THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



579 



PreserTing Late Swarms. 



Jas. N. Tucker, East Killingly, Ct., 

 writes Sept. 4th : 



Aug. 26 1 had a medium swarm issue 

 from a previous swarm of tlie present 

 season. Tliis last swarm I linow con- 

 tains tlie laying queen and as slie is 

 a young queen reared the present sea- 

 son, very prolilic, a purely mated 

 Italian, and her progeny are good 

 workers and gentle, I would like very 

 much to save the colony ; but as they 

 •came out unexpectedly, I was not well 

 prepared with foundation, etc., and, 

 as at this lather late period in the sea- 

 son I disliked to weaken any of my 

 other colonies to strengthen tliis one, 

 I hived them u\ a Langstroth hive 

 containing 9 frames, one only of which 

 was a frame of brood, the remaining 

 8 containing only one inch starters of 

 worker foundation. Tlius far, as con- 

 siderable late buckwheat has been in 

 blooui,and as my bees have worked 

 ■considerably on red clover and upon 

 fall flowers, I have only fed about % 

 lb. of granulated sugar syrup each 

 night ; but from date I intend to feed 

 m lbs. each night. 1. With this 

 treatment, what ought to be their 

 condition October 1st V 2. What fur- 

 ther feeding will they be likely to need 

 after that date to insure wintering V 

 3. Will they need to be fed any sub- 

 stitute for pollen, and if so, what and 

 how? 4. Ought I to have done differ- 

 ■ently in any particular from what I 

 have done '? 5. Would you suggest 

 any change in the programme ? Per- 

 haps by advising me, through the 

 •columns of the Bee Journal, you 

 will also advise many others some- 

 what similarly situated, and will pro- 

 vide us for like emergencies in future 

 years. 



1. Had you given the frame of 

 brood and 5 frames with starters, then, 

 as fast as the combs were built down 

 given a frame each third or fourth 

 day, we think their condition would 

 perhaps be better Oct. 1st. 



2. They will need feeding till there 

 will be at least a store of 30 pounds 

 for winter. It is probable the queen 

 will keep up breeding till very late, 

 and there will be much larvre in the 

 combs at above date, all of which, to- 

 gether with young bees emerging 

 from the (!ells, will require more food 

 than old bees. 



3. No ; bees will find plenty of pol- 

 len, or a substitute more acceptable 

 than any you can give them. 



4. You might have given the swarm, 

 when well established in the new hive, 

 at least 5 combs well built out, and 

 supplied the frames with starters to 

 the colonies from which you took the 

 combs. 



5. Only the above. Aug. 26 is 

 quite late, very late, to hive a swarm 

 and expect to build it up strong 

 enough for wintering. Everything 



must be the most favorable, with riot 

 one adverse circumstance, to insure 

 success, and every help which experi- 

 ence or judgment may suggest, should 

 be employed. 



ludiaua State Fair. 



We have received a complimentary 

 ticket to the Indiana State Fair, to be 

 held at Indianapolis, Sept. 25 to 30. 

 We shall not be able to attend, but 

 hope the Fair, with its bee and honey 

 show will be a grand success. The 

 managers remark <is follows : 



The managers of the coming State 

 Fair, commencing Sept. 25, express 

 great encouragement from the bright 

 prospects for success by the early 

 opening up of the business connected 

 therewith ; the anxiety of old exhibit- 

 ors to secure more space and the sev- 

 eral applications to erect special build- 

 ings on the grounds for exhibition 

 purposes at private cost. 



The indications are such that in 

 order to meet the requirements, 1.50 

 new horse stalls are being made. The 

 stables and pens for other stock re- 

 modeled and put in complete order 

 that exhibitors and visitors may real- 

 ize comfort and pleasure. The grad- 

 ual growth and increa.sed interest 

 manifested in the State Fairs, and 

 the kindly expressions from exhibit- 

 ors who represent large manufactur- 

 ing establishments at the principal 

 Fairs, the bountiful harvest now gath- 

 ered, and a season of abundance in 

 prospective, gives every reason to hope 

 for an improvement on any former 

 year, and the assurance that the Indi- 

 ana State Fair can be made to rank 

 iirst on the list of Fairs, as the State 

 is now first in the production of wheat, 

 and second to no other State in all the 

 requisites of human prosperity. 



