ISSG 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



271 



FEUTILIZINC. CJUEKNS 1«Y MKCHANICAL MEAKS; 

 tOllMINCJ NUCLEI. 



I notice in Gr.EANiNGS lor Ecc. 15, 188'), page 883, 

 editorial, that Prof McLain lias succeccU'd in "fer- 

 tilizing' queens by nieelianical means." I liave 

 been looking lor that lor some time in Gleanings. 

 I still don't know how, buthc pc that, as soon as jou 

 know, you will give it to your readers. It will be a 

 grand thing for nie and others of your readers who 

 are surrounded by black bees and log gums. The 

 season here has been unfavorable for bees this 

 year, although they have made enough to winter 

 on. I am a fanner, and do not have much time to 

 devote to my bees. 1 lo\e my bees a great deal bet- 

 ter than I do my plow; an 1 if I v.ore certain that I 

 could make money at the business, I would quit 

 farming and go at it right. I like G. M. Doolittle's 

 plan of forming nuclei. I have tried it a number 

 of times, and succeeded every time. That alone 

 has been worth to me more than Gleanings cost. 

 I have introduced iiueens by it when other methods 

 have failed. F. P. Hish. 



Henton, Shelby Co., 111., Dec. 21, 18S5. 



Friend II., I hardly think fertilization of 

 queens by mechanical means is going to 

 come into use very much, even if it succeeds. 

 You will have lo watcli the ages of your 

 queens, so as to take them at just the i-ight 

 lime, and then it will be necessary for you 

 to catch drones. The whole operation, it 

 seems to me, is going to be too much expense 

 to come into general use.— If I were you I 

 would stick to the plow until your bee-busi- 

 ness is so well established that it is a safe 

 tiling to give it your whole time ; that is, 

 make it a gradual work of letting go of farm- 

 ing and taking up bee culture. \Vhile the 

 bees may give much the larger prolit on the 

 investment and labor, there are a good many 

 risks about the businef.s. 



natuual, swawming and non-sv/auming. 

 No queen, no bees; no bees, no honey. More 

 queens, more bees; more bees, more honey. Such 

 thoughts were in my mind in the spring of 188i; 

 and for experiment, two strong colonies were chos- 

 en, being swarms from the same colony in 1883. 

 One of these was to be tested by natural swarming, 

 and the other by artificial swarming. June 4feh, No. 



1 swarmed, and, soon after, the old colony was di- 

 vided into nuclei of one and two frames each, all 

 having good queen-cells. One of these swarmed 

 (a mere handful), and was liived on a comb and a 

 frame with a little brood on it. These all raised 

 good queens; and as soon as hatching brood could 

 be spared from the new swarm, a frame was given 

 to each nuclei, building them all up e\cnly. Au- 

 gust 2d the new colony swarmed again, and, by 

 division, two more colonies were made. August 13th 

 one of the colonies swarmed and was not seen. No. 



2 swarmed June 8th, and again the 21111. 



The result of the season was. No. 1 an increase of 

 ten colonies and 325 lbs. of honey ; and No. 2, an in- 

 crease of two colonies and liil lbs. of honej', while 

 the best yield from a strong colony that did not 

 swarm was 15(i lbs. of honey. There was no honey 

 taken from the brocd-chamber, which was well fill- 

 ed for winter supplies. The average yield of the 

 apiary was 8 J lbs. of honey. In the spring of 1885, 

 on a farm seven miles from homo, were three colo- 

 nies of bees which I wished to Italianize; and as 

 there was no one to watch them they were divided 



so as to prevent swarming, but failed in one in- 

 stance. Three dollar queens were used, and divi- 

 sions were made till there were IT new colonics with 

 Italian queens. The hives were well filled, and a 

 surplus taken of 353 lbs. of honey from the upper 

 stories. The division was carried too far for the 

 largest yield of honey. An increase of 7 colonies in 

 the first, and 13 the last trial, would have given a 

 larger surplus. In the first e.vperiment, those that 

 1 tried in 1884, allowing that the new colonies had 

 40 lbs. of honey each, the comparison shows that 

 division gave 725, natural swarming 271, and non- 

 swarming, 15G lbs. of honey. Successful as these 

 experiments have proven, I would not advise any 

 mathematical Californiau to waste paper in calcu- 

 lation of what he might do with 100 colonies increas- 

 ed in a like ratio for five years. L. M. BiiowN. 

 Sergeant's Bluff, Iowa, Mar. 8, 1886. 



Friend B.,the point you make is a good 

 one ; yet much of the success you have met, 

 I think, depends upon the fact that your lo- 

 cality is not overstocked at all. On the con • 

 trary, perhaps there is honey for several 

 times as many bees as you keep. In such 

 cases, more honey will be secured by judi- 

 cious dividing or artificial swarming, and 

 by getting as many queens to lay eggs as 

 early in the season as you can. When, how- 

 ever, you have from .50 to 100 colonies in one 

 locality, so that the Howlers are all visited, 

 and the bees begin to crowd each other, then 

 there will be an advantage in the prevention 

 of swarming. I should say, that in any lo- 

 cality, not overstocked, more honey wall 

 probably be secured from a single colony by 

 judicious increase than with no increase. 



A TKIP TO CALIFOKNIA; ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT 

 A VISIT TO FRIEND HAVHURST. 



I have recently returned from ray winter's trip to 

 California, and have been and am taking pleasui-e 

 in reviewing old acquaintances and shaking hands 

 with old friends, so I would not forget you. I find, 

 that in central California, in the great river valley, 

 what honey they get is of no great value, being 

 dark and strong. There are a great many bees in 

 the trees, sometimes several swarms in the same 

 tree. In the foot-hills the honey, if they get any, 

 is likely to be better, that from the alfalfa being 

 fine. As nearly as I found out, the great honey 

 section is in the southern part of the State. 



On my way home I stopped to see friend Hay- 

 hurst, of Kansas City, and was very glad I did so. 

 He has some of the finest bees I have yet seen, and 

 he knows how to care for them. To prevent the 

 queens from fighting, he cages each cell separately 

 before putting into the nursery. It is, as Mr. H;. 

 says, a mistake to suppose queens just hatched will 

 not destroj' cells remaining, or each other, for they 

 will so do if strong and vigorous. This has also 

 been my e.vpcriencc. Who lias a different reporfi* 



I arrived at home and found my bees in good con- 

 dition for this time of year, and I hope so to keep 

 them. ('HAS. II. Bingham. 



Edinburg, Ohio, Mar. 22, 1886. 



wintering UEES UPSTAIRS IN A W.\RM ROOM. 



Some time last season one It. F. Perrj', of Clarks- 

 ton, Mich., wrote me about purchasing some bees 

 or queens of me, and incidentally dropped the re- 

 mark that he never lost bees from wintering. In 

 replying to his communication I asked him how he 



