Mar. 2, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



135 



when is the right time when all thing's are ready for swarm- 

 ing, and you may make a mistake about the best time for 

 driving. If the bees do not swarm by the time most colo- 

 nies have swarmed, you still have the chance to drive them. 

 At the end of 21 days you can drive out all bees and unite 

 without paying any attention to queens — the bees will settle 

 that matter for themselves. 



2. When a prime swarm issues there is a big lot of 

 sealed brood present, and young bees are emerging by the 

 thousand every day, so that when the first young queen is 

 ready to fly there is a strong force of bees ready to go with 

 her. If you can manage to have the larger part of those 

 young bees unite with the swarm, you increase its ability 

 for gathering surplus, and you at the same time lessen the 

 desire for a second swarm. If you put the swarm on the old 

 stand and at once put the old hive in a new place at some 

 distance, all the bees that were out in the field will go back 

 to the old stand, and all the old bees that leave the old hive 

 the next day or so will return to the old stand. This will 

 strengthen the swarra, and at the same time will weaken 

 the old colony so much that it will generally prevent any 

 second swarm. Not in all cases, however, and if we can do 

 anything to throw a still larger number of bees from the 

 old hive into the new, it will be an advantage to do so. 



Now, suppose that instead of putting the old hive in a 

 new place at once we set it close beside the swarm. Then 

 two days later We move the old hive to a new place. All the 

 bees will join the swarm that would have done so had we 

 moved the hive on the day of swarming, and in addition to 

 that there will be all the bees that have turned into field- 

 bees in the two days. If we wait until three days after 

 swarming, the number of field-bees will be still larger, and 

 so the number will increase daily for some time. But we 

 must be sure to move the hive before a second swarm issues. 

 Under ordinary circumstances, we are safe to move it a 

 week after the daj- of swarming. On that day set it in a 

 new place, and all the field-bees will desert it and join the 

 swarm. You can make the matter still more emphatic if 

 you move the hive at a time of day when the young bees 

 are taking a flight, for all of them that are out when the 

 move is made will also join the swarra. For a day or two 

 no nectar will be brought into the removed old hive, and 

 this, together with the depletion in numbers, will so dis- 

 courage the bees that they will give up all notion of swarm- 

 ing. 



It sometimes happens that at the time when a first 

 swarm is ready to issue the weather is so bad that swarm- 

 ing is delayed for two or three days. In that case the sec- 

 ond swarm would issue in less time than usual after the 

 first, making it happen that if we wait a week before mov- 

 ing the hive to a new place, there would be a second swarm 

 before that time. So if there has been bad weather just be- 

 fore the time of the prime swarm issuing, it may be well to 

 move the old hive to a new place in six days or even less 

 time after the day of swarming. 



3. I don't know enough about them to answer. I had 

 them on trial last year, but the failure of the honey crop 

 left me no wiser than a year before. It will be wise for 

 you to try the two kinds side by side and decide accordingh'. 



Keeping Bees on Shares. 



As there is but very little said in the text-books in re- 

 gard to leasing or renting bees, I have concluded to ask a 

 question on that subject, not only for my own benefit, but 

 for the benefit of others that may be interested in bees on 

 shares. 



Suppose A should lease to B any number of colonies, 

 from 2 to SO, for a term of five years, B to furnish every- 

 thing — hives, sections, foundation, etc., and do all the 

 work, rear and furnish queens to keep all colonies up to the 

 standard. What rate of interest should A receive annually ? 

 And what would be the value of said bees per colony, if Ital- 

 ians in modern hives ? Also the value of common bees in 

 common hives ? How many colonies of bees should A re- 

 ceive over and above the number least (if any) at the end of 

 five yearsg 



In answering this question the winter losses and taxes 

 along with increase should be taken into consideration. 

 But we will suppose that B works the bees for comb honey 

 and does not care for increase. Indiana. 



