PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK 



^; 



S^^ '^ 



AT $1.00 PER ANNUM. 



r-^H.jvot=^ 8ii^f«- 



IN AMER\C^ 



35th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., AUG. 15, 1895. 



No. 33. 



Cot;)tnbuted /Vrticles^ 



On Important A-piarian Subjects. 



Uniting Colonies of Bees in the Fall. 



BY «. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes thus : "My bees have done very 

 poorly this season as to honey, and seem light in bees. As we 

 do not have much, if any, fall honey here, I do not expect the 

 bees will get more than a living from now out, and I must 

 either unite my bees or feed them for suflicient stores for win- 

 ter. As I have more bees than I wish, I have resolved to 

 unite them until they have honey enough so I do not need to 

 feed. I wish you would tell us through the columns of the 

 American Bee Journal the best plan for uniting in the fall of 

 the year." 



I have tried many plans of uniting bees, but prefer the 

 following to any other for fall use, especially where the colo- 

 nies to bo united are rather light in bees : 



In the first place, the queens in a part of the colonies are 

 to be taken away and disposed of in some way, either by sell- 

 ing them or destroying. It sold, of course you will sell only 

 good queens ; but if killed, then the poorest are the ones to 

 select out. By thus selecting and killing the poorest we can 

 improve our apiary in quality, as well as to save buying sugar 

 to feed. But were there no difference in the queens I would 

 remove all but those I expected to winter over, for so far as I 

 have practiced this plan, I I3nd that queenless bees are less in- 

 clined to quarrel, and are more disposed to stay where put, 

 than are those having queens. 



Having the queens disposed of, from the colonies which 

 are to be united, wait three days to a week (three days in any 

 event, so the colonies may realize their queenlessness) for some 

 cool, cloudy day, when it is a few degrees colder than the bees 

 desire to fly in, when you will find the bees all clustered com- 

 pactly, something the way they are in winter. When taking 

 the queens away, take all the combs from the hive but three, 

 unless the colony is too large, leaving only those which con- 

 tain the most honey. The combs left are to be spread apart 

 from % to an inch, setting them out two or three inches from 

 the sides of the hive, so that the bees may be all clustered on 

 these combs instead of hanging to the sides, or any part of 

 the hive. The hive which is to receive these bees and combs 

 is to be also prepared beforehand, by taking away all the 

 combs but three or four, those left being the ones having the 

 most honey in them, said combs being placed close to one side 

 of the hive. 



When the right day arrives as to temperature, light the 

 smoker and put on your bee-veil, for in following the plan de- 

 scribed you may not be able to use the hands to get a stinging 



Large Blue FUuj —{[riis \'en<icolor) — See page o2:. 



(Copyrighted by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.) 



' Bom in the purple, bom to joy and pleasure, 



Thou dost not toil nor spin, 

 But make glad and radiant with thy presence 

 The meadow and the Wn." —LungfrUou: 



