THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



423 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Tree Planting, Cyprian Bees, Etc. 



HON. L. WALLBllIDGE. 



I was much pleased in reading tlie 

 article upon Cyprian bees, in the Bee 

 Journal of June 21st. I obtained a 

 Cyprian queen from D. A. Jones" first 

 importation. The strictures in that 

 article, thougli fuller than my obser- 

 vation, are very striliing, and corres- 

 pond with my own experience. The 

 energy of the Cyprians is certainly 

 superior to that of the Italians, and 

 their propensity to sting is only one of 

 the evidences of it ; tliey are more 

 prolilic — tliis gives the advantage of 

 strong colonies early. They defend 

 their stores {i. e., sting) with the same 

 earnestness with which they gather ; 

 besides, the propensity testing is very 

 much over-stated. Even other bees 

 are not equally docile at all times. 

 The same is the case with the Cyp- 

 rians. I have drones from a Cyprian 

 queen mated with an Italian drone, 

 tnat show the full dark color of the 

 Italian sire, and other drones from 

 the same queen showing the light 

 color of the Cyprian — the difference 

 very marked. I have frequently tried 

 to get early queens by carrying over 

 drones from a drone-laying queen (not 

 fertilized), but never could get a 

 queen fertilized until the drones ap- 

 peared from fertilized mothers. I 

 fear the Dzierzon theory is a fallacy. 

 The two facts above seem to prove it. 

 The following article I contributed to 

 one of our papers, and send it to the 

 Bee Journal,, as bearing upon the 

 subject of tree planting for honey : 



Almost every one does, or ought to, 

 set out some trees every year. The 

 fall of the year is genera"lly recom- 

 mended as the best time ; it may be, 

 however, well done in the spring. As 

 this communication is intended for 

 bee-keepers, it is well to consider 

 what kind of trees to plant. 



Basswood is certainly king, coming 

 into blossom generally just as white 

 clover goes out ; it tills iin important 

 place in the bee-keeper's profits. If 

 the bee-keeper fails to do well when 

 the basswood is in bloom, he may 

 count upon a poor return for tliat 

 year. The linden and lime are other 

 names in England for another variety 

 of the same tree. Its honey-producing 

 quality is its great recommendation 

 to tlie bee-keeper— but to others it lias 

 advantages. For beauty, there is no 

 tree that has so large and deep colored 

 a leaf, and when it attains its growth 

 it is valuable for timber. It is used 

 for door-panelling and in many parts 

 of carriages and sleighs, and its tim- 

 ber always commands a good price. 

 It is thus useful during its growth, 

 and at its maturity brings a nice sum 

 of money for the purposes indicated. 

 Compare it with the maple tree, so 

 generally planted— what is that worth, 



either during its growth or at matur- 

 ity, except for firewood? The bass- 

 wood has a luxuriant Southern foli- 

 age, and for beauty at least is equal 

 to the maple. 



Another tree of great value to the 

 bee-keeper is the honey locust. This 

 tree comes in bloom quite early, and 

 is valuable on this account. Tlie bees 

 visit it almost in swarms, and the 

 honey and pollen then brought in gets 

 up the excitement in the liive, and 

 breeding goes on at a rapid pace. 

 Kow this is tlie very thing bee-keep- 

 ers want. Tliey want strong colonies 

 ready to gather honey when white 

 clover conies in, and I know of no 

 tree or plant which does so much to 

 strengthen the colony early as this 

 locust tree. Have your colony strong 

 early ; this is the secret of bee-keep- 

 ing. Almost any colony will become 

 strong in the white clover season ; but 

 then the clover honey is used up in 

 breeding, and you don't get it as 

 surplus. If you have no locust trees 

 in your neighborhood, you should feed 

 your bees, or abrade combs filled with 

 honey already in tlie hive, changing 

 combs to the center of the brood nest, 

 thus spreading the brood nest and 

 giving the queen an opportunity of 

 laying, which she will be sure to do if 

 you give her a fair chance. 



Mr. \V. C. Wells, of Phillipston,the 

 largest bee-keeper in tliis part of the 

 country, attributes the good success 

 of city bee-keepers to the locust trees, 

 as, by the good start from them, we 

 get early brood, and are thus ready 

 with strong colonies for the clover and 

 basswood bloom. Besides the timber 

 of the locust tree is very valuable ; it 

 is exceedingly heavy ; a cubic foot of 

 it weighs about 100 pounds, and is 

 called mountain ebony. It is valua- 

 ble for wagon hubs, cogs for mill 

 wheels, and other things requiring 

 great strength ; if used for gate posts 

 it is exceedingly durable. Messrs. 

