1881 



GLEA^mGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



345 



remedy for. But while I was looking for the de- 

 parted swarm, swarm No. 1 came out of the box that 

 I had put them in, and alighted on their chosen 

 limb again. I got another box and hived them 

 again. They went in nicely, and seemed all right; 

 but not feeling altogether easy about them I went 

 out in about two hours to look after them, and be- 

 hold, they were gone. Now, it is perhaps too bad 

 to trouble you with all of this; but if anybody knows 

 the cause and remedy for such a freak, I suppose 

 you do; and I would like to. I forgot to say, they 

 had made some nice combs in the first box. 

 Smithfleld, O., May 30, 1881. N. L. Wood. 



Where you raise comb honey, it is a pret- 

 ty difficult matter to fix a large apiary so you 

 know they will not swarm during the swarm- 

 ing season. Very likely it is one's duty to 

 stay at home at such a time. Let one com- 

 petent person look after the bees one Sun- 

 day, and another the next, and so on. Of 

 course, very much may be done to obviate 

 the necessity of such staying home at all; 

 and where artificial sivarming is practiced, 

 it is an easy matter to fix each colony so 

 there will be but a small probability of 

 swarms issuing. From your writing, friend 

 \V., I infer you have only box-hives; if so, 

 you must expect to lose swarms. Use mov- 

 able-frame hives, and give each swarm, as it 

 is hived, a comb containing unsealed larvae, 

 with as little honey as possible, and my ex- 

 perience is, that not one in a hundred will 

 ever desert the comb of larvte. Empty 

 combs are a great help to a new colony, and 

 have always seemed to me to have quite an 

 influence in holding them to their new home. 



COVERING THE BEES WITH HAY, OR SWAMP GRASS. 



Last spring, 1880, 1 went into partnership in the 

 bee business with Dr. Henrj' Munger, a true, faith- 

 ful. Christian man. All things went well until the 

 9th of September, when he was taken quite sick. 

 The doctor lingered, hovering between life and 

 death until November 23, when he died. After he 

 was taken sick I had 100 colonies left on their sum- 

 mer stands. About the 1st of December I covered 

 them with "slew-grass," each hive as it stood. For 

 five months they were shut up, and never flew. I 

 lost 7 stands, and came out this spring with 93 colo- 

 nies in good condition. Now I have over 100 stands 

 of as fine Italian bees as can be found anywhere in 

 this country. I am well satisfied, considering my 

 inexperience. I am truly sorry you had such heavy 

 loss; but you have the pluck to "pick your flint" 

 and try again. Isaac Edwards. 



Omaha, Neb., June 3, 1881. 



THE FEEDER WE USE. 



Take a square piece of tin, mark a straight line 

 around it about H in. from the edge, and also from 

 that line to the corner; then bend it over a sharp 

 tool, and turn HP, lapping the corners with the pli- 

 ers. I can make them without any soldering. Then 

 when I fill up my oyster-can, fruit-can, or any tbing 

 that is handy, just set my plate on top, and turn over 

 without spilling. I would not have those Hains 

 feeders with top fasteneil on. Moli^ie O. Large. 



MiUersvllle, 111. 



candy feeding during spring. 



You sent me a tub of grape sugar in March. It 

 was very bitter stuff and I feared the bees would not 

 cat it, but I made about 30 lbs. of candy according to 

 directions, and put a small brick of it over the clus- 

 ter on 25 hives, and tucked them up warm. They all 

 seem to have nibbled at it a little, but I don't think 

 they have eaten a quarter of a pound of it altogeth- 

 er, and 12 colonies died— some of them evidently of 

 starvation ; two colonies had cakes of maple sugar, 

 though, and I couldn't see that that was any better. 



Jackson, Mich., June 5, 1881. Joseph Cook. 



When bees get to the point Avhere yours 

 were, it is a hard matter to get them to take 

 any thing in the way of food, as you found 

 by using the maple sugar, which you say 

 seemed to answer no better, f ^audy made of 

 pure cane sugar would have made little dif- 

 ference, and the best of sealed stores of hon- 

 ey seems to be scarcely noticed when they 

 get this spring malady. However, when the 

 weather is ct)ol and the cluster small, they 

 will often take to honey or stores sealed up 

 in the combs, when they will not notice can- 

 dy of any kind ; for candy, it should always 

 be remembered, is food in an unnatural form, 

 and they often have to learn how to take it, 

 as it were, before they use it freely. I have 

 very rarely found a colony, of any strength 

 at all, that woitld neglect to use maple sugar, 

 if put right over the cluster, and well cover- 

 ed up. I liave hunted up friend Cook's or- 

 der for sugar, and it reads as follows : — 



Inclosed I send you $.5.c0, for which please send me 

 100 lbs. grape sugar by freight. Please send the su- 

 gar Immediately, as my bees are in a starving condi- 

 tion. . Joseph Cook. 



Jackson, Mich., March 14, 1881. 

 We have several times had complaints that 

 bees have starved, while waiting for grape 

 sugar or candy, that was ordered by freight. 

 There is some thing radically wrong about 

 all this. If grape sugar is to be used, it 

 should be ordered, and on hand, long before 

 the time it is likely to be wanted. If bees 

 are suddenly found to be in danger of starv- 

 ing, go at once to the groceries and buy su- 

 gar or candy. Keep them going on this 

 until your grape sugar comes, which, as 

 freights are uncertain, and usually slow, is 

 at best uncertain. Where it has to be ship- 

 ped some distance, the sugar from the gro- 

 ceries is often the cheaper, taking freights 

 on small quantities into consideration. Last- 

 ly, when bees are starving, you must not only 

 give them the food, but make them, or, 

 rather, see that they do take it. Many a 

 colony has been lost because the owner hur- 

 riedly placed food where he supposed they 

 could get it, and then left them, only to find, a 

 few days after, that they never found it at all. 

 I once found a colony almost out of stores in 

 April. I put a quart fruit-jar of honey over 

 one of the holes in the honey-board, and said 

 to myself, " There ! I guess you won"t starve 

 now ; " but a few days after I found them 

 all dead, clustered over to the opposite side 

 of the hive from where the honey was 

 placed. There is no other way, my friends, 

 but to be on hand, and to make success cer- 

 tain by watching and prompting at every 

 step. 



