485 



From the Prairie Farmer. 



Uniting Colonies of Bees. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Most apiaries contain colonies that 

 have not stores or bees to winter suc- 

 cessfully, and should be united. This 

 uniting of two colonies of bees when 

 they stand side by side, by lifting the 

 frames together iifto one hive, appears 

 a very simple matter. And so it is, 

 provided that you do not care if one 

 colony kills the other. We used to fol- 

 low apiarists, who told us to move the 

 bees to the side of the hive they were 

 to occupy when united, and as soon as 

 they were accustomed to this, if a cold 

 day came so that the bees would not fly, 

 lift them together, giving each one the 

 side of the hive formerly used, and as 

 the weather grew cold they would unite 

 peaceably. But we found to our sorrow 

 that although, the bees did not fight 

 when put together, if a warm day came, 

 even if they had been put together a 

 week, the stronger would exterminate 

 the weaker. We now prefer to unite 

 our weak colonies when the weather is 

 warm, and not wait for October's cold 

 to stiffen their fighting propensities. 



The careful bee-keeper will sometimes 

 find during August and September, a 

 queenless colony; generally old colonies 

 that had swarmed, and the young queen 

 was lost on her bridal excursion ; such 

 colonies do not contain eggs or larvae so 

 the bees have not the means to raise 

 another. We would remove the frames 

 and give them to some late colony need- 

 ing them, except what there were bees 

 to protect, and put in a division board, 

 confining them to one side of the hive. 

 If w T e had an afters warm, as they al- 

 ways contain a young vigorous queen, 

 we would prepare it for uniting in the 

 same manner. In the evening, after all 

 the bees had returned from the fields, 

 we would choose the location we prefer- 

 red best, and set one hive upon the 

 other, putting weeds or grass to obstruct 

 the flight of the removed one, so that 

 they would know that something was 

 different, and mark their location. In 

 two or three days the bees will know 

 their abiding place, and can be lifted 

 into the lower hive. There will be no 

 fighting as each enters its own side of 

 the hive, and as there is but one queen, 

 they gradually assimilate. In the 

 course of a week, we would brush off 

 the bees from one of the frames of the 

 queenless side, and put it in the other, 

 removing the division board ; in this 

 way gradually increasing the size of the 

 apartment containing the queen until 

 all were united. 



Bees seldom quarrel, if only one or 

 two frames are taken from the same 

 hive, thus taking enough bees from four 

 or five different hives to form one 

 colony— it seems to confuse them. In 

 uniting together several small colonies, 

 we would remove all queens but one, 

 and hold all the others in reserve until 

 it was ascertained whether the bees had 

 accepted the queen given them. These 

 queens could be kept in wire cages well 

 provisioned, and if the nights were 

 cool a few bees might be admitted with 

 them, or if they were laid upon the 

 frames under the quilt of a strong 

 colony, they would be both warmed and 

 fed, until needed. 



Peoria, 111. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Experience with Comb Foundation. 



C. E. W r ALDO. 



Noticing some reports of the experi- 

 ence of others with comb foundation, I 

 will give mine. Last spring I bought a 

 Bourgmeyer machine and began to get 

 sick of it, because the foundation that 

 I made stretched more or less according 

 to the weight of the swarm. I use 

 sheets of foundation S)% inches square ; 

 my frame, inside measure, is 10x11 in., 

 so that the foundation fills, in width, 

 within \i of an inch, and within \% in. 

 in depth. 



I obtained some Dunham foundation 

 at Lansing, Mich., and cut it the same 

 size as mine, and put it into a new and 

 heavy colony to try it. I put in the cen- 

 tre of the hive a frame of brood, so the 

 bees would cluster the heaviest in the 

 centre of the hive, then I put a frame 

 of my foundation, next a frame of Dun- 

 ham, then mine again. I had only one 

 frame of the Dunham in the hive. The 

 Dunham stretched clear to the bottom 

 of the frame ; mine stretched J^ inch ; 

 the queen laid in the foundation made 

 on the Bourgmeyer machine, both sides 

 of the Dunham, before she laid a single- 

 egg in the latter, and this was one of the 

 last the queen laid in. I make my foun- 

 dation so it runs 7 feet in length by 8% 

 inches in width (about 5 square feet) to 

 the pound. I have 86 colonies at this 

 date, which are now doing well, and 

 have been all this month. The fore part 

 of the season was too wet, and bees but 

 little more than made a living. 



Grand Ledge, Mich., Aug. 23, 1880. 



[Your experience with the Dunham 

 foundation was exceptional,and so much 

 at variance with our own and scores of 

 others who have tested it, that we are 



