404 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Miscellaneous Experiments. 



FRANK R. ROE. 



1. Some aie in doubt as to whether 

 a swarm of bees will issue from a 

 hive and go off without settling ; but 

 they undoubtedly will, sometimes, 

 and that, too, oftener than some esti- 

 tuate, as it has been placed at not 

 more than one in every hundred. For 

 several years past, we have had a 

 swarm or two (out of no more than 

 2o or .SO) to " try it," and they suc- 

 ceeded pretty well this season, as we 

 had a large swarm to come out, and I 

 saw them issue ; I watched for the 

 queen, but did not get her, and they 

 started off immediately. I succeeded 

 in cutting off about one-third of 

 them bv throwing part of a " potato 

 patch " at them, but the rest seemed 

 determined to go, and I was just as 

 determined to see where they were 

 going; so I followed after them two 

 miles, over fences, through flax, oats, 

 barley, corn, woods, logs and brush, 

 and had to ford a river besides, and 

 then did not get them, but 1 found 

 out that they did not intend. to just go 

 a little ways, and then settle before 

 going to their new home. The en- 

 trance to the hive they came from is 

 % of an inch wide by 8 inches long. 

 Ttiey had a pure Italian laying queen 

 with them. Oh, yes I I must tell how 

 long it took me to go the four miles- 

 two there antl two back — it took just 

 three-quarters of an hour. The rea- 

 son I came back in such a hurry was, 

 I had left a swarm hanging on a limb 

 in the bee-yard, and the bees I had 

 cut off from the swarm that went to 

 the woods, settled with. them. I had 

 only been back about a minute when 

 they began to come off the cluster. 

 I grabbed a basket, rushed up the 

 ladder, which had been placed tliere 

 before ; shook what few remaining 

 bees tliere were in it, then poured 

 them in the hive they came from, and 

 by throwing water at the remainder, 

 while they were low, and clubs after 

 they had got out of the reach of water, 

 we succeeded in settling them again. 



Moral.— When a swarm tries to go 

 off, it does not pay to give up until 

 the last minute. 



2. 1 had a queen to hatch, after 

 which the cap to the cell sprung back, 

 the bees tlieu sealed it up and 

 swarmed. There was no other cell, 

 and no larvaj in the hive. 



3. After a queen had hatched from 

 another cell, a worker bee was sealed 

 up in it, and I had anothercase where 

 a colony was buildingcellsand sealed 

 a worker up in one. Why did not 

 those workers gnaw out, the same as 

 a queen V They were both dead when 

 I found them. If I had not peeped 

 into the hist inenlioned cell, I would 

 have inserted it in ii nuclei, and 

 waited for a queen to hatch. 



4. When I am in doubt as to 

 whether a cell is good, or do not 

 know when it will liatch, I open it on 

 the side with a sharp knife and look 

 in, then seal it up again, and if a good 

 job is done, the occupant will never 

 know the difference, but a good job 

 must be done, or the bees will tear 

 the cell down. It can be done by 

 warming a knife blade and running 

 it over the place. I have taken 

 queens out into my hands three or 

 tour days before their time to hatch, 

 and then put them back and sealed 

 them up, and they hatched as if they 

 had never been disturbed. 



5. I had two swarms issue at once 

 and settle together, and as they settled 

 on the body of a tree, I smoked them 

 into a nail-keg and tied burlap over 

 the top, so that I could bring them 

 down. As dinner was ready, I set 

 them in the shade, and when I came 

 back, you may just guess the tempera- 

 ture was " up " in that nail-keg. The 

 most of them sought refuge in the 

 bottom, without tinding it. When I 

 'poured them out they were wet all 

 over with honey, and the honey also 

 ran out of the keg in a stream. They 

 had taken it from the hive before 

 swarming, and when they began to 

 get too hot, they disgorged it. There 

 was scarcely any of them dead when 

 I opened the keg, but they nearly all 

 died soon after. 



