704 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Nov. 



came in from <he field at neon we all went to look at 

 the bees, and that swarm seemed to have got down 

 to business in a way that looked encouraging; but 

 at 3 o'clock my mother called out that the bees were 

 swarming, and, sure enough, here they came, just 

 over our heads, and not more than 10 feet high. 

 We gave pursuit; and after going about one- 

 fourth of a mile they went directly into a large hon- 

 ey-locust tree, wh-sre they were allowed to remain 

 until fall, when the tree waf cut for the sake of the 

 honey that it contained. Since that time I have 

 frequently given unsealed brood to swarms that 

 wanted to leave, and sometimes it had the desired 

 effect, and other times it did no good. 



The present season I had a swarm that refused to 

 stay in the bive, although I gave it brood. After 

 hiving it the third time it left, and T followed it, and 

 It went to a large oak-tree about 300 yards from the 

 apiary. This was about 4 o'clock, July 3d. I had 

 several times taken young squirrels out of the tree, 

 and I knew just what kind of a hollow the tree had. 

 The top was broken off, and the break had grown 

 over so that the hole was not more than 6 in. across, 

 and the hollow in the tree was about a foot across, 

 and 6 feet long. I set a nail-keg over the hole, and 

 left it all night, thinking that perhaps the bees 

 would gather up into thekeg; but on going there the 

 next morning I found about half of the bees in the 

 Keg, which I let down with a rope, and carried back 

 to the hive, and shook on to a sheet, and watched 

 for the queen, b\it did not see her. So I went back 

 with my keg, and set it on top of the tree, and cut a 

 small hole just at the bottom of the hollow, and got 

 my smoker to work, thinking to drive the bees up 

 into the keg; but instead of going into the keg they 

 swarmed out and clustered on a limb about 16 feet 

 from the ground. I then set a long ladder against 

 that limb, and took my keg and smoker, and under- 

 took to smoke the bees up into the keg there, but 

 got more bees outside than inside. But I saw the 

 queen go up into thekee:; and as that was what 1 

 wanted, I just took that keg and shook the bees on 

 to the sheet in front of the hive, and caught the 

 queen and clipped her wing, and then let her run in 

 with the rest of the bees. Those bees that were left 

 at the tree soon returned to the hive, and all went 

 lovely afterward. 



From the experience that T have had I should say, 

 that, when a swarm of bees have a certain location 

 picked out to which they wish to go, they will not 

 be coaxed to stay, not even with unsealed brood. I 

 am no advocate of clipping queens' wings; but 

 hereafter, when a swarm persists in leaving the 

 hive, I will use the scissors on the queen, even at 

 the risk of clipping an unfertile queen, as it is better 

 to lose a queen than to lose both swarm and queen, 

 and an unfertile queen is easily replaced. 



DO BEES RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER BY THEIR SCENT, 



AND DOES THE QUEEN GIVE TO EACH HIVE ITS 



PECULIAR ODOR? 



T see by your remarks in reply to article on page 

 677 of Gleanings, that yo-u think it incredible that 

 the queen can give to a hive and its bees this pe- 

 culiar scent. My experience will not throw much 

 lighten the subject; but I am satisfied in my own 

 mind that the queen does not give this peculiar 

 scent. If, indeed, bees do thus recognize each other, 

 which I very much doubt. For several years I have 

 always united weak stocks in the fall; and as my 

 experience this fall has been the name as other 

 fears, I will give it . 



In preparing my bees for winter I found that I 

 had 6 colonies too weak to winter successfully, so I 

 doubled them up, putting two colonies in each hive 

 thus making three of the six. This uniting was 

 done near evening; the weather was cool, and the 

 bees were clustered on 3 combs in each hive, so all I 

 had to do was to remove the empty combs from a 

 hive, and put the combs containing bees and honey 

 to one side of the hive, and then lift the combs with 

 the bees and honey out of the other hive, and put 

 them in the opposite side of the first hive, putting 

 combs between the clusters on which there were no 

 bees, thus separating the two swarnas. Both swarms 

 were allowed to retain their queens. The bees re- 

 mained quiet all night, as it was so cold they had to 

 keep clustered to keep warm; but the next day they 

 flew quite strongly, but did not fight, the entrance to 

 the hives being left open the full width of the bive. 

 About one week after uniting those swarms, a 

 neighbor told me that he had a queenless colony 

 which, in other respects, was good enough to winter 

 over, and asked me if I could spare him a queen. T 

 told him how I had united all my weak colonies, but 

 that I would look and see if some of the hives did 

 not have the two queens yet, and, sure enough, the 

 first hive opened had its two clusters of bees, and in 

 each cluster was a queen, one of which I gave him. 

 T have known such clusters to remain separate for 

 thi-ee weeks, and retain each its queen, and I don't 

 know how much longer, as when taken out of winter 

 quarters in the spring there was always but one 

 cluster and one queen in each hive so united. It 

 must be remembered, that there have been several 

 days in which bees flew freely; still there was no 

 quarreling. Now, if the queen gives to the hive Its 

 peculiar scent, which queen out-scents the other, 

 and thus gives to the bees their peculiar smell? I 

 think you are right in thinking that their actions 

 have more to do with It than their smell. 



Muscatine, Iowa, Nov. 5, 1883. W. S. Fultz. 



ABOUT THAT HONTCY FROITI OAK- 

 liEAVES. 



A FURTHER REPORT IN THE MATTER, FROM FRIEND 

 CORK. 



m 



HE Saturday after you were here, being a 

 beautiful day, I examined about 40 hives to 

 ascertain their state as regards queenlessness' 

 etc., in preparation for winter. Although I opened 

 so many hives, and occasionally broke small pieces 

 of comb containing honey, I had scarcely any 

 trouble from robbers. They were still getting so 

 much honey from the oak-trees that they were not 

 in a robbing mood. I think they must have gather- 

 ed from 1 to 5 lbs. per hive during the four days 

 they were able to work at it. The honey was quite 

 thin and clear, and tasted very much like maple 

 syrup. In all the hives, except where there were 

 very young queens, brood-rearing had ceased; but 

 this flow of oak honey started the queens laying 

 again. George Cork. 



Niagara. Out, Can., Oct. 29, 1883. 



If the honey was light in color and right 

 in flavoi', I should hardly think, friend C, 

 that it wfis the work of aphides. Now, is it 

 possible that this is a vegetable exudation 

 from the leaves of that particular species of 

 oak-tree? Please note if it seems whole- 

 some or otherwise for bees ; that is, if your 

 bees have the dysentery badly, please in- 

 form' us, Of to the contrary. 



