2S2 



Mar. 21, 1907 



American ^ccJournal 



interesting to the readers of this paper. 

 A sWarm had settled on a plum-tree at 

 the Beaver Creek apiary. I got the lad- 

 der, smoker, etc., and went up near the 

 cluster with everrthing ready, without 

 disturbing them in the least. All at 

 once they "got up" and left. What sur- 

 prised me was the manner in whicti 

 they started. The cluster was perfect- 

 ly quiet and seemingly contented. A 

 few bees at one side of it got up (if I 

 can use that e.xpression) and began 

 whirling round and round right by. The 

 others followed in succession, not all at 

 once, neither from all parts of the clust- 

 er, but right from next to where the 

 others had started. The appearance of 

 the cluster was as if something were eat- 

 ing a hole in it. When only about a 

 third, or perhaps a half, of the cluster 

 was left, the remainder disbanded alto- 

 gether, and the swarm departed for 

 parts unknown to me, if not to them. 

 QuEENLESS Swarms. 



During my experiments on the 

 swarming question, I had entrance- 

 guards on the hives, and many times 

 left them throughout the season, ex- 

 cept when it was necessary to let a 

 young queen come out to mate. The 

 behavior of such swarms is quite pe- 

 culiar. The first time they issue, thev 

 will stay out only a few minutes, and 

 go back. They are sure to come out 

 again the next day quite early, and, in 

 fact, for successive days if the weather 

 is favorable. But at the second issuing 

 thev will stav out longer than at the 

 first ; at the third, still longer, and very 

 likely cluster for a while. Later on the> 

 mav stay out the whole day, and even 

 a part of the next day, before return- 

 ing. 



Their mode of clustering is different 

 from that of a swarm having a queen. 

 Instead of assuming the regular ortho- 

 dox shape, the cluster is of a more or 

 less ragged, irregular and often scat- 

 tered shape. The bees are restless, mov- 

 ing constantly and changing the shape 

 of the cluster all the time. Sometimes 

 they break into 3 or 4 groups, change 

 place from one tree to another, fly 

 around a while and cluster again, or do 

 any other unaccountable thing. 



Sometimes, just before returning, they 

 take a trip outside. (I wonder if they 

 follow a scout), but much more slowly 

 than a regular swarm, much closer to 

 the ground, and in a less compact form. 

 They scatter more and more as they go, 

 and if the apiarist has followed them, 

 he finallv can not tell where the swarm 

 reallv is'. If he then go back, he will 

 often find them going back into the old 

 hive, but in a very straggling manner, 

 not at all as they did during the second 

 or third day, or even the fourth. 

 .\ Few Kinks in Swarming. 



.\n excellent way to get a swarm that 

 can be reached with a pole is to put a 

 bucket with some honey at the end of 

 the pole and present it to the bees. In 

 a short time they will leave the branch 

 and cluster in and around the bucket, 

 and can easily be taken away. 



For several minutes before a swarm 

 issues, a few bees can be seen whirling 

 around right before the entrance of the 

 hive. If the apiarist stoops down, he 



■will hear inside of the hive, the same 

 buzzing sound that is made by a swarm 

 just out of the hive, and then act ac- 

 cordingly. When the hives are up 2 

 feet or so from the ground, and espec- 

 ially when the entrances are above the 

 brood-nest, that peculiar sound is easily 

 noticed, even by one merely passing by. 



The queen does not often come out 

 until one-third at least of the bees are 

 out. If, when the swarm begins to is- 

 sue, the apiarist is on hand, the best 

 thing to do is to close the hive at once 

 with anrthing that happens to be at 

 hand. Sly veil and handkerchief hava 

 often done the duty. Then get some 

 water, open just enough to let 2 or 3 

 bees come out at a time, and wet them 

 as they pass out. That will fix thern for 

 that day. The apiarist can then divide 

 them or remove the queen or the queen- 

 cells, or do whatever he thinks best, and 

 save the trouble of running after the 

 swarm and hiving it. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



Bee-Keeping in Cuba 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



Strange as it may seem in this en- 

 lightened age of profuse bee-literature 

 scattered all over the land, it is a fact, 

 that, to the great majority of people, 

 bee-keeping is yet an impenetrable mys- 

 tery. 



