64 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 1 



Conversations with 

 Doolittle 



At Borodino 



TIME OF DAY SWARMS ISSUE, ETC. 



Would you tell us about what time in the day the 

 prime swarm and after-swarms issue? My neigh- 

 bors and I do not seem to agree. I claim that prime 

 swarms issue only between the hours of nine in the 

 morning and three in the afternoon; while one of 

 my neighbors claims he has had prime swarms out 

 as early as six in the morning and as late as five in 

 the afternoon, and some of the others are inclined 

 to share this opinion. 



Prime swarms usually issue between nine 

 in the morning and one in the afternoon, if 

 the weather is fair, right along day after 

 day; but if there comes a rainy time, with 

 clouds and cool winds, swarming is delayed, 

 and then prime swarms are almost as errat- 

 ic as after-swarms. Several times during 

 the past forty years I have known swarms 

 to be kept back by bad weather, when the 

 colonies were rich in stores, till the young 

 queens began to "quahk"in their cells. 

 When young queens are thus mature, and 

 the swarming fever has not been satisfied, I 

 have known of one or two prime swarms 

 coming out as early as a quarter of five in 

 the morning. This was a nice, clear, warm 

 morning, following a full week of weather 

 when the bees were shut in by bad storms. 



Again, under similar circumstances, I had 

 two swarms come between five and six 

 o'clock in the afternoon, when it cleared off 

 so the sun shone out warm and bright, for 

 the first, at about 5 p.m. But under such 

 circumstances there seems to be a division 

 among the bees, a part of them taking sides 

 with the young quahking queens, and the 

 others with their old mother, so that, when 

 such prime swarms issue, under the condi- 

 tions given above, there are fewer bees with 

 the swarm, and more with the ripe queen- 

 cells. If the weather continues fine, 1 have 

 known what is called a ' ' second swarm ' ' to 

 issue two days later, with one or more of 

 these young queens, and a beginner having 

 no experience along this line, when such a 

 state of affairs exists, rushes into print de- 

 claring tliat second-swarms often come two 

 days after the first one. 



Then cases are not infrequent when a col- 

 ony, nearly or quite strong enough to swarm, 

 loses the old mother-queen just before the 

 swarming season, on which loss the bees 

 start a lot of queen-cells to replace her. On 

 the maturing of tliese cells, the flow of nec- 

 tar becoming abundant, the bees are almost 

 sure to swarm with these young queens; 

 and in this case the first swarms do not hold 

 to usual hours any more than do after- 

 swarms, but come out at "any old time." 

 If my memory serves me rightly, I once 

 wrote about such first swarms with a young 

 queen, calling tliem "prime swarms," when 

 Dr. Miller straightened me out in great 

 shape by telling the public that only swarms 

 having the old or mother queen with them 

 could be properly ca,Ued priine swarms. And 



Dr. Miller was right in the matter. As I 

 now understand it, a prime swarm must al- 

 ways be a, first swarm; but a first swarm is 

 not always a prime swarm. 



And this leads me to say that an after- 

 swarm always has one or more young virgin 

 queens; but all swarms issuing with one or 

 more virgin queens are not after-swarms. 

 Regarding the time of day when after-swarms 

 issue, as hinted above, there is little depend- 

 ence to be placed upon them, for they come 

 at any time between five in the morning 

 and seven at night. However, if the weath- 

 er permits continued nectar secretion, with 

 a clear sky, the majority of such swarms 

 will come between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., while 

 fully half may be expected between 9 a.m. 

 and 1 P.M. 



WAX FROM OLD COMBS. 



This same correspondent wants me to tell 

 how to render very old combs that are part- 

 ly filled with pollen into wax. For such 

 combs I know of no better way than the 

 water plan. I prefer to put such combs in 

 a sack made of burlap, tramping the sack as 

 the combs are put in so as to break the co- 

 coons as much as possible; for with very old 

 combs these cocoons, spun one after the 

 other, as the multitudinous generations of 

 brood are perfected, become so thick and 

 hardened that, without some care, they hold 

 most of the wax in the septum of the comb 

 from coming out, even with water render- 

 ing. An old kettle is the best thing I know 

 of for the desired purpose. Set it on three 

 stones so you can build a fire under it and 

 fill it two-thirds full of water. Now build a 

 fire; and when the water boils, carefully 

 lower the tied-up sack filled with the old 

 tramped -in combs into the water. Allow it 

 to rest for a few minutes till the water pene- 

 trates all through it, then with an old hoe 

 press and roll the sack over for about five 

 minutes, when it will appear nearly empty. 



If you have more comb, bring out the 

 mouth of the sack, untie and fill again, go- 

 ing through the same working and squeez- 

 ing with the hoe as before, and so on till the 

 sack becomes two-thirds full of refuse or 

 you have all your comb in. 



Now provide a piece of plank rounded 

 somewhat to fit the bottom of the kettle, 

 nailing another piece to it with the grain of 

 the wood running in the opposite direction, 

 so it will not split. Then nail through both 

 to the end of a piece of scantling about one- 

 third longer than the kettle is deep. Put 

 the rounded-plank end on the sack, thus 

 joressing it to the bottom of the kettle; and 

 after hanging a heavy weight on the upper 

 end of the scantling, and propping it in an 

 upright position, allow the fire to go out. 

 The next morning you will find the wax all 

 nicely caked on top of the water in the kettle. 



[This plan of rendering will work all right 

 on a small amount of comb, so that lots of 

 time can be given one batch; but if there is 

 quite an accumulation of comb to render, a 

 good strong press will be found to yield a 

 greater quantity of wax in a much shorter 

 time. — Ed.] 



