404 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL- 



June 29, 1899. 



cause it is more spacious, and requires less labor for the 

 same amount of honey than worker-comb. 



Should the colonies from which the increase is taken 

 prove rather too weak to follow exactly the above methods, 

 one swarm may be made from two colonies, by taking^ the 

 queen and only one or two combs of brood from one hive 

 and placing the swarm thus made on the stand of another 

 colony which is removed to a new position. We have used 

 the same colony three times over to furnish bees to new 

 swarms, by removing it at intervals of 10 to 20 days, and 

 placing a new swarm on its stand. 



By following the methods above given, varying the pro- 

 portions of bees or brood taken with each swarm to suit the 

 circumstances, one may secure quite an increase from colo- 

 nies that would have yielded but little, and at the same time 

 .one retains the best colonies for honey-production. We have 

 always found this method the most profitable, and much 

 prefer an artificial swarm, carefully made and properly 

 managed, to the swarms secured by natural swarming. 



As a matter of course, if your best colonies swarm in 

 spite of your endeavors to prevent them and to keep them 

 at work, you will have good swarms, but it will be at th-e 

 expense of the honey harvest. 



WILL IT P.^Y TO FEED THE BEES ? 



I have received the following questions, which I will 

 answer here : 



I have 27 colonies in g-ood hives, which wintered well, and I have had 

 10 big' joun^ swarms already. But the bees have no honey in their hives 

 — r don't think they have a pound. They are-befrinnintr to kill the drones, 

 which shows that they don't get honey enougrh to feed the brood. Will it 

 pay to feed them ? I have fed SIO worth of sugrar already. We have very 

 little white clover, but the basswood is full of buds, and it will be about 

 three weeks until it bej^ins to bloom; but the <rround is full of youn<r 

 white clover all over. Will this youngf clover that came up from the seed 

 this spring yield a crop of honey next fall, or will it not produce until 

 next year? We have had a very wet spring. T. L. 



Answer. — The experience of Mr. L. has been ours 

 manj' times. We have seen a number of seasons when the 

 crop failed till the month of June was far advanced, but we 

 have always fed whenever it was tieeded, and have always 

 been repaid for the trouble and expense. We will confess 

 that in a number of instances we catne too late, and even 

 lost colonies in out-apiaries from sheer starvation, when 

 the fields and meadows were white with bloom. Our ex- 

 perience is that the very best seasons often commence in 

 this way, for the excess of rain is more detrimental than 

 any other cause to the immediate production of honey. But 

 the excess of rain also produces an excess of vegetation, 

 and sooner or later in the season a lull in the rainfall gives 

 the flowers a chance and the honey flows abundantl)'. 



There are drawbacks in all lines of business, in all 

 branches of farming, and ours is not exempt. It is the man 

 who perseveres, who "stays with it," that wins the laurels. 

 The wet season will produce an arrtount of bloom which 

 could not be expected in a dry one, and just as soon as cir- 

 cumstances are right the harvest will begin. In the season 

 of 1875 — 24 years ago — we experienced such a season as the 

 present one. We fed all thru the months of June and July, 

 and still the rain poured. In August colonies deserted their 

 hives, and I saw a sight that I have tiot seen since — a 

 swarm hang-ing to a limb and the bees dropping from the 

 cluster to the ground from inanition. But the flood came 

 to an end in September, and in the first two weeks of that 

 month we harvested more than ten times the amount ex- 

 pended during the season. 



In regard to the question as to the young white clover, 

 I cannot make a favorable answer. I have never seen much 

 honey harvested from young clover, even if it bloomed the 

 first year of its growth. It is only during the second year 

 that much may be expected from it. We have great hopes 

 here yet of a clover harvest for this year, altho we have had 

 too much rain. There is an abundance of bloom, and if the 

 weather gets favorable we will surely harvest enough to 

 pay us all for our trouble. Hancock Co., 111. 



Dead Bees on the Hive Bottom-Boards. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLK. 



GOING past a would-be bee-keeper a few days ago, I 

 was called in to see why some of his colonies did not 

 work as strongly as others in the yard. After looking 

 at the entrances of the hives for a moment, noting that 

 some were working strongly while others were doing but 

 little, I askt if the hives had been opened to see what was 

 the trouble. 



