1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



For the American IJco Journal. 



Observations about Several Things. 



Q. \v. DKMAUEE. 



Mr. Moon, in his criticism on my ar- 

 ticle on tlic purity of the Italian ra.ce, 

 disposes of the troublesome question 

 of "color" in a very convenient, if not 

 a very logical way. He tells us, in 

 language Which seems to indicate the 

 loss of patience, that the idea that 

 color has anything to do with the pu- 

 rity of the Italian " is all bosh." 



I have to say that if Mr. Moon will 

 point out a single case in all animate 

 nature wherein "color has nothing to 

 do" with the identity and purity of the 

 species of animals, fowls, and insects, 

 I will confess that lie, at least, has 

 made a new discovery. If he should 

 tell us about a white blackbird, or of 

 a black yellow-jacket, would there be 

 any "bosh" about that? 



The Italian is classed with the yel- 

 low or light-colored race of bees. Now 

 if we discover bees among them as 

 black as night, or any material varia- 

 tion in color, do we not reason logi- 

 cally when we conclude that it is an 

 out-cropping, the result of mixture of 

 blood ? We prefer reason to mere as- 

 sertion. The 3-band test of purity, 

 though perhaps the most reliable of 

 any single feature yet discovered, is, 

 nevertheless, very unsatisfactory. Are 

 we to accept as true the absurd and il- 

 logical doctrine, propagated by some 

 of our vendors of queens and bees, 

 that a queen whose progeny must be 

 tilled with light-colored honey and 

 placed upon a window in order to ex- 

 hibit the faint outlines of 3 precious 

 bands, is just as pure as a queen whose 

 progeny shows the orange-colored 3 

 bands under all circumstances? I, 

 for one, do not accept it. There are 

 degrees of purity, ami when we admit 

 this much, we admit, in fact, that the 

 race as a whole is not pure in the sense 

 of being unmixed. 1 wish it under- 

 stood that I do not value the Italian 

 bee, because of its sporting character, 

 —but rather the more while I may 

 make my own selections. 



"Dysentery" is a trouble rarely ever 

 seen in this" climate, apparently be- 

 cause our bees can usually take a flight 

 once in every week or two. I have 

 never seen but two cases that amount- 

 ed to anything, and one of them was 

 caused by approaching starvation. 

 The colony was cured by feeding. 

 Dr. Southwick's " starvation theory " 

 is just as reasonable as that of the 

 other bee-doctors who attempt to 

 find just one cause for the disease. 



I am sorry that Mr. Ileddon asserts 

 that bees will attach the comb to wood 

 separators, because it indicates he 

 writes about some things about which 

 he knows but little. I have used 

 wood separators for several years, 

 made of poplar, Jjj inch thick, nicely 

 dressed, and have to see the first comb 

 injured by being attached to the sepa- 

 rator. I prefer wood to tin, because 

 the former absorbs the moisture, 

 while the Litter condenses it. 



Mr. Doolittle's advice to breed from 

 the queens whose colonies produce 

 the most honey is a good "theory," 

 but, in my opinion, poor practice. 

 Condition has a great deal to do with 

 the working capacity of a colony of 

 bees. In 1878 I had a colony of so- 

 called dark Italians, which ran right 

 off from my pretty light-colored bees, 

 and I was ready to breed from her ex- 

 clusively. Well, in 1879 she was 

 beaten by 2 of her light-colored sis- 

 ters of the same age, and I changed 

 my mind. 1 have found that all the 

 prodigies in the way of queens which 

 I have had the good luck to own were 

 daughters of my line selected queens, 

 and not one of them were capable of 

 transmitting her energy to her queen 

 posterity with any certainty. I see 

 no reason why we should discard the 

 established rules of stock breeders, 

 i. e., breed from the pur 'st stock rather 

 than from accidental specimens. 



One of my queen-rearing colonies 

 " balled" and killed their queen when 

 she returned from an unsuccessful 

 bridal trip, the other day. 

 Christiausburg, Ky. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Report on Wintering. 



r>. A. JONES. 



