THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



those eleTcated districts became rongh, and the 

 honey yielded was of interior quality, greatly 

 discoloVed and ropy. We then at once removed 

 our colonies once more to the valley below ; re- 

 moved the queens and nearly all the honey ; 

 used a large part of the bees to supply full stocks 

 desired bj^ customers abroad ; made strong col- 

 onies of the remainder, to which queen cells 

 were given ; and in August they Avere carried 

 to the buckAvheat and heath districts. The 

 smaller movable comb stocks, which had re- 

 peatedly been deprived of their queens in the 

 course of the summer, were now so united as to 

 form populous colonies, and carried likewise to 

 the buckwheat districts. The log hive stocks, 

 both young and old, even such as had been im- 

 queened a second time in July, were uncom- 

 monly heavy, and made excellent store stocks. 



Though we had largely multiplied colonies, 

 and repeatedly divided the larger stocks, the 

 sales had been so extensive that we had only 

 about one hundred and fifty hives remaining in 

 the fall. Professor Mona was thus constrained 

 to purchase fresh supplies from the bee-keepers 

 in the valley, and did this on so large a scale 

 that we were able to wnnter nearly six hundred 

 stocks, after supplying all the orders received 

 late in the fall. 



These annually repeated purchases cause an 

 accumulation of the most variously constructed 

 hives in our apiary. Here are log hives or gums, 

 such as are met with in all parts of Germany ; 

 cubic boxes made of thick boards or thin, as 

 chance may offer, rudely nailed together ; wine 

 casks and beer barrels, cut through at the bung, 

 so that this constitutes a semi-circular entrance 

 for the bees ; hollow trunks or limbs of trees ; 

 cylindrical hives made of linden baik ; and in- 

 verted tubs or bucket-shaped vessels made by 

 the cooper — in short, receptacles of every imag- 

 inable shape, size, and material. All this is a 

 matter of entire indifference to us, provided the 

 hives or substitutes for hives contain young 

 queens, plenty of bees, and an ample supply of 

 honey. Nor need we feel much concerned to 

 find them made of even the thinnest material, 

 as the temperature here is exceedingly mild on 

 the average in winter, the thermometer rarely 

 falling to zero. Hence we readily make room 

 for them at the side of our movable comb hives, 

 for the strengthening of which they are, indeed, 

 chiefly designed. 



Early in spring the bees of some of the log 

 hives containing irregularly built combs, are 

 either sent off with the first ordered queens, or 

 transferred to the movable comb hives. The 

 others are reserved to yield one or two swarms; 

 to supply us with one or more queens in the 

 course of the summer, in case we need them ; 

 and occasionally to furnish surplus bees to rein- 

 force other colonies. Besides which they yield 

 us a quantity of honey, larger or smaller, in the 

 fall— thus fully subserving their natural design. 

 Of the other description of hives we make vari- 

 ous other uses. Tlius we place the stronger af- 

 terswarms in light, medium-sized box hives, to 

 have them in readiness to be sent off to pur- 

 chasers early in spring. 



For rearing queens and securing the superior 

 quality of mountain and Alpine honey, we use 



the movable comb hives, of which we have 

 three forms, all of the same width — 37 centi- 

 meters, namely. The larger class hives, which 

 can receive twenty -lour frames nineteen centi- 

 meters high, supply us with honey in the comb, 

 and serve also to receive in the fall the contents 

 of several nucleus hives, used for rearing queens. 

 The second cla^s, containing ten frames tAventy- 

 eiglit centimeters high, serve to accommodate 

 temporariljr colonies driven out of log hives and 

 intended for transportation to supply orders. 

 We also use them to supply surplus boxes with 

 honey, having to that end perforated the tops 

 with slits four lines wide to give the bees access 

 to the surplus boxes. We have thus a brooding 

 space which may be enlarged or diminished, ac- 

 cording to circumstances, and a removable 

 honey chamber. The surplus honey thus pro- 

 cured is always in demand, finding ready sale 

 at fair prices. In addition to these we have a 

 supply of small hives, fitted to receive six or 

 eight frames nineteen centimeters high, which 

 are used tor rearing queens from May to Sep- 

 tember. 



When making the above-mentioned purchases 

 of hives in the neighborhood, I had an oppor- 

 tunity to observe hoAV bee-keeping was con- 

 ducted in other cjuarters, and toacciuire a know- 

 ledge of the system pursued by the Tessiniau 

 cultivators, if their processes may be designated 

 by that term. The owner sets his hives either 

 in the balcony of his dwelling house or in some 

 special structure, but invariably exposes their 

 fronts to the scorching rays of the noonday sun, 

 for he contends that thus only can swarms duly 

 ripen. Thus placed, he subsequently leaves 

 them without supervision or interference to 

 the instincts of nature. At the swarming sea- 

 son he will examine the trees and bushes 

 around, generally in the evening when return- 

 ing from the field ; and if he chances to espy a 

 swarm clustered somewhere, he will nranage to 

 hold over it a hive internally besmeared Avith 

 honey, and seek to drive the bees into it Avith 

 smoke. If a sAvarm is discoA'ered in the morn- 

 ing, the whole day is not unfrequently wasted 

 iu'hiving the new ac^quisition 1 And why not ? 

 since this is all the trouble his bees give him I 

 When a swarm is once hived and set on its 

 stand, he gives himself no further concern about 

 it. When he sees that the bees fly out and in, 

 he is content, and has no idea of doing any- 

 thing more for them. Still in saying so, I may- 

 be slightly wrong. When we come to buy some 

 of his stocks, he Avill lift the prime swarms, be- 

 cause he gives them the preference as being 

 store stocks, but as for the contents, he never 

 gives them a thought. He knows that he saAv 

 the swarm hanging on the tree ; he hived it 

 himself, and long experience has taught him 

 that prime SAvarmsare invariably the best store 

 stocks ! AftersAvarms, he will tell you, do not 

 always prosper ; and old stocks are apt to be- 

 come a prey for Avorms. Hence these are not 

 by him deemed fit for store stocks, or are to be 

 used as such only in case of dire necessity. 

 That the AVorms usually destroy only queenless 

 colonies is a matter beyond his comprehension, 

 Avho has never seen a cjueen ! Of course these 

 crude notions are no disadvantage to us, since 



