392 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 19, 1902. 



place the hive with 2 of the 3~combs \vith no brood, or as 

 little as possible, on the old stand, and let the worker-bees 

 return to it. Xow catch the queen and place her with the 

 worker-bees. This makes one colony by adding either combs 

 of foundation, or built-out combs, if yovi have them. 



Now you have 6 frames or combs full of brood, and queen- 

 cells started under the swarming impulse. Place 2 combs 

 each in 3 nuclei hives with division-boards, and by feeding and 

 adding new^ combs b}- degrees you will soon have 4 strong 

 colonies. If you have more than one hive you can place the 

 3 remaining combs over a strong colony, and then it might be 

 better to keep the bees in the contracted hive on the 5 frames 

 for say 3 days, until the queen-cells were more fully matured 

 before returning the queen and worker-bees on 2 or more 

 frames to the old stand; though you must watch them closely 

 or they will swarm out, leaving the completion of the cells to 

 the nurse-bees. 



If you have 10 or more colonies you could take 2 frames 

 of brood from each hive and thus utilize the queen-cells before 

 they hatch out, place the remainder of the queen-cells one in 

 each cage in a frame with a little cream candy made of con- 

 fectioners' sugar and honey, and mixed very thick; put a 

 little of the candy in the comer of each cage, and a queenless 

 nucleus will care for and feed 21 queens. Thus you will have 

 an extra queen to repla~e any losses during marriage-flight. 



If you have more than one colony, and want to stimulate 

 by feeding, close the entrance of each hive to the size of one 

 bee, then tack wire-net right over the entrance, leaving 

 the entrance through the wire at the end. I place the wire- 

 netting right over the entrance. Now have two sticks an 

 inch wide and just the length of the width of the hive, and 

 tack the sticks over the wire, thus keeping it in place. Now 

 tack one end and leave the other end open, just the size of one 

 bee. This prevents the bees from taking a noisy flight in the 

 air and proclaiming to the whole apiary that in some myste- 

 rious mannertheirstores have increased; and in their endeavor 

 to find the outlet they quiet down, and thus prevent the rob- 

 ber-bees from gaining an entrance and making havoc among 

 the nuclei before they are strong enough to defend themselves. 



Sonoma Co., Calif. 



Killing Bees for Tongue-Measuring. 



BY PROF. C. P. GIUETTE. 



On page 327, my good friend. Prof. Cook, suggests that 

 my method of killing bees by plunging them into boiling 

 water might set the muscles so as to prevent the full extention 

 of the tongue for measurement. The lengths obtained do 

 not indicate that such is the case, and I am quite certain that 

 the hot water has quite the opposite result. 



Some years ago, while a student under Prof. Cook, I was 

 making a study of mites and other very small insects that 

 I wished to mount as microscopic objects. In order to have 

 the specimens suitable for examination, it was important that 

 the legs be fully extended, and not curled beneath the body. 

 I was able to find just one method by which this could always 

 be accomplished without injuring the tissues, and that was to 

 thrust the insect into boiling-hot water, or dash the water 

 upon the insect. It was that experience which suggested the 

 hot-water plan of getting the bees' tongues extended to full 

 length for measurement. If hot water caused the contrac- 

 tion of the muscles, it would result in the bending of the 

 joints of both legs and tongue, and these parts would not 

 be perfectly extensible. 



And then, one can not very well wait 24 hours for the 

 tongue to die so it will lie still for measurement ; and all this 

 time it would have to be kept in a moist place, or it would be 

 in danger of becoming so dried that it would not fully extend. 



I also like to be as merciful as possible in handling 

 lower animals for scientific purposes. When the bee is thrust 

 into boiling w'ater it dies about as quickly as if struck with a 

 hammer; but if the head is simply pulled off, the head and 

 body live for hours. Whether or not these severed parts 

 really suffer pain we can not know. The movements which 

 antennio, mandibles, legs, and wings, still undergo suggest, 

 at least, that sensibility may still be present. The nervous 

 svstcm of the bee is not so centralized in the head as it is in 

 the higher animals. 



