GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



and in considerable quantities, are sold for the 

 purpose. In view of the destruction of the 

 comb necessary by this process I inquired why 

 it was that the honey was not universally sold 

 in the comb, to which came the reply that they 

 felt obliged to supply it in the form that it 

 was wanted, and there seemed to be a better 

 demand for the liquid than for the comb, even 

 at the same price ; besides, a good article of 

 liquid honey could often be secured from 

 combs that were not in merchantable shape, 

 so the honey-press seemed to be a necessary 

 article in the equipment of a heather-honey 

 producer. . . 



There seem to be very few in Great Britain 

 who make bee keeping a specialty, and who 

 therefore keep a large number of colonies of 

 bees. The great mass of bee-keepers are those 

 who have one or two to six or a dozen hives, 

 and keep them either as a pleasant diversion 

 from business or professional pursuits, or to 

 help out the family store of delicious sweets. 

 The requirements of such bee-keepers in the 

 way of supplies differ quite materially from 

 those of the specialist or large bee keeper — a 

 difference that we have scarcely made enough 

 of in America. If there is not already a large 

 number of bee-keepers of this class in the 

 United States there ought to be, and more con- 

 sideration should be paid to him, not only in 

 appliances but in the literature of the periodi- 

 cals, or at least in the bee-departments of the 

 agricultural press. 



It was my privilege to attend the interna- 

 tional convention of bee-keepers in Paris, and 

 to meet in person some of the distinguished 

 representatives of the bee-keeping fraternity, 

 not only of the European countries, but from 

 Chili and Japan, as well as from America. 

 The proceedings of the convention were con- 

 ducted in the French language ; and as I do 

 not know French I will leave to our other 

 American delegate, Mr. C. P. Dadant, who is 

 a Frenchman as well as a loyal citizen of Il- 

 linois, the task of reporting such of the pro- 

 ceedings of the conference as he considers im- 

 portant. I must acknowledge my indebted- 

 ness to Mr. Dadant, who proved so valuable 

 an interpreter for me at such a gathering. 



COMB AND EXTRACTED HONEY FROM THE 

 SAME APIARY. 



"How do you do, Mr. Doolittle ? I came 

 over to see if you think it well to produce both 

 comb and extracted honey in one apiary, or 

 shall I divide the number of colonies I keep 

 into two yards, working one for comb honey 

 and the other for extracted ? I wish to decide 

 this matter this fall, so I may be all prepared 

 for action next spring. " 



" This is a question, Mr. Jones, which otten 

 •enters the minds of those keeping bees, some 

 thinking that both comb and extracted honey 



production should not be mixed together in 

 one yard or apiary." 



" But what do you think about the matter ? " 



" I see little if any reason why two yards 

 are necessary for a mixed production of hon- 

 ey." 



"Please give your reasons why we should 

 produce both in one apiary." 



" Some thirty years ago, when I first began 

 keeping bees, I had considerable trouble about 

 having certain colonies work in boxes ; and 

 often after a colony had nearly completed a 

 given number of boxes it would swarm, leav- 

 ing the bees in the hive so weak in numbers 

 that said boxes would remain unfinished at the 

 end of the season." 



"That's just my case exactly. What did 

 you do about it -' " 



" I tried cutting out the queen-cells and re- 

 turning the swarm ; but this seemed to do lit- 

 tle good, for in a few days they would come 

 out again, and thus keep up their swarming 

 till the honey season was over, doing little or 

 nothing in the boxes, as bees having the 

 swarming fever will do little else than prepare 

 to swarm." 



" Could you remedy this with the extract- 

 or ? " 



" As I had no extractor at that time (very 

 few if any being in use thus early), the only 

 way I could do which seemed good to me was 

 to cut all queen cells while the swarm was out, 

 cage the queen between two combs, and return 

 the swarm, leaving the queen thus caged for 

 eight or ten days, when all cells were again 

 cut off and the queen given her liberty. As 

 nearly half of the brood had emerged from 

 the cells during this time, there were plenty of 

 empty cells in which the liberated queen could 

 deposit eggs ; and as the bees had no larvse to 

 nurse, the disposition to swarm was broken 

 up, as a rule, and the boxes would be com- 

 pleted." 



"This was quite a scheme, certainly." 



" Yes ; but I wish to say that, during these 

 eight or ten days, right in the very height of 

 the harvest, little or no honey was stored, as 

 queenless bees, and especially those having the 

 swarming fever, are practically good for noth- 

 ing as comb builders, and a colony so treated, 

 at this season, was about as good as queen- 

 less." 



" How about results? " 



" The result was, I lost ten days of the best 

 of the honey harvest, during which time a col- 

 ony, not having the swarming fever, would 

 store from forty to sixty pounds of honey. 

 This was a serious loss, but not as great as to 

 hive the swarm in a separate hive, in which 

 case little save the swarm would be secured. 

 After a little I purchased a honey- extractor, 

 when I found I had this swarming mania, of 

 colonies which should be in better business, 

 practically under my control." 



" I never heard of controlling swarming 

 with the extractor when working for comb 

 honey. Tell me how you managed." 



' ' When a swarm issued as we have been 

 talking about, I would extract all the honey 

 from the brood combs while they were out, re- 

 moving all the queen-cells, when they would 



