1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



85 



BEES KOAKING. 



Another correspondent writes: "It has been 

 cold of late, and has now warmed up to quite 

 an extent. Upon passing about among the bees 

 I tind some colonies which are roaring in a way 

 similar to what they do in the summer. Can 

 you tell me what the trouble is? and is it a sign 

 of diarrhea?" 



Bees having the diarrhea to an extent suffi- 

 cient to spot the hives on the inside, generally 

 give forth th(» roaring sound spoken of by the 

 correspondent; but it is a rare thing that any 

 single colony becomes thus uneasy so early in 

 the" season, much less a large number of colo- 

 nies. From former experience along this line I 

 should say That, during the cold spell preced- 

 ing this roaring, the bees consumed nearly all 

 of the luisealed honey inside of the cluster ; and 

 when the warmer weather occurred, tlie cluster 

 broke up and the bees went out around on the 

 sealed honey, uncapping it and taking more 

 honey into the cluster, or what will be the clus- 

 ter when re-formed again. This always causes 

 a merry hum to be heard ; and, if 1 am right in 

 the matter, it could be no sign of diarrhea. 

 .Should the roaring be long continued with but 

 slight abatement, the bees will gorge them- 

 selves with honey, and diarrhea will very likely 

 result. Should itcontinue, Iwould look into the 

 matter some warm day to see whether I could 

 tind out what the trouble is, experimenting on 

 only one or two at a time, to see if matters 

 could not be improved. It may po.ssibly be that 

 a mouse has got inside of these hives, and, by 

 his running about, the bees are disturbed. If 

 so. get him out and fix the entrances so that 

 none can possibly get in again. 



G. M. DoOI>ITTI>E. 



Borodino, N. Y., Jan. 13. 



[As I have said before, I repeat again, that 

 the artificial cell-cups that I saw at Doolittle's 

 were accepted and built out by the bees to per- 

 fection. In our own apiary we did not have en- 

 tire success with the cups, but some were com- 

 pleted, and hatched queens.] E. R. 



MANUM'S VISIT CONTINUED. 



OVEBSTOCKIXG ; HOW TO I>Of'ATE OUT-APIAEIES; 



IMPORTANCE OF WIXD-BKEAKS: MOUX- 



TAINS AND HILLS, AXD THEIR 



P:FFEC'T ox APIARIES. 



•'Good morning, Mr. Barber; this is a beauti- 

 ful morning." 



•■ Good morning. Why. Manum, you came 

 near getting the start of me. I am not accus- 

 tomed to sitting up so late as we did last night, 

 and I overslept this morning. Well, here is the 

 paper you called for last night; and while you 

 are mapping out your apiaries I Avill get break- 

 fast.'" 



Breakfast over — and a good one too — Mr. B. 

 takes the map, and, after looking it over care- 

 fully, asks a few questions. 



•• Manum. how high is that range of moun- 

 tains east of you, that appears so very near?" 



•• I believe, Mr. B., that they are 1300 feet 

 high." 



•• I suppose the whole side of that mountain 

 is covered, more or less, with basswood. is it 

 not?" 



" No, not by any means. If it were, I should 

 not care to exchange locations with you. There 

 are, liowever, a few basswoods scattei-ed here 

 and there on. the mo>intain-side, and at the 

 base they are more plentiful; but the hills, as 

 we call them, that you see scattered over the 

 country, have a good many basswoods on them; 



and as my apiaries are nearly all located near 

 such hills, I have a fair basswood range." 



■' What do these double circles indicate, 

 where there is a circle within a circle ?" asks 

 Mr. B. 



"Those indicate apiaries belonging to other 

 parties. For instance, Nos. 1 and 3 are owned 

 by Mr. Charles McGee, who, by the way, is one 

 of my boys, or was a few years ago, and he is 

 the Charles I was talking to in Gleaxixgs of 

 Dec. 1. Nos. 3 and 6 ai'e Mr. H. Stilson's apia- 

 ries. No. 4 is Mr. Fi-ed Dean's; No. .5, E. Cox'; 

 No. 7, T. Fish's; No. 8, E. A. Hasseltine's; and 

 Nos. 9 and 10, Mr. L. O. Thompson's. The sin- 

 gle circles indicate my own apiaries." 



■' Well, Manum, it seems to me that your 

 territory is pi'otty well occupied, and, I should 

 think, ovei'stockcd." 



" Yes, Mr. B., I think there are bees enough 

 on this little territory, especially in a poor sea- 

 son. When I started in the business there were 

 none within 30 miles of me, except a few box 

 hives here and there." 



" What are all these marks, zigzagging from 

 one apiary to another?" asks Mr. B. 



" Those are the highways which I travel 

 over in going to my apiaries." 



" How far from your home are vour apiaries. 

 Mr. M.?" 



'■ They are from 3 to 15 miles from home. 

 These little squares on the diagram represent 

 square miles; hence by counting the squares 

 between each apiary you get the distance they 

 are apart; and the circles, as you see, represent 

 a radius of two miles from the center." 



"I notice that your Meach yard is nearly 

 surrounded by hills. Do you consider the hills 

 of any advantage ?" 



" Yes. most certainly. In the spring the hills 

 are a protection from winds; and as there are 

 many basswoods on them they ai'e an advan- 

 tage in that respect, as they afford good forage 

 all around and near by. I consider this my 

 best basswood i-ange and my poorest cloveV 

 range. This year in August. I had 7 colonies 

 starve in this apiary before 1 was aware they 

 were so short of stores." 



" How happened you to locate two apiaries so 

 far from home; viz., the Ferrisburgh and Var- 

 ney yards ?" 



"I was obliged to go that far to get beyond 

 and out of the range of my neighbors, as you 

 see I was completely hedged in." 



" I notice, Mr. M.. that some of your apiaries 

 are so near each other that they overlap each 

 other's territory. Do you think they do as well 

 where they are so near together ?" 



"No, sir. I do not, especially in a poor season: 

 but in a good season I see no difference, all 

 things being equal. I should prefer to have my 

 yards five miles apart if I could so locate them: 

 but owing to the formation of the hills, and the 

 difticulty in finding just the right spot, and also 

 permission to set an apiary, I was obliged to 

 locate some yards nearer and some fui'ther 

 apart than I really wished tc. Bee-keepers 

 who have never located out-apiaries can not 

 fully comprehend the difHculties one has to con- 

 tend with in selecting a suitable location. When 

 selecting one I aim to acquaint myself with the 

 surrounding country, after securing the spot 

 for the yard. I go out prospecting through the 

 fields and woods, to satisfy myself whether the 

 location is a suitable one or not; and by the aid 

 of a strong field-glass I am able to determine 

 whether I am in a good basswood range with- 

 out very much traveling, if I do this prospect- 

 ing during or soon after the basswoods bloom, 

 as then the blossoms and blossom-leaves ena- 

 ble me to see a basswood-tree at a distance." 



"Do you always select a sheltered spot for 

 your yads?" asks Mr. B. 



