THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



139 



ITon't Kill Your Bees. 



There are three reasons why you should not 

 kill your bees. It is unthrifty, unnecessary, 

 and unnatural. 



It is unthrifty — because, in the worst of sea- 

 sons, bees wili always maintain tliemselves; 

 and, in better seasons, thi' more bees you have 

 the more honey you will obtain. 



It is unnecessary — because there is no ordi- 

 nary hive, which, in the end of the year, will 

 not hold one or two additional swarms. A full 

 hive in August will be very difTereut in October. 

 In the first place, the drones have been 

 dispatched. The writer of this article has 

 counted, fiom one hive alone, eleven hundred, 

 which the bees had been assisted in killing, in- 

 dependent of those that had escaped by flight. 

 These large and cumbrous denizens of the hive 

 having been disposed of, leave room for a con- 

 sideraljle nnuil)er of additional bees. Secondly, 

 manj' of the old workers have been rendered 

 useless from their wings being Avorn out; and, 

 lastly, the cold and sudden showers of autumn 

 have laid low many more, never to rise again. 

 Hence, if there Avere no other reasons for put- 

 ting two or three hives into one, this incidental 

 diminution of these numbers would be a suffi- 

 cient one. 



But, admitting that the additional number of 

 bees would crowd the hive too much, this may 

 easily be remedied by adding an extra eke, till 

 the cold of Avinter drives the bees into closer 

 contact with each other, Avhen the eke should 

 be removed. 



With regard to the supply of food. Avhich is 

 the difticulty generally apprehended, I may 

 obserA'e that it is a maxim Avith all intelligent 

 writers on the subject, that if there be food 

 enough in the hive for the original SAvarm, 

 there will be enough for as many more as the 

 hive will contain, for they keep each other , 

 warm, and the toarmer they arc, the less they loill 

 eat, provided the heat be not so great as to pro- , 

 duee violent perspiration. And let it be re- 

 membered, that the stronger the hive is in 

 winter, the earlier it AviU be ready to send forth 

 a SAvarm in spring. 



And, lastly, it is unnatural. You have 

 watched through the long summer's days these 

 little busy householders toiling on Avith exem- 

 plary Industry, and exhibiting in their domestic 

 economy a Avonderful instance of the Avisdom 

 and goodness of God, and affording a significant 

 hint of the existence of a Avorld, near, but ex- 

 ternal to ourselves, the mysteries of Avhich Ave 

 have yet been permitted only partially and im- 

 perfectly to fathom. And can you, Avithout a 

 Iv'cling of remorse, consign to a Avholesale and I 

 murderous destruction, these useful auxiliaries; ! 

 this vigilant commissariat of nature's OAvn pro- 

 viding ? It is a cruel and unnecessary practice, \ 

 to which custom has hardened the heart, and 

 blunted the senses. It is cruel, and it is posi- 

 tively injurious to your own interests. And, if ' 

 no other considerations Avill Aveigh Avith you, 

 at least let this last one influence you in sparing 

 the lives of those useful insects. I 



The destruction of the bees in order to take ; 

 the honey is an old custom; and an old custom 



is not easily got rid of. But Avhen it first pra- 

 j vailed, there might have been some excuse for 

 I it; now there is none, for, with a little attention 

 I and practice, your bees may be handled Avith 



safety, and rendered as tractable as stupor and 



helplessness can make them. 



Mrs. Pkatt. 



For the American Bee Gazette. 



Raising Queens — Cause of Swatniif.g, 

 ! &;c. 



I am unable to reconcile with my observ- 

 ation Mr. Flanders' description of the interior 

 of the hive just before sAvarming. (See 

 " chapters on the honey-bee on page&^8, '.), and 

 75. By W. A. Flanders.") • 



The cause of swarming is different, and 

 much more removed from sight than the one 

 he assigns. That " the queen finds no empty 

 cells in Avhich to deposit her eggs," on account 

 of accumulated stores of honey, Avill possibly 

 be found true in some cases. That "she locates 

 herself generally in a remote place on the edge 

 of a comb and extrudes her' eggs" is an as- 

 sertion very difficult to prove "correct. That 

 " the whole SAvarm assumes the condition of a 

 swarm that has lost its queen" is very uncom- 

 mon, and equally difficult to prove; and Avhen 

 he asserts — "and Avhen the young queen 

 emerges from the cell, the old queen gets up a 

 rivalry and undertakes to destroj^ the qneen or 

 queens, and being unable to do so, by reason of 

 the Avorkers, she sallies forth, etc.," I find it so 

 greatly at variance with all my observations, 

 that I cannot let it pass for correct teaching of 

 natural history, Avithout a protest. Correct 

 practice will floAV only from correct kuoAvledge. 

 This matter is easily tested Avith the movable 

 combs. 



Whoever observes close enough to know 

 whereof they report, will not find, I think, 

 more than one case in fifty or one hundred 

 Avhere the old queen leaves Avith a SAvarm after 

 her rival daughter has left her cell. Other than 

 the swarming season, I have known a fcAV in- 

 stances where the mother Avas superceded by 

 her daughter, maturing Avhile she was present. 

 But this must not be confounded with the 

 swarming season, as no swarm issued, and 

 probably had no intention to do so. On 

 examination in these cases, the old queen 

 always showed some defect. 



Again, I hardly think his "patented" method 

 of queen-raising will speedily groAv into favor 

 Avith the masses, especially Avith such bunglei-s 

 as myself. I have repeatedly tried the "gral't- 

 ing fluid," Avhich he says is the means of 

 "starting any number of queens," Avithout suc- 

 ceeding in raising a single queen from any. I 

 haA^e sometimes had nuclei refuse to "rear 

 queens from the best brood I could give them. 

 Cells Averc often commenced, and" the larva 

 seen floating in this "fluid," and yet the Avliole 

 Avas abandoned, removed, and no cpieens 

 raised. 



I mention this, .not because it is the rule to 

 refuse — Avhich it is not — but to show that the 

 " grafting fluid" is not ahvays reliable to raise 



