632 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



thing applied to growing crops would 

 be applicable to bees, especially if the 

 apiarist supplied a little feed occa- 

 sionally ; but if the bee-keeper is to 

 be successful as a honey-producer, 

 nothing but good weather through 

 some one of the periods during which 

 nectar - bearing flowers bloom can 

 make that success. 



These thoughts are called out upon 

 looking over the honey season just 



East, for taking it all together this 

 as been the most peculiar season I 

 ever witnessed for bees. Spring 

 opened very favorable, much more so 

 than has been the case for the past 

 eight years, which, together with 

 little or no loss in wintering, caused 

 the bee-keepers about here to be jubi- 

 lant. Bees reared more brood in April 

 than they commonly do in May, and 

 by the time apple and other fruit 

 trees were in blooui, many of the col- 

 onies were strong enough to swarm, 

 especially those wintered in cellars. 



Right here I wish to mention a 

 curious fact. I had always thought 

 tliat if ttie weather could only be good 

 for the first three weeks after the bees 

 were out of their winter repose, so 

 that they could fly every day we 

 would have no trouble with what is 

 called spring dwindling. Well, we 

 had just such a time the past April, 

 so the bees could fly every day for the 

 first 24 days after they began to fly, 

 and the result was that one-third of 

 my colonies wintered on the summer 

 stands died down so that at the end 

 of those 24 days the hives were nearly 

 depopulated of all their flying force, 

 and colonies that a week previous 

 seemed full of bees contained nothing 

 but brood and young fuzzy bees, the 

 old ones lying dead of old age almost 

 in heaps in front of the hives. 



While this was the case with those 

 •wintered on the summer stands those 

 from the cellar which were left in 

 until twelve of these pleasant days 

 passed seemed to thrive beyond all 

 conception, and were hanging out on 

 the outside of the hives in large clus- 

 ters during the bad weather in May. 



But to return : This early brood- 

 rearing consumed a large part of the 

 old honey in the hive, and gave a 

 force of bees large enough to work on 

 the fruit bloom to good advantage, so 

 that five days of warm, pleasant 

 weather at that time would have 

 secured from 30 to 50 pounds of honey 

 to the colony, because we had the 

 laborers to gather it, which laborers 

 are generally deficient in other years. 

 But the weather was warm and pleas- 

 ant up to witliin three days of tlie 

 bloom, when it came off cool, cloudy 

 and rainy for two weeks, so that this 

 force of bees was kept in the hive 

 consuming honey ratlier tlian produc- 

 ing. The result w;is that tlie bees 

 had to be fed for three weeks to keep 

 them from starving; for tlie pleasant 

 weather which came later, was of no 

 use, for we always have a scarcity of 

 flowers which yield honey between 

 fruit bloom and white clover. 



As the bees had to be fed, and the 

 weather was bad, nature told them to 

 retrench as much as possible, so they 

 almost ceased to rear brood at just 

 the time brood was most needed so as 



to give bees at the right time to 

 secure the honey from our main de- 

 pendence, basswood. During the first 

 week of clover bloom the weather was 

 fine, and as a part of the force was 

 left (not having died), the bees did 

 well on the little white clover we have 

 here, many of the colonies getting 

 started in the sections nicely. It now 

 came cold and wet again, so that no 

 more gain was made from that 

 source, although the bloom lasted 20 

 or more days longer. The last half of 

 any bloom always seems to afford the 

 most honey when favorable weather 

 continues, so it will be seen that 

 opportunity was given for the bees to 

 work only at a disadvantage. 



Besides, the bees began to die off 

 rapidly of old age, so that colonies 

 which were in good condition, and at 

 work in the sections two weeks pre- 

 viously, had scarcely bees enough left 

 to care for the now rapidly increasing 

 brood. In fact the mortality was so 

 great that all over the bee-yard and 

 about it in every direction the ground 

 was thickly strewn with dead and 

 dying bees. Basswood opened on July 

 8, while on the 9th the ten days of 

 splendid honey weather we hadbeen 

 having ceased, and rain, rain was the 

 " order of the day " for the next ten 

 days. Two pleasant days now oc- 

 curred during which the bees did 

 their level best, what there was of 

 them of the proper age to work, when 

 the bloom came to a close. 



