American Bee Journal. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Vol. III. 



JTJ]VK, 1S08. 



No. 12. 



[From the German of Rev. Geo. Kleine.] 



Practical Bee-Culture. 



You "will only be able to aspire to the title of 

 an intelligent bee-keeper, wUeu, in the manage- 

 ment of your bees, you shall have made your- 

 self independent of their lunes and whims, and 

 have learned so completely to subject them to 

 j'our control as to feci assured that they will 

 accommodate themselves to your plans, what- 

 ever system j'ou may adopt. To this, however, 

 you can only attain by employing the method 

 of artificial swarming, which, as now practiced, 

 must unquestionably be regarded as the great- 

 est advance j'et made in practical apiculture. 

 The art of making artificial swarms is indeed 

 not new; but it has received its full develope- 

 ment only since the introduction of the Dzier- 

 zan system — which has enabled bee-keepers to 

 multiply colonies by rule, and effect the design- 

 ed increase at the most propitious period. 



But, if the bee-keeper would operate with 

 confidence, assured that the artificial colonies 

 he undertakes to establish shall not prove to be 

 miserable abortions, he must not work at ran- 

 dom or be as one groping about in darkness. 

 He mu.st acquaint himself with the nature and 

 habits of bees, understand thoroughly their pe- 

 culiarities, and learn to know the circumstances 

 under which swarms will prosper or perish, and 

 be able duly to apprec-ate the surrounding infiu- 

 ences, climatic or local, which may aff'ect the 

 condition of his apiaiy. Possessed of such 

 ciualifications, he will readily be able to adapt 

 his processes, when multiplying .stock, to the re- 

 quirements of his situation — thus guarding 

 against partial disappointment or utter failure. 



Artificial colonics may be formed in various 

 modes; but most simply and easily by means of 

 a fertile queen, to which an adequate number 

 of workers arc apportioned. Time is thus 

 gained, which is always an important element 

 in bee-culture ; and we may have our increase 

 in a prosperous and advancing condition, at a 

 period when it is wholly premature and unsafe 

 to attempt artificial multiplication in the cus- 

 tomary manner. 



■ Should you unexpectedly come into posses- 

 sion of a fertile queen early in spring, long be- 



fore natural swarms might be looked for in 

 your locality, she should of course not be de- 

 stroyed, but reserved to become the prolific 

 mother of an independent colony, and be im- 

 mediately put to active service. A colony 

 formed by her aid will, if properly cared for, 

 richly repay the attention it requires and re- 

 ceives, though for a short time it may involve 

 some trouble. The bees to be allotted to this 

 queen you will take from several of your most 

 populous stocks, which thus deprived of only a 

 comparatively small number of workers each, 

 will hardly perceive or feel the loss — a loss 

 moreover speedily made up by the maturing 

 brood. To procure these workers j'ou have 

 only to open a hive, take out a comb well cov- 

 ered with bees, but not containing the queen, 

 shake from it, into the hive designed for the new 

 colony, such portion of the workers as you 

 judge can well be spared by the colony to which 

 they belong, and replacing the comb and clos- 

 ing the hive, proceed in like manner to deprive 

 other colonies, till you have secured workers 

 enough for j^our ])urpose. The hive into which 

 the bees thus collected are shaken, should be 

 furnished with two or three empty Avorker 

 combs and one containing honey. 



Though a fertile queen will almost invariably 

 be kindly received by workers thus collected 

 from different stocks, it is nevertheless safest to 

 introduce her among them in a cage, leaving 

 her in confinement until it becomes manifest 

 that she will be accepted by her new associates. 

 But a colony thus formed must be sent to a lo- 

 cation at least a mile distant from j-our apiary ; 

 because the older bees, accustomed to a particu- 

 lar range of flight, would for the most part re- 

 turn tothcir old homes. Soon after reaching 

 the selected spot and placing the hive in posi- 

 tion, allow the bees to fly ; and if the weather 

 be favorable for a general issue, feed them with 

 diluted honey to encourage nearly the Avhole 

 mass of workers to take wing. They Avill tlius 

 at once acquaint themselves with tlie surround- 

 ings of their new home, and thenceforward re- 

 gard themselves as one common family, though 

 collected from many different swarms. The 

 queen may soon after ihis be liberated, unless 

 some of tlie workers make hostile demonstra- 

 tions against her in the cage. The earlier in 