As I could not give my personal su 

 pervision to the preparing of my colo- j 

 nics for winter last year, 1 consider I 

 have been very fortunate. My men 

 have all been trained by myself, yet 1 

 prefer to look more closely after pre- 

 paring them than 1 was able to last 

 fall. At one of my bee farms, about 

 3 miles north from my home apiary, 

 William Cause, manager, there were 

 162 colonies placed in the sawdust 

 wintering house, and 151 put out in 

 the spring in good condition ; but 4 of 

 those that died, starved ; they were 

 Palestine bees, and the queens had 

 bred until all their stores were gone; 

 2 were drone layers, 1 a very small nu- 

 cleus, and the others were the poorest 

 ones, especially in young bees. 



At my bee farm, northeast of my 

 home apiary, about 4 miles distant, 

 where there were over 200 colonies, 

 died, and 3 were nearly gone, so that 

 they had to be united with others. 



Our house apiary, where there were 

 nearly 300, the loss was somewhat 

 greater, but that was owing to selling 

 so many bees late in the fall, and 

 having only old bees in the hives. 

 Then to make matters worse, about 

 f)0 queens arrived from the East, very 

 late, after winter had set in, and in 

 some instances, I took a comb from 

 each of several colonies, with bees to 

 form nuclei for them ; others we divi- 

 ded, and in still others we removed 

 the old queens and introduced the im- 

 ported ones, thus disturbing and 

 breaking up the cluster of the colo- 

 nies, without giving them a subse- 

 quent flight for many months ; they 

 suffered very much. 



All good colonies that were not tam- 

 pered with late, came through safely, 

 where they had stores enough. 1 hope 

 to be able, at some future time, to 

 give more particulars as to my method 

 of wintering. I always try to make 

 all my preparations in the fall, and 

 give them a " good letting alone " in 

 winter. 



My bees now are booming, but it is 

 so cold and windy upon the Georgian 

 bay, that I have experienced great dif- 

 ficulty in getting queens mated there. 

 I have now from 100 to 200 colonies 

 devoted to rearing queens, and will 

 soon have more than 200. The Pales- 

 tine queens will be in great demand, 

 as soon as reports are given from 

 many disinterested parties. I find 

 that those from some parts of the 

 Holy Land far outstrip others. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I will send you one 

 to keep in your apiary to test it, and 

 show it to your visitors. 



The Rev. L. L. Langstroth, Mr. 

 Muth. and others, have them to test. 

 If you and some of our other first- 

 class bee-keepers test them, we shall 

 arrive at the truth as to their merits. 

 If handsome bees is one of the quali- 

 ties required, they are ahead ; and in 

 prolificness they can, I think, beat the 

 world. Mr. P. P. N. E. Pelissier, of 

 Quebec, reports 7,580 eggs laid in 24' 2 

 hours. I will send you another letter 

 from Mr. Benton next week. 



Beeton, Ont. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Transferring Bees from Box Hives. 



OSCAR F. BLEDSOE. 



brood from 1 or 2 of my strongest col- 

 onics, lill this second Bfory with same. 

