176 



Bees. 



Vol. XII. 



From the Cultivator. 



Bees. 



A KNOWLEDGE of facts Constitute science. 

 Correct observation alone, can lead to a 

 knowledge of any science ; from such know- 

 ledge only, will correct practice result. 



The honey bee has been a prolific theme 

 for guessing', among ancients as well as mo- 

 derns. Numerous contradictory theories are 

 advanced, extremely perplexing to the inex- 

 perienced apiarian, some of which must be 

 refuted or reconciled by attentive observa- 

 tion, before uniform success can be expected. 

 To refute some of these incorrect theories 

 by. a relation of facts, is the object of this 

 communication. 



That my observation may not appear too 

 limited, I will say that I have had the care 

 of bees for more than twenty years; and 

 since 1840, of over one hundred hives. 



In my experience, whenever I have disco- 

 vered any dead larvse, however few, they 

 have never failed to increase and ruin the 

 hive. When I first had diseased bees, I 

 pruned out all the brood comb, leaving such 

 only as contained honey. The bees made 

 new and filled it with brood, which invari- 

 ably became diseased. This suggested the 

 idea of its being a contagious disease, and 

 that the honey in such hive contained the 

 poison. I have accordingly taken such ho- 

 ney and fed it to healthy young swarms, 

 while raising young brood, as many as a 

 dozen times, and never knew an instance 

 where they escaped the contagion. 



Three years ago in March, I had a good 

 swarm leave the hive and go in with another 

 good one ; and as there was a plenty of ho- 

 ney, I expected an early swarm, but got 

 none at all. They gradually diminished till 

 the last of June, when not more than half a 

 swarm remained, and upon examination, I 

 found the comb filled with larvaj, nine-tenths 

 of which were dead. In 1840, I had two 

 large swarms come out together, which 

 were put into a barrel, and in the fall they 

 were diseased. Several young swarms shared 

 the same fate. The strongest are just as 

 likely to become diseased, as the weakest 

 colonies. 



I have not escaped a year in fifteen with- 

 out having several hives to sufl"er before 

 swarming, and last year no worse than 

 others. When swarming time arrives, and 

 I have any that have not increased as usual, 

 on examination, I generally find diseased 

 bees, and as my only remedy, drive them 

 out, satisfied that the^'will grow worse afler 

 catching the distemper. So well assured 

 am I of this fact, that I make two general 

 examinations. About three weeks after the 



first swarm haa left a hive, the young that 

 are alive are generally hatched. If I find 

 any of the breeding cells closed, — which is 

 always the case with dead larvffi, — I open 

 them with the point of a knife, and if dead 

 give the bees a new habitation at once. 

 Again, in the fall, every hive is looked to, 

 and a half dozen diseased larvce condemns 

 it at once, for a stock hive. I will give any 

 person twenty-five dollars, who will give me 

 an unfailing preventive or remedy for this 

 disease ; and I can well afford to do so, as I 

 lose yearly by it twice that sum. 



I have objections to some theories offered 

 by Mr. Weeks, but befere I state them, I 

 must say that I am greatly indebted to him 

 for information through the Cultivator, on 

 the subject of bees. I would not exchange 

 what I have learned for all the paper has 

 ever cost me. But error, from any source, 

 ought to be corrected. First, then, he says: 

 " two causes, and two only can be assigned 

 why bees ever swarm; the first, the crowded 

 state of the hive ; the second, to avoid the 

 battle of the queens." I object to the first, 

 because it is insufficient in all cases to make 

 them swarm, and swarms do actually come 

 out independent of either of these causes. 

 I do not say bees being crowded will not 

 sometimes bring out swarms, but some other 

 cause must exist in such instances as the 

 following. I have known all the bees to 

 swarm from a hive, when a pint measure 

 would contain the whole of them. Ten years 

 ago, I had bees in a large box ; before it was 

 a quarter full, a regular swarm left. Last 

 spring, to give the principle a fair test, I 

 placed under five full hives of ordinary size, 

 others of equal dimensions, without a top, so 

 that the bees could continue their combs to 

 the bottom if they choose, but not one has 

 done so; each has swarmed without filling 

 the lower hive an eighth part full. Want 

 of room could not be the cause here, nor 

 could they have swarmed to avoid the battle 

 of the queens, for I have good reason to be- 

 lieve that the old queen led each swarm. 



I have known bees so crowded that a 

 great portion of them were obliged to re- 

 main out all summer, and yet they did not 

 swarm at all. I have known swarms come 

 out and return two or three times, and then 

 continue in the old hive all summer, not- 

 withstanding the young bees continued to 

 hatch and increase the crowd in the hive. 

 The fact is, no smgle theory will account 

 for all swarms. I have noticed, however, 

 that all regular swarms must be in a season 

 when there is plenty of honey, and this ia 

 generally between the middle of May and 

 the middle of July. We often have swarms 

 in this section in August, between the 15th 



