302 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



few I got in front of the hive induced 

 the balance to go in all right. I was 

 waiting for them to quiet down, so as 

 to move the hive where I wanted it to 

 remain. All at once they came rusli- 

 iug out and went back to their old 

 stand again. It commenced to rain 

 that evening, and kept cold until 

 Sunday ; about noon the sun came out 

 and out came the bees ; they soon 

 clustered on the bottom of a little 

 apple tree, down close to the ground, 

 with a good many on the ground and 

 in the grass. I took a dipper and my 

 turkey wing and commenced business 

 again, but was prepared for them that 

 time. I made a veil and had it on, 

 and a pair of gloves. So I got them 

 all in, without receiving a sting, but 

 I should have got a great many, ex- 

 cept for the protection. They have 

 been in the hive 3 davs without a fly. 

 The weather has been cold and rainy 

 ever since; only stopping a little 

 while at night to get a good start for 

 the next day. I would have had 4 or 5 

 swarms this month, if the weather 

 had been favorable. I have fed the 

 new swarm to-day ; they keep up a 

 constant roar, as though all was right. 

 I have heard a queen piping in the 

 old hive ever since the swarm came 

 out, but only hear one. Is that anv 

 indication of swarming soon again? 

 I am a beginner in the business, and 

 want to learn all I can. I have read 

 Quinby's and Cook's Manuals, and, 

 with the aid of the Bee Journal, I 

 think I can get through. 



R. A. Ros.SER. 

 Nelsouville, O., May 23, 1SS3. 



[We expect the bees were hybrids, 

 notwithstanding you call them Ital- 

 ians. Several have reported similar 

 results when hiving hybrids under 

 certain conditions. You should have 

 had a good smoker at hand, and, by 

 its use, saved such a calamity as the 

 one you have described above. The 

 unpropitious weather which had kept 

 them prisoners so long, with no chance 

 to be gathering honey, had doubtless 

 made them angry, and ready to fight 

 at the least provocation. Some bees 

 seriously object to being brushed even 

 with a turkey wing, and, when they 

 are thus excited, will show their anger 

 by acting just as your bees have 

 done. 



The piping of the queen, which you 

 mention, indicates that a "second 

 swarm" is determined upon. Upon 

 this decision, the bees prevent the 

 first queen that issues from killing the 

 rest, and place a strong guard over 

 their cells, and when she comes with 

 murderous intent, she is repulsed by 

 the bees. This offends her majesty 

 who utters these shrill notes of anger. 

 If this piping is not heard within a few 

 days after the first swarm issues, it is 

 because the queen has no rivals, and 

 swarming may be said to be over with 

 that colony for the season.— Ed.] 



Bees Near a Roadway. 



Please answer the following ques- 

 tions through the Bee .Journal : 



1. Will the law compel me to move 

 hives of bees that are standing near a 

 line fence. 



2. Will the law compel me to pay 

 damages, if ray bees sting horses that 

 are driven on the opposite side of the 

 fence. 



I have had my bees where they now 

 stand for the past 13 years, and with- 

 out any trouble. But, this year, a 

 drive-way has been made close to the 

 fence, for the purpose of getting to a 

 back lot. The fence is a tight board 

 fence between 6 and 7 feet high. 

 Neighbors also use this drive-way to 

 work land on another farm. I am 

 doing all that I can to control the 

 bees, having moved some of the 

 Grossest from near the fence a dis- 

 tance of two miles. 



Jas. B. TujnJER. 



Warren's Corners, N. Y. 



[Not being a judge, the law points 

 we cannot pass upon, but if we owned 

 the bees, and had any land elsewhere, 

 they would be moved as soon as pos- 

 sible, so as not to have them annoyed 

 and " worked up " all the time by 

 passing teams, horses that are .sweat- 

 ing, etc. — Ed.] 



Fully Appreciated. 



The Weekly Bee Journal is, to 

 me, worth all the other bee papers put 

 together ; may you, Mr. Editor, live 

 to see its full worth appreciated, not 

 only at home here, but in thousands 

 of foreign homes where the •' busy 

 bee " is kept, and where every flower 

 is fanned by its silvery wings. 



D. W. Fletcher. 



Lansingville, N. Y., May 21, 1883. 