 I brush Off the bees from these frames 

 containing brood and honey, and leave 

 their places in the hives from which 

 they are taken vacant. 1 provide my- 

 self with a smoker, dull hatchet or 

 cold chisel to cut nails, mallet, large 

 leal her (a single feather is belter than 



a bunch), a vessel covered by a sheet, 



and a knife. I put the frame hive 

 prepared as above in place of the box 

 hive, without any ceremony, only 

 blowing in enough smoke to keep the 

 bees from flying at me. I lay the box 

 hive on one side, the lower or open 

 part turned toward the frame hive, 

 and place boards so that the bees can 

 crawl into the frame hive easily. I 

 then commence to cut the box hive 

 apart very rapidly, taking the combs 

 as fast as the bees can be brushed 

 from them, and putting them in the 

 vessel at my side. As soon as all the 

 combs are taken and the bees brushed 

 off. occupying only a few minutes, the 

 transferring is complete so far as the 

 box hive bees are concerned. The ad- 

 vantages of this process are, 1st, its 

 rapidity— no previous "knocking first 

 to one side and then to the other," no 

 "waiting a little while for them to till 

 themselves with honey ;" 2d, its safety 

 and certainty, inasmuch as to add to 

 the confusion and dismay of the trans- 

 ferred bees, no patching up is inforced 

 on them— no combs with dripping 

 honey are given them to invite rob- 

 bers, and if the equivalent of their 

 brood and honey are put in their new 

 home, instead of being checked, they 

 are actually bettered in their condi- 

 tion. I will add that if lean catch 

 the black queen and have an Italian 

 queen or queen-cell to spare, I kill her 

 and thus Italianize and transfer at the 

 same time. 



After driving the black bees into 

 the frame hive, I take the vessel con- 

 taining the combs to a close room, and 

 having transferred the combs to 

 frames, put the frames in the hives 

 from which the frames of brood and 

 honey were taken to give the black 

 bees. Fixing up these combs and 

 "handling" the dripping honey often 

 gives a new impetus to these last 

 named colonies, so that transferring 

 by this method, if not an advantage 

 "all around," is, at least, not a decided 

 check. I use no tin-fixings, thorns or 

 pegs, or clasps to bold the combs in 

 the frames, but simply coarse cotton 

 thread, or better, the common paper 

 package-cord of the stores, that the 

 bees can cut easily and remove from 

 their hives. 



Grenada, Miss., July 3, 1881. 



Having had some experience in 

 transferring, I will give my method, 

 being led to give my thoughts on this 

 subject by reading an article from Mr. 

 G. W. Demaree, in the Jouknal of 

 the 29th of June, in which he seems 

 to think he has reached the ne ph<s ul- 

 tra in transferring. I transfer at any 

 time when there is a flow of honey. I 

 fill the lower story of the Mississippi 

 bee hive (having dubbed the hive I 

 use with that name) with 9 frames, 

 either filled with empty comb or comb 

 foundation, or having good starters. I 

 put on a second story, and having 

 taken 9 frames filled with honey and 



Hural New Yorker. 



How to Rear Good Queens. 



W. /.. HUTCHINSON. 



As queens are liable to die, or to be- 

 come impotent, and as the increase of 

 colonies require queens, it is neces- 

 sary for the beginner to learn how to 

 rear them. Preparations for queeni] 

 rearing should be commenced as early 

 as the weather is warm enough for 

 the bees to fly every day. The best 

 queen in the yard— that is, the one 

 whose colony, all things considered, 

 has given the best results— should be 

 selected as the one from which to rear 

 others. Some other colony, contain- 

 ing a choice queen, should be allowed 

 to rear the drones. A frame of drone 

 comb should be placed in the centre 

 of the brood-nest, and the colony stim- 

 ulated by feeding, in order to have 

 drones flying from this choice queen 

 as soon as possible. Inferior queens 

 can usually be prevented from rearing 

 drones, by allowing them no drone 

 comb. As soon as some of the drone 

 brood is sealed over, a frame of dry, 

 clean, light-colored worker comb 

 should be placed in the center of the 

 colony containing the queen from 

 which queens are to be reared. In 2 

 or 3 days the queen will fill this comb 

 with eggs, and in 3 or 4 more days the 

 eggs will hatch into minute larva'. 

 when both the queen and all the brood 

 should be removed from some strong 

 colony, and this frame of just-hatched 



larva- should be placed about the cen- 

 ter of the hive. The queen that is re- 

 moved may be kept in a "nucleus" 

 unt il she is needed in forming a col- 

 ony, and the brood that is removed 

 may be given to the other colonies. 

 This queenless colony will immedi- 

 ately commence building queen-cells, 



and as there is no brood m the hive 

 except that from the choice queen, all 

 the queens will necessarily be her 

 daughters. Cutting off edges of the 

 comb, or cutting holes in the same, 

 where there are eggs or just hatched 

 larvae, will almost, always insure the 

 building of queen-cells in such places. 

