3 l6 



BEES— MANAGEMENT AND CARE OF. 



of hive is the "gum." This consists of a 

 hollow log, generally a portion of a cy- 

 press stump, about two feet in length and 

 a foot in diameter; upon the top of the 

 hollow is placed a board, and at the bot- 

 tom is cut a small notch for the entrance 

 of the bees, and the hive is complete. 

 Three-fourths of the hives in these States 

 are of this description. This form of hive 

 served the purpose before the appearance 

 of the moth or foul-brood, but no reli- 

 ance can now be placed upon it. If the 

 moth is gaining the upper hand, foul- 

 brood raging, honey supply low, or queen 

 lost, there is no remedy — the bees must 

 perish. The do-nothing system in bee- 

 keeping, as in other branches of agricul- 

 ture, will lead to the ruin of the bee- 

 keeper. Those apiarians who use the 

 movable-comb hive and a scientific meth- 

 od of bee-keeping have been the most 

 successful. 



HONEY.— The color of the honey 

 shows whether it is fine or inferior. If it 

 be wanted to press some in the comb, 

 choose the fairest and those that have not 

 been broken ; wrap each comb in white 

 paper, such as lines the blue cover of loaf- 

 sugar. Set it edgewise as it stood in the 

 hive, and it may be preserved many 

 months. The combs meant to be drained 

 must be cut in slices. Lay them on a 

 hair-search, supported by a rack over the 

 jar, in which the honey is to remain ; for 

 the less it is stirred after drainage the 

 better it keeps. 



Fill the jar to the brim, as a little scum 

 must be taken off when it has settled. A 

 bladder well washed in lukewarm water 

 ought to be laid over the double fold of 

 white paper with which it is covered. 



HONEY, to Take, without Destroying 

 the Bees. — In the dusk of the evening, 

 when the bees are quietly lodged, ap- 

 proach the hive and turn it gently over. 

 Having steadily placed in it a small pit, 

 previously dug to receive it, with its bot- 

 tom upward, cover it with a clean, new 

 hive, which has been properly prepared, 

 with a few sticks across the inside of it, 

 and rubbed with aromatic herbs. Having 

 •carefully adjusted the mouth of each hive to 

 the other, so that no aperture remains be- 

 tween them, take a small stick and beat 

 gently around the sides of the lower hive 

 for about ten minutes or a quarter of an 

 hour, in which time the bees will leave 



their cells in the lower hive, ascend and 

 adhere to the upper one. Then gently 

 lift the new hive, with all its little tenants, 

 and place it on the stand from which the 

 other was taken. This should be done 

 some time in the week preceding mid- 

 summer-day, that the bees may have time 

 before the summer flowers have faded to 

 lay in a new stock of honey, which they 

 will not fail to do for their subsistence 

 through winter. 



BEES, Queen, Rearing of. — Premising 

 that you use movable frames, make a 

 number of small frames, as near 4 or 5 

 inches square as may be, to just fit inside 

 one of your large ones. Fill with clean 

 worker comb — that which has been frozen 

 is the best, because the eggs of the moth 

 will have been thus destroyed — and put 

 the large frame containing these small 

 ones in the middle of some stock with a 

 fertile queen from which you wish to 

 breed. Provide also some small boxes 

 on the plan of a simple movable frame 

 hive, with loose top and rabbeting for the 

 frames, and just the size to accommodate 

 three or four of them. When eggs have 

 been deposited in the combs, set up one 

 of your small boxes with them as a hive 

 in miniature, and confine in it between a 

 pint and quart of bees. They will imme- 

 diately construct queen cells, and may 

 then be opened. In this way any num- 

 ber of queens may be provided. 



BEES, Foul-Brood Putrid foul-brood 



is a disease which attacks the young 

 brood of the hive, showing itself fully 

 after the larvae have been sealed up. It 

 may be known by the viscous, gelatinous 

 and yeast-like appearance of the decom- 

 posing brood, the unpleasant odor arising 

 from the hive, and by the sunken covers 

 of the cells. The cause of foul-brood has 

 been, until recently, involved in doubt, 

 but late discoveries in Germany have 

 thrown much light upon its origin. Mr. 

 Lamprecht alleges that he has discovered 

 the cause of the disease. His theory is 

 this : " The chyme, which the workers 

 prepare from honey and pollen by partial 

 digestion, and with which the larvae are 

 fed, contains a nitrogenous, plastic, for- 

 mative substance, from which all the 

 organs and tissues of the larvae are de- 

 rived and composed ; . . . and precisely 

 because of this its complicated composi- 

 tion it is peculiarly susceptible of rapid 



