1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



633 



CONDUCTED BY 



Re\'. Emerson T. Abbott, St. Joseph, Ato. 



Controlling S'warms. — "I want a system of man- 

 agement that will keep the full working-force of the colony 

 together during the entire honey-flow unless I want to increase 

 my colonies by taking a prime swarm from each colony. If I 

 want no increase I prevent swarming by raising all the sealed 

 brood above the queen-excluder and confine the queen below the 

 excluder. If I want the prime swarm, I let them come, hive 

 them on the old stand, remove the parent colony to a new 

 location, after shaking enough bees from the combs to prevent 

 after-swarms. There is no use of any fuss about it. After 

 the old hive has set by the side of the new one a few days, 

 shake the bees off of all the combs except one that has a good 

 queen-cell on it, and move the old hive to a new location, and 

 rest easy. There will be no after-swarm." — G. W. Demaree, 

 in Canadian Bee Journal. 



It seems to me that Mr. Demaree has embodied a good 

 deal of information, which is valuable to the beginner, in a 

 short paragraph. I have found that it is very hard to get the 

 beginner to see the importance of "keeping the full working- 

 force of the colony together during the entire honey-flow." 

 They nearly all seem to think that the more colonies of bees 

 they have the more honey they will get, and it is very hard to 

 make them understand why it is that a good, strong colony of 

 workers will gather a surplus of 50 to 75 pounds of honey, 

 when if they had been divided, and two colonies made out of 

 them, they would probably not have given their owner any 

 surplus honey at all. The beginner to too apt not to take into 

 consideration the strength of the colony, and argue that if one 

 colony will gather 50 pounds of honey, surely two will gather 

 100 pounds; but they will not, just the same. 



I think, too, that the suggestion about the prevention of 

 swarming should receive the careful attention of the inexper- 

 ienced bee-keeper. Mr. D's management of a colony which 

 has cast a swarm is one which I can commend, also. That is 

 well put when he says, "There is no use of any fuss about it." 

 Sure enough ! I have often wondered why it v'as that there 

 is so much said about "after-swarms," etc. I have not had a 

 "second swarm " in years, and I am quite sure if the plan 

 suggested above is followed to the letter, not one colony in 

 500 will throw out an after-swarm. I am equally sure that a 

 colony that has been permitted to follow Nature's course aud 

 swarm, will, if handled in this way, store a great deal more 

 honey than it would if it had not been permitted to swarm in 



the natural way. 



♦-.-*. 



Do the Bees Open the Queen-Cells?— "From 

 the lower end of this cell (a queen-cell) hangs a lid, which was 

 cut away by the workers to allow the queen to emerge." — 

 Prof. Comstock, in "Manual for the Study of Insects." 



Is there not some mistake here? I have seen scores of 

 queens cut their way out of their cells, but I liave never seen 

 a worker-bee render any assistance in this operation. Prof. 

 Comstock, unlike many other scientific men who write about 

 bees, seems to have studied them at first hand. That he has 

 made a personal study of the economy of the bee-hive may be 

 inferred from the following : " There is a large literature con- 

 cerning the intelligence of bees, but those who love to see 

 rather than merely think about interesting things will find 

 the keenest pleasure in intimate associations with those little 

 communists." It does not seem that the author of such a 

 sentence would make a mistake about the one mentioned 

 above, tut I am inclined to think that he has failed to make 

 close observation in this case, or else his observation for once 

 must have led him astray. I would be glad to know what has 

 been the observation of others. It is only by the combined 

 testimony of a number of close observers that we can arrive as 

 to what each member of a colony of bees does or does not do. 



While it has no direct bearing on the above subject, I am 

 constrained to make another quotation from Prof. C's book, 

 as it shows the keen appreciation he has of apiculture and all 

 rural pursuits. 



" Neat rows of hives on a sunny slope, with an orchard on 

 one side and wide stretching meadows on the other, the busy 

 hum of comers and goers of this city of cities, the odor of 

 honey weighing down every passing breeze — these constitute 

 one of the most home-like possessions of the ideal country- 

 home." 



These are my sentiments expressed better than I could do 

 it myself. If there is any man on earth who has cause to be 

 happy and contented, it is the farmer who owns his home, 

 with not too much land, and has about him " neat rows of 

 hives;" " wide stretching meadows," (not too wide); lowing 

 kine of some improved breed; sleek and well-kept, fat and 

 prancing horses; with fine sheep, hogs, poultry, etc., and an 

 abundance of all kinds of rich and delicious fruits, which add 

 to his comfort, health and happiness. These with a loving wife 

 and contented children, should fill to the brim the cup of 

 human happiness. I may be permitted to remark just here 

 that all of these may be obtained with much less fret and 

 worry than can a great fortune, or even a competency, in a 

 large city, if one is trained for the duties of farm life from his 

 youth up. A German proverb runs: 



" Keep plenty of bees and sheep, 

 Then cosily lie down and sleep ! " 



/Kn}or)Q i1r)c Bee-Papers 



Gleaned by Dr. Aliller. 



HE DOESN'T OPEN HIVES. 



I used to always examine colonies having young queens 

 to see if they had successfully mated and commenced laying. 

 Once in a great while I would find that one was lost and I sup- 

 plied a queen. I don't do this any more. Suppose a queen is 

 lost, the hive, combs and honey (that would have been con- 

 verted into bees) are left, and there is a better chance in the 

 field for the other bees. It is the same with other things. As 

 a rule I don't open a hive unless there are some external indi- 

 cations of trouble, and I am sure that I am the gainer by the 

 practice. — Editor of Review. 



CAUSE OF QUEENS PIPING. 



E. E. Hasty says in Review: 



" Dr. Miller has known an old queen to pipe with no other 

 queen near ; and he suspects fear instead of jealousy as the 

 cause. Perhaps she smells something, who knows ? Say, now, 

 it couldn't have been alchohol or oil of tobacco exuding with 

 her keeper's perspiration, now could it?" 



That man Hasty will get hurt some day. 



WAX PKODUCTION. 



Among the questions in the Australian Bee-Bulletin is the 

 following : 



" What plan of working would you recommend to increase 

 the production of wax per hive? This question is given on 

 account of the steady rise in value of wax in the European 

 and American markets." 



■ Nearly four pages of fine print are given to the discussion 

 of the question, some thinking there's nothing to be gained in 

 that direction, and many being hopeful. 



AMALGAMATION. 



Dr. A. B. Mason, in Review, opposes the consolidation of 

 the North American and Union, but in case of such consolida- 

 tion offers the following suggestions that are worth consider- 

 ing : 



"If a union of the societies is considered advisable would 

 it not be well to adopt the name Bee-Keepers' Union, or the 

 North American Bee-Keeper's Union, and have its officers and 

 board of managers chosen in the same or some similar way as 

 is now done by the Union, and so remove the management of 



