1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



649 



points along their lines, in order to increase their home com- 

 forts, and are supplying hives, building sheds, and paying 

 premiums to them. 



Migratory bee-keeping receives considerable attention in 

 many parts of the country, the bees being moved in the sum- 

 mer after the hay-season, from the lower plains to the Alpine 

 heights, where myriads of Alpine roses and other flowers offer 

 them a rich and delicious pasture. 



Like most other countries, Switzerland has in times past 

 had its craze for Italianizing, and not wisely but extensively 

 supplanted the native black bee by the Italian, so that in 

 many parts of the country the bees are gradually getting mon- 

 grelized, and are becoming vicious and savage brutes. But 

 bee-keepers are beginning to find out the error they have 

 made, and are often, at considerable expense, returning to the 

 indigenous bees, or Carniolan, a variety of the black bee. 



It is generally admitted here by all experienced and dis- 

 interested bee-keepers, that the pure Germans or Caruiolans 

 are the gentlest, the hardiest, and most industrious bees 

 known. Their habitation — the north of Europe, with its long 

 and severe winters, its cold winds and stormy season — would 

 naturally, in the course of ages, evolve a hardy and indus- 

 trious race, fit to survive such conditions. That they are bet- 

 ter geometricians and build nicer, straigbter and more regular 

 combs — in fact almost faultless — is beyond dispute. Sometimes 

 we hear from a bee-keeper that his black bees are vicious, but 

 if he were to examine them closely he would find that they arc 

 not pure black, but have become mougrelized somehow. 



DEALING WITH LAYING WORKERS. 



The other day someone, thuough the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, asked for information how to got rid of laying workers. 

 We have them here, sometimes, especially in Italianized 

 apiaries, but have no diCBculty in dealing with them. We re- 

 move the affected hive from its old stand, about 100 feet 

 away, under the shade of a tree, if possible ; in the meantime 

 placing a similar hive with a little brood and a queen, or 

 queen-cell, in its place. We then take from the affected hive 

 in slow succession one frame after another, and brush and 

 shake the bees gently into the air, setting the frames into the 

 hive on the old stand, or putting them away. The worker- 

 bees will thus find their way back into the hive on the old 

 stand, and re-establish themselves with the new queen or 

 queen-cell, while the layers, which had never left the hive be- 

 fore, and would also be too heavy to fly, will fall to the ground 

 and get lost. 



If this is done on a fine day when the bees are flying, and 

 care is taken to prevent them forming into a clump, it will 

 never fail, and is simple. 



Ollon, Switzerland, Aug. 20, 1895. 



What Dr. Miller Thinks. 



don't see why T should not continue to pay taxes to the same 

 amount, for I think I have just as much need of protection to 

 my property after the trade as before. 



Longevity in Bees. — Gen. J. VandeVord, on page 618, 

 is right in attaching much importance to the matter of having 

 workers that have a long lease of life, no matter whether the 

 queens are prolific or not. If a week can be added to the life 

 of a worker-bee, that means more than a fourth added to the 

 amount of nectar it will gather, for the average worker spends 

 only about 26 days in the field, and a week would be more 

 than the fourth of 26 days. 



Giving Sections in the Fall. — I've thought it a good 

 plan to allow no sections on after the white honey harvest 

 was over, but the plan B. Taylor gives on page 614 sets one 

 to thinking whether there may not be a gain by it, providing 

 a fall flow is pretty sure. But where four times out of five 

 the fall yield is a crop of propolis, I believe I'd rather leave 

 the sections off. 



Time to put on Sections. — In his Toronto essay (page 

 614), Mr. Taylor says he puts sections on strong colonies 10 

 days before clover blooms. I wish he would tell us whether 

 he means 10 days before the first white clover blossoms are 

 seen, and if so, why he wants sections on so soon. In my 

 location I have noticed for years that the first few clover 

 blossoms are seen about 10 days before the bees seem to do 

 much on clover. I like to have sections on before the bees get 

 into their heads the first notion of swarming, but if I get them 

 on immediately after I see the first clover bloom, I feel pretty 

 safe. But I want to say to you Bro. Taylor, that in spite of 

 the fact that I'm not strongly in favor of essays at conventions, 

 that Toronto essay of yours was a mighty good and practical 

 one. 



