GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OVER 200 POUNDS OF SURPLUS HONEY PRODUCED BY ONE COLONY 

 ON A VERANDA IN THE CITY OF BUFFALO 



BY H. C. YOUNG 



Having bad no experience in keeping bees 

 — in fact, never having bad a good look at 

 a bee, I started to read Gleanings in Octo- 

 ber, 1911, and studied the ABC and X Y 

 Z of Bee Culture. The following spring, 

 ia May, I received my beginner's out lit. 

 consisting of one bive of bees, extra liive, 

 etc. 



As I live on a corner of a prominent bus- 

 iness street in Buffalo, 1 decided to keep my 

 bees on tbe veranda on the second floor of 

 my bome, tvhicb is very close to tbe side- 

 walk. Hundreds of people pass daily, and 

 thousands of bees fly overhead. 



Without the aid of an experienced bee- 

 man or any one else, I would open tbe bive 

 three or four times a week or oftener, with- 

 out tbe use of a smoker, ^^eil, or gloves, and 

 pull out frame after frame. I bad no diffi- 

 culty in picking out the queen, drones, and 

 workers; also tbe drone and worker cells, 

 and later I discovered tbe queen-cells. 



About 11:30 a. m. on tbe 4tb of July my 

 bees swarmed, clustering on a poplai'-tree 

 about 25 feet from the bive, and they re- 

 mained there until about 2 p. m. With tbe 

 aid of my three brothers we set out to liive 

 tbe swarm. Imagine the crowd of curious 

 city people attracted by this undertaking 

 Our first thought was to cut down the branch 

 with the cluster and place it before the emp- 

 ty hive. Not thinking about the weight of 

 the bees, we began sawing, and soon there 

 was an unexpected cracking noise, and the 

 branch snapped off, throwing the cluster of 

 bees to tbe pavement, about twenty feet 

 below. In a few seconds the air. like a blind- 

 ing snowstorm, was filled with live bees. 

 The terror-stricken people scattered, and 

 ran in all directions for shelter. In order 

 to convince them that there was no danger 

 I hurried to the street with head and arms 

 bare, scooped up the bees in my hand, and 

 shook them into tbe bive without receiving 

 a sting. Soon the frightened ones regained 

 their nerve and returned to satisfy their 

 curiosity. 



About a week later I found a new queen 

 in tbe old liive, which evidently became 

 mated with a black drone. I soon noticed 

 the difference in the disposition of her bees, 

 as photo No. 1 will show. Tbe old queen 

 and her bees in the swarm have maintained 

 their very mild disposition to tbe present 

 day. 



The following spring. May. 1913, T pur- 

 chased five more colonies, I kept one colony 



in tbe city and sent all tbe rest to tbe coun- 

 try, about fifteen miles away. Starting that 

 year with seven colonies, and with tbe cap- 

 ture of one stray swarm in the city, I in- 

 creased my apiary to fifteen colonies during 

 the summer, and secured about 500 lbs. of 

 honey. 



From my limited observation I am led to 

 believe that a few colonies do better in the 

 city tbaii in the country. During a drouth 

 bees find little or no nectar in tbe plants of 

 the meadow or mead; while the warmer, the 

 drier, and the more arid the weather, tlie 

 more the city folks sprinkle their gardens 

 and lawns, thus keeping the honey-flow nor- 

 mal. 1 noticed during last summer, wliilo 

 we had a long drouth, tbe bees in th.e coun- 

 tiy Avere not gathering any honey, while 

 those in the city dniing the same dry weath- 

 er were busy working filling up cells day 



H. C. Young, of Buffalo, N. Y., showing the result 

 of his first experience with hybrid bees. 



