188 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Feb., 



shall give them a fair trial the comiug season, 

 and should such prove to be the case, we do not 

 want them, as we are not prepared yet to be- 

 lieve that a single swarm of Italians will store 

 as much honey as two swarms of blacks. 



It may be that some beekeepers will object to 

 this method of ours, in returning the swarms to 

 all the hives that had sent out a swarm, destroy- 

 ing all tlie young queens, and returning all the 

 old ones. Now, Mr. Editor, we honestly con- 

 fess that we were a little skeptical on this point 

 ourselves, for the first two or three seasons ; but 

 time has proven to us that it made not a particle 

 of difference. Our stocks are to-day just as 

 good as they ever were, and we think even 

 better. Our loss in queens has not amounted 

 to more than one in twenty-five the year 

 round. 



And now, Mr. Editor, light your pipe* take 

 the American Bee Journal, and sit down in the 

 shade, where you can watch these stocks, as tlie 

 bees fly out in all directions from the hive. It 

 will make you smile ; and you may just bet 

 your old boots. f that if there is any honey to be 

 found, you will get your share. We have never 

 had a season so poor since we adopted the plan, 

 but a little double swarm would fill the hive 

 with combs and store honey enough to last till 

 spring. But we liave known plenty of singly 

 hived swarms starve before the first of De- 

 cember. 



The past season a brother beekeeper con- 

 demned our plan on the ground that such a 

 quantity of bees put in one hive, will invariably 

 build too much drone comb. But it must be re- 

 membered that the swarm was hived four days 

 before it was doubled ; and if the weather was 

 good the greater part of the combs are then 

 already built or well started. But we have not 

 been able to discover aniy difference. Some stocks 

 build more of such combs than others. But do 

 not be alarmed ; the working force of your 

 hives will be ample so long as the flowers last, 

 and they will go into winter quartei's with all 

 the bees you need. In fact, we have some- 

 times thought the hives contained too many 

 bees to winter well. 



Our esteemed brother Ezra Rood, of Wayne, 

 Michigan, paid us a visit last season, in swarm- 

 ing time, expressly to investigate our plan. We 

 demonstrated to him our best Grecian style, and 

 he went home as he said to put it in practice. 

 As we have not heard from him since, we do not 

 know how he likes it. Brother Townley of 

 Parma, has practiced this plan, more or less ; 

 but as he has been extensively engaged in rais- 

 ing queens, we think he has not fully carried 

 it out. 



We also visited brother Temple, of Ridgway, 

 Michigan. He has a large apiary, and after 

 talking with him, we explained to him our 

 method. He promised to try it, and at the fol- 

 lowing State Fair, held in Jackson, he told us, 

 if he had known this before, he could have sold 



hundreds of dollars' worth more "honey ; and he 

 is another convert. 



But, Mr. Editor, we have spun a pretty long 

 yarn and will try to close. We should feel more 

 at home holding the plow-handle than writing 

 articles for the Journal, because many of its 

 readers have forgotten more than we have ever 

 thought of. 



About hives we have nothing to say. Wc use 

 a well made box, with frames. Cost about 

 seventy-five cents. Two coats of paint, and the 

 nail holes puttied up. We are a jackknife car- 

 penter, and do our own work. We think very 

 loud sometimes that if men would study bees 

 more and fixings less, they would get more 

 honey. 



We have forgotten to mention one thing that 

 has been useful to us. In swarming time it 

 often happens that two swarms go together, 

 and they prove more or less troublesome till one 

 of the queens is killed. We have often had 

 them swarm out two or three times, before 

 finally concluding to stay. But we manage them 

 in this way now. As soon as such swarms are 

 hived, set the hive in a shady place on the 

 ground, of course with a board under the hive. 

 Raise the hive all around on blocks one inch ■ 

 thick. Now take any kind of thin cloth, having -s^ 

 no holes or rents in it. Spread it over the top ^ 

 of the hive and reaching down to the ground. j 

 Pull the bottom of the cloth out tent-like, and i 

 lay stones or bricks on the loose ends, or any- 

 thing that will keep . all tight. Be sure that no 

 place is left where a bee can get out, and they 

 will remain perfectly quiet. By next morning 

 one of the queens will have been destroyed ; 

 then put the hive on its stand, and all will be 

 right. 



If we have an unruly swarm we tent them ^ 

 out till sundown ; then unite it with some other ; g 

 and the trouble is at an end. 



Long live the American Bee Journal, and may 

 it see many happy new years. 



J. Butler. 



Jackson, Mich., Dec. 28, 1S71. 



* Fumigator, if you please. We do not now smoke. 

 [Ed. 



t Not worth a dime ! [Ed. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



To Prevent Combs from Breaking. 



The following is the way I prevent the comb 

 from breaking while using tlie honey extractor, 

 in cold weather, in fall or wiuter. It works 

 with perfect satisfaction to me. 



I use a zinc can with a tight cover and a hole 

 near the bottom to let the honey oiit of. It is 

 tlirough this hole that I admit the steam. First 

 I shave the caps off of two combs, put them in 

 the can, and put on the cover, then having a 

 common tea kettle boiling on the stove, I raise 

 up the can so that the steam will enter at the 

 aforementioned hole, turn the comb gently for 

 three or four minutes, and then you may turn as 

 fast as required without the least danger of 

 breaking the combs. This is much bettor, and 

 far less trouble than letting the combs stand in a 

 warm room two or three hours. 



J. Pickering. 



Brampton, Ontario, Canada. 



