168 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



What every Bee-keeper ought to know: 



That the life of a worker l)ec, during the 

 ■working season, ia only from six to eight weeks; 

 and that a large majority of them never live 

 to see seven weeks: 



That a worker is from five to six days old be- 

 fore it comes out of the hive for the first time, 

 to take an airing, and that it is from fourteen to 

 sixteen days old, before it begins to gather pol- 

 len or honey: 



That all swarms building combs when they 

 have not a fertile queen, build only drone or 

 store comb; and that all the combs in the lower 

 part or breeding apartment of the hive, sliould be 

 worker comb, except a very small quantity of 

 drone comb — four inches square being amply 

 sufficient: 



That the more prolific the queen the more 

 young bees you have, and the more surplus honey 

 they will store up, other things being equal: 



That you never ought to cut mouldy comb out 

 of a hive, for you should never let it get mouldy; 

 and that you ought never to double swanns in 

 the fall, for you ought to attend to that, and 

 make them strong during the summer, by taking 

 brood from your strong stocks and giving it to 

 the weak: 



That a drone-laying queen should be taken 

 away, and one producing w^orkers put in her 

 place, or the colony must soon perish: 



That, as a rule, as soon as an Italian queen 

 shows signs of old age or feebleness, the bees 

 themselves will supersede her- 



That all stocks should be kept strong in order 

 to be successful. 



That every hive should contain about 2000 

 cubic inches in the breeding apartment. 



That it is useless to put a small swarm into a 

 hive of that size, without a division board, or 

 some contrivance to adapt or bring it down to 

 suit the size of the swarm, and to enlarge it as 

 the population increases: (Give me one pint of 

 bees, a fertile queen, and a frame filled with ma- 

 turing brood, on the 20th of June, and I will, 

 in an ordinary season, make a tip top swarm in 

 the hive I use, without assistance from other 

 swarms) : 



That beginners should be very cautious about 

 increasing their stocks rapidly, until they thor- 

 oughly understand the business: 



that the hive itself is all the bee-house you 

 want in the summer season: 



That a good dry cellar is as good a place to 

 winter bees in as you want: 



That a forced or artificial queen started from 

 the egg or larva, in a small nucleus, is not as 

 prolific as one started in a strong swarm: (You 

 can remove the cell to a nucleus after it is sealed 

 up): 



Tliat extra queens should be kept on hand, 

 ready ibr any emergency; because, if you dis- 

 cover that a swarm has lost its queen, and j'ou 

 supply it with eggs to raise one, unless you keep 

 strengthening it witli brood from other swarms, 

 eight weeks Avill elapse before the workers raised 

 fr^^m your young queen will be ready to go to 

 wurk — and eight weeks is the lifetime of a work- 

 er bt'c, in the working season. If you do\ibt 



that eight weeks is the !.ifetime of a worker at 

 such season, take away a black queen from a 

 black swaimand introduce an Italian queen. In 

 three weeks your last black bee will have been 

 hatched, and in eight weeks from that time your 

 swarm will consist of Italians exclusively, pro- 

 vided the exchange is made on or about the 20th 

 of June. (See then, what you are to think of a 

 patent hive with ever so many contrivances for 

 taking away honey, but no place to raise bees to 

 gather that honey): 



That it is bad policy to divide a swarm in such 

 a way that one part has to raise a queen after 

 the division is made; for if they build comb, it is 

 drone comb; and if they do not build comb, as 

 fast as the bi'ood in the old comb hatches, the 

 cells will be filled with honey; so thart when your 

 young queen is ready to lay, there is no place 

 where she can deposit her eggs. The conse- 

 quence is your swarm will be strong in stores 

 but weak in numbers in the fall, unless you ex- 

 change combs with some other swarm: 



That you ought to give your bees flour (some 

 say rye-flour is best, but I always use wheat 

 flour), in the spring, before they can gather pol- 

 len, to promote early breeding. Set it in the 

 sun, out of the wind, near your bees. A square 

 board with strips nailed around the edges, is as 

 good as anything to put it on. Ten swarms will 

 use from three to four quarts per day: 



That bees do not feed this flour or pollen di- 

 rectly to their young; but it is elaborated in the 

 stomach of the bee, on the same principle that 

 a pigeon eats corn, wheat, «&c. and elaborates it 

 into chyme or milk to feed its young on, before it 

 is six days old: 



That you must feed bees just at night, if you 

 feed honey or any other sweet to promote breed- 

 ing, and thus prevent robbing. Or if you ex- 

 change combs in the spring, to equalize their 

 stores, it should be done just at night: 



That if you allow natural swarming, bees may 

 swarm so low as to ruin the old stock if not at- 

 tended to. It frequently happens that where a 

 stock sends out three or four swarms in succes- 

 sion, the last queen goes with the last swarm 

 and leaves the old stock destitute: 



That it is not necessary when a swarm comes 

 out, to allow them all to cluster before hiving, 

 as soon as a part of your swarm has lit, hive 

 them, and the remainder will go right into the 

 hive: 



That a newly painted hive, if it has been paint- 

 ed long enough so as to be dry, is as good for 

 use as one that has been painted six months: 



That because you may be fond of whiskey, it 

 is not necessary to sprinkle the inside of the hive 

 with whiskey, in order to have the bees stay. I 

 once knew a man to do so; and, strange to say, 

 they actually did stay: 



That if you put one drop of Prof. F's Bee 

 Charm on your right ear, it will prevent the bees 

 from stinging your left heel— provided you keep 

 on your boots, and do not let the bees get inside 

 of them. E. Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



A warm, calm, and showery spring causeth 

 many and early swarms. But sudden storms do 

 hinder them.— Butleu. 



