THE aMEK;lC3i:P* BEK JOURNSl-. 



859 



letts of our valued plants dr\- of sap. 

 We have the analogue of this ia out- 

 bees — they are quiet in the cold of 

 winter, do little, and do not eat much^ 



The same mail that brought Mr. 

 Wilson's letter, also brought one from 

 Geo. E. Boggs, of Waynesville, N. C, 

 asking how to protect against these 

 destroyers. I can give no answer to 

 this. Though these cicadre are very 

 unscientific pruners, they usually do 

 not wholly destroy a tree, though they 

 often injure trees greatly. 



We can get comfort in the fact that 

 they come only four or five times 

 in a lifetime, unless there are separate 

 liroods in our region. We never have 

 tliese cicadce here ; though a similar 

 one (cicada tibicem), with green veins 

 to its wings, is often seen and heard. 

 This latter is only a few years in ma- 

 turing. Very likely it works nearer 

 the surface of the earth. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



DIVIDINa. 



Experience with Dividing Colo, 

 nies for Increase. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY C. P. HENRY. 



f I began the season of 1889 with 9 

 colonies, all having been wintered on 

 the summer stands, and came through 

 seemingly in good condition. Having 

 read so much on dividing colonies for 

 increase, I decided to try both plans to 

 satisfy myself as to the better one, and 

 I am now prepared to give a few items 

 from experience. 



While I find th.at those colonies left 

 to swarm as nature intended, have not 

 increased as rapidly as I would have 

 them do, they are all strong and thriv- 

 ing colonies, ready for the harvest at 

 any time the honey flow may come ; 

 while, on the other hand, those worked 

 by dividing, are greater in the number 

 of colonies, but shorter of stores, and 

 not half so populous. 



Still another objectionable feature 

 that accompanies dividing, is the start- 

 ing of robbing, which I have had to 

 contend with to my own vexation, 

 almost causing me to fully decide in 

 favor of increase bj- natural swarming; 

 by this means, we will — if we are 

 awake to our dut)-, and keep all colo- 

 nies queened, allowing no weak ones 

 in our apiary to give robbers a start — 

 exclude robbing to a great extent. 



My bees were so very deep in the 

 rut of robbing at one time this spring, 

 caused bj' nothing more nor less than 

 dividing colonies, that I could hardly 

 go into my apiary without getting 

 stung, or at least being told by some 

 angry robber bee that my presence 



was very offensive ; and in the mean- 

 time they were killed in front of the 

 entrances in great heaps. I soon saw 

 thai this must be stopped, therefore 

 some speedy work must be done. 



With the foregoing views before me, 

 I proceeded to shut up all weak colo- 

 nies, but this did not answer, for the 

 robbers proceodeil on some of mv 

 strongest colonies, and then came the 

 " tug of war" — dead bees were strewn 

 all over the earth around the apiary. 

 What must I do next, but close all en- 

 trances of hives that showed the least 

 signs of being robbed, to a bee-space, 

 and cover the hives with wet cloths, 

 and throw wet weeds and grass over 

 the entrances ? By this means I kept 

 the hives cool, and to some extent, ex- 

 cluded the robbers from the entrance. 



After going through all this trouble 

 and vexation, I am very glad indeed 

 to say that my bees, at the expense of 

 many lives, have decided to behave 

 themselves, and get about their busi- 

 ness. I hope never to experience 

 another such a "riot" among my bees; 

 and in order to do my duty to prevent 

 it, I hardly think that I will ever 

 divide another colony of bees. Perhaps 

 some of my readers will think that I 

 have changed my mind in this direc- 

 tion very sudilenly, which indeed I 

 have, I must admit ; but in answer to 

 this I will say, of what use is pur- 

 chased experience, unless one profits 

 thereby ? Mine cost me dearly. 



Blooming Grove, Tex., May 17, 1889. 



BEE-LIFE. 



How L.ons <lo t'l^ Bee§ Live 

 Ordinarily i 



Written for the American Rural Home 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Picking up a paper recently, I no- 

 ticed an item which was undoubtedly 

 set a-going by some newspaper re- 

 porter who did not care whether he 

 was telling the truth or not, to the ef- 

 fect that bees were very short-lived 

 insects, and that the average life of 

 the worker-bee during the summer 

 season was but thirty days. Surely, 

 no one need be ignorant on this sub- 

 ject when one experiment would tell 

 tliem the truth in the matter, and con- 

 vince them that the average life of the 

 worker is about 45 days, or one-third 

 more than was given in the item which 

 I saw. 



Take a colony "f black or German 

 bees, for instance, and about the 10th 

 of June take their queen away and in- 

 troduce an Italian queen, keeping 

 record of the date on which this 

 change was made. In 21 days the last 

 black bee will have emerged from its 



cell, and if the Italian queen went to 

 laying immediately, the first yellow 

 bee will liavc made its appearance ; 

 which fact should be jotted down also. 

 At the end of 45 days from the time 

 tlie last black bee liatched no black 

 bees can be found in the colony. At 

 40 days plenty of them can be seen, 

 they growing less and less eacli day, 

 so that on the forty-fourth, it will be 

 ver}' few indeed that are left. 



This is for the summer montlis, but 

 does not apply at all for those of the 

 winter. The life of the bee depends 

 on the work it does, thus when it 

 labors the most its life is the short- 

 est. Hence it comes about that through 

 the inactivity brought on by cold 

 weather, the bee can live from seven 

 to eight months. This is proven by 

 changing the queens as before, only it 

 is to be done this time about the mid- 

 dle of September. Soon after the first 

 of October, the last black bee will be 

 hatched, but I have often found a few 

 black bees on the first day of June the 

 next year, in a colonj- so treated. 



Also, when spring opens, or about 

 the first of April, there will be very 

 few yellow bees in this hive, which 

 shows that very little brood is reared 

 from October until April, as well as to 

 tell us that more bees die in two 

 months in the spring than during six 

 mouths of winter. 



The life of the drones is regidated 

 very largely by the workers, for they 

 are usually killed or driven off by the 

 workers long before tliey would die of 

 old age. Any sudden cessation in the 

 rtow of honey from the fields is often 

 considered suflficient reason for tlieir 

 being driven out to die, or the killing 

 of them by stinging, if they are persis- 

 tent in staying in the hive, so it is hard 

 to tell just what age they may attain 

 to, were they allowed to live to a good 

 old age. 



More apiarists think that they would 

 live about the same length of time 

 which tlie workers do, but I am of the 

 opinion that they are little shorter 

 lived. It is a rare thing that any 

 drones are allowed to stay in the hive 

 after the honey harvest is over in the 

 fall, still we have a few reports of 

 drones having been wintered over. 



The average life of the queen is 

 about three years, although some have 

 been known" to live five years. They 

 live also in proportion to the work 

 they do, or according to the number 

 of eggs which they lay, as egg-laying 

 is tluTonly work which they do. 



Under our present system of man- 

 ao-ement. we coax the queen to lay as 

 nfanv eggs in one year as she usually 

 would were she in a tree or an old 

 box-hive in two j-ears ; hence most 

 apiarists think that all queens should 

 be replaced after the second year, with 



