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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



described. They will soon securely fasten 

 the combs, and work on all the better for 

 this necessary disturbance. To the novice 

 it may seem incredible that bees should 

 be thus driven from hive to hive and 

 directed as you please, but it is now done 

 every day through the summer, by liun- 

 dreds of bee-keepers, w'ho tind not only 

 that it may be done without loss but to 

 great profit. 



The Attic as a Bee House. 



Editors American Bee Jourxai- :— 

 Having lately beeii informed l)y an acquain- 

 tance that some of tlie bee keepers ''down 

 east" sometimes set apart a closet or small 

 room in the barn or other buildings, and 

 place therein a swarm of bees without giv- 

 ing it any further attention, and when new 

 swarms come out they form new colonies in 

 different parts of the room ; that when lioney 

 is wanted it may be cut off— if there be any 

 surplus— and used as comb honey. As I am 

 about to build a barn, jjlease inform me 

 whether such practice is prevalent and 

 profitable ; how large the room should be, 

 and how finished, &c. S. 



Madison, Wis. 



We have seen the attempt made repeat- 

 edly to keep bees in a closet, in the attic, 

 on the lower floor of a house and in a 

 room made for the purpose in a barn. 

 But never have known the attempt suc- 

 cessful more than one year. It is not 

 true that as swarms come out, they form 

 new colonies in different parts of the 

 room ; they go outside when swarming, 

 and if put, back into the room, the queen 

 of one of the colonies would be destroyed, 

 if the bees remained there. We have 

 seen four strong colonies of bees put iato 

 such a room in June, probably all queens 

 but one were soon destroyed, for the 

 bees all worked together, and there being 

 many of them, comb was built and honey 

 stored very rapidly. The owner was de- 

 lighted to exhibit to visitors how easily he 

 could open the inner door and take honey 

 whenever he wanted it. By fall, however, 

 the old bees having died off, the colony 

 was not so large, and the next spring only 

 one queen being there with her progeny, 

 the increase was not as large as in an or- 

 dinary hive, because there was not as 

 much economy of heat in such a space. 

 The result that year was, that only honey 

 enough was sttned to winter the colony. 



and the next year it became queenless and 

 died out. In other cases, we have known 

 the bees to keep on for several years in 

 such a room giving fair surplus but no 

 increase. 



This is a very expensive way of obtain- 

 ing honey, as figures will show. Suppose 

 a man to obtain from his bee palace an 

 average of one hundred pounds a year 

 for ten years, which would be doing bet- 

 ter than they were ever known to do in 

 such a situation, this would be worth at a 

 fair average price for honey, 30 cts. per 

 lb., or $200.00. 



Suppose the same swarm put into a 

 good hive, and allowed to swarm every 

 year, which bees may safely do, the in- 

 crease in ten years would make his num- 

 ber five hundred and twelve colonies, 

 which at $5.00, an average price for bees 

 in this country, would be worth $2560.00. 

 In this calculation no allowance is made 

 for the honey which would be taken in 

 the meantime from all these bees. 



Seasonable Hints. 



If bees have been taken care of as we have 

 suggested tiiey are now. in spite of a spring 

 more cold and unfavorable than we have 

 ever known, in good condition. By this 

 we mean that their hives are full of brood 

 and young bees, and they are in just the 

 state to make the most of the abundant bee 

 pasturage which is sure to come, during 

 June and July. 



There are two classes of bee keepers— the 

 one class desires to increase their number 

 of hives as fast as prudent, the other wishes 

 to receive the greatest profit from the bees 

 they now have, and cares little about in- 

 crease. 



For these classes different ways of man- 

 agement are necessary. 



If increase is the object, it can be secured 

 better far by division than by allowing nat- 

 ural swarms to issue. Those who have 

 empty comb, can do it much more rapidly 

 and safely than those wiio liave none. 



Suppose you iiave ten colonies strong in 

 brood— on ilonday you take a comb of brood 

 each from nine of them, place the combs in 

 order in an (Miii)ty hive and move your tenth 

 hive a yard or more directly back of where 

 it first stood, and place the one just filled 

 in the exact spot you take number ten from. 

 You put empty combs in the places of the 