I had hoped that the teasel would 

 give some surplus, as there was a 

 large acreage of that plant, but this 

 yielded little more than a living for 

 the bees, so that I was about to de- 

 clare the season of 1SS6 a failure for 

 honey in this locality, wlien all at 

 once, as it were, the bees came in 

 quite heavy loaded, and work in the 

 sections was resumed, much to my 

 joy and surprise. Upon looking about 

 I found that the drouth, now setting 

 in, had caused the large kind of red 

 clover (of which there were many 

 large fields saved for seed) to yield 

 honey to such an extent that those 

 fields seemed fairly alive with bees. 

 This state of affairs continued for 

 about ten days or two weeks, so that I 

 now find that my crop figures up to 

 2,022 pounds, all of which is comb 

 honey. 



My report a year ago gave my num- 

 ber of colonies as 95, all of which had 

 their own stores of honey. Out of 

 the 95 three died during the winter, 

 two became queenless, and were 

 united with others, leaving 90. These 

 were reduced by sales to 60, which 

 number were largely drawn upon to 

 form nuclei for queen rearing. From 

 the above only 40 swarms issued, 

 owing to the poorness of the season. 

 I am now preparing the bees for win- 

 ter, and shall put into winter quarters 

 just as many colonies of bees as I have 

 natural stores for, which number will 

 be somewhere from So to 100. The 

 colonies will be doubled down to suit 

 the stores, weeding out the inferior 

 queens so as to improve my stock as 

 much as possible. 



My experience has taught me that 

 honey is the safest food for bees to 

 winter ou in this locality, allowing 



the bees all the pollen there is in the 

 combs. If otherwise I should try the 

 sugar as some others do, regardless of 

 what has been said against bee-keep- 

 ers using sugar for bees. As to the 

 pollen all my experience proves that 

 it is impossible to remove it all, and 

 that there is enough left to give the 

 bees the diarrhea if they choose to 

 have that disease. By dividing the 

 2,022 pounds of honey by 60 colonies 

 (spring count) it gives 33^3 pounds as 

 the average yield per colony, which is 

 the smallest yield I have had during 

 anv season, for the past 14 years. 

 Borodino,© N. Y . 



For tbe American Bee JoumoL 



Fouiiflation in tlie Brootl-Cliaffllier. 



FRANKLIN P. STILES. 



The theory of hiving swarms on 

 empty frames, giving starters only, 

 and placing partly-filled sections above 

 has always seemed sound to me, and 

 each year since so strongly recom- 

 mended by Mr. Doolittle, a portion of 

 my swarms have been so treated. 

 Notwithstanding the vehement asser- 

 tion that I would " never be such a 

 fool again," the plausibility, of the 

 theory has each year seemed a con- 

 tinued trial. Mr. Hutchinson's ad- 

 vocacy of the plan still further 

 strengthened my faith, and last year 

 more careful experiments were made, 

 wherein several new features were 

 developed. The results, however, 

 were far from favorable. 



When Mr. Ileddon's new hive first 

 came to my notice, I felt sure it would 

 settle the problem in a conclusive 

 manner, for among the many admir- 

 able advantages it offered, its adapt- 

 ability to the above plan seemed 

 clearly apparent. Spring found me 

 with 40 of the new hives with which 

 I hoped among the many interesting 

 experiments to get a positive solution 

 to this solution. Dame Nature, how- 

 ever, had a word to say, and the 

 poorest season for several years per- 

 mitted the use of but 15 of the num- 

 ber for prime swarms. While more 

 than fulfilling my most sanguine an- 

 ticipations in every other respect, I 

 am forced to admit that with me it 

 has not settled the vexed question of 

 the best method of hiving swarms, 

 and that " the ghost still rises before 

 me and will not down." 



So far as drone comb is concerned 

 there has been but little trouble, nor 

 do I think any one will be bothered 

 with it if the colony has a good queen, 

 and the partly-filled sections from the 

 old hive are immediatelj; put in posi- 

 tion on the new. Most of the swarms 

 so hived built combs which would be 

 considered very flue by any one not 

 accustomed to handling those built 

 on foundation in wired frames. They 

 were nearly all somewhat " wavy," 

 and when reversed to have them 

 fastened solidly to the bottom-bar, 

 required more or less straightening. 

 Three colonies built combs so crooked 

 that in getting them into working 

 order, the apiarist was frequently 

 heard blessing the man who invented 

 comb foundation, or expressing senti- 