Arrangements are pending tor spe- 

 cial attractions during the Fair in 

 addition to the large premiums on 

 speed. 



All the State Institutions at the 

 Capital City will be prepared to re- 

 ceive visitors during the Fair week, 

 and this will be a rare opportunity, at 

 reduced railroad rates, to visit the 

 new State House, in process of con- 

 struction. 



Mr. C. F. Muth, writes to the 

 Bee Journal from Cincinnati, Sept. 

 6. "Please tell all bee-keepers that 

 I will receive any and all goods des- 

 tined for the National Convention, to 

 be held Oct. 3-5, in our city, free of 

 all charges. No expense for drayage 

 to or from the depots — no charges for 

 storage. All I ask is that the goods 

 be prepaid to our city. The prospects 

 for a good meeting are flattering to 

 the best of my judgment." We an- 

 ticipate there will be a good display of 

 bees, honey and implements at the 

 National Convention. 



MISeELLANEOUS. 



01(1 Fogy Bee-Keepiiig in Cali- 



f'oriliil. — The vSemi-Tropic California 

 gives the following account of some 

 of it: 



In Los Angeles county there is a 

 stretch of fuoi-liills tour or five miles 

 in length with a large variety of " bee 

 teed" where there are live or six 

 separate apiaries, varying in elevation 

 from 1,200 to 2,.50O teet, and there is 

 ample range for all. Tliese apiaries 

 have been established from five to ten 

 years, and so far as 1 can learn there 

 lias not been one-half dozen queeus 

 bought and introduced in all these 

 apiaries in all these years, and little 

 or no effort made to rear queens to re- 

 place old, worn out queeus or to sup- 

 ply queeuless colonies. In fact the 

 bees seem mostly left to " run" them- 

 selves. To save trouble and combs 

 from moths, tbe top boxes are left in 

 all winter and if tlie swarm is weak 

 they have a slim chance to rear brood 

 with all that space to warm during 

 the cool days and nights of early 

 spring, and the brood may be chilled, 

 die ami be mistaken for foul brood. 



In the apiaries referred to there has 

 been but little swarming since 1878, 

 and of course most of the queens are 

 three to four years old which accounts 

 in part for the five to twenty per cent, 

 loss last spring, and the loss trom this 

 cause will probably be greater next 

 spring than last as a queen is not sup- 

 posed to live more than three to four 

 years, and to be generally quite un- 

 profitable after the third year. In 

 some of these colonies the bees have 

 or will supersede their queens, while 

 the very large majority probably will 

 not. Even supposing they were all 

 superseded the queens would not be 

 nearly as prolific as though reared 

 from young prolific queens of no re- 

 lations to the apiary, besides had there 

 been early iniioductions of one or 

 more good Italian queens the yearly 

 yield of honey ought to have been 

 "much greater, to say nothing of the 

 increased present valueof the apiaries. 

 The majority of these bee-keepers 

 don't believe in " fussing " with bees. 

 After breeding commences in spring 

 they "go through" the bees, look at 

 the brood chambers, double up the 

 weak ones and they are done with the 

 " bottom boxes" for that season, and 

 if the queen, as is often the case, 

 makes a brood-chamber of the top 

 box they take what honey they can 

 get from saitl upper story because it 

 will not do to disturb the bottom box. 

 They will tell you that Eastern bee 

 papers are of no use here and will 

 generally say that bee-keeping will 

 not pay in California. If such men 

 would subscribe to two or three good 

 bee papers, they would be surprised 

 to see how much a little good bee 

 literature will assist to make the busi- 



