1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



299 



an awful muss and waste, as the one we have 

 had. In fact, we are not throvigh with it 

 yet, for the bees rob so awfully, in spite of 

 tents, comb-baskets, and every thing else, 

 we shall have to give it vip until the locusts 

 bloom. We can get a hive transferred, it is 

 true, but the jobbers will pile on to it at 

 such a rate (black robbers too, mind yf u), 

 that we have to leave a tent on it all day, or 

 until ihey lick up the honey. Pounds of 

 bees lie dead in front of the hives ; three 

 colonies have been robbed so badly that they 

 swarmed out, and two queens "have been 

 found dead in front of the hives, on account 

 of robbers. II. found one runaway swarm 

 on top of a grapevine stake, and shook them 

 into a cage after tinding the queen, and thus 

 filled one order without shaking these off the 

 combs at all. 



Now for the Italians : We have transfer- 

 red nearly a hundred, from combs of differ- 

 ent sizes, but have never had a bit of trouble. 

 The bees stay on their combs, and when 

 there is loose honey around, they lose no 

 time in licking it up, and putting in tlie 

 proper cells in a neat and tidy way. No 

 holes are found in their combs, made by dig- 

 ging out moth worms all the time, for they 

 do not allow any such work to commence 

 with. My friends, what would you take to 

 go back to box hives and black bees? 



SOME HINTS ABOUT (^UKKXKEARING, AND 

 SELLING IJEES BY THE POUND. 



When you shake nearly all of the bees 

 from a hive or nucleus, you often leave too 

 few to care for the brood, and it may starve, 

 if not provided for. Well, in such a case, 

 think if you have not some colony raising 

 queen-cells or the like, that could take care 

 of the comb, and be greatly benefited by it. 

 We can almost always dispose of a dozen 

 combs of brood to excellent advantage in 

 this way, for one good queen can almost al- 

 ways lay eggs for two or three ordinary col- 

 onies. The" way neighbor II. manages to 

 raise so many queens, and keep his Avhole 

 apiary strong all the time, is by making one 

 queen lay eggs for several hives. Enid a 

 queen that will bear it, and then give her an 

 empty coiub just long enough to have it filled 

 fairly with eggs, and then put it in your col- 

 ony that is raising cells, waiting for a (^ueen 

 to be fertilized, or that, from any other 

 reason, has not eggs and unsealed larvae. 

 You will often see the bees raise a hum of 

 rejoicing, just at the sight of some thing to 

 work at. Do not let a colony be idle, even 

 one day. I know it takes brains to do this, 

 and careful thoughtfulness ; but if you can 

 not command this, you must be content to 

 be a— small bee-keeper. Another thing : We 

 are introducin.^ queens daily that Ave have 

 purchased. ^V ell, sometimes when we have 

 not places for them all, we introduce a queen 

 to a colony having one or more queen-cells. 

 Now, strange to tell, a laying queen will 

 often go to work and lay the combs full of 

 eggs witlKuit even stopping to tear down the 

 cells at all. Well, we take her out with a 

 pound of bees, and the cells then hatch out 

 just as well as if she had not been there. 

 You see, we got the hive replenished with 

 eggs, without losing a bit of time, and the 

 queen could just as well be doing this as 



waiting caged up in the office for a cus- 

 tomer. 



INTRODUCING WITH THE PEET CAGE. 



At my first attempt, the bees dug a hole 

 in the combs under one side of the cage, and 

 killed her. Ernest was going to denounce 

 the cage pretty vehemently at this, but I 

 told him this was a very fair illustration of 

 how we often judge uncharitably. Had I 

 lost a half-dozen right along, with the mass 

 of evidence in favor of the plan, I should 

 have said I was wrong, and the rest Avere 

 right. Since then, I believe we have lost 

 none. When queens are received that are 

 feeble, the idea of caging them right on a 

 brood coml) of new honey is a grand advance. 

 If any thing will bring a queen up, this will. 

 Another point : We can put the queen right 

 into the hive, at the same operation of tak- 

 ing another out. Now, there is one point I 

 wish to impress upon you. Neither this cage 

 nor any other has any particular virtues in 

 making the bees good-natured (unless it is 

 that we don't have to open the hive so much, 

 let in robbers, etc.), but the real facts of the 

 case seem to be. that, the greater part of the 

 time, the queens would be received if let 

 rignt out, without any cage. I took seven 

 queens into the apiary, and turned six of 

 them loose, one after the other, and not one 

 was molested. They Avere all given to hives 

 that had built queen-cells, and had no un- 

 sealed brood. The seventh AA^ould not take 

 theirs at all, nor Avould they after I had tried 

 her daily for nearly a week. They were 

 cross hybrids, and killed her at last. If you 

 are going into the queen business, you Avill 

 save a greatdeal by having no hybrids at all. 

 Neighbor Rice says he has no cross bees in 

 his yard, and, what is more, he iDon't have 

 any. 



THE (iUINBV SMOKER, AVITH BOTH DIUECT 

 AND COLD BLAST. 



One of these has been in use in our apiary 

 for some time, and at first the boys were sure 

 the direct-draft arrangement Avas a great ad- 

 vantage over the usual cold-blast Simplicity. 

 With stubborn fuel, a direct draft is Avithout 

 question an advantage ; but Avith a Avagon- 

 load of fine rotten wood, such as we keep 

 constantly in stock, I find our own smoker 

 much the handiest for me, for I can light it 

 with a match, and have my hybrids all driv- 

 en down out of the way, long before the 

 boys have got any smoke at all from the 

 Qiiinby or IJinghahi. Of course, you are not 

 all like myself. The Quinby smoker has a 

 most excellent bellows, and is an excellent 

 smoker in CA^ery respect. 



ROBBING, IIOAV TO CIRCUMA'ENT. 



After transferring, the bees Avould often 

 pile on to the entrance so there was no such 

 thing as defending it. and closing the hive 

 during a hot day Avould be fatal to the in- 

 mates. One of our raosqnito-bar tents, set 

 over the hives, fixes it in a minute, and the 

 transferred ones have all the air they need, 

 and they can cluster outside, or go in and re- 

 pair the broken combs, in perfect peace, as 

 they choose, while the robbers buzz about 

 inside the tent, and are prevented from do- 

 ing harm elsewhere. 



