32 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ February, 1877. 



BEE CULTURE. 



Queen Bees. 



We find in the London Journal of Horticulture the 

 following entertaining speculations respecting queen 

 bees : 



The more I learn about bees the more conviction 

 forces itself on me, that many statements recorded 

 and repeated acaiu and again about them are falla- 

 cious. I do not accuse observers of willfully dece v- 

 iug, but some new or wonderful occurrence is seen, 

 or believed to be seen, when it is at once recorded as 

 a habit of the bee. Mrs. Tupper has said "bees do 

 nothing invariably;" nothing could be more true, and 

 sometimes they do things which at the time are to us 

 wholly unaccountable. To exchange a queen is a 

 common operation with me, and my experience is, 

 that, as a rule, to release one six or seven hours after 

 caging, would be found a dangerous proceeding. 

 Last month, when the weather was very cold and 

 likely to continue so, I risked the introduction of two 

 queens without any caging, simply because I did not 

 want the stock chilled. The first stock, which had 

 been queenless some time, killed theirown sovereign; 

 the second, where I merely took out their own queen 

 and dropped the other in her place, accepted her all 

 right, and she lives still. Now, had my opinion been 

 asked as to what would occur I should just have re- 

 versed the events. 



The introduction of a strange queen into a hive 

 where one already reigns, I do not believe troubles 

 the latter whatever. I have put in scores and find 

 the result as follows: The first bee which discovers 

 the intruder seizes her by the leg or wing and holds 

 on, and then comes another and another until she is 

 covered; stili the bees crowd on, holding to one an- 

 other until a solid ball as big as a bantam's egg is 

 formed with the queen in the midst. A vigorous 

 hissing is kept up, and so intent are the bees on their 

 attack that the ball of bees may be taken up into the 

 hand without any fear of stinging. At the Alexan- 

 der Palace Bee Show, I several times caused the for- 

 mation of such a bee ball, which was handed a7nong 

 the spectators from hand to hand. I find the work- 

 ers rarely sting a strauire queen; they will keep her 

 encased until she dies or their fury abates, and then 

 release her. I have known one confined in, this man- 

 ner for a fortnight, when she dies; it is certain they 

 must at least sometimes feed the prisoner, for a queen 

 will die of starvation in twelve hours. So eager are 

 they to encase a new queen, that if the latter be 

 held by the wings with the thumb and finger, the 

 bees will gather there in a ball. I have said work- 

 ers rarely sting a queen, but they do sometimes. I 

 have seen almost the first bee that perceived her, 

 jump on her back and sting her in an instant when 

 she would quickly die — not always however, for twice 

 have I seen a queen stung and the sting left in her, 

 and yet no fatal result occur. 



Managing Queens. 



Remembering the old tale of how the reigning 

 queen would seek oul an intruder, some two or three 

 years ago it occurred to me what an easy way it 

 would be to extract the old queen from a skep to sub- 

 stitute a new one if I first caged the latter in the 

 hive. I tried it several times, hut in no instance did 

 I ever find the old queen come to my bate. Several 

 times when wishing to pre.serve a queen for a few 

 days I have caged her in the midst of a populous 

 hive, where she obtained food and warmth. I never 

 found a reigning queen trouble herself, although the 

 cage would be sure to be tliickly covered with the 

 excited workers. I am also skeptical as to the in- 

 variableness of fighting to the death between queens 

 which meet. If we jtut two queens under a wine- 

 glass, and watch the result, we see them seize each 

 other, wrestle and fitrbt like two gladiators, and 

 sometimes one receives a sting and dies, but more 

 often they separate, again eomc together for another 

 battle with still a negative result." This is repeated 

 until they get tired of fighting and let each other 

 alone. 



Twice this year I came across instances of two 

 queens in a hive, but I do not think in either case 

 they were both fertile. In the first instance the old 

 queen was evidently worn out. She had bred an 

 inordinate number of drones — no hope of a swarm; 

 yet instinct guided the bees to raise a young queen, 

 which soon took the place of the old one, which I 

 found thrown out of the hive. I once divided a hive 

 by a diaphragm of perforated zinc, filled each half 

 with combs and a swarm, gave entrance to one col- 

 ony in front, and to the other at the back of the 

 hive. It was no use. One queen went on with her 

 maternal duties, the other was encased by her own 

 bees. I caged and released her several times, but in 

 vain, the bees had evidently made up their minds it 

 was one hive, and therefore they would not have two 

 queens. 



^ 



Golden Rules for Bee-Keeping. 



Rev. J. W. Shearer furnishes the Jice-Keeper's 

 3Iagazine with the following rules : 



1st. For success. Thesuccessful bee-keeper should 

 be firm, fearless, prompt, provident, persevering, 

 systematic and self-reliant. 



2d. For situation. The apiary should be in a 



sheltered position, near a small stream, and where 

 a variety of honey plants, some of which yield abun- 

 dant and others constant supplies of the nectar. 