Experience of My Friend and I. 



Perhaps the readers of the Bee 

 Journal would like to hear some- 

 thing of a friend of mine, living in 

 the same house, who being fond of bee- 

 culture, in the old country, continued 

 in the new world to keep bees ; not so 

 much to make a trade of it, as to ren- 

 der his pastime pleasant. Accord- 

 ingly the Bee Journal never comes 

 into his hands without being perused 

 with great interest, from the begin- 

 ning to the end. He tells me, that he 

 received much information from it, 

 especially about feeding and winter- 

 ing. Last winter, making use of the 

 hints given in the Bee Journal, he 

 succeeded in wintering his bees with 

 but an insignificant loss of one weak 

 colony, which he received too late in 

 the fall to make a trial in feeding. 

 The bees then clustered all on one 

 side, leaving the other frame yet con- 

 taining honey enough untouched, and 

 finally died. 



1. Why did the bees all gather on 

 one side, and not move to the combs 

 filled with honey V 



My friend covered the hives, in the 

 beginning of winter, partly with 

 straw mats, and partly with blankets ; 

 around them he constructed a wall of 

 chaff, a few inches in width. The 



hives, having straw mats kept dry ; 

 theothersnot, foroutof the inlet often 

 water was flowing. I concluded that 

 the moisture inside was absorbed by 

 the straw mats, but not by the blan- 

 kets. On the 19th of May, in one of 

 the hives, there was much noise, and 

 many of the bees clustered all in one 

 pile outside of the hive. Now, I 

 thought, they would swarm. My 

 friend laughed first at me, but in the 

 end he prepared a hive for any event- 

 uality. Yet the cold weather from 

 the 20th to the 23d checked them. 

 We had a north wind storm and rain, 

 with snow, and it was very cold ; fires 

 was started in the stoves once more. 



2. Do bees really sometimes swarm 

 in the end of May ? 



A Bingham smoker gave full satis- 

 faction to my friend, who was over- 

 joyed with it and the Bingham & 

 Hetherington honey knife. Our bees 

 are very " gentle and good-natured ;" 

 they never sting me, though I watch 

 them closely in their busy movements. 

 Once, my friend was in danger. One 

 swarm of bees, which he had received 

 from a neighbor, and wliich were not 

 attended to properly, was to be trans- 

 ferred into a new hive. But the 

 frames were all connected by combs, 

 which the bees had constructed, mak- 

 ing the replacing diflicult. My friend, 

 nevertheless, was determined to sep- 

 arate them. In cutting the connected 

 combs asunder, he destroyed some 

 brood ; then there was humming 

 about the ears. Hence, my friend re- 

 ceived a few stings. Not so I. As 

 we could not use the smoker— there 

 was straw, etc., near— we smoked to- 

 bacco, and this so much, as to make 

 us quite dizzy. Alas 1 never shall we 

 do that again ; we shall certainly use 

 the Bingham smoker. Frank. 



Seneca Co., O., May 23, 1883. 



[1. The bees clustered on one side in 

 order to utilize the heat of the cluster; 

 then, as they were few in numbers, it 

 became too cold for them to go to the 

 honey, and hence starved, with 

 " plenty " close to them, but out of 

 their reach. 



2. Yes ; if the weather is propitious, 

 and they are strong in numbers. — Ed.] 



The " Big Damp," by the Floods. 



We have had some very valuable 

 yet unprofitable experience during 

 the late " big damp " in the Ohio Val- 

 ley, by the washing away of almost 

 all the bees in the neighborhood. Sev- 

 eral boxes and hives were caught dur- 

 ing the flood, though quite cold 

 weather, with bees clustered at the 

 edges of comb out of the water, wet 

 and chilled, but with little care they 

 were saved. One man saved 2 out of 

 8 colonies, after they had been float- 

 ing in the water four days. Another 

 saved 8 out of 18, after floating six 

 days, and only kept from floating 

 away entirely by houses and high 

 fences surrounding them ; some were 

 right side up, some bottom up, and 

 others on their sides ; yet almost all 

 these are now in good condition, hav- 

 ing built up rapidly on our abundant 

 early spring fruit-bloom. Some of 



