24 



TEE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July. 



and a box placed on the top, rapped upon some 

 minutes, and then this alarms the bees and they 

 go immediately to their stores and fill their sacks 

 with honey. Bees when tilled with honey will 

 not Sting, and this is the object of alarming them 

 by rapping on the hive. After waiting some 

 ten minutes the box on the top of the hive, into 

 which the most of the bees have crawled, is 

 taken off and placed upon the floor with the 

 open side down. The comb is then taken from 

 the old hive and put into the frames and then 

 fastened till the bees stick it together wnen the 

 fastenings are taken off. Capt. H. fastens by 

 means of the thorns of the red haw put through 

 the top and sides of the frame into the comb, 

 but Quinby & Root fasten by two small sticks 

 wired together, top and bottom, with small wire. 

 This latter method I should think the most ex- 

 peditious and cheapest. 1 he bees that do not 

 crawl to the drum-box fly to the window, and 

 when all the comb is transferred from the old 

 hive to the frames, the new hive in which are 

 put all the frames with comb in them, is placed 

 directly under this window, and the bees from 

 the box and the window are brushed into it, 

 which completes the operation. At Quinby & 

 Root's I learned that 15 swarms was an ordinary 

 day's work for one man and two boys. If the 

 bees are transferred when there is brood in the 

 comb, it is essential that the brood should be 

 placed together in the new hive and not scat- 

 tered through it, as a certain amount of heat is 

 necessary to the hatching of the young bees. 

 In transferring, all the drone comb should be 

 rejected, and all the frames should be filled with 

 worker comb, if possible, excepting, perhaps, 

 some corners of the frames which may be left 

 open for the bees to rill with drone comb, which 

 they are very sure to do. It is a great draw-back 

 in the profits of bee-keeping to have ten times 

 more drones than is necessary, which is often 

 the case. They consume the profits of the 

 worker. Without the movable or "leaf hive," 

 this thing cannot be regulated by the beekeeper. 



ARTIFICIAL SWARMING, 



where an increase of stock is desired, is the 

 only true and safe way. From the early history 

 of bees up to the present time, natural swarm- 

 ing has been, and even is now, the common 

 method practiced. The beekeeper is on the 

 alert when a swarm is expected out, and he can- 

 not leave home to go to church even, for fear 

 the bees will swarm in his absence and be off 

 for the woods. But with the movable comb 

 hive new swarms can be made at pleasure and 

 all swarming can be regulated according to the 

 wishes of the beekeeper. He can have new 

 colonies made, or, by dustryoing the newly-made 

 queen cells, he can prevent all swarming. To 

 make a new swarm, take one of the best of the 

 old colonies and put it in a new place, then take 

 frames enough from that and several other hives 

 that are filled with brood-eggs and honey and 

 put them into a new hive, and put this hive 

 where the old one stood. The bees that are 

 away in the fields when the old hive is removed 

 will return to the new hive, and thus a new 

 swarm is formed. If the new swarm can be 



furnished with a fertile queen or with a queen 

 cell nearly matured it is so much gained, but if 

 not they will raise a queen from the worker 

 eggs they have. But if a queen can bo furnished 

 the new swarm, some twenty days are gained, 

 which is very important in the honey season of 

 the year. It is well to keep the stocks equally 

 strong by giving the weak ones comb to brood 

 from the strong ones. Other methods of artifi- 

 cial swarming are practiced, but it is generally 

 allowed that the one here described is the best. 



THE PROFITS 



of bee-culture, like all other kinds of business, 

 must depend upon the knowledge and attention 

 given to the subject, the price of honey and 

 other contingencies. It is a kind of buisness 

 requiring a good deal of patience and a thorough 

 knowledge of the habits and wants of the bee. 

 It is but now and then we find a person compe- 

 tent or that will give his bees attention enough 

 to realize any profits. The bee is universally 

 neglected and left to take care of themselves, 

 and hence, as should be expected, no profit is 

 rea'ized. During the past winter hundreds of 

 stocks of bees have perished simply for want of 

 trouble to remove them from their summer 

 stands to some comfortable winter quarters. 

 Men that cannot afford to do even this little 

 work for their bees have no reason to expect 

 profits from keeping them. Captain Hethering- 

 ton, of Cherry Valley, sent to market in one 

 season 2j,000 pounds of honey, which sold for 

 #7,000. 



" According to the census of 1850, there were 

 produced in the United States and Territories 

 14,853,790 pounds of beeswax and honey, while 

 that of 1860 is l,357,fe64 pounds of beeswax, and 

 25,058,901 of honey, showing an increase of 

 about 77| per cent." 



"Mr. Quinby, in his circular for 1872, states 

 that Mr. Hildreth, of Herkimer, obtained in 

 1871, from thirteen hives, 1,500 pounds of box 

 honey, and doubled his original stocks." 



He also states that Mr. Underbill, of St. 

 Johnsville, obtained from fifteen colonies, six 

 swarms, 1,050 pounds of box honey, and over 

 . 00 pounds of extracted honey. 



In his own apiary, he says, during the past 

 year, (1871) of those swarms that he took the 

 trouble to weigh, one filled forty boxes, weigh- 

 ing five pounds each (200 pounds), another 

 thirty boxes. "From one we extracted 220 

 pounds. Very many others furnished as much 

 more, but were not weighed." 



In 1870 one hive furnished 361 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey. The yield in one week, last of 

 June, was eighty- three pounds. 



In my own apiary I have had up to this time 

 only one common box hive, but during the last 

 year I received from eight hives in the spring, 

 and two of them not strong, eight new swarms 

 and 550 pounds of box honey. 



But others may keep bees and give them no 

 attention, and their profits will be very small, 

 if they do not lose their entire investment. 

 Bee-culture, well managed, is a good business, 

 but if left to take care of itself, as is generally 

 done, it had better be let alone. 



