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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



Experiments in Apiculture Made 

 in 1§92 at the IVIicliigan Ex- 

 periment Station. 



Reported to the Department of Agnculture 

 BY J. H. LARKABEE. 



During the season of 1892 the branch 

 Station for experimenting in bee-culture 

 at the Michigan Agricultural College 

 was continued at the expense of the 

 United States Department of Agriculure, 

 Division of Entomology, and of the 

 Michigan State Experiment Station. 



An effort was made to undertake a 

 line of experiments closely connected 

 with the practical work of the apiary. 

 While all of the experiments undertaken 

 have not given results of practical value, 

 some have. Especially gratifying are 

 the results obtained in the experiments 

 upon the subject of wax-secretion and 

 the evaporation of honey, for the reason 

 that they were nearly free from those 

 elements of uncertainty that must neces- 

 sarily enter into nearly all experimental 

 work in the apiary, such as season and 

 condition of bees. 



When the bees were taken from the 

 cellar, on April 18th, they were in 

 rather poor condition, due doubtless to 

 the dampness of the cellar and the char- 

 acter and amount of the stores. The 

 loss during the winter and spring was 

 about one-third of the number placed in 

 the cellar. 



In May and June the bees of the whole 

 apiary were transferred from the old 

 hives into modern dovetailed hives, and 

 from the old reversible frames, of three 

 distinct sizes, to the new, wide, thick, 

 top-bar frames of the Langstroth size. 

 In this operation all drone-comb or other 

 imperfect combs were rejected and ren- 

 dered into wax. By this change the 

 apiary was placed upon a modern foot- 

 ing, the hives made uniform, the opera- 

 tions and manipulations of the apiary 

 rendered more rapid, and its beauty and 

 value increased. 



The spring was very backward and 

 rainy. During fruit-bloom the bees flew 

 but little, and their influence upon the 

 fertilization of the flowers of our fruits 

 is seen in the almost complete failure in 

 this vicinity of all tree fruits and others 

 largely dependent upon the bees for the 

 dissemination of pollen. As the rainy, 

 cloudy weather did not cease until about 

 the first of July, the early part of the 

 clover bloom was lost to the bees. No 

 supers were put on until July 8th, and 

 at that time strong colonies were swarm- 

 ing, with almost no honey in the hives. 



All of the white surplus was taken from 

 basswood, which yielded well. July 25th 

 the season for white honey closed. A 

 little surplus of late honey was gathered 

 during August, and the bees filled up 

 the hives well for winter. A yield of 

 about 25 pounds of surplus per colony 

 was obtained, and there are now in the 

 apiary 55 colonies in excellent condition 

 for winter. 



CARNIOLAN AND PUNIC BEES. 



During the winter of 1891 the apiary 

 was entirely re-queened, only a few old 

 queens being reserved for breeding. This 

 season the opportunity was taken to re- 

 place all those of the former year's rear- 

 ing that had proven themselves inferior. 

 A number of Carniolan queens were in- 

 troduced, and queens bred from them. 

 Added familiarity with the cross of the 

 Carniolan bee with the yellow race in- 

 creases my satisfaction with their val- 

 uable traits. They have proven them- 

 selves equally as desirable as either race 

 in its purity, and they have some points 

 of superiority. 



A test was made of the claims ad- 

 vanced for the Tunisian or so-called 

 "Punic "bees. During the early part 

 of the season they exhibited no traits 

 that would distinguish them from the 

 native black bee, showing the same 

 nervousness under manipulation. They 

 build large numbers of queen-cells, and 

 do not cap their honey with that peculiar 

 whiteness characteristic of the common 

 black bee. After the close of the honey 

 season they best showed their origin and 

 distinctive peculiarities. Whenever at- 

 tempts were made to handle them they 

 became exceedingly angry. This trait 

 of excessive irritability seems to be their 

 most distinctive mark. As no point of 

 superiority was discovered, their several 

 manifest defects make them a race not 

 to be recommended as desirable for in- 

 troduction among our American bee- 

 keepers. 



REMOVINe THE QUEEN TO PREVENT 

 SWARMING. 



As the bee-keeping industry develops, 

 and new methods and devices come into 

 use, each tending to lower the price of 

 the product, an increased tension is 

 placed upon the apiarist in an effort to 

 manage large numbers of colonies to in- 

 crease his annual yield. The natural 

 tendency of bees to increase by swarm- 

 ing, and the care and attention occa- 

 sioned thereby have given rise to various 

 plans for its prevention or control. One 

 of the best of these plans, yet one little 

 used, is outlined in the following, the 



