134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



winter. Remember that at any time when bees 

 can gather sufficient they do not want feeding; 

 and in some seasons or at some times they only 

 want enough lo make up the deficiency, which 

 may be only a trifle. They should not be led 

 so much as to restrict the queen from laying ; 

 and when yon want a comb built they must 

 have abundance of food, either naturally or ar- 

 tificially, and the ferti ity of the queen must be 

 kept up to her full capacity at all times. 



The next question is, will it pay? W ! th Ital- 

 ian swarms at from fifteen to twenty dollars 

 each, where is that everlasting Yankee? He can 

 certainly be taught to make them cheaper than to 

 buy them. Now I can answer another question, 

 and here it is: Had I better buy a stock of four or 

 five hundred dollars' worth, of bees to commence 

 with? No ! If you have not the knowledge 

 and skill, buy only one or two swarms and 

 make the rest; and by the time you have, made 

 them you will know how to take care of them. 

 Your knowledge will increase as your bees in- 

 crease. 



The reader will probably ask — "Are you sure 

 of getting eight ornine queen cells in the way 

 you speak oi '?" Yes, pretty sure, if you have a 

 prolific queen and the supply of food is kept up 

 just right, either naturally or artificially . I have 

 hardly ever failed of getting from eight to 

 twenty-six in a strong swarm with all worker 

 comb. To feed for comb-building j^ou should 

 use white crushed or coffee sugar; and it is my 

 impression the food should be about the consist- 

 ence of thinnish honey. To promote breeding 

 it should be thinner. We often hear the remark, 

 "My bees were apparently doing well; they 

 were strong and numerous, and I was expecting 

 them to swarm ; but they killed their drones 

 and did not swarm " This could have been 

 prevented by judicious feeding at the right time. 

 If increase is what we want, we can create a 

 swarming mania any season, by keeping up the 

 supply of food artificially when the natural 

 supply fails. In fact a queen can be kept breed- 

 ing even in mid winter by stimulation and keep- 

 ing the swarm in the right condition. As I said 

 on a former occasion, in all cases keep the queen 

 in advance of the bees if you expect to profit 

 from them. I have had three cases in my expe- 

 rience where from some cause the queen did not 

 commence breeding as early as?ke should have 

 in the spring, and the bees filled every cell with 

 honey, so that she had no room to breed. In 

 those cases I removed some of their central 

 combs and compelled the bees to build new. 

 This gave a chance for the queen to lay, and 

 they afterwards became good stocks. 



There are a great many old and experienced 

 bee-keepers who have said, and will say, that 

 such an increase as Gallup speaks of is impos- 

 sible. Hold on, gentlemen, be not too fast! 

 Let Gallup ask a question: Do you suppose that 

 Gallup, with an improved Langstroth moveable 

 comb hive, is going to be beat by his old friend 

 Wellhuysen with his cow manure immovable 

 comb hive V Not if he can help it, and he thinks 

 he can. I do not wish to be understood as re- 

 commending an attempt at any such increase by 

 a mere new beginner. But what I have learned 

 to do I can teach others to do. And every bee- 



keeper should thoroughly understand the theory; 

 and then he can practice it or not as he pleases. 

 Let me here remark that I studied long and 

 closely (after practicing with the Wellliuysen 

 hive) on the subject of getting up a movable 

 come hive small at the top, similar to Mr. Bing- 

 ham's or Mr. Price's; but after using the hive I 

 now use it worked so near like what I wanted 

 it to do, in respect to cheapness, simplicity, ease 

 of handling, and for artificial swarming, &c, 

 that I gave up making the one I had already 

 devised in my head. 



Now, friend Monroe, you will probably say 

 that Gallup has not exactly told the number of 

 increase, nor the exact amount of sugar re- 

 quired. Well, we will leave that for our friend 

 Quinby to tell. And we have as strong suspi- 

 cions as he has of us, that it will bother him to 

 tell within a quarter of a swarm or one ounce 

 of sugar. Elisha Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Honey-Emptying Machine. 



The honey-emptying machine must, I think, 

 gradually facilitate the production of honey, 

 and may be regarded as a decided improvement 

 if there are not two if sin the way. If first, the 

 honey will sell in market as well in the li- 

 quid form as in the comb; and secondly, if the 

 so frequent depriving the bees of their stores, 

 and brushing them from the comb, does not so 

 enrage them as to render them too angry and 

 contentious to endure. I find my Italians, in 

 the height of the honey season, very belligerent 

 and not disposed so allow a single frame to be 

 taken from their stores without vigorous pro- 

 test and defence. Now, how will they endure 

 Ihe frequent pilfering of their stores, and the 

 brushing of them from the comb ? Will not 

 their disposition be increasingly exasperated ? 

 Will those who have had experience give us 

 light on these points ? 

 ^Bolton, Mass. 



P. Pi. Russell. 



Bees and Honey in Minnesota. 



Ricn Valley, (Minn.,) Nov. 23, 1868. 



The past season was rather a poor one for 

 bees in this State. Nevertheless, judging from 

 my own experience, in a poor location (thesur- 

 roundiug country being prairie, almost entirely 

 cultivated in grain) bees, when properly man- 

 aged, paid a larger profit on the capital invested 

 than any other farm stock. 



The honey gathered was superior irr quality 

 to any that I ever saw before. Of six colonies 

 that I transferred from box hives to frames in 

 the spring, each gave one good swarm and from 

 thirty to forty pounds of surplus honey; and 

 this without the aid of any empty combs, or 

 honey-emptying machine. Doubtless if I had 

 such aids, they would have done still better. 



I do not intend to be without the Bee 

 Journal as long as I can get it, and only wish 

 it came oftencr. L. M. Lindley. 