3d. For removing bees. Allow for abundant ven- 

 tilation, close up firmly, invert and place in a spring 

 wagon so that combs run with and not across the 

 wagon. Unless removed a mile or more hives should 

 he moved by degrees, only a foot or two at a time, 

 or many bees will be lost, 



4th. Forhives. The general advantages of manu- 

 facture, simplicity, capacity, wintering and adapta- 

 tion to the requirements of the particular apiarian 

 are to be considered. It is essential that every hive, 

 frame, box, and movable part be of the same size so 

 that each will fit with all. 



5th. For handling. Move gently and without sud- 

 den or violent motions in all work about the apiary. 



6th. For subduing. "Bees filled with liquid sweets 

 do not volunteer an attack." Hence cause them to 

 fill themselves witH honey by smoking or drumming. 



7th. For smoking. Use dried buffalo chip from 

 the cow pen. It costs nothing, is the best material 

 and when lighted lasts a long time. 



8th. For protection. Use a bobinet vail sewed 

 up at both ends, one fastened with rubber around the 

 hat, the other secured under the coat collar. 



9th. For sweeping bees. Use a green twig or 

 bunch of asparagus, never a feather. 



loth. For stings. Do not flinch if stung. Scrape 

 the sting out with a knife or finger nail, pinch the 

 wound and apply soda, hartshorn, or whatever 

 alkali is found best by the particular party. 



^VholesaIe Death of Honey Bees. 



R. F. Criley, residing at Isabella station, Wil- 

 mington and Reading railroad, was the owner of 

 six large hives of bees that stored a great deal of 

 honey last year, but at present he is fearful he will 

 lose his entire bee family. Those in two hives are 

 already dead, and all the others are in a dying con- 

 dition. Hesaysthathe had not taken any honey 

 from them since last spring, and the hives are full 

 of honey, showing that tliey are not starving. He 

 took the combs out of one hive and examined them, 

 without finding a single worm or indications of any- 

 thing else being wronir. There were 18 combs 11 

 inches wide, filled with honey, but all the bees were 

 dead. The bees are in patent hives against the 

 southern side of a board fence and protected from 

 the northern winds, occupying the same location 

 they did a year ago and flourished exceedingly well. 

 The cause of the death of the bee is unknown. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Thirty-two impekial quarto pages weekly, (8 

 of which are BU|iplemeutary) constitute the super- 

 ficies of the Af/ricultural Gazette, "an illustrated 

 journal for land-owners and tenant farmers," publish- 

 ed at No. 7 Catharine street, Covent Garden, Lon- 

 don, England, by Alexander K. Bruce. Printed on 

 faintly buff tinted paper of superior quality, and re- 

 markably well finished and plainly impressed type. 

 Its "make up" is very x-ompact, its contents of a 

 superior quality and of a diversified scope ; in short, 

 it is a perfect vadc raecum to the agriculturist and 

 rural economist. It contains valuable weekly market 

 reports ; discussions of farmers' clubs and societies ; 

 weather diagrams; tabulated statistics; synoptic par- 

 liamentary proceedings, in addition to the usual 

 matter found in agricultural papers ; and last , not 

 least, each number contains nearly one hundred ad- 

 verlisemeuts from five lines to a whole column. We 

 are intensely American — ftom the heels of our boots 

 to the crown of our hat — and we have always reposed 

 the greatest faith in "Yankee Doodle;" but such 

 spectacular manifestations as The Agricultural Ga- 

 zette, The London Times, and especially our visits to 

 our late Centennial and Internat onal Exposition, ad- 

 monish us that our country does not occupy — either 

 physically or intellectually — the whole of the largest 

 circle which can be drawn within a square, and all 

 other parts of the world only the outside corners. 

 And in the spirit of this metaphor we are in sympathy 

 with the editor of the Gazette in his strictures on the 

 Queen's speech, which practically includes all other 

 interests of her realm within a similar circle, and 

 pushes the interests of agriculture out into the corn- 

 ers, if she recognizes them at all. We are much in 

 the same category on this side of the water. 



The following from the supplement of the Gazette, 

 taken from the Irish Favnier, on "American Beef," 

 will be good news to our countrymen who are inter- 

 ested in the exportation of that article of commerce: 



"The first supply of American beef, 60 quarters, 

 equal to 1.5 live beasts, direct from shippers, Messrs. 

 Bell t& Sons, Glasgow, arrived in Dublin, per Duke of 

 Argyle, on 'Tuesday, at the North Wall, and was im- 

 mediately conveyed to the appointed agents, Messrs. 

 Tieman & Hogan, 41 Talbot street, Dublin, and was 

 at once disposed of by this eminent firm by public 

 auction to the vitualing trade. The following were 

 the principal purchasers : Messrs. Case,' Bruton, 

 Dunne, Byrne, Moouey, Daly, Lawler, O'Loughlin, 

 and others. Competition was spirited — forcquarters 

 realizing from 5% to 6!,id. per ft.; hindquarters 8 to 

 S%i. per lb. The quality was rich and good, the 



meat in good preservation, remarkably well killed, 

 and perfectly free from discoloration and smell." 



