246 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[May, 



through in good condition. But this is not ex- 

 plaining how it was done. In the first place we 

 must have a good locality and a good season, so that 

 there is a continuous flow of nectar (throughout the 

 entire season) from the honey-producing plants or 

 flowers of the locality, or our bees cannot even 

 build the comb, let alone raising brood and storing 

 honey for wintering purposes. True, we can feed 

 artificially to a certain extent, but food from natural 

 sources is the best. Then we must supply every 

 division of bees, whether a large quantity or small, 

 with a good fertile queen. And again, we must 

 confine our bees to a space in the hive suited to the 

 quantity of bees. If we only have bees enough to 

 occupy two combs, we must not give them four. We 

 will now quote from Mr. Hosmer. He says remove 

 all comb that the bees cannot cover. Make the 

 entrance as small as possible to give the bees room 

 to pass in and out, and keep them as warm as you 

 can. As soon as the bees increase enough to cover 

 more comb, set in one sheet at a time (or an empty 

 frame) and place it in the center between two sheets 

 of brood, &c. (See Bee-Keepers' Magazine, Vol. 1, 

 No. 1.) There are many methods of accomplishing 

 this increase. But we shall endeavor to confine 

 ourselves to the general principles that must be 

 kept in view whatever method we pursue in its ac- 

 complishment. Now there is another item that- 

 must not be lost sight of. In making all our 

 divisions we must secure a proper proportion of the 

 different classes of workers, or we shall make a 

 failure on the first start. Allow me to explain : 

 Working bees at a certain age are capable of per- 

 forming certain labors in and about the hive, and 

 they are incapable of performing any other labor at 

 that certain age. Now, if we take all nursing bees 

 we have no wax workers ; if we take all wax work- 

 ers we have no nursing bees ; and if we take all old 

 bees we have neither nursing bees nor wax workers. 

 The reader will readily see why many novices fail 

 entirely or partially in making artificial swarms. A 

 natural or prime swarm of bees, let it be larger or 

 smaller, is invariably composed of the proper num- 

 ber of each class of bees, or, in other words, it is a 

 perfectly balanced colony. There is the requisite 

 quantity of nurses, wax workers and outside labor- 

 ers to carry on all the labors of the hive, without 

 one class interfering with the other in the least. 

 We must have young or nursing bees in any colony, 

 in order to meet with success. For it makes no 

 difference how good a queen we have, she cannot 

 produce eggs without food, and in order to produce 

 eggs abundantly, she is fed on concentrated food, 

 prepared in the stomachs of the nursing bees. If 

 the reader has understood me thus far, he or she 

 will readily see that in a good locality and a good 

 season, with the proper understanding of the sub- 

 ject we can increase the stock sufficiently to satisfy 

 the most fastidious. A stock of bees should always 

 be confined to a space in the hive suited to the 

 capacity of the number of bees, and then what 

 comb there is can be occupied with eggs, and it can 

 be kept warm by the bees so as to hatch and develop 

 to a perfect bee. But if we place a small quantity 

 of bees in a large space they can do nothing, and 

 consequently they amount to nothing, To thor- 

 oughly test the matter, we have taken a quart of 

 bees, one comb and a good queen, and built them 



up to just as profitable and strong a stock as we had 

 in our yard. But the novice in the business had 

 better make haste slowly, and especially in poor 

 seasons or poor localities. If I understand this 

 matter rightly, Messrs. Hosmer and Gallup are 

 blessed with extra good localities, and especially is 

 this so in ordinary seasons. With my present 

 knowledge of the business, and such seasons as we 

 had in 1870 and 1871, if I devoted my time to the 

 business, I would not be afraid to warrant from 

 ten to sixteen of an increase from every good stock 

 in my yard. But a large increase and a large yield 

 of surplus honey will not both come in the same 

 season. Recollect that you must keep the animal 

 heat concentrated in a compass small enough to 

 suit the quantity of bees, and you are all right. If 

 you hurry too much you spoil the whole. We will 

 here state that the stock that we made five from one 

 after July 20th, on our first commencing in Iowa, 

 was in an old box hive. In the spring 1 had an old 

 superanuated queen and less than one quart of 

 bees. It is stated that Mr. Hosmer, in 1872, in- 

 creased 24 stocks up to 143, and took 2,206 pounds 

 of surplus honey from them. Now, as we under- 

 stand Mr. Hosmer's locality, he gets his surplus 

 honey from basswood, which blooms in July, and 

 consequently made a part of his increase before and 

 a part of it afterwards. That is after he got his 

 surplus, and his increase was about six to one or 

 five from one, which would not be a large increase 

 for ^his locality, that is when properly done arti- 

 ficially, supposing the season to continue up to 

 October, as it did in many localities. We have had 

 natural swarms come out as late as the 20th of Sep- 

 tember, and fill their hives with comb, brood and 

 honey, and winter as well as any stock in the lot, 

 since we located here. Then the reader must 

 understand that Mr. Hosmer with his management, 

 after taking his surplus, had comb and honey ready 

 made to make at least two standard stocks from 

 each one. I got 1,600 pounds of surplus from 

 twenty-four stocks, and said stocks more than 

 doubled their quantity of comb, and gave the 1,600 

 pounds in just eight days, and my locality did not. 

 begin to come up with Mr. Hosmer's the past season. 

 In fact, with me it was the poorest season that I 

 have had in the eight years that I have been located 

 in Iowa. 



Following the essay was an extremely interesting 

 discussion of the subject presented, and the Society 

 adjourned till the regular meeting in March. — Iowa 



Stale Register, Feb. 1st, 1873. 



•-♦-• 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Postage on Queens. 



Mr. Editor : — The legal rate of postage on queen 

 bees, when sent by mail is a matter of some impor- 

 tance to all apiarians, and of especial interest to 

 queen venders. We have laws by which seeds, bulbs, 

 plants, and other articles of like character, may b« 

 sent by mail at almost nominal rates, and this is 

 right. But may we send and receive our queens at 

 similar rates ? 



During the last two seasons I have sent out by 

 mail a good many queens, but have been required by 

 our Post Master to pay on them full letter postage 

 rates. 



