THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



237 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOUENAL 

 AND GAZETTE. 



WASHINGTON, JUNE, 18G7. 



E^"TirE American Bee Journal and Ga- 

 zette is now published mouthly, in the City of 

 Washington, (D. C.,) at $2 per annum. All 

 communications should be addressed to the Edi- 

 tor, at that place. 



lis number closes the second volume of the 

 American Bee Journal. Though the support it 

 has thus far received has not been sufhcient to cover 

 the mere cost of paper and printing, the subscrip- 

 tion list has been steadily increasiug from the start. 

 We shall continue the publication another year, 

 believing that tlie growing interest manifested in it 

 will soon place it on a paying basis. May we ask 

 its friends to present it to the favorable notice of bee- 

 keepers in their respective neighborhoods, and thus 

 contribute to enlarge its circulation and extend the 

 sphere of its usefulness ? There are several such 

 periodicals in Germany, one of which, issued semi- 

 monthly, is now in its twenty-third year. The 

 French Bee Journal is now in its eleventh year. It 

 is true there is no similar publication in England, 

 but may we not hope that one can and will be per- 

 manently sustained in the United States ! 



In the multiplication of stock by the division 

 of colonies, it is necessary that the operator 

 should understand the principle on which suc- 

 cess depends, and be governed thereby. With- 

 out this he must ever remain a mere empiric* 

 gratified when he attains his object, but unable 

 to render a valid reason for the result, whether 

 it eventuates in success or failure. It may be 

 in season therefore to elucidate the theory and 

 practice according to which such multiplication 

 is elfected ; and of special advantage to assume 

 that the work is to he done in the bee-keeper's 

 own apiary — that is, that neither division of the 

 colony operated on is to be removed to a new 

 and distant location. 



The fundamental principle is this, that the 

 colony selected must be so divided that each 

 division retains and contains whatsoever is in- 

 dispensable to its continued existence as an in- 

 dependent organism. This is easily accom- 

 plished, where common hives are used, by 

 drumming out the queen and a sufficient num. 

 her of bees to constitute a colony, from a pop- 

 ulous stock at the swarming season, when drones 

 have already ma'de their appearance — running 

 these into a new hive, placing this where the 

 moth'U' hive stood, ond removing the latter to 

 a new location in the apiary. This is done at 

 the usual swarming season, and a populous 

 stock is selected, because at that season such a 

 stock ordinarily contains eggs, larvae and sealed 

 brood in abundance. It consequently has with- 



in itself the means of speedilj^ replacing its re- 

 moved queen from the eggs or unsealed larva?, 

 by starting one or more royal cells ; and a fresh 

 worker force is rapidly supplied by the matur 

 ing sealed brood issuing in numbers from day to 

 day. It lias also ample stoi'es of honey and 

 pollen, and only needs be furnished with a little 

 water daily,if long continued unfavorable weath- 

 er follows the removal from its original locution. 



In the case of common hives, a uewbeginnei 

 or a timid operator is sometimes at a loss to know 

 when the colony he proposes dividing is in a 

 proper condition for the operation, and is apt 

 to undertake it too early in the season. The 

 hive must not only be populous, but must con- 

 tain eggs, unsealed larva?, and sealed worker 

 brood maturing. It should also contain 

 drones or drone brood nearly mature, unless 

 there be drones or drone brood in some other 

 colony in the apiary, or in its neighborhood. 

 By inverting the hive and blowing in a little 

 smoke from a segar or rotten Avood, he will be 

 able to see whether the comb contains worker 

 and drone brood — the former being sealed with 

 covers nearly flat, and the latter with covers 

 considerably protuberant. Finding the requi- 

 site condition existing, he may proceeed to 

 drive out a swarm, and if he succeeds in expel- 

 ling the queen also, he may confidently expect 

 a favorable result. 



But it is in dividing movable comb-hives that 

 the novice is most apt to be disappointed. The 

 same principle is to govern here, but the appli- 

 cation of it is, to a beginner, not always so easy. 

 He must supply to each division the means 

 of maintaining not only present "but permanent 

 independent existence. He must remember 

 that all the worker bees that have once flown 

 out, will continue to return to their accustomed 

 home on their return from subsequent excur- 

 sions. The hive therefore, which is to contain 

 the division to which a new location is assigned, 

 must receive nearly all the young bees which 

 have left their cells, but have not yet flown out, 

 as only these will return to that hive when they 

 fly out. It should also receive all the combs 

 containing sealed brood nearly mature, and to- 

 gether Avith the old queen, a due share of the 

 store of honey — though it is not necessary that 

 the apportionment should be precisely equal, as 

 a supply may be afterAvards given to the division 

 Avhich appears to be in Avant. A comb contain- 

 ing pollen should also be given, as some will be 

 needed for the unsealed larvae and the ncAV col- 

 ony Avill not receive any fresh till tlie young 

 have begun to fly ; till then, also, water should 

 be furnished in small quantities. 



