1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



109 



was enough. He had 13 swarms in the spring 

 and 27 now. Had made but 270 pounds of sur- 

 phis. Two of his stocks were Italians. He liad 

 noticed that tliey were more reluctant to begin 

 working in boxes than the blacks, but that they 

 would work when common bees would not. On 

 the whole he could give them the preference. 



Wm. D. Onthank, of Portland, had five swai-ms 

 of black bees in the spring after losing seven by 

 too much swarming the season before — three 

 swarms to a hive. This year the five swarms 

 produced four, and 130 lbs. of surplus. The first 

 swarm came out July 1st, which is late. He pre- 

 vented swarming by promptly taking oft' the full 

 boxes and putting in an empty one. He win- 

 tered out doors in preference to the cellar, but 

 would protect them from the wind. 



Mr. Whitford gave his bees all the box room 

 he could — did no good. 



B. W. Cook had a six-year-old swarm he had 

 treated in the way mentioned by Mr. Onthank, 

 and it did not swarm. He sold it and it swarmed 

 four fini'S. That was all he would say. 



Mr. Knowlton stated that he had kept a 

 strong heavy swarm four years without swarm- 

 ing. He put a large cap on the hive, and it 

 swarmed fee times. 



Peter Miller, of Sheridan, had obtained from 

 36 stocks 38 new ones and 1500 lbs. of surplus. 



Jos. Cook, of Sheridan, had obtained from 23 

 swarms black bees, 12 new ones and COO lbs. of 

 surplus. 



J. C. Cranston, of Sheridan, stated that his 

 bees were, or had been, of the common variety, 

 but that now half of them Avere Italians. How 

 they came so was to him a great puzzle. 



J. M. Beebe answered that his black queen 

 had' unquestionably mated with Italian di'oues 

 in the neighborhood. 



j\Ir. Cranston further said he had obtained 

 200 lbs. of surplus from four swarms. 



Oliver Waterman, of Stockton, commenced in 

 the spring with 12 swarms, all in Langstroth's 

 hives. He commenced feeding a jjart as soon 

 as the weather would admit. His first young 

 swarms, from bees he had fed, came June 5th, 

 and from bees he had not fed, June 10th. He 

 took off, July 11th, 17 threo-pou)id boxes from 

 bees he had fed, and 9 boxes from bees he had 

 not fed. June 22d he had three young swarms 

 c-ome out. He put one in the Beebe hive and 

 tlie other two in Langstroth's. July 10th his 

 Beebe hive swarmed ; also took oft" 27 lbs. box 

 honey. He put that young SAvarm into a Beebe 

 hive when it also swarmed July 29th, when he 

 took oft' 27 lbs. box honey. The mother swarm 

 gave 36 lbs. box honey. Total from the mother 

 swarm : three swarms of bees and 90 lbs. honey. 

 One of the Langstroth hives gave him one young 

 swarm and 27 lbs. surplus, July 19th, and the 

 other yielded neither swarms nor surplus. From 

 his 12 year old swarms he had received 17 young 

 swarms and 400 lbs. of surplus. Two of his old 

 swarms, apparently strong and healthy, had 

 neither swarmed nor made honey. He did not 

 understand it. 



J. 31. Beebe, of Casadaga, had obtained from 

 15 old swarms of Italian bees, 15 young swarms 

 and 1000 lbs. of box honey. His first swarm 



issued May 12th, and a second issue May 22d. 

 The old swarm stocked up again and threw out 

 another first swarm July 2d, and a second swarm 

 July 15th. The first young swarm also threw 

 out a swarm July 10th, making six stocks and 

 100 lbs. of honey from one swarm. 



J. G. Harris, of Westfield, had 51 stocks of 

 black bees which had swarmed but little — only 

 eight new. His neighbor, Mr. Rolph, had 47 

 Italian stocks in the spring and 80 now. He 

 could not see the most honey in the Italians. 

 From a less number of stocks he had realized 

 more honey than Mr. Rolph. He had his doubts 

 about Italians gathering more honey from flowers 

 than the blacks. He once asked M. S. Snow his 

 figures on the amoiuit of honey from his best 

 Italian swarms, and found that his blacks had 

 in one case made two jiounds more, and in an- 

 other four pounds. 



Mr. Carpenter stated that he had a stock of 

 black bees in an old-fashioned Quinby hive that 

 had netted him $40. 



Mr. Beebe explained that the Italian was su- 

 perior to the black, because so much more pro- 

 lific. By placing guide combs in his boxes he 

 has no tx'ouble about their not working. He 

 never had a black swarm earlier than June 10th. 

 He would like the opinions of the rest on the 

 best marketable size of honey boxes. He uses 

 3 and 4 lb. boxes and can get 3 cts. a lb. moi-e 

 than for 6 lb. boxes. 



Mr. Carpenter is satisfied bees will make one- 

 third more honey in larger boxes. 



Mr. Beebe did not deny that more honey 

 might be produced, but could they get as much 

 for it ? He should next year put out 1^ lb. boxes. 

 If consumers were willing to buy glass, nails 

 and wood for honey, he was willing to sell and 

 make the small boxes. 



Mr. Harris said bees would make more honey 

 in 20 or 25 lb. boxes than smaller ones. He 

 thought 6 lb. boxes were marketable and small 

 enough. 



Mr. Whitford used a double tier box — bees 

 lost less time than with single boxes. 



Lyvenus Ellis, of Pomfret, had 18 swarms in 

 the spring from which he obtained 14 new 

 swarms and 1400 i^ounds of surj^lus. He has no 

 Italians. 



P. G. Tambling, of Pomfret, has been a bee- 

 keeper for 30 years and has had 70 old swarms 

 at one time. Some 26 years ago he was robbed 

 of all his bees. Two years afterwards a swarm 

 came back to him, from which he calculates he 

 has had over 200 swarms. The last swarm lived 

 through and was one of the three that he found 

 alive in the spring of 1870. That year they 

 doubled. This year he had 13 swarms which 

 have produced him 250 pounds of box honey. 

 The largest yield from a young swarm was 40 

 pounds. In his experience, the more care that 

 was given to the bees the greater the profit. 

 Hives are of importance, and some are better 

 than others, but the one essential thing is care. 



B. G. Watkinson, of North Harmony, com- 

 menced April 19th with 11 hives of bees; nine 

 out of the eleven were taken 20 miles in a spring 

 wagon and express 180 miles by rail, then re- 

 shipped into a lumber wagon and taken 12 miles, 