The farming population that can sustain such a 

 journal as the Agricultural Gazette, must be more 

 than ordinarily a reading people; therefore, what- 

 ever progress we may be making on this side of the 

 Atlantic, in the establishment of public schools, and 

 the diffusion of knowledge, we may find that they 

 are keeping pace with us in the old world. They 

 probably have not as 7iany readers as we have, in 

 proportion to the population, but there may be more 

 of that practical "John Bull" solidity about their 

 reading than we possess. If we permitted ourselves 

 to descend to selfishness, we might envy the Gazette 

 its liberal advertising patronage. If any of our read- 

 ers desire to patronize a foreign journal, in addition 

 to their own local paper, we commend to them the 

 Agricultural Gazette, as one that would be likely to 

 realize all their expectations, and would cost them 

 less than $3.00 per year. 



Arithmetic made east. Ropp's Easy Calcula- 

 tor is a new publication that must prove of incalcu- 

 lablebenefit to farmers, mechanics and business men. 

 It is so rapid and origiyial as to startle the most schol- 

 arly, and yet so simple and practical that the most 

 illiterate in figures can instantaneously become his 

 own accountant. It enables thousands to accom2}lish 

 in a minute what they could not learn to calculate 

 in many months. 



The first part contains an entirely neiv system of 

 tables which show at a glance the exact value of all 

 kinds of grain, stock, hay, coal, lumber, merchan- 

 dise, etc., from one pound to a ear load, and for any 

 price that the market is likely to reach; the interest 

 on any sura for any time at 6, 7, 8 and 10 per cent.; 

 correct measurement of all kinds of lumber, saw 

 logs, cisterns, tanks, granaries, bins, wagon beds, 

 corn cribs, time, wages and many other valuable 

 tables. 



The second part is a practical arithmetic and em- 

 bodies a simple mathematical principle which ena- 

 bles any one familiar with the fundamental rules to 

 become a lightnin.g calculator; and by which over 

 tieo-thirds of the figures and labor required by the 

 ordinary methods, and fractious with their intrica- 

 cies, are entirely avoided. 



The work is nicely printed on fine tinted paper, 

 is well and elegantly bound in pocket-book shape and 

 is accompanied by a silicate slate, memorandum and 

 pocket for papers. It is by far the most complete, 

 comprehensive and convenient pocket manual ever 

 published. Prices : bound in Russia leather, gilded, 

 ¥-.00; morocco, §1.50; fine English cloth, |1.00 



The American Farmer for February, 1877, a royal 

 octavo of 32 pages, published by Samuel Sands & 

 Son, No. 9 North street, Baltimore, Md., at $1..50 a 

 year. This excellent agricultural journal was estab- 

 lished in 1819, hence it is now in its 58th year, ripe in 

 years, ripe in agricultural literature, and ripe in gen- 

 eral usefulness ; and from the fact that the number 

 before us has '1\ pages of advertising matter in it, we 

 may infer that its status as a circulating medium, 

 and a diffuser of useful knowledge is appreciated and 

 fully recognized. We in Lancaster county shake 

 hands with "My Marj'land" across ".Mason and 

 Dixon's line," and also, because personally those dear 

 to us by the ties of blood are domiciled within its bor- 

 ders, it seems nearer than other States. This jour- 

 nal is exceedingly well conducted, able in its com- 

 position and compact in its " make up," containing 

 more that s really useful, and condensed n a smaller 

 space, than is given by any of our exchanges. 



Our Exchanges, among which are such standard 

 pub ications as the American Agriculturist, the Na- 

 tional Line Stock Journal, the Gardeuer^s ^funthly, 

 the Catiada Farmer, the Sanitarian, the Penn Month- 

 ly, the Lau'S of Life, the Herald of Health, the Kansas 

 Farmer, l\\Q Semi- Tropical, the Bee-Keepers' Maga- 

 zine, the Practical Farmer, Wallace's Monthly, and a 

 number of others for 1877 — and all entitled to a more 

 special notice — regularly appear on our table, and to 

 whom we can now only extend a general greeting. 

 Here they are all around us, and seem like old friends. 

 They are all well known to the reading public — all 

 worthy of support, and none of them need our com- 

 mendations to entitle them to recognition. Of them 

 in detail anon. 



An Essay on New South Wales, the mother- 

 colony of the Australia, by G. H. Reid, Honorary 

 Member of the Cobden Club. A royal octavo of 171 

 pages, with many maps and charts. Those intending 

 to visit New South Wales, Sidney City, or any of its 

 settlements, would do well to consult both of these 

 volumes, especially as recent inducements have been 

 held out to those who desire to migrate to that 

 country, on account of the demand for laborers. 



We call the attention of the readers of the 

 "Farmer" to the the advertisement of "Bufi'alo Ferti- 

 lizer Co., in another column. Their claim to make 

 " Honest Fertilizers" is well established, and no one 

 who deals with them or gives their article a fair 

 trial will be disappointed or dissatisfied. 



Hepoetof the Railways of New South Wales, 

 their construction and working from 1^73 to 1875 ; a 

 fine volume of 1^8 pages, full of statisticals and maps, 

 and 8'j by 19'^ in size, by John Rea, A. .M., Com- 

 missioner of Kailways, presented to Parliament by. 

 command, Sidney, i»76. 