 It will be noticed that the queer.s are 

 started from eggs or from just-hatched 

 larva', as the bees are given no other, 

 and so are fed the " royal jelly " from 

 the first. 



In a week the queen-cells will be 

 sealed over, when the apiarist should 

 form his "nuclei." A "nucleus," in 

 bee-keeping, is a colony on a small 

 scale— for the purpose of rearing 

 queens. A nucleus hive may be noth- 

 ing more than an ordinary hive, with 

 the space contracted by a division- 

 board to the capacity of 2 or 3 frames. 

 By using 2 division-boards and having 

 an entrance at each side of the hive, 

 one hive can be made to accommodate 

 2 nuclei. 



After the hives for the nuclei are 

 all prepared and placed upon their 

 stantis, then the bee-keeper should go 

 to different hives of the apiary and 

 take out 2 or 3 frames for each nucleus 

 (at least one comb in each nucleus 

 should contain brood), till there areas 

 many nuclei prepared as there are 

 queen-cells to dispose of. The bees 

 should be left adhering to the frames 

 of comb, only one must be certain 

 that no queen is removed. To be sure 

 of this, do not take the frames 

 away until the queen is found. I 

 sometimes shake off into the nucleus 

 the bees from one or two more combs, 

 so that, even after the old bees have 

 returned, there will yet remain a suf- 

 ficient number of young bees. The 

 next day after the nuclei are formed, 

 each one of them should be furnished 

 with a queen-cell. In cutting out the 

 cells a small piece of comb should be 

 cut out with each cell, and great care 

 should be taken, both in cutting them 

 out and in fitting them into the 

 comb in the nuclei, not to press or 

 dent them in the least. In 2 or 3 days 

 the queens will hatch, and in about 10 

 more days they will be laying. 



After cutting out all the queen-cells 

 from the old hive, another comb of 

 larva; can be given it and another lot 

 of' queen-cells obtained, or, if the 

 apiarist has a sufficient number, he 

 can leave one queen-cell, which will 

 soon furnish this colony with a vigor- 

 ous queen. After a laying queen has 

 been removed from a nucleus, another 

 queen-cell can be inserted, and in 10 

 or 12 days it will again have a laying 

 queen. 

 Rogersville, Mich. 



Local Convention Directory. 



Sept.- 

 Oct, 6 



1SS2. 

 Jan. 



April 



Time and Place of Meeting. 



—National, at Lexington. Ky. 

 Kentucky State, at Louisville. Ky. 

 -Union Kentucky, at Shelbyville. Ky. 

 G. W. Demaree. Sec. Christiausburg, Ky. 

 1, rj— Northern Michigan, at Maple Rapids, 

 o. It. Goodno. Sec, Carson City. Mich. 

 1 12— Northeastern Wis., at Berlin, Wis. 

 •2 -Central Ky., in Exp. B'd'g, Louisville. Ky. 



W. Williamson. Sec. Lexington. Ky. 

 5 26 Northwestern District, at Chicago, 111. 



C. C Coflinberry. Sec. Chicago, 111. 

 !7— Central Michigan, at Lansing, Mich. 



George L. Perry, Sec. 

 !7— Western Mich., at Berlin, Mich. 

 Wm. M. S. Dodge, Sec, Coopersville, Mich. 



!.}— Northeastern, at Utica. N. Y. 



Geo. W. House, Sec. Fayetteville, N. Y. 

 11— Eastern Michigan, at Detroit. Mich. 



A B. Weed, Sec. Detroit, Mich. 

 >7— Texas State, at McKinney. Texas. 



Wm. K. Howard, Sec 



Champlain Valley, at Bristol, Vt. 



T. Brookins, Sec. 



ZW In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings— Ed. 



^g- The Northern Michigan Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 fourth Annual Convention at Maple 

 Rapids, Clinton Co., Mich., Oct. 11 

 and 12, 1881. O. R. Goodno. Sec. 



