472 



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Now in prosecuting this business, 

 one must not think it is devoid of un- 

 pleasant features ; such as some family 

 mistaking you for a peddler and slam- 

 ming the door quickly in your face ; 

 do not get mad, but rather pity the 

 family who has thus been deprived of 

 nature's choicest luxury. 



Rockaway, Ohio. 



MISSOURI. 



Tbe Season and Condition of 

 the Bees — Queens. 



Written for flie American Bee Journal 



BY J. A. MAKSH. 



I started this season with 1-3 colo- 

 nies, one having absconded. Soft 

 maple yielded honey on Christmas day. 

 One colony built about 24 square 

 inches of comb during January, in 

 which they put the finest maple syrup 

 I ever tasted. The}- did their own 

 boiling (as there was none being boiled 

 within 2 J miles), it being too clear for 

 the work of man ; also I had no hand 

 in it, except tapping the trees. Did 

 they '• digest" the water out ? 



Fruit-bloom was scarce ; Gill-over- 

 the-ground short on account of floods, 

 but red-bud, black gum, buckeye and 

 honey-locust were good. Then white 

 clover was fine for about two weeks. 

 Horse-mint and sumac gave some sur- 

 plus, when basswood, of which there 

 are but few trees in this locality, was 

 very fine. My experience concerning 

 the best honey weather is the same as 

 last year, that is, wet and cool — not 

 clear, hot and dry, as most bee-men 

 seem to think — at least in this locality. 



We have had very little cool, wet 

 weather here, also very little surplus 

 honey. I have had 15 swarms, the 

 first on May 22, earlier than any of 

 ray neighbors by two weeks. Swarm- 

 ing has been backward and very 

 moderate. 



QCEEN-CELLS — JUST-HATCHED QUEENS. 



On page 430, Mr. Doolittle gives 

 good advice about queen-cells and 

 just-hatched queens, but if he will 

 divide when the colony is nearlj' 

 readj- to swarm, and honey coming in 

 freely, he may place sealed or un- 

 >ealed queen-cells between the combs 

 ■ >f a full colony or a two-frame nucleus 

 immediately after removing the old 

 '[ueen from the full colony, or after 

 forming nuclei from colonies having 

 queens, without fear of loss. 



I introduced in May, when all my 

 colonies seemed bent on swarming, 

 and when honey was coming in freely, 

 seven queen-cells from an Italian 

 colony ; two were introduced to full 

 colonies, and five to two frame nuclei. 



All except one hatched — the one which 

 failed was chilled, as there were too 

 few bees on the combs to protect it 

 and the brood ; however, they fastened 

 it to both combs, and did elaborate 

 work all over it until it appeared to 

 have been built there. I cut it out 

 three days after it should have hatched, 

 and found it dead. All my bees ex- 

 cept two were blacks, with a possible 

 trace of Italian blood, and having 

 black queens, knowing my introduced 

 cells would hatch before others which 

 they might build, I paid attention only 

 to those introduced until finding them 

 hatched would hunt them up, and I 

 know the}' were Italian, and that they 

 came from the introduced cell.s. Pos- 

 sibly I should add that these cells were 

 not all ripe — one of them was not 

 sealed. 



I have had cells torn down, but un- 

 der difi"erent conditions from this lot, 

 which was the extent of m}- efforts 

 this year. 



I will ask Mr. Uoolittle to be con- 

 siderate enough to try it when he finds 

 the conditions favorable. I do not 

 want the money he oflfers, but if he 

 were my near neighbor, I should cer- 

 tainly undertake to demonstrate these 

 facts with his bees. 



My bees have now nothing except 

 winter-grape bloom to gather honej' 

 from, and in only mornings and even- 

 ings. The weather is very dry, the 

 mercury being at 104° in the shade on 

 June 26. 



Scotia, Mo., June 28, 1890. 



BEE-TALK. 



Heat for Hatching — Stimulative 

 Feeding, Robbing, Ete. 



Written for the Massachusetts Ploughman 



BY L. F. ABBOTT. 



We should keep in mind the fact that 

 the eggs of a (jueen-bee are developed 

 by heat just as are the eggs of a fowl. 

 Instinct leads the queen to restrict her 

 operations of egg-laying according to 

 the number and facility of workers to 

 maintain the proper degree of heat to 

 develop the eggs. With much waste 

 room in the hive when put upon the 

 summer stand during the cool days of 

 April, but narrow circles of brood will 

 fill the center of these on three combs 

 until such time as sufficient heat by in- 

 crease of numbers of bees and outside 

 temperature, will warrant the queen 

 to extend her operations. 



Heretofore, we have made provision 

 for ventilation. This is unneces.sary 

 now — in fact, just the opposite course 

 should be pursued, and evei'y crevice 

 should be closed, and the quilts tucked 

 down around the frames with other 

 material added, so that none of the 



heat generated by the climate can 

 escape. 



These conditions may be maintained 

 with the differences of adding, about 

 the 10th of May (perhaps under some 

 conditions, earlier and again late) 

 frames containing empty combs, or 

 better, containing some capped honey, 

 which should be uncapped. When 

 eggs and brood are found on both sides 

 of all the combs, the center ones being- 

 pretty well filled, and a third of the 

 space occupied in the center frames, it 

 is well enough to add one or two empty 

 combs, according to the strength of 

 the colonj-. 



1 should not recommend to the novice 

 under all conditions, to place the 

 emptj' combs in the center of the 

 brood-nest, as is frequentl}' advised. 

 If the condition of the brood is as 

 given above, and the outside frames 

 only partially filled with brood and 

 eggs, these (if the hive seems to be 

 quite well crowded with bees) might 

 be placed in the center of the brood- 

 nest, and the empty combs placed each 

 side of these. A colony increasing so 

 the queen has pretty fullj' occupied 

 four frames, will soon widen out her 

 operations, and when fruit bloom ar- 

 rives, find herself looking carefully 

 over eight or more frames ; but much 

 depends upon the season. 



FEEDING BEES IN THE SPRING. 



I am frequently asked if I favor 

 stimulative feeding in spring. I do 

 under certain conditions. Strong col- 

 onies will be benefitted by the practice 

 if judiciously fed, while weak ones will 

 be injured. I feel pretty confident that 

 it is harmful to feed any colon}' when 

 the weather is good — part of the time 

 it is so cold that the bees cannot fly 

 out pretty much all the day. This 

 would not apply with the same force 

 to the method of uncapping sealed 

 honey within the body of the hive, but 

 applies more particularly to feeding 

 liquid honey or syrup from the top of 

 the frames. 



Stimulative feeding in April in this 

 latitude has done more harm than 

 good. Last year many days in the 

 first part of May were so cold that 

 bees could not leave their hives, only 

 for a short time in the middle of the 

 day. It is such weather when bi'ood- 

 rearing is under way, which retards 

 the increase of workers, thousands 

 from all the hives becoming chilled to 

 death. 



A plan I have found convenient for 

 feeding, and answering another pur- 

 pose, is to have a feeder made with 

 compartments; mine have five of these, 

 and the feeder is as long as the frames 

 and wide enough to cover seven 

 frames. Spaces are left so that the 

 bees can come up to each of these 



