224 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal. 



Improved Method of £ warming. 



Mr. Editor : — In the March number of the 

 Bee Journal, page 170, Rev. P. R. Russell, 

 of Bolton, Massachusetts, gives his plan of 

 swarming, which would do very well, provided 

 his bees would start the queens from eggs de- 

 posited each on successive days. But I am 

 afraid that about the time he would get his 

 swarm from number three, he would have three 

 if not twice three queens hatch, all within an 

 hour perhaps. Could he change number one 

 from stand to stand so fast as that, and have 

 bees return from the fields too to make new 

 swarms ? My opinion is that he could not, and 

 his plan would fail. But suppose he succeeded 

 in getting a swarm from each of his ten hives, 

 by the time he got through swarming his num- 

 ber one would be so filled with honey by these 

 returning bees, that before number one raised 

 a queen, she would have no room to lay eggs. 

 Every cell would be filled with honey in tiie 

 brood combs, as fast as the young bees hatched 

 out. 



I do not want Mr. Russell to think that I am 

 criticising his plan from any ill will ; but that 

 I do so lest some new beginners should be led 

 astray, and, failing at the very start to accom- 

 plish all they aimed at, be induced to abandon 

 bee keeping as a poorly paying business — as 

 many of our Kentucky bee-keepers are doing, 

 because their bees died this winter. To such I 

 would say, try it a few years more ; do not be- 

 come disheartened. Suppose we farmers had 

 quit farming two years ago, because we raised 

 only six or eight bushels of wheat or twenty 

 bushels of corn per acre, where would we get 

 our fat Durhams, our fat Berkshires, or old 

 Bourbon ? But, for fear some temperance bee- 

 keeper should say my head is swimming, and 

 that I am going too tar from the subject, I A\ill 

 give my plan for swarming, and let Mr. Russell 

 and others judge which is the best. 



I propose to make an artificial swarm from 

 number one, taking away two-thirds of the bees 

 and combs to a new stand ; but leaving the old 

 queen on the old stand, to superintend comb- 

 building and prevent too much drone comb 

 being built. Nine days after this division, ex- 

 amine the new swarm and if there are ten queen 

 cells sealed, cut out nine and make a division 

 of each of the old hives, same as number one — 

 giving to each new swarm a sealed queen, 

 which will hatch in a day or two. All will go 

 well, provided all the queens are successful af- 

 ter their excursion to meet the drones. 



This is intended for those using movable 

 comb hives, as it is supposed that no one who is 

 old fogy enough to use the old box hives, would 

 try anything new. 



H. Nesbit. 



Cynthtana, Ky., March 10, 1869. 



P. S. Why do not correspondents date their 

 ardcles, as some without date lock out of season? 



Do stinging bees, losing their stints, die ? 



[For the American Bee Journal]. 



The Honey-Emptying Machine. 



Mr. Editor : — I notice while reading the 

 Journal, that many apiarians are writing much 

 in favor of using the honey-emptying machine 

 for getting surplus ; and as we have had a little 

 experience in that line, I will give it for the 

 benefit of the readers of the Journal. 



Last season we got one of the machines made 

 which cost seven dollars, and extracted a thou- 

 sand pounds of very nice honey from the 

 frames. It worked like a charm, emptying two 

 frames, weighing eight pounds each, in four 

 minutes after the capping was removed. We 

 put the honey up in glass fruit jars, holding one 

 quart each, and sent it to New York city, with 

 our box honey. The box honey sold readily, 

 at a good price ; while the jars went very slow, 

 at a low price. Now, the question is this — 

 whether we can get enough more honey, by 

 the use of the machine, than we can in boxes, 

 to over-balance the difference m price and 

 sale? 



We shall use it for emptying combs that 

 we wish to use empty ; but not for getting sur- 

 plus. 



The winter has been long, having had but 

 one day that the bees could fly out, this 

 spring. 



A. A. Baldwin. 



Sandusky, N. Y., April 7, 1867. 



[For the American Bee Journal . 



Several Inquiries. 



My bees are in hives piled in tiers, one above 

 the other, in a not very dry cellar, with mats 

 over them. I noticed, in raising the mats, that 

 drops of water had collected on the underside. 

 If the bees should partake of it, would it be in- 

 jurious to them ? Or would it answer the de- 

 mand some writers make for bees in winter ? 

 I notice, too, that my bees are not in a healthy 

 condition, from some cause. From the smell, I 

 should judge it was foulbrood. If there are 

 healthy stocks in the same room, will they be- 

 come diseased by contagion ? Perhaps some 

 experienced bee-keeper will answ r er, and oblige 



J. F. H. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Albino Queen. 



From an Italian queen bee purchased from 

 Mr. Langstroth, I raised a queen, in the sum- 

 mer of 1867, that showed white instead of yel- 

 low rings. The upper half of every ring the 

 whole length of her abdomen was white — the 

 lower half as black as a crow. She was large, 

 and appeared perfect in form. After repeated 

 excursions, she was lost. 



Could tnis queen have been internally de- 

 formed, or did her peculiar color "deter the 

 drone s from mating with her ? 



H. Nesbit. 



Cynthtana, Ky., April, 1869. 



