272 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



up to catch the cluster in. What incon- 

 venient places some swarms would clus- 

 ter in ! I think most assuredly that no 

 device could be invented to properly 

 take these last-mentioned swarms from 

 the trees. But up the ladder I went, 

 then out on the limbs the rest of the 

 way, and with the knife I sawed and 

 cut, and when nearly two-thirds off, the 

 limb cracked, which shook off some of 

 the bees, and I finished cutting the limb 

 down the ladder. 



As I laid the cluster in front of a new 

 hive, for awhile all seemed well, until 

 I heard a rustling and hunting on the 

 ground on the part of the bees which 

 were about to cluster again at the top of 

 the tree. I had failed to get the queen, 

 and with mad bees flying around my 

 head, and great drops of sweat falling- 

 from my brow, I stood gazing at the top 

 of the tree, and I said to myself, " If I 

 could only be forgiven of this evil, I 

 would do so no more." 



But no, there was no forgiveness, save 

 that I yet might clip my queens' wings 

 — a thing not at all easy to do after the 

 section-cases are on the hives, which 

 are rolling brimful of bees. However, 

 I thought I would try, and while I was 

 going towards the honey-house, it came 

 quite fresh to my mind. Experience in 

 hunting black queens had been no easy 

 task, but with shears and Bingham 

 smoker under fair puff, the task was at 

 once begun. 



I puffed in just a little smoke to cause 

 the bees to stay back, and took one 

 frame out all right, and the next frame 

 was given a slight jar, and before I got 

 through 30,000 bees all boiled out over 

 the edges of the hive, and without find- 

 ing the queen it was closed. 



Then for the next, I got an extra hive 

 to set the frames over, which seemed to 

 somewhat help the matter. After that 

 day, I declined hunting for any blacks. 



The hives of my best Italians were 

 then opened, the first having a Doolittle 

 queen, and finding myself not disap- 

 pointed, all went on finely as far as the 

 Italian colonies lasted. Now, as the 

 queens were half clipped (including 

 some hybrid colonies), I determined, if 

 possible, to finish the job again in a few 

 days when it was quite warm, and in the 

 afternoon, with honey coming in quite 

 freely, the work was again begun, and I 

 determined this time to go very gently, 

 opening up the cover easily, and using a 

 very small amount of smoke. I was 

 then quiet for one minute, when with 

 another slight puff of smoke the opera- 

 tion was continued. No jarring was 



done ; large numbers of the bees were 

 in the field, and frame by frame was 

 examined, first on the one side, and then 

 on the other, until 15 black queens 

 were clipped, and every colony was 

 treated in this easy and calm way. 

 Welton, Iowa. 



Hie Season — So-Calleft Punic Bees, 



c. p. m'kxnnon. 



Last winter I lost 4 colonies out of 50 

 in the cellar. I found some pollen-bear- 

 ing flowers in bloom about April 1, and 

 one nice, warm day in the evening I put 

 the bees on the summer stands, mostly 

 in good condition. The weather was 

 fair, and I expected the bees would have 

 a lively time the next day, but the wind 

 changed, it turned cold, and rained, and 

 hundreds of my bees were lost. It just 

 kept on raining, and the bees were get- 

 ting weaker, until 15 colonies were 

 dead, and the rest very weak. (It 

 rained 25 days in May.) The bees be- 

 came so weak that it was impossible to 

 ge^hem ready for the harvest. 



They bred up very rapidly during 

 clover bloom, and commenced swarming 

 during linden bloom. I saved 19 prime 

 swarms, hived them on full combs, and 

 they are now in good condition for the 

 fall flow — if we have one. I will have 

 150 or 200 pounds of white honey in 

 sections. 



THE SO-CALLED PUNIC BEES. 



Last faTl I bought a virgin queen of 

 the so-called Punic bees ; she proved 

 very prolific, and wintered well. They 

 were the first bees to take in pollen, and 

 bred up very fast, and were the first to 

 swarm ; but they have not the most 

 honey. Some of my Italian hybrids are 

 the first with the honey. The Punics 

 are ahead of all the bees I have when it 

 comes to stinging. They are the mean- 

 est bees to work with I ever saw. I in- 

 tend to pinch the queen's head off and 

 replace her with an Italian. 



I see on page 138, that Mr. Cowan, 

 editor of the British Bee Journal, has 

 found that Punic is only a new name for 

 Tunisian bees. I would like to ask if 

 the Tunisian bees have been tried in this 

 country, and what their characteristics 

 are. Let others give their experience 

 with the Punic bees — some of our lead- 

 ing bee-men — and if they are " no good," 

 say so, and inform the bee-keepers of 

 the country, that they may invest in 

 something more profitable. 



Bangor, Iowa, Aug. 8, 1892. 



