance of honey, but where the 

 management has been different, with 

 the variable .season, the result is the 

 same. 



The introduction of foregn varie- 

 ties of bees and their crosses has 

 necessitated changes in their man- 

 agement. Their tempers, too, are 

 §reatly changed from the aboriginal 

 lack bee, and so much so with some 

 varieties and crosses that bee-keeping 

 to many is an annoyance instead of a 

 . pleasure. 



In consequence of many imported 

 Ligurian bees showing both temper 

 and markings of the Cyprian bees, 

 togetlier with an impaired constitu- 

 tion consequent on rearing queens 

 from weak colonies, they fail to give 

 the satisfaction which they did when 

 first imported. The Carhiolan bees 

 are not only good honey-gatherers and 

 good breeders, but are very mild- 

 tempered and hardy, requiring neither 

 smoke, carbolic acid, nor a bee-veil 

 when manipulating them. Their only 

 fault is the long time tliey tly when 

 swarming, and tlieir strong incliini- 

 tion to return to the place upon which 

 they alighted. if at all roughly handled. 

 Second or after-swarms, by having a 

 great many queens, are troublesome, 

 clustering sometimes in a dozen 

 places, and will send off a swarm from 

 two or three combs with full scope of 

 a colony. The Cyprians and Syrians 

 are liable to do the same, but are no 

 exception to the old race, and but 

 prove that giving room while young 

 •queens have been neglected, will not 

 prevent swarming. 



Of the Syrians, the only fault 

 noticeable, like the Cyprians, is their 

 tenderness during winter. Their 

 high, bugle-like buzz when on the 

 wing, made them very charming. 

 iJuring the low temperature 1 had no 

 difficulty with them, but a change of 

 the weather brought a cliange over 

 them. They swarmed, and while 

 doing so, lost their queen and became 



vicious, entering other hives. Think- 

 ing the queen might still be in the 

 hive, I divided the colony into live, 

 but failed to find her. The ones oc- 

 cupying the old site, and which had 

 the most bees, and the one likely to 

 have the queen, I excised all royal 

 cells, as they were building worker 

 and no drone comb. I expected to 

 find her all right the next day. but 

 judge of my surprise when I found 

 that the newly-made worker-comb 

 contained upwards of a hundred 

 empty queen-cells— a proof that the 

 queen was not there, and a still better 

 proof that bees do not shift eggs from 

 one cell to another ; and bees never 

 had a better opportunity than in this 

 case. The other four were examined 

 with the same result — building worker 

 comb — a case without parallel in our 

 native bees. 



During these manipulations, which 

 were all performed in a cautious man- 

 ner, tlie bees stung my hands dread- 

 fully, entering ray pockets and shoes, 

 and stinging my feet through my 

 stockings. They also went over the 

 hedge, and stung one who had been 

 stung well every year for sixty years, 

 thus negativing by ocular demonstra- 

 tion the inoculation theory. Thanks 

 to a bee- veil, my face was' not stung, 

 but my hands were, and swelled very 

 much— quite a new thing for me ; be- 

 sides, there was much pain. If the 

 operator could keep perfectly steady 

 and calm, he would escape many 

 stings, but the slightest shake of the 

 hand irritates them to the attack. 

 Had they confined their stinging to 

 those in or about the apiary, 1 would 

 have been more hopeful" and less 

 sorry ; but they attacked people on 

 the public road a long way froui their 

 hive, and entered dwelling houses 

 and stimg people there. Simulta- 

 neous with this stinging, and the 

 thermometer standing at from 70^ to 

 84" in the shade, and the height of 

 the honey season, they attacked my 

 strongest Carniolan colony, carrying 

 unmolested its honey away as fast as 

 the latter colony carried it in. 



The stinging and robbing had to be 

 stopped, and I acted as judge and 

 jury, sentencing tliem to be impris- 

 oned without either bread or water 

 for five days. Their incarceration 

 during so high a temperature would 

 have proved fatal, had not excellent 

 ventilation kept them comfortable, 

 but evidently not quiet. Every one 

 of them set to work and proved them- 

 selves as good prison-breakers as 

 they were thieves. The whole of 

 them in a very short time had re- 

 duced the slide of their doorway an 

 eighth of an inch, while one of them 

 actually pushed aside a board on the 

 top of the frames 18 inches long by 5 

 broad and % of an inch thick, and 

 made their escape ; while another 

 pushed a half-inch slide mouth-piece 

 aside and commenced their robbing 

 and stinging with renewed vigor. 

 JSeing sorry to see honest bees robbed 

 by the brigands, I passed a new sen- 

 tence and carried it into effect, and 

 had them banished several miles from 

 any hives, amidst clover fields, pro- 

 fuse in flower and aroma, and a para- 

 dise for both man and bees. On being 



released from their hive, they attacked 

 me again, for which I would not have 

 cared, but they caused a lot of men in 

 a hay-tield to make a hasty retreat, as 

 I did myself, to escape a reprimand 

 and be a witness to seeing the whole 

 of them being toppled into the rivulet 

 from its brink on which they stand. 

 Many of these Syrians were left be- 

 hindwhich have entered other hives, 

 and I am sorry to say these refugees 

 are in no way altered, stinging and 

 robbing as they did when in their own 

 hives. The Cyprians I could manage, 

 but the Syrians are unmanageable. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The "Contraction Method." 



DWIGHT FUKNESS. 



In an article on page 536, Mr. W. 

 H. Stewart objects to the " contrac- 

 tion method," as described on page 

 437, and says : '" I there find little 

 that I would dare to put into prac- 

 tice." As I have dared to use this 

 method with 12 or 15 colonies in 1884, 

 and some 60 colonies the present sea- 

 son, permit me to answer the objec- 

 tions offered by Mr. S., and tell why I 

 intend to continue the practice. 



Mr. Stewart seems to forget that 

 this method applies to comb honey 

 production only, and argues from the 

 stand-point of the extracted honey 

 producer. All can readily see that 

 these 5-frame colonies are in the best 

 possible shape for winter and spring ; 

 stores are within reach and heat 

 economized. Now, by inserting one 

 empty comb at a lime in the centre of 

 tlie brood-nest, when we want bees 

 reared for the coming honey harvest, 

 and reversing the combs also when 

 necessary, we get the full complement 

 of 8 Langatroth frames solidly filled 

 with brood. This secures the devel- 

 opment of 2,000 bees per day, satisfies 

 the needs of the average queen, and 

 gives bees enougli for comb honey 

 production. Swarmiu" usually takes 

 place in the month of June. The new 

 swarm is hived on 5 Langstrotli 

 frames (sometimes only 4) of founda- 

 tion, and by the Ileddon plan of pre- 

 venting after-swarms, the entire field- 

 working force of the colony is trans- 

 ferred to the new swarm. The sec- 

 tions are also removed to the new 

 swarm at the time of hiving. In this 

 new colony we have imusually favor- 

 able conditions for rapid honey stor- 

 ing—a large force of workers, but 

 little brood to care for for some days, 

 partly finished sections above, and no 

 room for honey below. After seeing 

 colonies so treated, literally piling up 

 the honey, and outstripping all others, 

 does any one wonder that I favor this 

 management V 



Hut says one, " The queen's proliflc- 

 ness will soon be checked for want of 

 room to deposit eggs." Well, that, is 

 ji:st what is intended. Of what 

 earthly use are a great lot of bees that 

 hatch after the honey-flow' is overV 

 These five reversible frames are first 

 to be filled out, clear to the wood, 

 with brood. We get five full combs 

 of brood instead of three, as Mr. S. 

 seems to expect, becau.se the " dum- 



