1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



815 



I prefer to move during late spring or 

 early summer, when the bees are at their 

 busiest time, preparing to swarm. The 

 fir.st thing I do is to draw the hives close to- 

 gether into groups, each group consisting of 

 from two to five hives, according as is most 

 convenient and requires least handling. I 

 prefer to place three in a group. This mov- 

 ing must not be done too rapidly- I start by 

 moving each hive about one foot a day. of 

 course moving stand and all complete. The 

 two outsides are thus brought nearer to the 

 center of the group. Sometimes the hives 

 are very scattered ; and it takes a long time 

 to get them together. On each visit I move 

 them a greater distance than I had done be- 

 fore, so that they will soon be going at the 

 rate of four or five feet a day. If the dis- 

 tance is far I turn the hive round a little each 

 time, so that the back is looking the way 

 the hive is to go. I do all gradually and 

 quietly, so as not to disturb the bees more 

 than i can help. 



After the bees get used to this moving, 

 the distance can be rapidly increased per 

 day. They get educated to following their 

 hive up, and I have often shifted it as much 

 as 25 feet at a time. When they see the 

 front of the hive looking toward the place it 

 was taken from, they follow it up much 

 more readily. On reaching the center it 

 should be turned round again, and all be 

 looking the same way. 



Having accomplished this, and got all the 

 hives into groups, I next come along some 

 day when the weather is bright and warm, 

 and the bees flying— preferably in early aft- 

 ernoon. I select the weakest hive in each 

 gi-oup, and give it a good smoking. This is 

 done to prevent fighting and make them 

 treat strangers with civility. I then remove 

 the rest of the hives that have composed 

 that group, setting them down temporarily 

 a few yards away so as to get all away 

 quickly and not let any fighting start. The 

 flying bees, finding only one hive left, all go 

 into that one. On account of the smoking, 

 the guards will not offer resistance, and 

 there will be no fighting; but, all the same, 

 I smoke them again after a few minutes to 

 make sure. The removed hives are then 

 taken right away to their new stands, and 

 what was a weak colony will now become a 

 powerful one; and if it does not pile in the 

 honey, it ought to. If increase is desired, 

 and all the hives are strong. I prepare a 

 new hive, having one frame of brood and a 

 queen-cell, and the I'est as for a swarm. I 

 then remove all the hives from the group, 

 leaving only the empty one in their stead. 

 This is a most excellent way to make in- 

 crease. 



The second process has now been accom- 

 plished, and we have the majority of the 

 nives removed to their new locations; but 

 there still remains one hive in each place 

 where a group has stood. We now proceed 

 again, as in the first case, and draw up the 

 remaining hives into groups, and these 

 groups will again be removed, with the ex- 

 ception of one hive. By this means the en- 



tire apiary will soon be reduced to one group, 

 and finally to a single hive. This hive should 

 be left there for several days, so as to re- 

 ceive all the bees that may return, when it 

 also will be removed. 



By following this process we lose only the 

 bees that return from the one hive instead 

 of from, say. fifty hives, or every hive in 

 the apiary. Instead of a loss, as is usually 

 the case, the manipulation has resulted in a 

 gain, either in honey, for it will have dis- 

 couraged swarming, or else an increase in 

 the number of stocks. If the last remain- 

 ing hive is removed in the evening, and 

 taken a distance of three miles or more, we 

 have accomplished our object, and not a bee 

 has been lost. 



Fernhill, Napier, New Zealand, June 3. 



MORE HONEY-PLANTS. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



Speakins' broadly it may be asserted the 

 leading trees of the world are valuable 

 plants to the honey-bee. The great lumber 

 trees of the tropics, teak, ebony, mahogany, 

 logwood, rosewood, lignum-vitce, green- 

 heart, sandalwood, gutta-percha, and other 

 trees of great value in the commercial 

 world are also honey-furnishers as well as 

 producers of very fine hard wood. What im- 

 mense possibilities does this fact open up to 

 future generations who will have to plant 

 forests of these trees if a steady supply of 

 lumber is wanted, and it is barely possible 

 we shall ever find adequate substitutes for 

 them! 



In mentioning the foregoing trees I am 

 fully aware a large number of great tropical 

 trees are unmentioned, though of value to 

 the bee-keeper. I have already referred to 

 some of the principal tropical fruit-trees as 

 nectar-yielders, in a former communication. 

 But there are many yet unmentioned. What 

 I wish to see is more attention on the part 

 of foresters to the value of some trees as 

 nectar-yielders. It would be quite possible 

 to plant a forest in the tropics which would 

 supply a steady yield of honey the whole 

 year round, which would go a considerable 

 way toward paying for the care of the trees. 



There are also trees like the tamarind and 

 Inga dulcis^ which yield a valuable product 

 in addition to the wood and honey. The 

 cinchona (quinine) tree is another of the 

 same sort. Nor do the tropics monopolize 

 all the good things in this line. 



Among northern trees the persimmon oc- 

 cupies a similar place. Its wood is almost 

 as close-grained as boxwood; its fruit is 

 good, and, in addition, it is a nectar-yielder. 

 Its fruit is probably best in a dried' state, 

 hence it ofl'ers great opportunities for cul- 

 ture on a large scale. The Japanese are 

 the only people who can be said to have 

 studied the persimmon seriously. In Eu- 

 rope it is known as the lotus (Diospyrufi 

 lotus), and may be the fruit of the ancient 