 George Leslie & Son, of Leslieville, 

 Out., furnish, amongst other valuable 

 trees, the locust tree, of different va- 

 rieties. They are all valuable, both 

 for honey and timber. It certainly is 

 the wiser to plant a tree which, onat- 

 taining maturity, is valuable as tim- 

 ber, than to plant one which, in tlie 

 end, is not even valuable as a fence 

 post, and only valuable as firewood. 



I am indebted to tlie Canadian Hor- 

 ticulluHst for valuable suggestions on 

 tree planting. The .article appears in 

 the February number, and is by Mr. 

 N. Robertson, Government Grounds, 

 Ottawa. It is too long to copy into 

 this communication, but a few points 

 may not be amiss. "Take the trees 

 up so as to destroy as few of the roots 

 as possible ; cut the tops into what is 

 called pole, eight or ten feet long, 

 have a good root, a stem without 

 blemisli, and thus a rapid growing 

 tree. Do not take a scraggy, stunted 

 tree ; and do not niindhaving the tree 

 to stand as it did before removed, but 

 plant the side having most roots on 

 the side where the wind will be 

 strongest. Let the hole in which you 

 plant be much larger than tlie roots, 

 and draw the roots out to their full 

 lengtli. Before you put in the soil, do 

 not let the roots get dry, but give 



them a heavy mulch of sawdust, ma- 

 nure or straw. This can be kept in 

 place by a few spadesfuU of earth, 

 and place the mulch over that a foot 

 beyond the hole where the roots are." 

 Belleville, Out. 



Rural New Yorker. 



How to Transfer Bees. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



To transfer bees from box hives into 

 those having movable frames, at the 

 right time and in a proper manner, 

 is an easy task ; but to tlie novice it 

 seems like quite a job. Unless one is 

 very careful, he should transfer bees 

 only when they are getting plenty of 

 honey. When apple trees are in 

 blossom is usually the best time. 

 Clean all the rubbish and grass away 

 from the old hive, spread a lot of 

 sawdust around it, and do not leave a 

 crack or crevice anywhere that the 

 bees can crawl into. One will need a 

 hammer, a saw, a chisel, a case knife, 

 a goose quill with which to brush the 

 bees off the combs, a smoker, some 

 water and a cloth with which to keep 

 all the honey washed up clean. If 

 possible, it is better to have some one 

 to help. Before commencing opera- 

 tions, one must be sure and get every 

 thing that he will need. Commence 

 about ten o'clock some pleasant day, 

 when most of the bees will be in the 

 field out of the way. Blow a little 

 smoke into the entrance, wait a few 

 minutes for the bees to fill themselves 

 with honey, then move the hive back 

 a few feet, and turn it bottom side up. 

 Drive the bees down among the 

 combs with smoke. From beginning 

 to end, keep the bees in subjection. 

 Notice which way the combs run, and 

 take off first the side of the hive with 

 which the combs are the nearest par- 

 allel. Cut the combs from the side 

 of the hive by running the hand saw 

 down. Saw off the cross sticks close 

 to the side of the hive. Pry off one 

 side of tlie hive, cutting the nails if 

 necessary. The next thing is, how to 

 get those crooked, and uneven combs 

 out and get them into the frames. 

 Cut out the first comb, lay it on a 

 board, lay a frame over it; make a 

 mark on the comb around the inside 

 of tlie frame ; cut the comb a little 

 larger than the inside of the frame ; 

 spring the trame over it, and one 

 comb is transferred. Sometimes the 

 combs need fastening in, and there 

 are different ways of doing it. One 

 way is to make holes through the 

 frame witli an awl, then push thorns 

 or sticks through these holes into the 

 combs. Some use strings, and tie the 

 combs in ; otliers use little strips of 

 wood that reach clear across the frame 

 of combs, and are tied at the ends 

 with strings or wires. 



As fast as the frames are filled, 

 hang them in the new hive, which 

 should be placed on the old stand. 

 Keep cutting out the combs and 

 fastening them into the frames until 

 they are all out, shaking the bees in 

 front of the new hive. Some of t;he 

 frames may have to be filled with 

 [ small pieces of comb, but in a day or 



