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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Peculiarities of Swarming, Etc. 



8. B. SMITH. 



There are some things about the 

 honey-bee that are difficult to under- 

 stand or explain, fn a timbered coun- 

 try, if a swarm of bees leave their home 

 in swarming time, and take to the 

 woods, we have reason to believe that 

 scouts have found a hollow tree, and 

 prepared it for a future home ; but here 

 in the Northwest there is a scarcity of 

 timber, there being no timber except a 

 few small, natural groves around a few 

 small lakes, consequently honey-bees 

 cannot find homes in the timber ; but 

 this does not deter swarms from leaving 

 their homes in the swarming season, 

 and seeking homes elsewhere. 



There are a number of instances 

 where swarms have taken possession of 

 empty hives. One man found a very 

 large colony in an old, abandoned well, 

 with a large amount of comb well-filled 

 with honey. Another colony was found 

 in a dry-goods box. 



A few weeks ago one of my neighbors 

 sent word to me that there was a swarm 

 of bees at his place, and he wanted me 

 to come and get them. I started at once 

 with a hive, and when I got there I 

 found a large swarm of bees in the 

 grass near a haystack, and my neighbor 

 told me that they came there about 5 

 o'clock p.m., two days previous. They 

 had built a small amount of comb, and 

 were going and coming as though they 

 were gathering honey. I had no diffi- 

 culty in hiving them, and they are doing 

 as well as my other colonies. 



It has been a poor year for bees. The 

 spring was late, cold and wet, and many 

 colonies died after they were placed on 

 the summer stands. The weather has 

 been more favorable since the first of 

 July, and bees have done fairly well in 

 swarming, but have stored only a small 

 amount of honey in the sections. 



CUCUMBER AND GOLDEN-ROD. 



There is a large amount of wild 

 cucumber vine here, and it furnishes 

 plenty of honey. Golden-rod is in bloom, 

 but I do not see any bees working on it 

 this year, so I concluded there is no 

 nectar in it. 



SOWING ALSIKE FOR THE BEES. 



I sowed a small field with alsike clover 

 last spring, and it is literally covered 

 with bees every day. If it winter-kills 

 I will sow again in the spring. I think 



it will pay all bee-keepers in the North- 

 west to sow Alsike every spring pur- 

 posely for bees. 

 Keeville, Minn., Aug. 20, 1892. 



Black ys, Italian Bees. 



R. A. SHULTZ. 



I suppose some bee-keepers will agree 

 with Mr. Ellingwood, that the black 

 bees are a valuable race, but I do not 

 claim that they are more valuable than 

 the Italians. Several have claimed that 

 the Italians are good defenders and 

 moth cleaners, but any bees will do this 

 if they have a good queen and plenty of 

 bees in the hive. Keep them strong, 

 and there is no danger from moth. 



As to the vindictiveness of blacks, I 

 cannot see a great difference between 

 them and the Italians. If I were to roll 

 Italians between the combs, I would ex- 

 pect to be stung, while they pay very 

 little attention if not mashed. The 

 blacks are very easily subdued with 

 smoke, and are better comb-builders 

 than the Italians. They also enter the 

 surplus department quicker than the 

 Itaiians, and cap their honey whiter. 



The Italian bees breed up earlier in 

 the spring than the blacks, which trait 

 we need here to gather the poplar 

 honey. I think the Italians beat the 

 blacks in gathering honey until the 

 sourwood flow comes, then the blacks 

 are ahead — they get rich on the sour- 

 wood, while a lot of the Italians will 

 not work on it. 



While extracting, the blacks are 

 easier to get off the combs. That is a 

 very good point for a honey-producer, 

 though not for a queen-breeder. For 

 honey I would rather have hybrid bees 

 bred from an Italian mother mated with 

 a black drone. For the pleasure of the 

 pursuit, I would like to have some very 

 yellow Italians just to amuse visitors, 

 but for gathering honey I think the dark 

 ones would beat them. I prefer blacks 

 to build combs. 



It seems that some bee-keepers will 

 not give the blacks credit for their good 

 points, while others will not give the 

 Italians due credit. I do not claim that 

 the black bees are hardier than the 

 Italians. I do not think they will excel 

 in this— they need the same protection 

 for winter. But generally the Italians 

 breed here at their full capacity, and 

 miss the honey-flow, and become con- 

 sumers in place of producers of honey, 



