474 



THE miyiBmiiQmM mm.m jQJJTtmmi^. 



the latter part of May and the first of 

 June. In some parts of Iowa, Illinois, 

 Ohio and Kentucky whole apiaries 

 have been swept away by devastating 

 floods. New Yorlv and adjoining 

 States have suffered heavy losses from 

 cellar wintering, and on the whole a 

 dark cloud covers the horizon of the 

 bee-keeper. 



But do not be discouraged ; it has a 

 silver lining. The markets have not 

 been so denuded in years ; the demand 

 for honey is upon us before we have it 

 gathered ; (juick sales at good prices 

 are a stimulus to do our best. Let us 

 double up our sealed brood and make 

 one good colony from two medium 

 ones. When they swarm give the 

 brood to weak colonies having a queen, 

 and before the season is half gone we 

 will have our colonies strong, and a 

 fair crop of honey, with but little out- 

 lay for hives and fixtures. Never mind 

 the increase ; get the honey first, tlien 

 if you niu.st have increase, make it 

 later. I know this is not a policy 

 stand-point for a supply dealer, but I 

 believe it will bring the greatest good 

 to the greatest number. So let us 

 trust in God, friends, and keep our 

 dislies right side up, and He may yet 

 send us such a flow of honey that "we 

 will be put to our wits' end to care 

 for it. 



Fremont, Mich. 



SWARMING. 



Preparing the Hivesi, Hiving the 

 Sivarnis, etc. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 



BY MRS. L. HARRISON. 



The exact time for the issuing of a 

 swarm cannot be determined with 

 certainty. If on the morning of a still 

 warm day, when honey is coming in 

 freely, few bees are seen to leave the 

 hive. When bees from other hives are 

 freely flying, a swarm may confidently 

 be expected ; but let the weather sud- 

 denly change, all preparations for 

 swarming may suddenly cease, even 

 after their haversacks are packed for 

 their journey. 



Everything should be in readiness 

 for the hiving of swarms, and soon as 

 they rre clustered. Hives should be 

 clean, and free from disagreeable 

 odors, and be cool; if the hive has 

 been setting in the sun, and very hot, 

 bees may leave it. The old custom of 

 washing out the hive with salt water 

 and apple leaves may not be necessary, 

 but the bees no doubt enjoyed the de- 

 licious freshness, and coolness. 

 . When I hive a swarm, although the 

 hive may be clean, I prefer to dash in 

 a bucket of cool water, to rinse out 



dust that may 

 give it an air 

 time, I had a 

 its hive, day 

 monotonous ; 

 as I supposed 

 they would, 

 hived Ihem in 

 remained. 



have accumulated, and 



of freshness. At one 



swarm repeatedly leave 



after day, until it grew 



the hive was clean, and 



all right, but leave it 



I grew desperate, and 



another hive, and they 



The thought struck me that I had 

 better see why those bees swarmed (jut. 

 The hive in question had never been 

 used before, and the flight entrance ex- 

 tending across the front of the hive 

 was so small that the bees could barely 

 enter, and the bees swarmed out 

 rather than smother. They did not 

 want to leave, but clustered day after 

 day. Those who hive their swarms in 

 clean, cool hives, with sufficient venti- 

 lation, and protect them from the rays 

 of the sun, will have few tales to tell 

 of swarms absconding ; bees know 

 when they are well treated, and ap- 

 preciate it. 



CONVENIENCES FOR HIVING. 



Bees will cluster on a limb of a tree, 

 which can be either cut or sawed oft', 

 carried to a hive and the bees shook 

 ofi", which they will enter. But it is 

 not always poetrj' like this ; there are 

 other contingencies that we must be 

 prepared to meet, like swarms cluster- 

 ing in the tops of high trees, or on 

 their trunks where they cannot be dis- 

 lodged, on fences, grape stakes, etc. 

 Sometimes the cost of hiving is more 

 than the swarm is worth, proxided 

 there are no conveniences at hand, to 

 lighten the labor. 



Mr. Manum, of Vermont, has my 

 thanks, and should have those of all 

 women, for his contrivance for hiving 

 swarms. It consists of a wire basket 

 attached to a long pole, which is light 

 and convenient. By standing on a 

 chair, I have been able to reach 

 swarms with it, that I could not possibly 

 have saved without the aid of ladders. 

 By placing the basket under the cluster, 

 and giving it a sudden jar, the bees 

 fall into it. As the queen is generally 

 on the outside of it, many times she 

 will be secured, and by standing the 

 basket near, the rest soon follow. A 

 peach basket fitted on the end of a 

 pole, would many times prove a 

 blessing. 



When many bees are kept, low-grow- 

 ing trees, like peach and May cherries, 

 are a desideratum. Large forest trees 

 are not desirable. I know a farmer 

 who keeps his bees near a large oak, 

 and his children told me that they had 

 hard work to get the bees down from 

 it, and now when they see a swarm 

 issuing, they throw water to wet their 

 wings so they cannot fly so high. 



Peoria, Ills. 



CALIFORNIA. 



Honey -Producing Plants and 

 Trees in the Sierras. 



WriUcnfor the California Rural Press 



BY S. L. WATKINS. 



Nowhere, perhaps, in the world is 

 there a greater diversity of honey- 

 producing plants and trees than in the 

 Sierra Nevada mountains. Here thou- 

 sands of bee-flowers bloom in lavish 

 abundance ten months in the year, 

 thus giving the bees, as it were, almost 

 a perpetual feast. 



Long after the bloom of the valleys 

 and foot-hills have ended, the wild 

 bees of the mountains rove and revel 

 through these virgin wildernesses, 

 which furnish a floral chain of succes- 

 sive bloom. The inviting openness of 

 the Sierra woods is one of their most 

 distinguishing characteristics ; here 

 and there the w^ods are diversified 

 with countless garden openings or wild 

 meadows, many of which are perfect 

 paradises for bee-keepers. 



A description of Pea-Vine Valley, 

 which I visited in 1887, will not come 

 amiss here : 



After traveling several hours through 

 a heavily timbered section of countrj-, 

 the valley itself suddenl}- burst on our 

 view like a scene of enchantment ; on 

 either side lofty mountains arose, in- 

 closing it like a frame — and what a 

 splendid frame they compose, those 

 colossal mountains in their rich variety 

 of form and coloring — here shining out 

 like molten silver, there changing to a 

 dark bronze, covered lower down with 

 various shades of green ; and with the 

 crimson and purple and violet, and 

 bright yellow, dazzling white, and 

 azure, of the millions of wild roses, 

 ceanothus, rhododendrons, flowering 

 dogwood, and other flowering plants, 

 from among which arose the stately 

 sugar-pines, fully 200 feet in height, 

 with their majestic green turbans 

 towering like Sultan's heads above the 

 luxuriance of the surrounding forest. 



Numerous wild bees hummed and 

 quivered around the scented blossoms, 

 imparting a cheerfulness to the wild 

 scene. Humming-birds, resplendent 

 in their gorgeous colors, shot through 

 the air like animated fragments of a 

 prism. The air was spiced with the 

 pungent odor of a thousand aromatic 

 shrubs and_plants, and seemed to ex- 

 hilarate anW give new energy to all 

 who breathed this perfumed air. 



Every tree, branch and shrub was a 

 perfect mass of bloom and blossom, 

 and in the clear, elastic atmosphere 

 was fairly sparkling in its own vivid 

 glorious coloring. Here we found 

 growing in tropical luxuriance and 

 beauty, thousands and millions of 