I am still studying bees' tongues. I have received bees 

 from a goodly number of readers of the American Bee 

 Journal already, but would be glad to receive more. I am 

 specially anxious to have more samples of genuine black 

 bees, of new races of bees, as Carniolans, Cyprians, Syrians, 



Caucasians ; and bees from best and poorest colonies in an 

 apiary. Also bees that are supposed to have specially long 

 tongues. Fifteen or 20 may be put in a queen-cage and sent by 

 mail. Fort Collins, Colo. 



Bee-Keeping for Women— An Experience. 



Written for a 3>«' York tState i'^arme/vs' Institute^ 

 BY MRS. C. A. BAI^L. 



In these days when machinery has taken the place of 

 much of the farm labor that used to be employed, and the 

 milk of the dairy is taken to the creamery, instead of being 

 made into butter and cheese at home, the farmers' wives and 

 daughters have been relieved of much of the labor and care 

 that fell to their lot under former conditions. Yet there is 

 enough to do in every farmers' home ; and the round of 

 duties is so nearly the same each day that the monotony 

 becomes a weariness, and some kind of business to occupy a 

 part of the time may prove a diversion, and help earn a little 

 pin-money besides ; and it seems to me that keeping a few 

 bees would be a great help. 



The other day a gentleman said tome, "Who takes care of 

 your bees for you?" I replied, "No one. I take care of 

 them myself." "But," said he. "what do you do when they 

 swarm?" "Why, I hive them," I replied. 



"That is strange," he said. "I did not suppose a woman 

 could do that. When I was a boy my father kept bees, and 

 when they swarmed every available man and boy on the 

 place was called upon to help hive them." 



I find that this gentleman's opinion of bee-keeping pre- 

 vails to a great extent ; that running an apiary is too hard 

 work for a woman. Yet the work is no harder than much 

 that falls ordinarily to our lot. But whether a woman can 

 successfully run an apiary depends upon the person herself. 

 A delicate, sickly woman would need some help, but one in 

 ordinary health can do it alone if she is interested in the 

 work. And right here I wish to say if your bees do not 

 possess a fascination for you, you would better let the busi- 

 ness alone. 



It is like every other business, requiring patient attention 

 to small details. Your bees will not prosper if neglected, 

 any more than other stock. A little care at just the right 

 time may insure a fine yield of honey, or, neglect, a total 

 failure. 



For a beginner I would advise starting with one or two 

 colonies, then if you fail the loss will not be so great. 



I will give a little of my own experience : In 1895 I 

 bought one colony, for which I paid $6.00. That summer 1 

 got 60 pounds of surplus honey, but no swarm. In 1896 that 

 colony cast two swarms and the three gave me over 100 

 pounds of nice honey. 1897 was a year of swarming, and my 

 colonies increased to 11, but the honey-flow was a short 

 one. Yet the surplus more than paid expenses. 1898 and 

 1899 w-ere bad years for bee-keepers throughout the country, ' 

 but 1900 was the most disastrous of all, yet each year my 

 bees gave me some honey. 



At the close of the season of 1900 I had 25 colonies, but 

 I was obliged to move that fall and could not pack the bees 

 for winter, and the result was that last spring I found that 

 fifteen colonies had died, leaving me only ten, and of these 

 only two that I considered valuable. Yet they gave me last 

 season between 400 and 500 pounds of honey, and cast five 

 swarms ; another swarm came to me, so that at present I have 

 si.xteen colonies, all in good condition. The honey I sold for 

 ten, twelve and fifteen cents per pound, the most of it for 

 fifteen cents. 



Some of the dark honey I kept to stimulate the colonies 

 in the spring while rearing brood. 



And here let me say that it is not the number of colonies 

 that counts, but the number of bees in each colony, and early 

 spring is the time to strengthen so that the hives will be 

 just running over with bees when the honey-flow begins. 

 Then put on the supers and let them work. 



With regard to swarming: Prime swarms usually come 

 out from 10 to 2 o'clock and need close watching. I manage 

 the issuing swarm with water, and can drive them so that 

 they will not cluster out of reach. Last summer I used a 

 dipper to throw the water, but a spraying bucket is better. 



When the swarm has clustered I take and shake them on 

 a white cloth in front of an empty hive, then may be seen a 

 wonderful sight. A moment after the tumultous fall, you will 