6. The reason why some swarms will 

 sting, and others will not while 

 swarming, is this : If the hive from 

 which they issue is well tilled with 

 honey, they will Hll themselves before 

 coming out, and a bee, gorged with 

 honey, will not sting from choice; 

 while upon the other hand, if there is 

 scarcely any honey in the hive when 

 they swarm, they will not be filled, 

 and are in perfect trim for stinging. 



Joidan, Ind., July 2-5, 1883. 



Read before the Te.xas Association. 



Comb or Extracted Honey. 



W. K. MARSHALL. 



The question whether comb or ex- 

 tracted honey will pay best, is one 

 that is attracting the attention of 

 bee-keepers. To decide this question 

 we must take all the surrounding 

 circumstances into consideration. It 

 is admitted that comb honey will sell 

 higher than extracted. In a locality 

 convenient to market, where the 

 honey would not have to be trans- 

 ported any distance, or handled often, 

 it might be doubtful which would pay 

 best. It is admitted that bees will 

 gather more extracted honey than 

 comb; with comb foundation, how- 

 ever, the amount would not vary so 

 much. Say that a colony would pro- 

 duce 100 pounds of comb honey, and 

 that it would bring 20 cents per 

 pound, making §20, it would require 

 the same colony to produce 200 pounds 

 at 10 cents to bring the same amount. 



The expense in producing the comb 

 honey is greater than that of ex- 

 tracted. The sections and cases in 

 which to pack it, would cost say 2 

 ci'iits jier pound. The difficulty in 

 transporting comb honey any distance 



to market, is so great that for those 

 at a distance from market it amounts 

 almost to a prohibition. I have never 

 been able to transport comb honey 

 any distance without having it broken 

 and injured, so as materially effect 

 the sale. I believe the only way to 

 market comb honey safely is to go 

 with it, and handle it yourself. Taking 

 into consideration the additional ex- 

 pense of produoiug comb honey, and 

 the difficulty of getting it to market, 

 I am convinced tliat our true policy 

 is to work for extracted honey. There 

 may be exceptions to this rule ; there 

 may be localities where there is a de- 

 mand for comb honey, and not much 

 for extracted honey. The demand 

 for extracted honey has been largely 

 oil the increase, and there has been 

 more and more demand for it every 

 year. I believe ihe demand for it 

 will very soon be unlimited. The ease 

 and comparative cheapness of send- 

 ing it to market, and the fact that a 

 colony will produce decidedly more 

 honey, all combine to point us to ex- 

 tracted honey as our principal produc- 

 tion. We can, for the present, And 

 a market for all we will produce near 

 home. Extracted honey, at present 

 prices, will pay. Anything like a 

 good colony ought to produce 100 

 pounds, which, at present prices, 

 would be $10. This, after deducting 

 all expenses, ought to clear $5. This 

 is a moderate calculation, and I think 

 could be realized with anything like 

 good management. 

 Marshall, Texas. 



For the American Bee JuumaL 



Italian and Hybrid Bees, etc. 



S. A. SHUCK. 



I have found bees in the timber in 

 Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and 

 Illinois. Seven years ago last April, 

 I purchased my first colony of bees 

 for the purpose of studying and prac- 

 ticing modern apicujture. Tliey were 

 the so-called brown bees, in box 

 hives. My first young queen mated 

 with a hybrid drone, giving me bees 

 that, one in every 25 or 50 showed the 

 so-called second yellow band. Since 

 then, I have had hybrids of every 

 grade, from black and brown queens 

 to Italian queens. I have owned 

 black, brown and Italian bees, that 

 at certain times in the season I could, 

 without ditficulty, handle without 

 smoke, while many of the same bees, 

 at other times, were intolerably vicious 

 when disturbed. I have to-day, in 

 my iipiary, Italian bees, or those 

 showing all the necessary markings 

 in color, and that, too. without the 

 window or " stufiSng " tests ; that 

 with honey coming in, as it is, in 

 abundance, can be called amiable and 

 well behaved, but under destitute 

 circumstances, it is almost out of the 

 question to handle them without pro- 

 tection. I have others, Italians, that 

 in all weather that is fit to handle 

 bees at all, and from the point of 

 starvation to honey in the greatest 

 abundance, can be handled without 

 smoke or protection. 



