THE AMBEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



135 



is this a satisfactory explanation of my failure to 

 obtain a large amount of su)plus honey ? I am 

 constrained to say Xo! 



When I commenced beekeeping- in this coun- 

 try, I had only one colony, which doubled itself 

 the fii'st summer, but gave me no honey. In 

 ten seasons, dmlng which my stocks had, by 

 natural and by forced swarming, increased to 

 fifty-three, I obtained surplus honey from hives 

 and caps only in two seasons. My swarms then 

 were kept in standing hives of from 2,000 to 

 2,600 cubic inches contents, with caps for svu-- 

 plus honey ; and they were always wintered on 

 their summer stands. In some of tliose seasons, 

 even good, strong, early swai-ms did not do more 

 than gather a winter's supply; and second 

 swarms I was able to winter only in one season. 

 Some beekeeping friend will now be ready to 

 ask — " Had yom- beekeeping neighbors no better 

 success the while?" And the reply is — "they 

 fared neither better nor worse." jS'ot one of 

 them was able to increase the number of his 

 stocks to equal mine, thoiigh they seemed to be 

 equally ambitious. All of them, except one, 

 have now abandoned beekeeping, and that one 

 has onlj^ two stocks left. A few other stocks, 

 kept six miles from me in an easterly direction, 

 have not giwn any surplus lioney for a number 

 of seasons, and have not increased in ntimber. 



It is different, however, only three miles ofi', 

 south, west, or nortli, from the location of my 

 home apiaiy. There bees are yielding some sm- 

 plus lioney, even in common seasons ; and a few 

 who kee}) their stocks in cellars over winter, are 

 doing quite well. At the distance of onlj' three 

 miles the weatlier cannot be much different; and 

 the question presents itself, why do bees do so 

 much better there ? It doubtless is not because 

 of their management, as they are nearly all kept 

 in common box hives and left to natural swarm- 

 ing, witliout any more interference than hi\ing 

 tlie swarms and piitting on boxes. The bees 

 tind about tlie sa^ie kinds and quantity of flowers 

 in botli quarters ; but the yield of honey must 

 be very diti'ej-eut. In twenty-one years, the bees 

 in my 111 )nif apiary have not gathered a pound 

 of white clover honey; nor, with the exception 

 of one season, have they stored any in boxes 

 from iKickwIieat ; while some of my neighbors, 

 three or four miles off, have had white clover 

 and buckwheat honey stored in most seasons. 

 I saw four acres of buckwheat for three seasons, 

 within a quarter of a mile of my apiary ; but 

 noticed the bees at work on the blossoms only 

 about two days in a season. Dining white clo- 

 ver and buckwheat time, my bees are as busy as 

 they can be. They gather large amounts of 

 pollen, and rear gi-eat quantities of brood, but do 

 not seem to increase in number or in weight. 

 Wlien compelled to go three or fom- miles in 

 quest of pasturage, tliey doubtless lose a large 

 number of workers, and use all the honey they 

 gather in sustaining the brood. 



Now, wiiat is the cause of the difference in 

 locations? It doubtless arises from the differ- 

 ence in the soil, that induces a poorei' or a more 

 plentiful secretion of honey in the plants or 

 flowers growing in each. Xo amount of room 

 in a hive or in siu-plus honey boxes, will make a 

 difference of more than a fev; pounds in the 



yield of honey by any one hive. On the con- 

 trary, I have for the last six years obtained all 

 my surplus honey from hives that have not over 

 1,700 cubic inches room inside the eight frames 

 they contain, the spaces between the combs 

 counted in ; — and from hives considerably smaller 

 than these. 



A Wve containing 4,800 cubic inches, has not 

 given me more than one natural swarm and two 

 forced ones in six seasons, and not a pound of 

 sm-plus honey, either from the liive or in caps. 

 From hives with eleven Langstroth frames I 

 scarcely ever get any surplus box honey ; and in 

 most seasons the bees do not fill those hives mth 

 combs before they swarm. Under such circum- 

 stances, would it be advisable to procm-e those 

 hives with the large amount of room for surplus 

 honey, which friend Hazen recommends? Or 

 will hives that in every ordinary season contain 

 honey enough to winter a swarm on, be large 

 enough ? For my part, I came to the conclusion 

 some years ago that the hive with eight Lang- 

 stroth" frames^ onlj^, A^itll room for six 5-lb sur- 

 plus honey boxes, are large enough for my loca- 

 tion. I am of opinion that it is the duty of every 

 beekeeper to find out wiiat honey resources he 

 has in his location, and get up a hive propor- 

 tioned in size to the yield of lioney, and wiiich 

 wiU contain honey enough to keep his bees in 

 good condition at'aU times. Tliat a queen bee 

 will lay as many eggs in a large hive in a pom- 

 season as in a good one, is something that is 

 contradicted by experience, at least in my loca- 

 tion. Witli me large hives liave proved unprofit- 

 able, both as regards swarming and as yielding- 

 surplus honey. Experience" and obsei-vation 

 have not, with me, proved that 30.000 worker 

 bees wiU store up nine pounds of honey, wiiile 

 10,000 will not store more than one. To my 

 knowledge, I have not yet seen it stated that a 

 queen ever has laid or w^ould lay three thousand 

 eggs, or even two thousand, per day for thirty 

 consecutive days. If a queen, in some few^ in- 

 stances, was coaxed to lay nearly three thousand 

 eggs per day, it does not follow that she will do 

 so for a month or a season. My advice to l^ee- 

 keepers, therefore, would be — study the honey 

 resources of yom- location, and get up a hive 

 adapted to them. A. Grimm. 



Jefferson, Wis., Xov. 1869. 



[For tlie Araericau Bee Journal.] 



Worker Bees in Drone Cells. 



Ml-. J. M. ]V??ir\in, in the Bee Journal for 

 January, 1869, page 140, tells us that bees put 

 in a luve containing ^di-one comb exclusively, 

 changed the cells to the size of worker cells, by 

 making them funnel-shaped inside, in order to 

 raise workers. 



In the October number, page 82, Mr. H. AUey 

 reports the same experience ; but does not say 

 whether the bees narrowed the cells, as in the 

 Marvin experience. 



In so uncommon a case, an accoimt of all 

 attending cii-cumstances will be welcomed by 

 beekeepers, as the<e may throw some light on 

 tlie determination of sex in the eggs of bees. 

 .Charles DADARxr 



Haihilton. Ills.. Xov. 4. 1869. 



