116 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Feb. 23, 1899. 



quantities and put into two sets of prepared hives, supply- 

 ing each of these new colonies with queens hived rig'ht in 

 with them. The bees being caged and hauled home in the 

 wagon, and without queen or brood, would be ready to ac- 

 cept almost an)- queen. To make things more sure I would 

 feed them all the diluted honey (sweetened water) they 

 would take, then the last thing before weighing out the 

 divisions, give them a good mixing, then just let the queen 

 run in with them. 



The object in this thorough mixing is to get the bees of 

 different colonies and bees of different ages all one con- 

 glomerate mass, all with sacs full, then to weigh out and 

 divide would result in colonies that I knoiv are alike. Bees 

 thus handled and hived in the evening would be ready for 

 business the next day, and start out very much as a swarm 

 does. I consider such "swarms" very much less likely to 

 attempt absconding than natural ones, yet, to make sure, I 

 would clip the queens. They must also be considerable dis- 

 tance from each other — far enough so that during the night 

 the)' will not hear each other call, and pass from one hive 

 to another. 



Previous to bringing- in these bees I shall prepare the 

 hives they are to occupy. Four brood-chambers will be 

 provided with one or two dry brood-combs, the rest of the 

 space being filled with frames with starters or full sheets 

 of foundation. I would use (at least I think I would) six 

 frames Langstroth size or equivalent, filling the rest of the 

 chamber with dummies. 



On two of these hives I would put sections and full 

 sheets of foundation, on the other two put ready-made ex- 

 tracting-combs. An excluder must be under the extracting- 

 combs. The ready-made combs, by relieving- the brood- 

 chamber, will allow the colonies under them to rear more 

 brood than those with sections, and to allow the queen to 

 use the extracting-combs for breeding would still further 

 unequalize the colonies. 



I will also prepare four more hives, two to have starters 

 only, both above and below, the other two to have complete 

 combs throughout. It may be necessary to keep the supers 

 oflf this .second four hives till work has been begun in the 

 brood-chamber. 



There is one common difficulty with all these plans — 

 the unequal breeding. There would naturally be more 

 brood in those hives having the most comb to start with. 

 This could be overcome in a larg-e measure by hiving with 

 virgin queens just hatcht ; thus the entire lot would be 

 without brood for about eight or nine days, at which time 

 breeding would come along more nearly equal in the vari- 

 ous colonies. 



As usually is the case, however, in getting out of one 

 difficulty we get into another. To hive these swarms with 

 virgin queens, they are not so likely to settle down and get 

 regularly to work, and some of the queens are likely to be 

 lost while mating. If all would stay by their hives and no 

 queens be lost, the use of virgin queens would be much the 

 more accurate or trustworthy test. 



This would u.se eight colonies in the experiment. The 

 bees used would be very like new swarms — are forced 

 swarms — yet all are as alike as can be — four brood-cham- 

 bers just alike, all having one or two brood-combs apiece to 

 form a brood-nest at once. Two of the four must work in 

 sections, and the other two be given unlimited storage- 

 comb, thus making a direct test as to which will store the 

 most. 



Of the second division of four colonies, two must build 

 all comb in both brood and surplus chambers, the other two 

 to have full sets of combs throughout so they do not have 

 to build any comb. This second four hives being very op- 

 posites — two to build all needed comb, and two to have no 

 comb-building whatever — ought to show quite conclusively 

 the advantage, if any, in relieving a colony from comb- 

 building. 



However, to avoid the difficulty of the ones with combs 

 getting a great mass of brood in excess of those having to 

 build, it is essential that one of two methods be followed. 

 They may be given virgin queens as before mentioned, or, 

 instead, they may each be given a comb containing just a 

 very little brood, but no queen given. If given virgin 

 queens they would begin to have brood in ten days, but if 

 given only a little brood to start with, they would be 20 to 

 25 days in getting new brood .started — time to pass over 

 quite a honey-flow. 



These methods would eliminate the swarming problem, 

 and surely would give trustworthy data. How many will 

 try it and report ? Larimer Co., Colo. 



