94 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



though we had to give away our extracted 

 honey. 



The second rule which I would urge upon 

 all apiarists is: Never permit the hive to be 

 xvithout empty cells in the brood pombs. 



We next come to consider the idleness of 

 the usually busy workers, the causes 

 which lead to it, and the remedies which 

 may be applied. 



The fact that bees are not always busy at 

 their legitimate business is known to all 

 apiarists. Who has not noticed the idle 

 cluster, when bloom is everywhere, and 

 when nectar bathes every tloral envelope? 

 Who has not been vexed in his apiary 

 labors, during a dearth of bloom, by swarms 

 of his little workers ever on the alert to add 

 to their stores ? And what novice has not 

 been sorely alarmed by the robbing wlaich 

 he has induced, by liis ignorance or care- 

 lessness at such times? That this idleness 

 is enforced is sliown by all literature, and 

 by the mauy current proverbs which are 

 adorned by reference to our pets of the 

 apiary: 



"How doth tke little busy bee 

 Improve each shining hour ?" 



Let US now inquire into the causes which 

 thus compel the active workers to a course 

 which is so contrary to their taste. 



CAUSES OF IDLENESS. 



1. We notice the most apjmrent cause — 

 absence of bloom, or the failure of flowers 

 to secrete honey. In all localities there are 



Eeriods— longer or shorter— when honey 

 loom is not. In some localities these 

 periods are so frequent or so protracted that 

 successful apiculture is quite impossible. 

 I have found, too, that during wet weather, 

 when raius were of daily or very frequent 

 occurrence, even the best honey plants 

 failed to secrete. Last summer, our white 

 clover season (during the entire month of 

 June) was a complete failure on this very 

 account. 



2. If the bees have too little room, or so 

 fill their hives as to perclude further stor- 

 ing, they must of course drink the bitter 

 draught of idleness, whose evil work is 

 shown by their dejected look, as they hang, 

 all forlorn, in front or beneath the hive. 



3. It is not infrequent that bees, especial- 

 ly if unshaded during the intense heat of 

 our summers, find their hives a veritable 

 furnace, which, despite all their efforts at 

 ventilation, become uninhabitable. Tliere 

 is a profusion of bloom and the precious 

 nectar fills every corolla tube. The bees 

 long to convey this to their homes, but their 

 hives being a very oven, as it were, they 

 must perforce forego the precious oppor- 

 tunity, when they show their utter dejec- 

 tion by their abject stupor as they cluster 

 outside their hives. 



4. Bees that become hopelessly queenless 

 —that is, lose their queen when there are 

 no eggs or brood to enable them to restore 

 the loss— often become totally demoralized. 

 In fact, so great is their discouragement 

 that their very nature and instincts become 

 reversed, and instead of being the " busy 

 bees," they are characterized by indiffer- 

 ence and idleness. 



.5, and last. Our bees may become dis- 

 couraged and idle, as the result of deple- 

 tion. They become weak, either from over- 

 swarming or other cause; beconui a prey to 

 robbers, or the bee-moth; and finally, los- 

 ing all heart, fold their arms (or wings), and 



in hopeless idleness, await their certain 

 doom. 



REMEDIES. 



Let us now consider the brighter ph^se 

 of our subject— the remedies for these evils, 

 which, as I shall show, are in easy reach of 

 the apiarist, and without which he might 

 well feel that the silver lining to the clouds 

 that hung above his business was all too 

 dim to keep hope alive. 



Of course, a wise location of the apiary 

 will do much to remedy the first evil, if 

 the region abounds in fruit trees, if white 

 clover is abundant, and even where it is 

 not, if there are yet standing the grand old 

 forests— God's first temples— with their 

 graceful maples, broad-spreading linn, and 

 beautiful tulip trees. If added to this there 

 are, hard by, ample marsh land abounding 

 in solidagos (golden-rods), asters, eupatori- 

 ums, (boneset), cereopsis (tick seed), bidens 

 (beggar-ticks), etc., etc.; then the apiarist 

 can liardly escape an annual experience, 

 which shall make him to rejoice in peace 

 and plenty. If the apiarist is not thus for- 

 tunate, he may yet hope to do much to 

 insure success. He can hardly escape fruit 

 blossoms and white clover, white alsike 

 clover, rape, black mustard, and mignon- 

 nette may be made to take the place of linn, 

 and may all be raised with profit for other 

 purposes, and in lieu of natural fall-bloom, 

 buckwheat and various mints, may be 

 grown; wliile the Rocky Mountain bee- 

 plant would serve a valuable auxiliary, and 

 may prove profitable to raise on account of 

 its seeds. 



The evil of damp, wet w^eather is one 

 with which it is hard to cope. Yet such 

 seasons are full of hope, as they promise 

 rich future bloom, when the days shall be 

 bright again. It is possible, too, that farther 

 investigation may reveal plants which shall 

 yield richly of honey, and yet be indepen- 

 dent of even the most copious rains. 



In the spring and during the interims of 

 honey secretion, all through the season, the 

 bees may be kept busy, and the queen thus 

 active, by feeding. This can be done at 

 slight expense, as ^ R> per day to a hive is 

 quite suificient, and 1 have proved repeated- 

 ly that it pays richly for the expense and 

 trouble. 



The second evil is so easily remedied that 

 we should hardly suppose it ever need 

 occur; and yet I feel safe in averring that 

 could I accurately state the amount of loss 

 from this cause each year, I should present 

 an array of figures that would startle you. 

 It is not only necessary that the bees have 

 room, but room they will utilize. Boxes, 

 tier upiui tier, may be placed above the 

 hive; and yet, if the bees for any cause fail 

 to enter them, they are as eftectually balked 

 in their industry, providing there is no 

 other space, as though there were no boxes. 

 This is one of the most common causes of 

 that outside clustering, which is so repel- 

 lant to the instincts of the bees and so vex- 

 atious to the apiarist. The remedy then is 

 to always provide in time of honey secre- 

 tion abundant room for storing; and if 

 boxes are used, place them very near the 

 brood combs, and if necessaiy introduce a 

 little comb with uncapped brood in it, so 

 that the bees may enter them. If they will 

 not enter them, some other arrangement 

 must be adopted, such as making use of 

 long hives, or half or full upper stories, in 

 which frames may be placed. 