" No," was the reply I received. I knew this man kept 

 sheep, and so I said, " How are your sheep getting on this 

 spring "? 



" Oh, first rate," was the reply. 



" How do you know the sheep are doing well "? I askt. 



" Why, how does any one know anything ? I have fod- 

 dered the sheep three times a day all the winter and spring, 

 and been with them lots beside, even getting up many times 

 cold nights to look after the newly-born lambs that they 

 need not become chilled and die. And being thus familiar 

 with them, why should I not know when they are prosper- 

 ing"? 



"Very well," I said. "How many times have you 

 ' foddered " the bees this spring "? 



" Not a once," was the reply. "Didn't suppose they 

 needed foddering." 



" Have you been up any during cold nights to see that 

 the newly-born bees did not chill, or paid any attention to 

 the hives to see that the bees were made as comfortable as 

 possible, either night or day "? 



" No, I had to look after the sheep so much that I had 

 no time left ; nor did I suppose that bees needed caring for 

 like sheep ; and I am sure that it would not pay me to 

 spend time on them as I do on the sheep." 



" How many sheep had you last year "? 



"About 60.'' ' ' • 



" How much did you receive from them for all j-our 

 work, 'foddering' feed, etc., expended on them during 

 1898"? 



According to my book, not far from $325." 



•• A pretty good showing, but when I tell you that last 

 year from 30 colonies of bees at my out-apiary I sold comb 

 honey to the amount of S348.28 you will see that the proper 

 amount of time spent on the bees pays fully double per col- 

 ony that you get from a sheep, with only a tithe of the work 

 you spent, and that also without any cost for ' fodder.' But 

 let's look into this colony of bees whjch do not seem to be 

 flying much." 



I had noticed that where the bees were flying the 

 strongest there was quite a number of dead bees out on the 

 ground about the entrance to the hives, but with those not 

 flying as strong there were less dead bees, and what there 

 were showed by their old looks that thej' had been hauled 

 out during the winter. I had also noted that his hives had 

 loose bottom-boards, from some empty ones which were 

 piled up, so stepping to the hive designated I laid a bottom- 

 board down beside it and lifted it over from its own stand 

 to the one I had put down. By thus doing I exposed almost 

 a sickening sight from the dead bees that were under the 

 hive, all moldy in places, and in others all wet and fairly 

 rotten, with worms crawling and working amongst the rot- 

 ting bees, while the stench was horrid when this putref3'ing" 

 mass was disturbed. 



Looking up at the man, I said, "How do you suppose 

 that your sheep and lambs would thrive if you neglected 

 them as shamefully as you have these bees "? 



" Not much, I guess," he said, his face showing shame 

 and confusion. 



I now set the hive back again, keeping under it the dry, 

 clean bottom-board I had set it on, and proceeded to open 

 the hive. There was brood in three combs to the amount 

 of about one frame full, with only about bees enough to- 

 well cover the brood, which showed that the little colony 

 was doing its level best under such adverse circumstances, 

 for between many of the combs either side of where the 

 brood was, the dead bees came well up between the combs. 

 I lookt at two other hives, finding them in somewhat simi- 

 lar shape, tho none quite so bad as the first, fixing those 

 lookt at in good shape by seeing that they had at least 10> 

 pounds of honey, the combs free from dead bees, where such 

 were matted together, and the top of the hive made snug 

 and warm, telling him to go thru the rest in a similar way. 



When I continued on my way, I askt myself, " Is it any 

 wonder that so many tell us that bee-keeping does not 



pay ' 



I have often wondered that tlie idea has so fully 



obtained with nine out of ten of those who start in bee- 

 keeping, that all they have to do is to get some bees, by 

 finding a swarm or buying a few colonies, and provide a 

 place for them to stand, after which a profit will accrue to 

 them by hiving swarms and putting- on and taking ofi^'sec- 

 tions. And when profit does not accrue, and their bees die 

 from //<■,£,' /r(Y, we are sure to be told. •'Bees donot/av." 

 Yet these very persons will work faithfully, year in and 

 year out, caring for, feeding, grooming, etc., their hogs, 

 sheep, cows and horses, when a much less amount of labor, 

 wisely directed, spent on the bees, would yield a greater 

 profit. 



