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BEE-NOTES. 



Sonic liilerestiiig; and Practical 

 Advice for Bee-Keepcrs. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BV DR. J. M. HICKS. 



All needful work in the apiarj- is just 

 as necessary to be done at the right 

 lime, in order to be successful, as it is 

 that the farmer should sow his wheat 

 and oats, and plant his corn iu season, 

 in order to have crops. 



The bees should not be molested 

 during "dog-days;" but see to it that 

 all colonies are in good condition, and 

 that the increase of swarms is made at 

 least b^' the middle of June. 



I prefer to make my increase b3- 

 dividing colonies, which is best done 

 iu a movable-frame hive. 



In order to succeed, I would advise 

 all to look early in the spring as to the 

 condition of the bees, and if you have 

 a weak colony, see that it has a queen, 

 and feed it a little thin sj'rup every 

 day, to stimulate the queen for earlj- 

 breeding. This is best to be done in 

 the evening. 



To prepare syrup for the bees, I use 

 coffee "A" sugar, at the rate of four 

 pounds to a quart of water, to be 

 heated and well dissolved, and fed in 

 glass tumblers, by tying cotton clotli 

 over them, and then inverted over the 

 bees in the top of the hive ; as they 

 are emptied, refill, and replace as be- 

 fore. You will be surprised to see how 

 fast the bees will increase in numbers. 



Bees will, as a rule, pay an increase 

 of 200 per cent, in an ordinary season, 

 if properly managed. One colony 

 paid 500 per cent, this season. A good 

 movable-frame hive of the best pat- 

 tern, a honey-extractor, and a good 

 bee-tamer, are all necessary imple- 

 ments for the bee-keeper to have, and 

 use, in order to succeed. 



See to it that all surplus honey is re- 

 moved from the hives before the fall 

 crop comes on, and have plentj" of 

 empty frames or sections in the hives 

 for refilling. 



Allow no colony to be without a good, 

 . prolific queen, at this or any other 

 time of the year. Now is a good time 

 to procure such, from some good 

 queen-breeder. Italian and Cyprian 

 bees are the best for all practical pur- 

 poses, and by far the most docile bees 

 to handle, as well as being vei-y prolific. 



It is a curious fact that the days of 

 humbugs are still among us. as we 

 notice that the editor of the Amehican 

 Bee Journal saw the painful neces- 

 sity of exposing as a fraud. Ells & Co., 

 of Chicago, who are advertising with 

 circulars, their recipe for making 

 '•Artificial Honey." I would urge all 



to beware of all sucli frauds, as there 

 is no pure honey except that which the 

 bees gather, and store fi'om the flowers 

 of the field. All eltbrts to palm oft' 

 such stutl'. calling it •■artificial honey" 

 is as much a fiaud as with the oleo- 

 margarine, and until it is legalized (as 

 all such frauds are usuallj-, when 

 monej- enough can be paid to do so), 

 it is a fraud nevertheless, both on the 

 public, as well as on the consumer. 

 Indianapolis, Ind. 



CLIPPED WINaS. 



management of Swarms when 

 tlie Queen is Clipped. 



Written for the American Rural Home 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I have four plans which I use, either 

 of which works well. The first is to 

 hive the bees on the returning plan, 

 allowing the swarm to occupy the 

 place of the old colony. This is done 

 as follows : 



When the swarm is seen issuing, 

 step in front of the hive far enough so 

 )'ou will not be liable to step on the 

 queen, should she have gotten out be- 

 fore }ou reach the hive, and also so 

 that you can take in quite a bit of ter- 

 ritory with the vision, for if too close 

 you will see but little of the ground, 

 which causes a longer search, with less 

 prospect of finding the queen than if 

 farther off. 



As soon as the queen is found, let 

 her run into a wire-cloth cage, enter- 

 ing the same readily if it is held a 

 little in front of her, and in an upright 

 position. When she is in the cage, put 

 in the movable stopper so as to secure 

 her, when she is to be placed in front 

 of the old hive, or anywhere you 

 please, only so )'ou do not step on the 

 cage and hurt her, as I knew a certain 

 person to do once. 



Next, move the colony to a new 

 stand, and place a new hive where the 

 parent colony was when the swarm 

 issued, placing the caged queen at the 

 entrance. In from five to thirty min- 

 utes the bees will miss their queen 

 (generally in from 5 to 8 minutes), and 

 come back from where they left, in 

 search of her, running with fanning 

 wings into the new hive, when the 

 queen is to be set at liberty and 

 allowed to go in with them. 



The second plan is one which I use 

 when I wish to leave the old colony on 

 the old stand, and is as follows : 



Proceed to hunt up the queen as be- 

 fore, and as soon as she is found, turn 

 the old hive lialf w.aj^ around, and off 

 of the ground (to the rear) where it 

 stood. Now p'lace the new hive where 

 the old one stood, placing the queen at 



the entrance of the new hive as before. 

 As soon as they come back and all 

 enter the now liive, take the new hive 

 and carry it wliere you wish it to stand, 

 Ijringing th(! old liive back to its former 

 position. By these two ways it will be 

 seen that the bees hive themselves ; 

 no climbing of trees, cutting off of 

 limbs, or anytlnng of the kind, which 

 our fathers thought it necessar}' to do. 



My third plan is, when the bees be- 

 gin to cluster on tlie branch of a tree, 

 which I care nothing for, I attach a 

 wire to the cage, and hang it with the 

 clustering bees ; then when I get ready 

 to care for them, I cut the branch 

 from the tree, and carry them to the 

 liive, which h.as been previously placed 

 where I wish the colony to stand, or 

 one that I have prepared while they 

 were clustering on the limb. No danger 

 of their going to the woods if you let 

 them hang there all da3\ 



I was amused one day by seeing a 

 swarm uncluster and start for the 

 woods, as I was abont to cut off the 

 limb, and take them to the hive. 

 Away they went, clear out of sight, 

 so I sat down to watch operations. In 

 about a quarter of an hour, back they 

 came, and I was anxious to see whether 

 they would go to the tree where the 

 queen was, or to the old stand. I was 

 soon satisfied however, for they soon 

 clustered back on the queen. 



If any of the readers wish a swarm 

 to go to work in the open air, this 

 gives them a clew to how it can be 

 done, for after having given up that 

 there is no use of trying to get off, 

 they will settle down to work on the 

 limb where they have clustered. When 

 they get some combs started, they will 

 be liable to stay, after which the queen 

 can be set at libert3'. 



The fourth plan is to cage the queen 

 as before, when a large corn-popper is 

 to be so held in front of the hive that 

 many of the issuing bees will run into 

 it. If j'ou do not see the queen, so as 

 to cage her before the thickest of the 

 bees have ceased leaving the hive, 

 catch the bees first and then look for 

 the ()ueen. 



Having the bees in the popper, and 

 the queen in the cage, attach the cage 

 by means of a wire hook, to the popper 

 so it will hang snugly to one side of 

 the same. Previous to this you should 

 provide yourself with a light pole of 

 sufficient length to reach the highest 

 place where the bees are liable to clus- 

 ter, into the small end of which there 

 should be bored a hole of the right 

 size so that the popper will screw into 

 it firmly. 



Having the bees in the popper and 

 the caged queen attached, screw the 

 popper in the end of the pole, raising 

 the same and carrying it into the midst 

 of the swarm, where they are flying 