I Mf tertliought. I 



^^ The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. ^^ 



By " COQITATOR.' 



^/(f>(f>(f>ff>(f>(f\(tyft\ff\ffy(fi(fy(fy(f\ffyfVfy(f><^ 



"CLIMBIN' up DEM 'golden' ST.A.IRS." 



COGITATOR doesn't deliberately want to " blow cold " 

 on Comrade Golden's side climb-ways (page 33), but the 

 impression produced on his mind is that they call for 

 too much carpenter work to secure a very moderate advan- 

 tage. The trouble with him is that he doesn't believe bee.s 

 carry honey upstairs exactly as good little boys carry up 

 stovewood. He cogitates that usually a number of hours 

 pass before the nectar is put into the cells at all. Probably 

 under pressure of a rapid flow a good deal is put into the 

 cells temporarily, to be taken out again later. 



BEES TH,\T "smell" their KEEPER. 



I rather think Mr. Whitney is running thing-s to ex- 

 tremes a little (on page 36), in claiming- that bees know their 

 keeper by sense of smell. It is not iiiipossihle, however; 

 and in cases where bees are handled very often it is prob- 

 able enough. I can heartily agree with him (and the rest 

 of the minority) that there is no need to abjure ordinary 

 dark or black clothing when going among bees. If you 

 <x'(i«/ to dress in white, like an oriental sahib, why do so ; 

 but you don't have to at all. Color may make so»ie differ- 

 ence. 



M.\NV-HUED CLEOME HONEY. 



See the Colorado convention (page 36) for an example 

 of how provoking personal experiences can be when one 

 wants the exact facts. On the question as to what is the 

 color of the honey from cleome (Rocky Mountain bee-plant), 

 .some said it was green ; others are referred to as calling it 

 purple. Mrs. Booth, you will see, stoutly averred that she 

 never got either g-reen or purple honey, and yet lived in the 

 midst of miles of cleome. 



If cleome has such sharp little spikes on its blossoms as 

 habitually tear bee's wings all into fringe, and if bees at 

 work on it die prematurely, we shall not be anxious to have 

 the plant spread in our direction. 



S.\LTING BEES — ST.A.RT1NG RIGHT — RHEUM.\TIC HOSS. 



What an ingenious and easy way of salting bees J. E. 

 Lyon gives on page 37 ! Just a little salt water on the 

 alighting-board. Some soaks in, and soon all dries up ; but 

 the salt is there, against the bees want it, in a shape that it 

 cannot readily get away. 



He'll have to wait a hundred years yet — that brother at 

 the convention who wanted to start right, and avoid all 

 changing of fixtures and methods. 



Eight-frame hives and rheumatism go together in span, 

 it seems from page 38. 'Tator would leave the stable door 

 unlockt for somebody to steal that off hoss. 



PREDICTING NEXT YE.^^R'S CROP. 



Good plan for us to watch out and see if " Iowa " (on 

 page 39) is correct, or somewhere near correct, in his sur- 

 mises. Bad for white clover, and no crop next season, if 

 the fall freeze-up comes when the ground is dry. Good crop 

 assured if the soil is well wet clear down before freezing. 

 Some one will remark that we won't be able to do anything 

 about it. Hardly correct ; to be able to predict next year'.s 

 crop will lead to considerable doing about it. 



INDECENCY IN EXTR.\CTING-M.\N.\GEMENT. 



Surprising, and not altogether pleasant to hear, that so 

 old and excellent a bee-man as Oliver Foster lets his ex- 

 tracting colonies have brood in every story (five stories 

 sometimes). Very likely he thinks /w is maintaining de- 

 cency in extractting, but one-half the brethren will not, if 

 queens have the run of the extracting-combs. Every few 

 minutes filthy little dabs of larva; and larval food will fly 

 out into that honey which we desire normally-minded folks 

 to buy and eat as iiii'r and liaiii/y ; but which they wouldn't 

 touch with a pole if they knew the facts. Mr. Rauchfuss 

 promptly reminded the convention that a peculiar thin 

 honey or feed, not fit for extracting (to say the very least) 



