202 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



till the season is clone, some colo- 

 iiios never yield a pi'olit ; and we 

 realize when too late tliat we failed 

 to remove sueh queens. 



In the hiving of new swarms he 

 has o'ot the thing mixed badly un- 

 less the types are at fault, as they 

 sometimes are. 



He shakes off all the l)ees from 

 the combs into the old hive and 

 the combs are placed in the new 

 hive. But the now empty old hive 

 (empt}' with bees in it) receives 

 the new swarm. 



"Queiy." What is to people the 

 new hive and take care of its 

 brood ? 



"Not one time in a dozen will a 

 second swarm issue ! !" We reckon 

 not. 



The plan I have practised sev- 

 eral j'cars is to take about one- 

 tliii'd to one-half of the brood from 

 the old hive and adhering bees, to 

 the new hive and hive the swarm in 

 that, putting on surplus cases from 

 the old. I have not had a swarm 

 leave nor an after-swarm in all the 

 time I have practised this way ; and 

 I keep from eighty to one hundred 

 and twenty colonies. My policy 

 has been to check increase and 

 avoid swarming. I have so far 

 succeeded in that not more than 

 one-fourth of my colonies have ever 

 swarmed in one year. 



The old idea that bees never 

 swarm except when lacking room is 

 disproved completely. 



In fact, if science be knowledge 

 systematized, then apiculture may 

 hardly be considered a science as 

 yet; for there is nothing certain, 

 so tliat a few "anarchist" bees 

 may not tip all of our wisely laid 

 plans. 



For instance, knowing that 

 friend Manum practises clipping 

 queens' wings, and having a greatly 

 valued souvenir of that master's 

 triumphant skill, in the shape 

 of a photograph repi'csenting him 

 with three great swarms strung on 

 the ends of so many poles, caught 



in the manner he so aptly describes 

 in your June number, with many 

 very tall trees near mj' apiar}- 

 I resolved to try it. 



My Oi'st swarm came out May 2. 

 Having a prime young queen I 

 (dipped her wings. In five weeks 

 she issued with a swarm and fell 

 near the entrance and was found 

 too late to catch the swarm and so 

 she was put back and the colony 

 reduced by two combs of brood all 

 cells being cut out. 



Twelve days later a swarm again 

 issued and I found a lot of capped 

 cells and no 3'oung larviie. 



They had (proiiably it was a 

 squad of "nihilist" l)ees did the 

 job) balled the queen .and then 

 raised a new queen. The one cut 

 cell evidenced the fact that a vir- 

 gin queen led the last swarm out. 



Again : destroying a black 

 queen preparatory to introducing an 

 Italian I found two days later that 

 a fine Italian had already entered 

 upon her regal sway. AVhence 

 came she? She must have entered 

 without a letter of introduction. 



I am sure that most observing 

 a[)iarists can record freaks which 

 upset all calculations and often 

 run counter to all law. They often 

 move without rhyme or reason it 

 would appear. 



We have had a most singular 

 season here in Virginia. With 

 abundant natural flora in field and 

 forest, there was no secretion of 

 nectar or next to none till the last 

 week in June. 



Fruit bloom very alnindant ; lo- 

 cust bloom and poplar also very 

 abundant (and all generally a fruit- 

 ful source of nectar here) were fol- 

 lowe<l by white clover, yet no nec- 

 tar. Now they are just booming in 

 white clover and blue thistle hone3'' 

 of the finest quality at a season 

 when we usually begin to wind up. 



We had a very wet May and sev- 

 eral heavy rains early in June so 

 thatgrass and grain crops' are fine. 



C harlot t esv ill e, Va. 



