210 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



We had lots of rain during May and 

 June, but for two weeks after July 4, 

 bees worked extra fast on white clover. 

 The past week has been very rainy, but 

 it has cleared now, and bees are hard at 

 work on both clover and buckwheat. 

 Mine are the brown or black bees — 

 some call them hybrids, but they are not 

 as cross as some say the hybrids are. 



I wish to ask concerning a colony of 

 bees: I purchased a prime swarm in 

 July 1890; in 1891 it cast 2 swarms, 

 and this spring it was strong with bees, 

 and plenty of honey, but it kept dwind- 

 ling until about June 15, and since then 

 it has gained some. Some time in June, 

 after we had a wet, cool week, I noticed 

 them carrying out the dried skins of 

 larval bees ; they were black, or nearly 

 so. They did not swarm this year, but 

 I have noticed the same about the other 

 colonies that have swarmed, and the 

 first swarm carried some out, too. One 

 of my neighbor's saw the same on his 

 bees. What causes it? The bees are 

 all right, and work well. 



Chanhassen, Minn., July 29, 1892. 



[Doubtless the bees were starving, 

 and destroyed the larvsB to save feeding 

 them. -Eds.] 



■ -*- m 



Extracted Honey anfl Increase, 



FRANK X. ARNOLD. 



I wish to tell how I get a crop of ex- 

 tarcted honey and increase both, where 

 the spring crop is very short, and a good 

 flow of honey is expected in the fall. 

 This method is only good to practice 

 when the colonies are strong, and one 

 has plenty of spare combs. 



First, put on all the combs they need, 

 as soon as honey is coming in, but care 

 should be taken not to put too many on 

 at one time — just as fast as the bees 

 need them. Towards the end of the 

 honey-flow, each colony should have 

 from 12 to 16 frames of brood, and bees 

 enough to well fill a three-story eight- 

 frame hive. 



When the honey-flow is nearly over, 

 extract them, but not all the honey, 

 leave about 10 pounds of sealed honey ; 

 then divide them by taking nearly two- 

 thirds of the brood and honey with 

 adhering bees to form the new colony, 

 and introduce a laying queen, leaving 

 the old queen with the original colony. 



The new colony now having the most 

 brood and bees, some of the working 

 bees will return to the old home, making 



that part of the division the strongest in 

 bees, and the new colony having the 

 most hatching brood for the next three 

 weeks, will make them about equal in 

 strength. This is the best method of 

 the many I have practiced, that is, when 

 the honey-flow is very short. 



Why not divide them before the honey- 

 flow, or let them swarm, and then after 

 the harvest extract from both colonies, 

 and get double the amount of honey 

 from the 2 colonies as from the old one 

 itself ? There are many reasons for 

 this. I have studied well the conditions 

 of this locality, and know whereof I 

 speak. 



First, if a colony is divided before the 

 honey-flow, the division will make them 

 unfit for surplus honey. 



Second, if they are left to swarm 

 naturally, the amount of work they do 

 during the preparation for swarming is 

 almost nothing, as far as storing honey 

 and comb-building is concerned ; and 

 after the swarm issues, it will not build 

 much comb nor store any surplus honey. 



Third, when they are divided after 

 the main flow of honey, one has a good 

 chance to rear first-class queens, and 

 need not feed the nucleus during that 

 time, which is another advantage. I 

 prefer to rear queen-cells in a full col- 

 ony, and, when ready to hatch, dis- 

 tribute them among the nuclei. 



This question naturally arises : Does 

 a colony that is the result of natural 

 swarming, work more than one that 

 does not ? I believe they do not work 

 much more, for this reason, viz. : When 

 a colony prepares to swarm, the bees 

 consume all the honey that they can, to 

 secrete wax, and build but little comb 

 during that time, and when they swarm 

 •they carry all the wax and honey with 

 them that they can, to their new home, 

 giving them a good start, and advantage 

 over the colony that has been building 

 comb freely and then divided. 



It is true that some colonies that are 

 divided do not work well for some time, 

 but the most common cause is that the 

 colony was preparing to swarm before 

 the division was made — they have the 

 swarming-fever, and will not work until 

 they forget it, or obtain the desired 

 result. 



Now, which is the best way— let them 

 swarm naturally, and hang around in 

 the hive for a week or more, until half 

 of the honey crop is over with before 

 they swarm, or divide them before the 

 honey-flow, and lose part of the crop, 

 until they get ready to start hard-work- 

 ing, or divide them after the honey-flow, 



