Dec. 11, 1902. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



791 



Report for the Season of 1902. 



UV W.M. STOM.UV. 



THE season of 1902 proved to be abnormal in every re- 

 spect, in this section of the country, as far as bee-kcep- 

 inj^ is concorned. It was a cold and cxccediiiffly wet 

 summer, with but very short intervals of seasonable weather, 

 propitious for the gatherinff of nectar by the bees. 



My bees had wintered well (in an open shed) as usual, 

 and after selling and unitiiif;^ some colonies for the sake of 

 reducing the number wintered, I commenced the season 

 with 28 run for extracted honey, and 3 colonies in Heddon 

 hives for comb honey. While in former years the month 

 of June always was the month when judicious feedinfj was 

 indispensable to prevent a serious set-back in broodrearing-, 

 this year the month of June gave me quite a little surplus 

 in the supers from dandelions, for the first time. 



This honey-producer (dandelion) made its appearance 

 here some ten years ago, and, gaining ground continually, 

 now is quite a factor in the keeping of bees, and the prod- 

 uct of the apiary. This season I had colonies which gave 

 me 20 ponnds of surplus dandelion honey in June. 



Another abnormal feature that presented itself the 

 past season, was the excessive swarming, such as I never 

 experienced in all the 23 years that I have been keeping 

 bees, notwithstanding the very cold and wet weather we 

 had. From the 28 colonies run for extracted honey, in large 

 hives, I had 14 to swarm, while in previous years, five 

 swarms from the same number was the most I got. All those 

 farmers hereabout, who keep bees, were even much more 

 subjected to this excessive swarming than I was. 



I have a number of suitable boxes for squirrels, fixed 40 

 to SO feet high up in the trees in my park, and the inmates 

 of three of them were driven out by stray swarms from other 

 parts of the neighborhood, and one large stray swarm went 

 into one of my roof-hives on June IS, from which I took, on 

 Aug. 4, 42 sections of nicely finished comb honey. 



From the 28 colonies (spring count) run for extracted 

 honey, I got on an average 108 pounds per colony, or 3013 

 pounds of nice, white honey, and 48 pounds of light-colored 

 was from cappings. 



The season this year practically ended about August 

 15, while in former years up to 1898, the 15th of August was 

 about the time when the fall honey-flow of native bloom 

 began ; and I have had as much as 2000 pounds of dark and 

 rank honey, obtained after that date. This state of things 

 is changed altogether now. 



But since the year 1897, I have had no dark honey, owing 

 I think, to the increase of alfalfa and sweet clover, which 

 blooms, it seems, are more attractive for the bees to gather 

 from, than the wild bloom. 



I increased from 28 colonies to 40 in my hives run for 

 extracted honey, and from 3 in Heddon hives to S ; so that I 

 now have 45 colonies, all in good condition, and packed for 

 winter. But I propose to reduce this number next spring 

 again, to from 25 to 30 colonies, this number being all I care 

 to keep. 



I learn that in some sections (in Michigan, for instance) 

 locations which used to be first-class as to honey production, 

 have become gradually poor locations, while here in 

 Nebraska, along streams, the product of the apiary has, by 

 proper management, been greatly enhanced, and the pros- 

 pects for the future are promising still better results. The 

 bees have found a permanent home in what was termed 

 " the Amevicati desert " but 20 or 30 years ago. 



The " white man's iiy," the Indians used to call the 

 bees, when I (now 41 years ago, in the winter of 1860 to 1862) 

 took 3 colonies of black bees, on a common farm wagon 

 from Omaha to Grand Island — a distance of 153 miles, and 

 it took a S days' journey to land the bees in Grand Island, 

 over a road anything else but smooth. But those 3 colonies 

 of bees carried all right, and for 3 years I kept those bees. 

 They never swarmed ; I never got a pound of surplus — they 

 simply lived. They were in a box, with immovable frames, 

 of the size of the American frame — about 12 inches square 

 — and had 8 frames. Subsequently I broke into one of them 

 to investigate, and an old practical bee-keeper, of Germany, 

 who was anxious to buy them, bought them and kept them 

 for years, without getting anything out of them. 