Answer. — Very little is said in the bee-books as to 

 bees on shares, for the verj^ good reason that very little can 

 be said that will tie of general interest. The one thing that 

 can be said to apply to all cases is that unless everything to 



the smallest particular is put down in black and white there 

 will almost certainly be misunderstandings. If the bee- 

 books were to give instruction that would cover all cases, it 

 would make a book of itself. Each case is different from 

 all others, and it is not very likely that a full answer to the 

 present question will be of any use to any other reader, as 

 may be seen to some extent by looking up what is said in 

 the last volume of this Journal as to bee-keeping on shares. 

 See pages 11, 26, 122, 598, 662 and 807. On those pages you 

 will perhaps find more on the subject than is to be found in 

 any of the bee-books, and yet from the nature of the case 

 nothing there said is likely to be of much use to the very 

 next one who desires information on the subject. I regret 

 that I cannot give an explicit answer to every question of 

 the kind, but I think you will see it is impossible. 



In the present case the question is less involved than in 

 some others. A has a certain number of colonies from 

 which he wants an annual interest. Plainly, he should 

 have the same interest he would get on the amount of 

 mo.ney the bees would sell for, with the bees as the only se- 

 curity for getting back his principal at the end of five years. 

 But that leaves the question still open, for the risk depends 

 much on the locality and the kind of a man B is. The rate 

 of interest is always higher where the security is poor. If 

 the locality is one where it is hard to winter bees in safety, 

 where the majority run out of bees entirely in five years or 

 less, and if B is so little skilled that he doesn't know how to 

 succeed in wintering, there should be a good deal more than 

 the legal rate of interest. 



At the end of five years, if A has had his interest an- 

 nually, he should expect nothing more than his regular in- 

 terest for that year and his principal back. 



The value of bees varies with time and place. It may 

 be three times as much in one place as another. I have no 

 means of knowing what they are worth where A and B live. 

 Turning to page 560 of last year's volume, you will see defi- 

 nite prices given by a man with his mouth full of sobs and 

 his voice full of tears. But those prices may be very differ- 

 ent from any A can realize. You can know something defi- 

 nite as to the price of bees of those who advertise them for 

 sale, but that doesn't tell what they are in other places. 



duestions on Transferring. 



1. I have one colony which is hived in a home-made 

 box, nailed up at both ends. There are two sticks inside 

 crossing each other, and the bees have built the combs 

 everyway. I bored some holes in on top and put on a super, 

 but they didn't do anything above. How can I transfer 

 them into another hive ? and what can I do with the comb 

 in the old box ? 



2. How can I clean the dead bees from the bottom, when 

 bottom is nailed ? My idea is to take out some frames, 

 scrape an empty space, and brush over the balance of 

 frames towards the clean space. After I get the bottom 

 cleaned I push the frames back in place and put in the ones 

 taken out where they were. 



I ought to have a good bee-book so I could learn about 

 bee-keeping. Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. If you had put in the super a bait, per- 

 haps the bees would have stored in it. As a bait you can 

 put in a piece of comb. Perhaps you will do as well to 

 leave the hive undisturbed till after the bees swarm, then 21 

 days later there will be no worker-brood present, and you 

 can transfer according to the directions given in the bee- 

 books. By all means you ought to have a text-book for it 

 will hardly do to take up room here repeating all that you 

 will find in the book. If there are nice, straight combs in 

 the old hive, you can transfer them into the new, and the 

 rest can be melted up. 



2. Your way will do, but it is rather slow and trouble- 

 some. Take the hive off its stand and set in its place a clean 

 empty hive. Lift the frames out of the old hive and put 

 them in the clean one. Now clean out the old hive and it is 

 ready to replace the next one to be cleaned. If your hives 

 are very heavy and you are not very strong, instead of first 

 setting the clean hive on the old stand, go at it in this way : 

 Set the clean hive near by and lift into it half the frames. 

 Then take the old hive off the stand and put the other in its 

 place, when you can move the rest of the combs. If you try 

 it you will probably like your hives better with the bottoms 



loose. 



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