AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



109 



On Important Subjects. 



Fruit-Raising witli Bee-Culture, Etc, 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I have been asked some questions, 

 which I will answer in the Bee Jour- 

 nal. 



Question — As bee-keeping, or the 

 profits from the same, seem to be uncer- 

 tain of late years, how would it do to 

 combine small fruit-raising with the 

 same ? 



Answer — There is only one part of the 

 small fruit-raising that can be combined 

 with bee-keeping to advantage, accord- 

 ing to my opinion. Of course, I would 

 advise all to raise enough small fruits to 

 supply the needs of the family, but if 

 sufficient fruit is raised to make a finan- 

 cial success out of the sale of the fruit, 

 the financial part of bee-keeping will 

 suffer just in proportion as the financial 

 part of the fruit increases, as the pick- 

 ing and marketing of the fruit comes 

 right at a time when the bees need the 

 most attention. If the bees are properly 

 attended to, the fruit will be neglected, 

 and if the fruit is properly attended to 

 the bees would be neglected. 



But there is a part of the small-fruit 

 business which can be made profitable 

 in connection with the bee-business, and 

 that is the sale of plants. As this part 

 of it comes in early spring, so far as 

 digging and shipping plants is concerned, 

 it does not interfere in the least with the 

 bees, for at that time they are in the 

 cellar, or require little if any attention 

 when out-doors. 



Then, again, the rooting and caring 

 for the plants comes mainly in August, 

 after the hurry with the bees is over, so 

 that it can be done about as well as not, 

 by the man who wishes to economize all 

 of his time, while the covering and fix- 

 ing for winter comes at a time when 

 there is nothing at all, practically 

 speaking, to do with the bees. 



That this plant business, as above, 

 can be made quite profitable will be 

 seen, when I say that, with very little 

 effort, I did a business on this alone a 

 few years ago, amounting to $150 a 

 year. When I gave up the subscription 

 business, I dropped plant-selling also, 

 being obliged to do less work along these 

 lines after the care of my father's estate 

 fell upon me. 



Notwithstanding what I have said 

 about the plant business above, if I were 

 to choose any business to go with bee- 

 keeping, it would "certainly be farming, 

 for the reason that this gives steady 

 employment nearly all the year, es- 

 pecially where stock is raised. At the 

 times where more is to be done along 

 both lines than the bee-keeper could 

 attend to, a man capable of doing farm 

 work could be hired very easily ; while 

 hired help along other lines, which would 

 be satisfactory, is something not easily 

 obtained. 



SWARMING WITHOUT A QUEEN. 



Question — Last year I was troubled 

 with excessive swarming, and it seemed 

 to me that some colonies of bees swarmed 

 without queens. Do bees ever swarm 

 without a queen to go with them ? 



Answer — Most of the authorities say 

 No, and so I would have once said, but 

 to my certain knowledge I had one 

 swarm that came out without any queen 

 with them. It happened on this wise : 



Early one morning I wished to use a 

 queen, and so went to a hive which had 

 a rather smallish colony of bees in it, 

 and took away the queen they had. 

 From a change of queens, made a few 

 days before, this colony had only sealed 

 brood from the previous queen, and only 

 eggs from the queen now took away. 

 Near noon of this day several swarms 

 issued together, and circling around 

 came over this hive from which I took 

 the queen in the morning, and very 

 much to my surprise this colony began 

 to swarm, and to all appearances issued 

 the same as any swarm having a queen. 



I then thought, and still continue to 

 think, that these bees knew that there 

 were several queens in the air, and not 

 being satisfied with the condition their 

 hive was left in, they swarmed out 

 similar to bees do in early spring when 

 they get in a demoralized condition. 



prevention of after-swarms. 



Question — Will the cutting out of all 

 queen-cells but one prevent after- 

 swarms ? Last year I did this on sev- 

 eral colonies, and then I had them 

 swarm out until there was hardly a 

 quart of bees left. 



Answer — The trouble here was, that 

 the queen-cells were not cut at the right 

 time, for the cutting of queen-cells can 

 be done so as to make a success of it, or 

 a complete failure. By the old plan of 

 waiting five or six days after swarming, 

 or from the time a queen has been taken 

 away from a colony, it was nearly 



