32 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[August, 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice, 

 And the month op June, 1870. 



Deak Bee Journal : — If we mistake not, it 

 was George Washington, who, in laying down 

 rules for his future conduct, deduced from past 

 experience, said— "Never repeat or tell, in tlie 

 presence of strangers, any fact, however true it 

 may be, that seems very improbable." 



Now, what we say here, Mr. Editor, is not to 

 strangers, is it? We are all friends here in llie 

 dear old (as some one calls it) Bee Journal, 

 are we not, and nearly all acquaintances? 



We sometimes wonder if any reader has 

 ever followed Novice, as he often follows other 

 correspondents, viz. : when wo see something in 

 one of their ai tides that makes lis wish we knew 

 better Jws/! what kind of persons they loere. Take, 

 for instance, the old back numbers of the Journal 

 and read their articles in regular order, as they 

 wrote them. How many of them we have got 

 acquainted with in that way ! Should we make 

 inquiry in the neighborhood where they live, we 

 feci as if we should not know them any better. 

 The man stands nf)t before you, like the figui-es 

 in a stereoscope. Thus, for example, we call to 

 mind a few of those whom we have followed in 

 in that manner — Alley, Bickford, Conkling, 

 Dadant, Gallup, Grimm, Price, Thomas, Town- 

 ley, Truesdell, and a host of others, who, we 

 only wish would write often enough that we 

 might recall them familiarly. How we should 

 like to take them by the hand— all of them. Even 

 if we do not always think just alike, we like 

 them all the better for that. They have given 

 US a helping hand all round ; and we feel sure 

 that they will reji>ice at our success as fervently 

 as we should at tiieirs. 



Well, how many of our friends have thought 

 that Novice was enthusiastic, and built air 

 castJes? Some of those here at home, often tell 

 us so, on bees esjjecially, like tliis for instance. 

 We proposed ordering jars and labels for 3,000 

 lbs. of honey. Said they, "better put it at lOOD, 

 Novice, and not be disappointed !" 



"But we had 1000 lbs. from twenty hives in 

 1868." 



" That was an extreme, and an unusually good 

 season." 



"But we are going to inake them all good. 

 We had 203 pounds from one hive ; our hives are 

 ail strong now ; and 46 times 203 are !" 



" There ! there ! Novice all over ! How about 

 their all dying in the spring of 1869?" 



"But we 'licked' on wintering too, in the 

 spring of 1870." 



" We had not learned that," &c., &c. 



We got ready for 2,0(0 pounds; but by the 

 middle of June, the jars were all full, and we 

 sent in haste for as many more ; and as the bees 

 would not stop bringing in, we borrowed all the 

 neighbors' tin wasli boilers, which the bees filled 

 in a jifly. We boiroAved more, bnt the honey 

 came in torrents. AVe again ordered as many 

 more jars. Monday came, and the women could 

 n<:it wash, because we had theirs boiler, and the 

 bottles did not come, though the honey still did. 



" Would the bees ever stop?" asked our better 

 half, in alarm; "would so much honey ever 

 sell?" Even Novice himself opened his mouth, 

 in dismay, but it soon came level again, in a few 

 minutes talking wildly about scouring out the 

 cistern and tilling that too, if the Italians were 

 willing. 



We have now (July 6th,) put in jars over five 

 thousand (5,000) pounds of honey, by actual 

 tceight, and basswood is just at its height in 

 bloom ! One hi\e has given us 258 lbs. and has 

 just lost its queen, or tried to replace her ; so we 

 fear it will not be our besi, and it is the only one 

 we weighed. It gave us 44 lbs. in three days, on 

 one occasion. 



Natural swarming, for the first time, got 

 rather the better of us. Removing all queen 

 cells, and all honey, and giving empty frames in 

 the centre of the hive, would not do ; and one 

 stock swarmed while we had the hive open, 

 removing the lioney. AVe thought we would for 

 once try natural swarming a little, since such 

 swarms are cracked up so as working better, &c. 

 But if we don't take the matter in hand hereafter 

 and have it when we wish and how we wish, it 

 will be because we can't. Here is our com- 

 plaint. 



Our first natural ( "born fool," we should like 

 to say) s\varm, we put in Dr. Conklin's diamond 

 hive. It staid half a day (but didn't woi'k "airy 

 spec,") and then went out again. As we had 

 no frames of brood that size, we thought we 

 Avould try them again. As soon as the queen 

 was uncaged, they were otf once more. Next,- 

 we cut out some brood, in all stages, and filled 

 a frame ; half a day more, and "off again !" 



Of course we always keep the queen's wings 

 clipped ; but the last time they left their queen 

 and joined a small swarm of black bees at a 

 neighbor's, and when we hived them for him, at 

 his request, and told him how it was, he said, 

 no, "his bees were yellow too ;" — so went half a 

 bushel of our best Italians. How much good 

 would Quinby's queen yard do, in such a case? 



Another swarm acted in the same way, and 

 we i^aid the sum of five dollars for a small third 

 swarm of black bees, that we might carry our 

 Italians home. Still another came out four 

 times ; and we could only keep them by caging 

 the queen nearly a week. — After we became dis- 

 gusted with this state of things, we did it our 

 way. That is, we shook off all the bees and the 

 queen from an American hive (that could not 

 hold them all) into an empty Langstroth ; on the 

 old stand, gave them one frame of brood, as we 

 had ti'eated all the natural swarms, and they 

 built more comb in two days than the natural 

 did in a week. All were shaded. The old 

 American hive had a new location of course, and 

 young bees enough to care for the brood. In 

 any kind of swarming, we always furnish queen 

 cells or brood^ from choice stock, selected with a 

 view to give gentle bees and large honey pro- 

 ducers. Queen cells are laid on the top of the 

 frames, where they can be readily inspected, and 

 all others are carefully cut out when the honey 

 is removed by the melextractor, every two or 

 three days. Sometimes they are obstinate, but 

 we insist on compliance with our wishes. 



All drone brood is sliced oft' as soon as sealed, 



