407 



across the frame, placing them each side of 

 the comb in such position as to hold it in 

 place, and tie the ends with strings. Thorns 

 may be used to good advantage in some 

 places by making a hole through the frame 

 and putting in the thorn. Use all the pieces 

 of worker comb that are large enough to 

 fasten in the frames. Quite small pieces 

 may be used and the bees will soon unite 

 them so they will be solid. Throw away 

 nearly all the drone comb, as many drones 

 are useless. The drone comb is known 

 from the worker by the size of the cells, 

 which are larger than the worker cells, and 

 when drone comb is capped over the caps 

 bulge out and look uneven, while the worker 

 brood will be nearly even. As you till the 

 frames, place them in the hive, keeping the 

 brood together if the weather is cool, but if 

 you have a good strong colony and warm 

 weather, it will do to place an empty comb 

 between two cards of brood, and the queen 

 will usually soon till it with eggs. 



When you have all your combs in the new 

 hive, set it on or near the old stand. Smoke 

 the bees in the box, and give it a sudden j al- 

 so as to break the hold of the bees, and 

 empty them into the top of the new hive, 

 directly on the frames. Cover them over 

 and they will go down among the combs 

 and soon be about their usual business. If 

 other bees are near, it is best to give but a 

 small entrance for a few days ; only giving 

 room for 1 or 2 bees to pass at once, for the 

 colony is in a poor condition to defend 

 themselves against robbers. After a few 

 days the strips used to hold the combs in 

 place may be removed, as the bees will have 

 fastened the pieces of comb together and 

 stuck them to the frames. 



Transferring may be done without drum- 

 ming the bees out into a box just as well, 

 only more bees are in the way, and there is 

 more danger of killing the queen. Use 

 smoke enough to keep them quiet, aud as 

 you take out a piece of comb, brush them off 

 with a feather into the new hive, and pro- 

 ceed as above directed. If other bees are 

 near, it is well to shut them into their hives 

 while you are at work, especially if they 

 are not gathering honey plentifully, as they 

 sometimes will make trouble by robbing. 

 Be careful to clean up all the honey that 

 drops near the hive. 



^ ♦» — o> — ■ • ♦ 



From the Prairie Farmer. 



Watch the Swarms. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Eternal vigilance is the key-note of suc- 

 cess in bee-keeping. My " partner " often 

 says to me, "Why don't you let the bees 

 alone? 1 don't see any use in your pulling 

 the hive all to pieces, makingthebees cross, 

 getting stung, and pretty near roasting 

 yourself this hot weather. Let 'em alone ; 

 let 'em be." I confess to a weakness for 

 wanting my own way, and I generally man- 

 age to get it as far as the bees are concerned, 

 if the minister who married us did have 

 "obey" in the marriage ceremony. 



I can see the use of pulling hives to pieces, 

 if my " partner" cannot. We often hear of 

 persons who have had such a splendid col- 



ony of bees destroyed by moths. They say 

 that "it was so strong that it swarmed three 

 times, and then late in the summer the 

 moths destroyed them." The poor, inno- 

 cent moths were not the cause of their de- 

 struction ; they only moved in because the 

 bees could not keep house. This colony 

 had failed to obtain a fertile queen after 

 swarming, and as the life of worker bees 

 during the busy season is estimated to be 

 about 90 days, they had all died, and no 

 more were raised to take their places. 



Every colony that has cast a swarm should 

 be examined in 21 days, and if no eggs or 

 larva? are found, the colony is queen'less, 

 and there is no material in the hive from 

 which one can be raised. If there is no 

 laying queen on hand to give such a colony, 

 part of their frames should be exchanged 

 for those containing eggs and larva? with 

 another colony, and then they will have ma- 

 terial to raise one. In 10 days exchange the 

 remaining frames so that the bees will have 

 larva? to care for, and will not desert the 

 hive when the queen leaves on her bridal 

 tour— and if she should be lost, have mate- 

 rial to raise another. 



It is poor economy to let a hive full of 

 comb remain all summer with only a corpo- 

 ral's guard of bees ; better put back all 

 swarms but the first, after cutting out queen 

 cells ; if this cannot be done, put in some 

 new swarms. We know of a bee-keeper 

 who hives his after-swarms in small boxes 

 and piles them on such a hive to mark the 

 location, and when he lias leisure, empties 

 them before the hive, which they will enter 

 peaceably— sometimes putting in as high as 

 7 after-swarms. 



In swarming time, it's a good idea to save 

 surplus queens from the best colonies, and 

 then they will be ready for use if any vacan- 

 cies occur. Before an after-swarm is re- 

 turned, take out a frame containing a queen 

 cell and put it into a hive with another 

 frame containing hatching brood ; put in a 

 division board, and the little colony will 

 soon have a fertile queen. 



Peoria, 111., August, 1879. 



Uniting Bees. 



As the great secret in bee-keeping is 

 strong colonies, I would advise you to unite 

 all your weak ones by putting 2 or 3 to- 

 gether. Uniting bees is much like intro- 

 ducing queens, inasmuch as no fixed rule 

 can be given tor all cases. If your bees are 

 in frames, it is a very simple matter to lift 

 the frames, bees and all, out of one hive and 

 set them into another, having first removed 

 one of the queens, where the two are situ- 

 ated side by side. Usually there will be no 

 quarreliug'if this is done when the weather 

 is too cold for bees to fly, but this is not al- 

 ways the case. If one colony is placed close 

 to one side of the hive, and the other to the 

 other side, and they are small enough for a 

 vacant comb or two between them, they will 

 very rarely fight. After 2 or 3 days the bees 

 will be found to have united themselves 

 peaceably, and the brood and stores may 

 then be placed compactly together. If there 



