1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



23 



Westfielt), N. Y., Jiiue 8.— Will the bees swarm ? 

 My bees (Italian) commenced swarmins? May 10th, 

 and swarmed as follows : May 10th, one swarm ; 

 12th, one ; 15th, one ; ISth, two, both second swarms ; 

 20th, three, two were thirds and one a first swarm ; 

 31st, one second ; which was the last, notwithstand- 

 iiio; I have twenty-five other stocks equally stroni;-, — 

 Now for the secret. The first half of May was very 

 cold ; about the time my bees commenced swarming 

 we had frosts, which froze ice as thick as common 

 window glass (apple trees in bloom), and soon after 

 my bees commenced throwing out the drone brood ; 

 and about the 30th, many of my strong stocks began 

 a vigorous attack on the drones, and kept it up for 

 several days. Bees had nothing to work upon that 

 was of much account for nearly two weeks, and I was 

 obliged to feed my new swarms. Forage has been 

 plenty for about a week, and the weather very warm, 

 — the thermometer ranging from 80 to 93 in the shade. 



H. B. KOLFE. 



Marshall, Ohio, June 9.— The bees in this section 

 of country have not swarmed yet, and I think will 

 not thi^ season. They have stored but very little box 

 honey. C. J. Dick. 



ToLONO, Ills., June 13.— I wintered seventy-two 

 stocks on their summer stands, and all came through 

 all right. All but ten were in framed hives. I lost 

 three this spring, however, in consequence of their 

 losing their queens. While the trees were in bloom, 

 about the 1st of April, the bees did well ; but after 

 that time, it became very dry, and for six or eight 

 weeks they did nothing. I fed all my weak swarms 

 last fall; but, for fear thpy would not have enough, 

 I gave the weakest one or two boxes of honey. Tliey 

 did not touch it until late this spring. AVhite clover 

 came on the 15th of May, but gave no honey till we 

 had rain. Now it is wet enough, and bees are doing 

 well. I have heard of only two swarms yet, and 

 think I shall not have any before the 30th of June. 

 My bees are nearly all Italian. Last year was the 

 poorest year I ever knew in this county. We have 

 two hundred colonies in this village. Dk. H. Chaf- 

 fee. 



Galesburg, Mich., June 13. — I am over seventy 

 years of age, and have kept bees over forty years. I 

 have taken your Bee Journal one year, and have 

 learned more about bees in that one year than in all 

 my lifetime before. L. Bcrdick. 



Buffalo, N. T., June 17. — Bees in this section 

 have wintered well, and are doing well so far. Mrs. 

 Wm. Harris. 



[From tbe Crawford (Pa.) Journal ] 



Artificial Swarming of Bees. 



Mr. Editok : — As I have been requested to 

 give, through the columns of your paper, our 

 method of swarming bees artificially, with your 

 consent, I will proceed to do so. This method 

 of swarming or dividing bees is based upon the 

 well known fact of the bees being able to rear 

 themselves a queen from any worker larvai, 

 under five days old. Any worker egg or larvte, 

 which, under oi'dinary treatment would have 

 produced a worker, is so changed by the peculiar 

 food which they (the bees) supply the young 

 grub, that instead of twenty-one days being re- 

 quired to perfect the insect, it takes but sixteen. 

 On the otlier hand, the duration of her life is 

 much prolonged. As a worker, she would not 



live to exceed six months, usually not more than 

 from six to eight weeks in the honey season ; as 

 a queen, she will live, if healthy, from three to 

 four years — in rare cases— five years. Why this 

 is so is one of the unexplained mysteries in the 

 physiology of the honey-bee, which has puzzled 

 far wiser heads than mine. 



Of the many methods of dividing or swarming 

 bees, I will give but one or two. One of the 

 most common, and at the same time requiring 

 the least skill, is to divide a full stock into two 

 equal parts. To illustrate : Take the Lang- 

 stroth hive, which contains ten frames ; we will 

 call the parent stock No. 1, and the empty hive 

 which is to contain half the combs and bees No. 

 2. Now, for the process. To subdue or quiet 

 your bees for handling, use dry bark — oak is 

 best. Put two small pieces together, light one 

 end of it, and you will be surprised to see how 

 easily your bees are subdued by the smoke. Set 

 your empty hive along side of the one you. wish 

 to divide, containing five empty frames. Re- 

 move the upper box or cover and the honey 

 board. Give the bees a few puffs of smoke, 

 which will drive them down among the combs ; 

 proceed to loosen the frames and remove five of 

 them to your empty hive. Be sure and notice 

 which hrve is in possession of the queen. Spread 

 the combs in the hive in which she is, and insert 

 your empty frames, first a full and then an empty 

 one, thus alternately, till your hive is full. To 

 the queenless hive give no frames until they are 

 in possession of a young queen, which Avill be 

 from twelve to sixteen days. The reasons for so 

 doing I will not take the time or space to ex^ilain 

 here (any one will find this fully explained in 

 Langstroth on the Hive and Honey Bee;. Take 

 No. 1 and set it about two feet to the right of 

 the old stand, and No. 2 as far to the left, or 

 right, as the case may be. Notice the hives for 

 a day or two. If one seems to be getting moi-e 

 than its share of bees, move it still farther from 

 the old position, and the other as much nearer. 

 If your hives are alike in shape and color, put 

 some distinguishing mark on the hive that will 

 soon be in possession of a young, virgin queen, 

 for bear in mind, the queen must make at least 

 one, usually several, excursions from the hive in 

 search of a drone before she is capable of fulfil- 

 ling her functions as the prolific parent of the 

 whole colony. When the young queen leaves 

 her cell, proceed to fill up the hive as above 

 described. If this division of stock is deferred, 

 as it should be, until the season of natural 

 swarming approaches, the old stock may be in 

 possession of queen cells nearly mature. By 

 giving the queenless hive a comb containing a 

 sealed queen cell, it will greatly facilitate our 

 operations. 



The above method is little, if any, superior to 

 natural swarming, Only that by dividing our 

 bees we make the increase of our colonies a sure 

 thing, provided we succeed in getting a fertile 

 queen in each colony. 



We will now describe our favorite method of 

 swarming be(!s. If we can anticipate or assist 

 nature in her works, I think we are justified in 

 interference. If we cannot do this, or v/ork in 

 accordance with the unchangeable laws by which 



