1SS6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



829 



didn't do any thing but swarm. 



1 am a little boy. We live 60 miles northeast of 

 Peterborough. My pa keeps bees. He commenced 

 with one colony 4 years ago hvit spring. This fall 

 we had ^0. Last year was a very bad one, and they 

 didn't do any thing but swarm. They tilled their 

 hives from the maple in spring, but didn't do any 

 thing with basswood or raspberries. They made 

 some from buclcwhcat. They did well until last 

 year. Elgie E. Ives. 



Cardiff. Can. 



ALSIKE, AND HOW THE BEES AVOKK ON IT; TAK- 

 ING DOWN SWARMS. 



Papa got an Italian queen one year ago last June, 

 and now he has five colonies from natural swarm- 

 ing. He sowed that peck of alsike clover seed last 

 March that he got of you. The bees were just 

 swarming on it when it was in full bloom. I was 

 afraid to walk through it. He got a tine lot of seed 

 from it too. Papa sa3S that the Italian bee is more 

 industrious than the black bee. Papa values his 

 Italian bees very highly. One swarm went off ; and 

 as they were Italians, brother Joe and a neighbor's 

 boy followed them. The bees alighted on a limb bO 

 feet high. Brother Joe climbed up and tied a rope 

 around the limb, and then cut it off and lowered it 

 to the ground. Then they left that limb and 

 went to another tree. I think Ihey got them 

 down again, but I am not sure; any way, they had 

 to take them three times before they got them to 

 stay down; but they got them hived, and the bees 

 are doing well. Clara Strebv. 



Paw Paw, W. Va , Sept. 16, 1886. 



HOW A SWARM ABSCONDED, AND WAS AT L,.\ST 

 RECOVERED. 



I am a little boy just nine years old. My papa is 

 a harness-maker by trade. He started in the bee- 

 business two years ago. He commenced with one 

 swarm and increased to ™3. 



I will tell you about a swarm of bees that went off 

 last summer. When they were swarming, mamma 

 happened to be alone. She ran after them half a 

 mile or more, then she lost sight of them. The 

 swarm was gone two days, then a gentleman of the 

 same town stopped at the shop and told my pa 

 there was a swarm of bees on a small ai>plc-tree in 

 his orchard, and said, "If you go after them you 

 can have them." So pa took his swarming- 

 box on his shoulder, and went where the swarm of 

 bees was. It was about two miles from home, 

 so he shook the bees in his swarming-bo.\, and 

 covered them up with a wet cloth; then he picked 

 them up and put them on his shoulder, and carried 

 them home and put them in a Simplicity hive; and 

 when he examined the bees he found they were 

 his own, that had left. How he could tell that they 

 were his bees was because there were no drones 

 with them. My pa cuts all the drone-cells out in 

 summer. W.vrren J. Seitz. 



Clarence, N. Y. 



DO bees talk? 

 The following incident Avas related to me by my 

 neighbor: While examining his bees last winter he 

 found one colony in a starving condition. There 

 was a small cluster of bees in the center of the hive, 

 yet living, but the queen was in one corner of the 

 hive, as far away from the cluster as she could get 

 without leaving the hive. On seeing their condition 

 he gave them sugai', which made them wild with 

 excitement. One bee in particular drew his atten- 

 tion. As soon as it tasted the sugar it ran with 



great speed to the queen, and, as my neighbor ex- 

 pressed it, bumped its head against the queen's 

 head and immediately started back to the sugar. 

 The queen followed till she reached the sugar, when 

 she gorged herself to such an extent that she died 

 next morning. .5— G. L. Janney, 22—38. 



New Corner, Ind., Sept. 6, 1S86. 



The foregoing was not written by a juve- 

 nile liand, but I believe friend J. will con- 

 sider it no disgrace to see his communica- 

 tion among the writings of the little folks, 

 because it bears upon a point we were dis- 

 cussing. AV'e are much obliged for the fact. 

 Is it possible that the little bee, recognizing 

 the starving condition of the colony, knew 

 that, as soon as syrup should be given them, 

 the queen must be fed? And what a queer 

 way of telling her! But she understood it, 

 and it was the bee's way of talking to the 

 queen. I have never yet seen bees signal 

 quite in this way to the queen, or. in fact, to 

 each other. Ernest. 



THE UPS AND DOWNS OJ>' A BOY BEE-KEEPER; HOW 

 HE SUCCEEDS IN SPITE OF REVERSES AT KIRST. 



My eldest brother and sister having taken the 

 bee-fever, I took it also. I bought two colonies and 

 an empty hive for four dollars. One of the colonies 

 was in a tree, and the other in a box hive. One day 

 T got my sister to help me, and we went over there, 

 cut the tree, transferred the bees to a frame hive, 

 and got about 15 lbs. of honey, which brought me 

 10 cts. per lb. I brought both hives home in the fall, 

 and put them where I wanted my apiary. 



The next Sunday, Walter's bees discovered the 

 new comers, and turned in and ate up all the hon- 

 ey they had. The Sunday after that, they ran away. 

 I transferred my box hive then ; and the Sunday aft- 

 er, they ran away. I was flat in the bee-business 

 then, but still the fever hadn't cooled much. I 

 bought a box hive from Walter for two dollars, and 

 another bee-tree. I cut my tree early in the spring; 

 it had no honey. I transferred into a frame hive, 

 and brought them home, and I also transferred my 

 box hive I got from Walter. 



It was a poor spring, and bees ate up all they had, 

 and it looked as if they were going to starve in 

 spite of all I could do. Two or three times 1 went 

 out there and found them so weak they could hard- 

 ly fan; but I poured some honey and water on them, 

 and that brought them all right. They managed to 

 live aijd build up. 



Then I thought I must have clipped queens. So 

 one Saturday one of my neighbor's boys was down 

 to see me. I took him out to see my bees, and 

 showed him how I could clipaqueen; but she floun- 

 dered so I couldn't manage her. He then agreed 

 to hold her while I did the clipping. He held her as 

 though he were holding a chicken, and the ne.xt 

 morning I went around to look at them and found 

 her on the liottom-board, dead. Well, the bees 

 raised them another queen, and are doing finely. 

 This summer I bought a swarm on a limb. I 

 brought them home in my coat sleeve. They also 

 are doing well. I have taken al)out 30 lbs. of honey, 

 extracted. Don't you think this is pretty good for 

 a boy of U? . F. O. Somerford. 



Navasota, Texas. 



Yes, I think you have done well, consid- 

 ering the '' bad luck'' you had at first. If 

 you push on in this way you dpserve to suc- 

 ceed and will succeed. Ernest. 