Taxing Bees.— On page 617, Rev. E. T. Abbott gives 

 one excellent reason why bees should be taxed. Practice in 

 this respect varies very much, bees being specially exempted 

 from taxation, I think, in Iowa and perhaps elsewhere, while 

 in the State of Illinois they are taxed in some places and not 

 in others. I never could see any good reason why all colonies 

 of bees should not be taxed. If I have $100 invested in 

 cattle, on which I am taxed, and trade those cattle for bees, I 



Samuel Wagner. — I always supposed, until I read page 

 620, that the first editor of the American Bee Journal was a 

 native-born German. His familiarity with all that pertained to 

 bee-culture in Germany was of great value, certainly. Take 

 the first iTolume of the Journal, and cut out everything that 

 has a German tinge about it, and you will leave a rather thin 

 •volume. 



Queens in Upper Stories. — Chester Belding says on 

 page 625 that he has given cells in protectors in upper stories, 

 knew they hatched out all right, but they were gone in a short 

 time. My experience exactly; but then I always tried it 

 somewhat early, and Doolittle says it should not be done till 

 after the honey harvest. Perhaps Mr. Belding and others 

 made the same mistake I did. Marengo, 111. 



The Results of 1895 "Footed Up." 



BY EDWIN BEVINS. 



The honey-flow now is about over here (Ang. 31) and the 

 results of work in the apiary for 1895 can be footed up. My 

 surplus will average something over 50 pounds per colony, 

 spring count, and this "count" includes one colony that was 

 found queenless at the commencement of the honey-flow, and 

 another which, after swarming once, developed a laying worker 

 and had to be broken up. Besides this, I have just doubled 

 my number of colonies, after having three go to the woods, and 

 doubling up two others. Every colony in the yard is now 

 strong in numbers, with the brood-chambers full of the best of 

 winter stores. 



Bees by the Pound. — About the middle of May I re- 

 ceived from Texas, two 2-pound lots of bees with tested 

 queens— one 3-banded, the other 5-banded. They were placed 

 in 8-frame dove-tailed hives, and the hives filled with frames 

 of foundation as needed. These lots have been treated exactly 

 alike. Sections have been put on and taken off at the same 

 time. The cost of the two lots was the same. The yellow 

 bees have completed 82 sections of honey— the 3-banded have 

 completed 84. So it seems that I have paid the price of two 

 sections of honey for yellowness. In readiness to sting, I see 

 but little difference between the two lots. They are not at all 

 difficult to handle, but I have some milder-mannered bees in 

 the apiary. Mr. McArthur will agree that this kind of migra- 

 tory bee-keeping has not been unprofitable to me, when he 

 learns that the cost of each lot was exactly $3.67j-3 each, and 

 that the sections of honey bring 15 cents each. 



Large and Small Hives.— At considerable trouble and 

 some expense I fitted up two of the Dadant extracting-hives 

 with sections for comb honey. The bees in both hives were 

 blacks, and I did not expect them to swarm. One of the colo- 

 nies, however, swarmed twice. I had a colony of blacks in an 

 8-frame dove-tailed hive standing near, which I intended to 

 work for comparison of results with one of the colonies in one 

 of the big hives, This colony also swarmed twice. Supers 

 were put on at the same time, and have not been disturbed 

 except that an examination has been made now and then to 

 see what progress has been made in them. The one on the 

 big hive seems to be the nearest filled. The other colony in 

 the big hive did not swarm and has stored about 80 pounds of 

 honey. The product of the other colonies in big hives that 

 did not swarm will be about 100 pounds each of extracted 

 honey. It will be seen that the two 2-pound lots of Italian 

 bees have produced about the same amount of honey as the 

 colony of blacks in the big hive that did not swarm. I had no 

 colonies of blacks in small hives that did not swarm, and so 

 there is no chance for lair comparison.; >— ^ _ 



One colony of Italians in a standard hive, having a clipped 

 queen, did not swarm, but two or three frames of brood were 

 taken from it to strengthen other colonies. The work of this 



