538 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUI-Y 1. 



seems to be giving way to a sociable age, and 

 there seems to be a very friendy feeling growing 

 up. Instead of ignoring each other's existence, 

 they quote from each other, and the corres- 

 pondents of the different papers have lots of 

 fun making good-natured flings at each other. 



gENE^^Ii 0©^^EgP@NDENCE. 



HOW SWARMING IS CONDUCTED. 



AGRICULTURAL EDITORS WHO NEED POSTING. 



Picking up an agricultural paper lately, I was 

 surprised to read the " bee-department,"' in re- 

 ply to a question asked of the editor, that " only 

 old bees go with the swarm,'" while in another 

 paper I find that the young queen in the parent 

 colony " hatches in less than twenty-four hours 

 after the swarm has issued." Coming, as these 

 statements do. from as high authority as 

 editors, they ought to be correct: nevertheless, 

 all my experience with natural swarming goes 

 to prove them incorrect. If editors are not 

 sufficiently well posted to know how, and under 

 what conditions a natural swarm issues, it 

 might be well to have a little light on the sub- 

 ject for the "rank and file" of bee-keepers, 

 and especially those young in the business; so. 

 with friend Root's permission, I will say a few 

 woi'ds regarding the matter in Gleanings, the 

 same being more especially designed for those 

 who have not been in the bee-business for any 

 great length of time. I have always used nat- 

 ural swarming as a means of increase, and ex- 

 perimented largely, to know undei' what condi- 

 tions swarms issued, as a rule, and have found, 

 as regards the age of bees, that bees of all ages 

 in about equal proportion leave the parent hive, 

 from the old forager to the bee that has not 

 been out of its cell for more than a day or two. 

 Many times have I seen the ground in front of 

 the hive nearly covered with bees so young as 

 to be unable to fly: and as often have I seen the 

 veterans with their jagged wings hanging with 

 the swarm, as well as those having their pollen- 

 baskets filled with pollen. Thus we have the 

 field-bees, the wax- workers, and the nurse-bees, 

 in about equal proportions, thus showing that 

 the all-wise Creator knew how things should 

 be when he pronounced all which he had made, 

 good. If it were not for young bees going with 

 the swarm, the hive would be nearly depopu- 

 lated by the bees dying of old age. before the 

 brood could hatch out to take their places. 

 Agftin, if all were old or field bees, the hive 

 could not be filled as profitably with comb: for 

 when, in a normal condition, the bees between 

 the ages of eight and tweniy-four days old are 

 the ones which do this work. That this divi- 

 sion of bees in a swarm is just as it should be, 

 is the reason that I prefer natural to artificial 

 increase. 



But, let us look inside of the hive when prep- 

 arations for swarming are being made, and see 

 if we can not arrive at the truth in the matter, 

 as regards the condition under which the 

 swarm issues, when the first queen hatches, etc. 

 The first indication of swarming is the laying 

 of eggs in the drone comb. While eggs in 

 drone-cells is not a sure sign that a swarm will 

 issue, yet. as far as I have observed, swarms 

 never do issue without eggs being laid therein. 



If the weather is propitious, the next step is 

 the building of queen-cells, soon after which 

 the queen di^posits eggs in them. In three days 

 these eggs hatch into larvae, and said larvie are 

 fed an abundance of food by the nurse-bees for six 



days, when the cells containing the embryo 

 queens are sealed over. If no bad weather 

 has intervened, the swarm issues the next day, 

 the old queen going with the swarm. Now, 

 bear in mind that this is the rule with the 

 black or German bees, and generally with all 

 the other races; still, the Italians, Cyprians, 

 and Syrians often swarm when the eggs are 

 first laid in the queen-cells, ajid sometimes 

 without the least preparation at all except 

 drones, in a time when swariuing runs high in 

 an apiary. All good authorities admit that the 

 queen larva remains seven days in the cell, as 

 my experience also proves, and I can not see 

 how any one could make such a mistake as to 

 say the queen hatches in twenty-four hours. 

 When bad weather occurs, the thing is bare- 

 ly possible for the swarm to be kept back for 

 six days after they would naturally issue, in 

 which case the first queen would hatch in 

 twenty-four hoiM'S. But this is somethfng I 

 have had occur but very few times since I kept 

 bees, for in such cases the bees generally de- 

 stroy the queen-cells, and postpone swarming 

 for an indefinite period. So I find, as a rule, 

 that the first queen emerges from her cell from 

 six to seven days after the first swarm. If 

 more swarms issue, they usually come out 

 two days after, or from the eighth to the 

 ninth day after the first, and never later than 

 the sixteenth day. As soon as it is decided 

 that no more swarms shall issue, all queens 

 in the cells are destroyed, when in from 

 five to nine days the queen goes out to be 

 fertilized, two days after which she commences 

 to lay. If the apiarist stops all after-swarming 

 by the cutting of cells, or any other means 

 which keep all of the bees in the old hive to- 

 gether after the first issue. I find that the 

 young queen is much slower in going out on 

 her wedding-trip, and often does not commence 

 to lay till the twelfth to fifteenth day. Where 

 any one wishes to make artificial increase it is 

 well to understand just hosv natural swarming 

 is conducted, for with such knowledge one is 

 more apt to succeed in having th(^ right pro- 

 portion of both young and old bees in the two 

 parts after dividing. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., June, 1S9L 



SOMETHING SCIENTIFIC ABOUT WAX OF 

 ALL KINDS. 



HOW TO DETECT ADULTERATION IN BEESWAX. 



The following article is taken from the pages 

 of Le Bucher, one of our French exchanges. 

 Although somewhat scientific in spots, we be- 

 lieve it is of such general interest that we are 

 warranted in giving place to it. The entire 

 treatise on this subject extends through several 

 numbers of our valued exchange, and we feel 

 that they have done bee-keepers a good service 

 in probing the matter with that thoroughness 

 which is so characteristic of the Europeans. 

 The original article is, of course, in French, 

 which our proof-reader translates as follows: 



Lately I was unwrapping, in the presence of 

 one of my friends, a package the contents of 

 which I wished to show him. Scarcely had I 

 opened it when he exclaimed: 

 •'Oh! see what a pretty piece of beeswax!" 

 "Beeswax!'' said I; "nary a bit." 

 " You are deceived."' said he: " it is beautiful 

 wax:"' and. taking a piece in his fingers, he be- 

 gan to examine it more closely. After he had 

 examined it in every way he added: 



