558 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



Sept. 



HOW DID IT HAPPEN? 



SOME QUESTIONS FROM A BEGINNER. 



^ HAD a swarm issue out of a hive that had al- 

 Jll ready swarmed three times. It getting late in 

 the season, and weakening the colony, I put 

 them back and clipped one wing of the queen. In 

 a day or so, out they came again. On examination 

 we found two queens in the swarm — one black and 

 one Italian. The stand they came from being a hy- 

 brid, we killed the black one; and in catching the 

 other we caused a bee to sting and kill her. We 

 put them back, and in a few days out they came 

 again, but did not more than half cluster till they 

 all went back, and seemed satisfied. 



Now, what became of the clipped queen? and why 

 did two queens — a black and an Italian, come out 

 together? and why two different kinds of queens in 

 one hive? 



My bees have not done much this season, it being 

 wet and cool part of the time, and part too dry, and 

 we had a frost in the latter part of May which killed 

 all the bloom mostly. There is an abundance of 

 wild and tame flowers now, and my bees are boom- 

 ing on them and buckwheat. How will it answer, 

 should they store any more than will keep them aft- 

 er the flow of honey is over, to extract over what I 

 think will winter them? My bees have never 

 noticed the Russian sunflower, and have only com- 

 menced to worK on spider plant the last few days, 

 notwithstanding there were great drops of honey in 

 it. I send you a sample of plant that grows from 6 

 to 1 feet tall that is just bending with bees from 

 morning till night. It has been in bloom for nearly 

 two months. I want to know if you have a name 

 for it. My Simpson honey-plant did no good. 



HONEY FROM THE OAK. 



I will say, that bees are swarming on black-oak 

 timber, working on a kind of gum, I think, that oozes 

 out of the leaves. 



SWARMING WITHOUT CLUSTERING, AND THE SWARM- 

 ING MANIA. 



I had a large swarm come out and cluster. I hiv- 

 ed them, and next day, about 9 o'clock, they came 

 out, and we settled them; hived them and put them 

 in another place. In an hour, out they came, and 

 we watered them; but, go they seemed determined 

 to. We flred off a gun among them, and finally 

 succeeded in settling them. We put them back, 

 and my wife gave them some syrup; but they still 

 seemed uneasy, so I put in a good-sized piece of 

 comb I had just taken out of a hive with some hon- 

 ey and unsealed brood, but that did not seem to sat- 

 isfy them; and the next day, out they came again. 

 We rallied them round and round for half an hour 

 or more, and finally back they came, and went into 

 the hive, and seemed to be contented, and went to 

 work. I think the queen, perhaps, was on the comb 

 I had put in with a few remaining bees; and when 

 they found she had not come out, they returned, 

 and were willing to stay. In about four weeks they 

 sent out a large swarm, and we hived them. After 

 dinner my wife went to see a sick woman, and I was 

 busy in the yai'd, and the children failed to watch 

 them closely, so the first we knew they were out, 

 and gone to parts unknown. Now, was it not the 

 same queen, and a portion of the bees of the swarm 

 that we had so much trouble to keep? My im- 

 pression is that it was, and they had not forgotten 

 their first determination to leave. My experience 

 is, that bees sometimes pick out a tree to go to, and, 



under such circumstances, it is almost impossible to 

 keep them. Chas. L. Gough. 



Rock Spring, Mo., Sept. 6, 1883. 



Friend G.,the queen you clipped was a 

 virgin, as are all queens from after-swarms ; 

 and when you clipped her wing you spoiled 

 her just about as effectually as if you had 

 clipped her head off. She got lost in the 

 grass, probably, and then the bees waited 

 until the other two hatched, which you 

 speak of. I think both were Italian queens, 

 but one was accidentally black. We often 

 find dark queens and light from the same 

 lot of cells. This matter is so much discuss- 

 ed that we keep a black queen in our apiary 

 all the while, producing nice yellow bees. 

 —By all means, extract what your bees store 

 more than they need, but be sure you do 

 not starve them. —This matter of honey 

 from the oak is now reported from almost 

 all localities, and I should like very much to 

 meet with a case of the kind. One of our 

 office boys says he saw bees literally swarm- 

 ing on an oak-tree a year ago, within only 

 two or three miles of where I am writing. — 

 I think bees that have had the swarming 

 mania would be qviite likely to have it again, 

 and I think you are right in saying it was 

 the uneasy and discontented bees that start- 

 ed up the swarming mania again in that 

 hive. — I do not quite understand you, friend 

 G., about your Simpson honey-plant. The 

 plant you send us. which you say is bending 

 with bees, is the Simpson honey-plant, and 

 nothing else. 



Or Department for duties to bo attended to 

 this mouth. 



^MPOW is the time to prepare the bees for 

 JW winter, with most of us. The direc- 

 tions have been so fully gone over 

 year after year that it is hardly worth while 

 to repeat them. Quite a number of friends 

 have been raising queens for sale, as well as 

 for honey, and it is well known that our 

 Queen-rearing hives, or nuclei, are more 

 difficult to winter. Neighbor Rice was 

 just in, and I asked him what he should do 

 with his. He said he should raise queens as 

 long as he could, and then double up and 

 winter the bees " as long as he could." The 

 trouble seems to be, we have too many old 

 bees to go into winter quarters. If we 

 double them so as to make powerful col- 

 onies, there are so many of an age that they 

 will die off nearly at the same time, and then 

 the colony dwindles. Having some brood 

 in all the nuclei before they are united, and 

 then having a good queen to fill combs well 

 when they are united, would probably be at 

 least a partial remedy. Then feed with 

 sugar stores until all the combs are filled 

 well around the brood-nest, and the young 

 bees will probably winter well, if the winter 

 is a mild one. If it is very cold, you will 

 likely have losses. Mr. Rice winters in the 

 cellar, and the cellar would probably be an 

 advantage for such, in the majority of win-» 

 ters, if one has a good one. 



