726 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the swarm was returned to the parent 

 hive, and most of them also went to 

 work and did not swarm any more that 

 season. 



Others I hived in a new hive, gave 

 them one frame of brood and eggs in all 

 stages, 2 or B drawn-out combs which I 

 had from previous swarms that I had 

 kept queenless after they had swarmed, 

 and the young bees shaken off the 

 frames every few days, wherever they 

 were needed the most, the remaining 

 places filled with frames full of founda- 

 tion, the surplus sections removed from 

 the parent colony, and put on the new 

 swarm with two or three sections with 

 drawn-out comb, which I had saved 

 from the previous year, and also a 

 queen-excluding honey-board between 

 the hive and the sections, especially 

 where no empty combs were in the hive 

 by hiving the new swarm ; and the new 

 swarm was hived in the new hive so pre- 

 pared, then the parent colony removed 

 from its stand about two feet towards 

 one side, and the new swarm put on the 

 old stand. The parent colony was kept 

 queenless by cutting out all queen-cells 

 the fourth or fifth day after they had 

 swarmed, and removed tlie hive towards 

 the new swarm on the old stand so that 

 they stood close together ; after some 

 days then put to the other side of the 

 new swarm, and kept up moving from 

 one side to another until the bees were 

 all hatched and in the hive with the new 

 swarm, and the bees worked very hard 

 as far as I could see. 



The empty combs were used to hive 

 other swarms on, but not more than two 

 or three empty combs were given to a 

 new swarm. 



At other times I hived two prime 

 swarms in an empty hive with the sec- 

 tions on from parent colony and then put 

 it on one of the parent stands where one 

 of the swarms had come from. Those 

 hived that way also staid without 

 swarming again, but I doubt whether 

 all these plans will work as well every 

 year as they did last year, as the clover 

 honey-flow was quite late here, although 

 we had lots of white clover in bloom, but 

 the weather being so rainy the bees 

 could not work much the first part of 

 the season. There was honey in the 

 bloom, as the bees were just booming on 

 it when we had a few nice days, and it 

 kept in bloom until late in the fall, so 

 that we got quite a lot of white honey 

 last year. Basswood had not been dam- 

 aged much by the worms, but did not 

 bloom as nicely as years ago. Bees did 

 not work on it more than two or three 

 days, when it became very rainy, cloudy 



and cold for a few days, so that bees did 

 not leave thoir hive, except a few hours 

 in the middle of the day, and did not 

 gather much honey from basswood. 



However, I will not complain, as we 

 got about 50 pounds per colony, spring 

 coun^ of which 500 pounds was ex- 

 tracted, and the balance nice, white 

 comb honey in one-pound sections. Our 

 bees were very heavy with stores when 

 put into the cellar last fall — some of 

 them heavier than I wanted to have 

 them. Some of them had over 35 

 pounds of honey when put into the cel- 

 lar on Nov. 17th. 



In regard to wintering bees in the cel- 

 lar, I may say that I have never had the 

 least trouble to get them through the 

 winter in that way, as I have not lost 

 one colony in wintering, except having 

 a colony or two queenless, and four 

 starved last spring. We keep the bees 

 in the cellar under the house, and have 

 potatoes, sauer-kraut, salt-pork and 

 vegetables right beside the bees in the 

 cellar. The only ventilation is a 3-inch 

 pipe through the floor into the chimney. 

 We keep a stove in the cellar, but have 

 never been very particular to keep the 

 temperature always the same, and not 

 nearly as high as recommended in bee- 

 books, although it is kept as near 40'^ 

 as possible. The bees wintered very 

 nicely the past winter, although we had 

 very cold weather. 



I would like to hear from the promi- 

 nent and experienced bee-keepers as to 

 what they think of my plan of handling 

 bees the last season, especially hiving 

 two prime swarms in one hive on the old 

 stand. Does it really pay better, all 

 other things considered, than to hive 

 them separately, and take the comb 

 honey, if only a little, extract from the 

 brood-nest in the fall, and destroy the 

 bees if not needed or wanted ? 



I would also be glad to hear from 

 some Minnesota bee-keepers, whether 

 they have had the same trouble with the 

 worms destroying the basswood blos- 

 soms, and whether they have kept it up 

 for many years. People in this vicinity 

 claim that the worms were moving, and 

 would be gone, while others claim that 

 the wet and rainy weather kept them 

 back last year. Probably bee-keepers 

 in other States have had the same 

 trouble, and could inform us how they 

 got rid of the worms, as we have an 

 abundance of basswood in this neighbor- 

 hood, and I would be willing to increase 

 my apiary a good deal if I could Ix; sure 

 the worms would leave us. 



Raven Stream, Minn. 