A short time ago I stopped at one 

 of our tonsorial parlors for the purpose 

 of having the customary improvement 

 of my physical make-up administered 

 by the hand of the artist. Being well- 

 acquainted with the proprietor, our con- 

 versation turned, as is frequently the 

 case when I am in places where my 

 occupation is known, to the subject of 

 bee-keeping. A stranger who was pres- 

 ent, and who was also awaiting his 

 turn, seemed to be very much inter- 

 ested in our bee-talk, and at last he 

 said : 



"They keep a great many bees down 

 in Cuba, but they don't get much sur- 

 plus honey down there. The trouble is 

 right here : There it is summer the 

 year around so that bees can work all 

 the time, and they soon find out that 

 they don't need any winter-stores, and 

 consequently don't lay up anything 

 ahead. I knew of one lot of bees that 

 produced an awful pile of surplus honey 

 the first year, but they 'got on to it' and 

 never produced a bit the next year." 



Then the following conversation took 

 place : 



"My friend, somebody has loaded you 

 down' with a lot of the most unreason- 

 able nonsense." 



"Nonsense?" he ejaculated with ex- 

 cited emphasis, "No nonsense about this. 

 I have seen it myself. I have been there." 

 "Well, if you have seen it yourself, 

 I can not dispute your word, but you 

 are certainly most awfully deceived. 

 How could your bees. 'get onto it' when 

 you had not a single bee of the first 

 year's stock left to see the second year?" 

 "I know better. Every bee we took 

 there from Florida the first year was 

 alive the second year — not one of them 

 died ; and I know it to be so, for 1 

 stayed there all the time." 

 "Here is where you are deceived 



again. You might have had the samt 

 hives, and perhaps some of the queens 

 left, but your bees had changed quite 

 a number of times since you took them 

 there. The life of a worker-bee dur- 

 m" the summer — which we may call the 

 honey-season — is about 6 weeks, and if 

 Cuba has summer the year round, as 

 you say, you can figure out yourrelf 

 iiow many generations had passed up to 

 the time you claim they 'got onto it.' 

 Thus, you see, it is positively impossible 

 that your bees had any recollection of 

 what transpired the year before ; and, 

 besides, admitting that you had the same 

 bees, it is not forethought — bees have 

 no reasoning power — that induces them 

 to store winter-supplies, but simply Na- 

 ture's instinct and desire. As long as 

 Nature provides the nectar, bees are 

 willing and desirous to gather it." 



As an additional proof of our friend's 

 unsound argument, I intended to ex- 

 plain to him a few points on Cuba's 

 honey-flows, but he had seemingly lost 

 all interest in bee-keeping, and would 

 not remain any longer. He departed 

 in a very abrupt and unceremonious 

 way, not even waiting his turn in the 

 chair. 



A few neighbors, who had listened 

 to our little chat, were anxious to con- 

 tinue the bee-talk, in yhich I gladly 

 joined, for, in doing so, I generally find 

 an opportunity to turn the conversation 

 into an advertising medium, by giving 

 a few pointers on honey as food and 

 medicine. 



LaSalle, N. Y. 



Annual Report for 1906 of 

 the Colorado Honey-Pro- 

 ducers' Association 



To the Stockholders of our Association: 

 In order to make my report complete, 

 it is necessary to review the conditions 

 that existed during the year previous. 

 As you all know, the season of 1905 

 was the most disastrous to the bee- 

 keeping interests of Colorado and ad- 

 joining States of any that w^ have 

 passed through since our industry be- 

 came of any consequence. With ex- 

 ception of a few isolated localities, no 

 surplus was produced, and in many 

 cases feeding had to be done to insure 

 the wintering of our bees. 



In order to supply our home trade 

 with honey until the 1906 crop would 

 come in, it even became necessary for 

 the Association to ship in honey from 

 other localities. The bee-supply busi- 

 ness of the Association fell off, in con- 

 seqence of the crop failure, to less than 

 one-third of its ordinary volume, and 

 as many supplies were carried over by 

 bee-keepers, there was also a light trade 

 all through igo6. The very fact that 

 our .\ssociation has been able to keep 

 everything going in good shape under 

 such trying conditions, meet all its ob- 

 ligations promptly, and hold its honey- 

 trade, should be highly satisfactory to 

 the stockholders. 



However, we have passed through 

 this ordeal, and the honey crop of 1906 

 has been a satisfactory one with most 

 of the members of our Association. 



