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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



workers, and for fifteen days it eats plenty of 

 honey and bee-bread, to perfect and harden 

 its organs. During that time it remains in 

 tlie hive and nurses the larvse. 



When the crop of honey fails, and when 

 there is nothing to eat in the hive, the old 

 bees seem irritated to see these young bees so 

 fat, so well filled with the product of their 

 work, and they force them to give back the 

 honey that they have in their stomachs. The 

 poor young bees are pinched and tortured 

 until their stomachs are empty. Then they 

 run into every corner of the hive to escape 

 from their tormentors, which, still famished, 

 do not leave them till they are starved to 

 death. Then the poor young bees, which 

 were so fat, in well provisioned hive, have 

 their abdomens shortened and curved inside. 

 When they are in such a state, it is impossi- 

 ble to restore them to health. I have tried it 

 in vain. When I have encountered similar 

 accidents, I had seen the provisions of the 

 colony several days before, and it seemed 

 that they were sutficieut for the brood; but 

 the brood after hatching, ate so much that 

 the bees were starving, and the young were 

 sucked dry by the old. For five or six years 

 I have never seen such a case; for I take 

 the greatest care to see that my bees have 

 enough honey for their young. 



In the ease alluded to, the correspondent 

 of the British Bee Journal says, that the 

 massacre took place at intervals of one week 

 or ten days, especially on Sunday. Some 

 ultra Christian will probably think that these 

 bees were killed because they had worked on 

 the holy day. But the naturalist will, no 

 doubt, think with me that the massacre hap- 

 pened on the day when nothing was found in 

 the fields by the bees ; and as our mother 

 nature does not know the seventh day, the 

 lack of honey in the fiowers must come from 

 some natural and not miraculous cause. 



When a similar accident arrives, the surest 

 and quickest way to stop the massacre, is to 

 give the colony one or two good combs of 

 honey. No doubt a few of the bees, too 

 much famished, will perish; but the murder- 

 ing will be stopped instantly, and the colony 

 saved. Ch. Dadant. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Destroying Millers. — Mr. Philipson, 

 an extensive bee-keeper of Genesee 

 county, Michigan, says: "In the even- 

 ing, plaee a shallow dish tillecl with thin 

 tar in front of the hives, with a small 

 lamp so placed in the center of tlie dish 

 as to bring the light near the tar. The 

 millers being attracted by the light dive 

 for it and go into the tar. In a short 

 time all the millers in the vicinit}' of the 

 apiarj' will be caught." 



Artificial and Non-Swarminff. The 



"New Idea" Theory and 



One Story Hives. 



AN EXTRACT FROM THE UNPUBLISHED 

 TRANSACTIONS OP THE NORTH AMERICAN 

 REE-KEEPERS' SOCIETY, AT LOUISVILLE, 

 DECEMBER, 1873. 



The question under consideration 

 was, "Is artificial swarming as good 

 or better than natni-al swarming?'' 

 D. L. Adair. — Moved that the Society 

 answer in the affirmative. 



Winder. — Why? We should give 

 some reason for such an answer. 



Adair. — Because natural swarming 

 is always the result of disorganization, 

 and a colony of bees in a properly con- 

 structed hive, properly managed will 

 not swarm, while it admits of extensive 

 multiplication of stocks, by artificial 

 means, without materially injuring the 

 old colon}"; and as long as such a hive 

 is so managed no drones will l)e pro- 

 duced, and all the comb built will be 

 worker comb, and no attempt will be 

 made to build queen cells. 



A. J. Murra}' of Tennessee. — Did not 

 think that giving the bees room \vould 

 prevent swarming. While in the Con- 

 federate army he assisted in cutting a 

 bee tree in which he found two colonies 

 in one hollow, the only division between 

 them was 'the direction of the comb; 

 and in another cavity in the same tree 

 there Avas a iiew swarm that had taken 

 up its quarters, which he sup])osed had 

 swarmed from one of the others ; yet 

 there was plenty of unoccupied room in 

 the large hollo\v. 



Adair. — Still the queen may have 

 been crowded for room. 



Murray. — Knew of another colony 

 that passed through a ventilator tube 

 in a house, into a large room, where 

 they located themselves and the}' 

 swarmed. They certainly were not 

 crowded. 



Adair. — The extent of room, however 

 great, will not prevent swarming, unless 

 other conditions are present. It is the 

 circumscribing of the brood nest that 

 produces disorganization, and whenever 

 the queen produces more eggs than she 

 has room in the brood nest to de2)osit 

 the proper balance of the hive is destroy- 



