230 



GLEA^'IXGS I:N J3EE CULTUEE. 



May 



consider lliat a good many of the results 

 may liave been accidentar:' It is very likely 

 that no further considerable good luay come 

 from more imported bees. We shall this 

 season rear queens largely from our red- 

 clovei' queen, and other breeders will proba- 

 bly select some extra queen from among 

 their stock, and it Avill then rest with the 

 purchaser of queens to say whetlier they 

 want one from a choice honie-bred queen, or 

 from imported stock as heretofore. Last 

 season, nearly half of oiir orders were for 

 queens from our red-clover stock. 



FRIEND MOORE'S "TWO-HIVU" API- 

 ARY. 



AND ■WHAT HE DID WITH IT. 



^ COMMEXCED lust season with two colonies of 

 Jjl bees, one Italitms and the other blacks. So you 

 sec I had just half and hulf of each kind. Well, 

 the Italiiins are far ahead of the blacks. I run the 

 blacks entirely for Increase. Also increased the 

 Italians some. Increased both to seven very fair 

 colonies, though the season was so poor that I had 

 to double the number up to five colonies, and feed 

 syrup made of coffee A sugar to keep them from 

 starving- in the fall. I Italianized the blacks, bought 

 three wen k colonies from a neighbor, united them 

 Into one, and now have si.x colonics, which have 

 wintered nicely up to date. 



NATURAL QUEEK-CELLS, AND TWO QUEENS IN A HIVE. 



The Italian colony described above builds natural 

 qneen-cplls all the season, commencing, as they did, 

 ia the latter part of May, and continuing so late in 

 the season that the last queen that hatched could 

 not get fertilized on account of there being no 

 drones. The colony was not stimulated in the least. 

 In fact, the surplus arrangement was on all the sea- 

 son, and the b?es drew out ten frames of fdn., and 

 gave 46 lbs. of nice extracted honey from white clo- 

 ver (which was about twice as much as obtained 

 from any black colony in an apiary near by), and 

 built about 40 natural queen cells. I also made two 

 strong two-frame nuclei from it, and took some 

 frames of brood to build up weak colonies occasion- 

 ally. Strange to say, the bees kept on building 

 queen-cells. 1 list as if they had been crowded for space 

 or stimulated under the impulse of natural swarm- 

 ing, which was not the case, as they showed no sign 

 of swarming the whole season, and the last thing 

 they di'l in the fall was to hatch out a fine young 

 queen, which was kept in the hive for several weeks, 

 and then killed by the bees just before cold weather, 

 as she was not fertilized. So you see they will keep 

 two queens in the hive. The bees are the yellowest 

 I ever saw. A great many of them show four dis- 

 tinct yellow bands. The queen is very prolific, and 

 her daughters are also, one of which has shown the 

 same disposition of always keeping a laying daugh- 

 ter in the hive to help her. Of course, I always take 

 the young queea out when she has commenced lay- 

 ing; but, as an experiment, I let one stay in the hive 

 25 days after she had commenced laying, and have 

 seen the young and old queen on the same frame of 

 brood in less than hulf an Inch of each other without 

 showing the least sign of fighting. I am experiment- 

 ing, and as all of my queens (except two) were rear- 

 ed from natural cells, I hope, by the end of the com- 

 ing season, to have several that will keep two queens 

 in a hive. 



DIVISION-BOARDS MADE OV SLATS LIKE THE MATS. 



By the way, friend Itoot, what is your decision on 

 those comb-guide division-boards, a description of 

 which I sent you last year? I am wintering three 

 two-frame nuclei in one of your L. Simplicity hives, 

 by means of said division-boards (two of each kind), 

 and on examining them Feb. 9th, I fcuad them in 

 splendid condition. What is the price of basswood 

 strips for the mats per 100? I see by the mats that 

 thej^ are cheapcrthan comb-guides, and will answer 

 just about as well, if not better, as the strips are 

 thinner. M. B. Moore. 



Morgan, Ky., March 15, 1881. 



Please let us know more about that queen, 

 friend M.. and especially whether the young 

 queens have the same distinctive trait. It 

 is certainly a very valuable trait in a queen. 

 — The mat division-boards have been fre- 

 quently suggested, and used, if I am correct. 

 The oiily objection I know of, is the labor re- 

 quired to tack so many strips on, for they 

 have to be tacked in many places in each 

 slat, to make the board substantial. It 

 would, without doubt, make it more like the 

 old straw hive, in its property of keeping dry, 

 and absorbing moisture. We can furnish 

 the strips forl.jc per hundred; by mail, 40c. 



SOME NOTES FRO.TI GEORGIA. 



fi HAVE been reading Gleanings today, and, as 

 I notice no reports from Georgia (except one in 

 — ' Growlery) I venture a short account of my lit- 

 tle apiary of about 20 colonies. I have been using 

 the movable-frame hive but two years; but during 

 this short time I have made more money, and re- 

 ceived more genuine pleasure from my bees than 

 from all the former period of my bee-keeping in the 

 old way. I think I am making progress; have been 

 very successful in introducing Italian queens; intro- 

 duced 11 last year without loss; attempted to intro- 

 duce one received from Hutchinson, without having 

 water in the cage, which was the only one I ever 

 lost. Last fall, in preparing for winter, I used your 

 chaff division-boards and thick chaff cushions; was 

 laughed at a little by my Southern friends, but as 

 the winter through which we have just passed has 

 been unusually severe, the laugh is now on the oth- 

 er side. Every culoiuj came throwjh in splendid con- 

 dition. Even one nvicleus, 2-frame, came through all 

 right, and is now on the high road to ])rosperlty. We 

 are still having strange weather for this section. On 

 the night of the first inst., all of our peach crop was 

 killed, the mercury going down to 2()\ The fig-trees 

 were killed down to the ground during the severe 

 winter. I have not seen a single live fig-tree in our 

 section. The weather continues very windy and 

 cold, ice an inch thick the first three days of the 

 month. Corn, which was planted at the usual time, 

 about March 10th, was killed, and the farm- 

 ers are plowing up and planting over again. 

 The apple crop is still sate, not having advanced suf- 

 ficiently to be injured. The poplar (or whitewood as 

 you would call it) is about to bloom, and as it is to ua 

 what linden is to you (a very important crop, both 

 for honey and brood-rearing), the prospect of having 

 it cut off indicates "Blasted Hopes." Bees have 

 done but little for the past three weeks, as it is too 

 cold and windy for them to fly during the greater 

 part of the day. I have been feeding a little to keep 

 up brood-rearing, and stocks seem strong and ready 