Those bees kept their own, but never sent out a swarm, 

 as far as known. But in the summer of 1880, I once more 

 tried my hand at bee-keeping as " a side-show," and I have 

 been quite successful ever since. My location has im- 

 proved from year to year, since I got sweet clover and 

 alfalfa started in every direction, and of late the dandelion 



and white and red clover promise to Hupplemcnt and still 

 more improve my location for the keeping of bees. Now 

 my bees are my much-loved pets, and will remain so, I sup- 

 pose, to the end of my life. Hall Co., Nebr, Oct. 22. 



-•€ 



Methods of Making Artificial Swarms. 



BY W.M. .M. WIIITNEV. 



I READ with much interest the account of the various 

 methods of producing artificial swarms of bees, as given 

 in late numbers of Gleanings in Bee-Culture, but I am 

 surprised that the idea of Joired, brushed, or shaken swarms 

 should be considered a new thing. 



Of course, my personal knowledge of the subject dates 

 back but seven years, the beginning of my bee-keeping. 

 From what I find in the works on bee-keeping, with which 

 I am familiar, I had thought that the practice of the several 

 methods, not excepting the brushed or shaken, to have been 

 well understood for many years. Perhaps my reading has 

 not been extensive enough, or that I have taken too much 

 for granted to form correct conclusions. I have experi- 

 mented with all the methods described, but have ordinarily 

 adopted substantially the one recommended by Dadant's 

 Langstroth. 



To illustrate : Suppose one wanted only a moderate 

 number of colonies. Take two colonies that are preparing 

 to swarm ; for convenience designate them No. 1 and No. 

 10. Bring the hive with the frame of foundation or comb 

 that is to contain the new colony, say, to No. 1 ; shake or 

 brush the bees from the combs of No. 1 in frontof new hive 

 on No. I's stand, being careful not to injure the queen, 

 which I usually find and put her into the hive : also being 

 careful to brush the bees from any frame having queen- 

 cells which it might be desirable to save instead of shaking, 

 as by so doing there would be danger of destroying the 

 embryo queen. Then remove hive No. 1 and place upon 

 stand No. 10, removing No. 10 to a new place ; find the 

 frame in No. 10 containing the queen, and hang in a frame- 

 box, or set to one side in some safe place until the work in 

 this hive has been completed. Take the frames of bees 

 from the hive and shake in front of the new hive on No. I's 

 stand, until at least one-half the bees have been removed. 

 Cut out all queen-cells and replace the frame with the 

 queen, and the work is done. Enough bees will return to 

 the old stand occupied by No. 1 to keep the brood warm, 

 and enough will return from the new colony to supply the 

 deficiency. 



If No. 1 is to be re-queened, cutout all queen-cells, or in 

 two or three days a swarm might issue. In time of rapid 

 honey-flow surplus-cases might be put on all of the hives 

 immediately. In fact, with prolific queens this would be 

 necessary in case of No. 1 and No. 10, to prevent swarming. 

 Another method of making artificial swarms, and which 

 has been quite successful with me, is as follows, viz.: 



Early in the season, say during fruit-bloom, select a 

 strong colony for division, and place an empty hive on a 

 stand beside it. Remove at least one-half the bees, frames 

 and all, with the queen, to a new hive. (I include the queen 

 because the bees are more likely to remain if she is with 

 them.) Separate the frames of brood in each hive, and fill 

 in with frames of comb or foundation. Close the hives, 

 and the work is done, re-queening in a few hours the queen- 

 less colony. 



If one seems weaker than the other, change places with 

 the hives, and everything works well, and no quarreling. 

 I have obtained very good results in surplus honey from 

 both colonies thus treated. Of course, if queen-cells were 

 found, and it were desirable to rear a queen in the queenless 

 colony, all cells excepting one or two of the best ones might 

 be removed : but so early in the season there would seem 

 very little danger of swarming if left alone. 



It seems to me, however, not advisable to make division 

 on the eve of a honey-flow, especially to leave a queenless 

 colony to rear a queen from the egg unless it were to be 

 reinforced frequently with brood from other colonies. But 

 unless the very best judgment were used in this method of 

 strengthening weak colonies, the production of surplus 

 honey would be very seriously affected. Divided colonies, 

 or forced swarms, sometimes operate likea two-edged sword. 

 In the hands of an inexperienced person it cuts both ways, 

 resulting in loss of surplus and destruction of what other- 

 wise would have been a very good colony. The safe prac- 

 tice for such person is to wait until the swarming instinct 

 develops. Walworth. Co., Wis. 



