I'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



133 



Distiniuisliiiig Swarms. 



Query, No. 384.— I am obliged to be ab- 

 ■sent from my apiarv till 3:45 p.m. each day. If.on 

 ■juy roturn, I flna a swarm on a tree, what is the 

 beat way <if ascertaining from what hive it came ? 

 i have tried sprinltlinK with flour, l)nt with little 

 •«uccesa. Please e-xplain fully. -F., New Jersey. 



By observiug the appearance of the 

 colony. The hive that has just cast a 

 awarm will have fewer bees than 

 usual at the entrance ; and if sections 

 are on, they will be comparatively 

 deserted.— J. P. H. Brown. 



If there are only a few colonies in 

 the yard they may be examined ; if 

 there are many, the swarm may be 

 hived, and then watch be kept to see 

 where the stragglers finally go.— W. 

 Z. Hutchinson. 



Learn the condition and strength 

 of each colony, so that you can on 

 your return note the change, if one 

 casts a swarm in your absence. If 

 one has many colonies it may be im- 



Eossible to tell where second-swarms 

 ave issued, unless the bee-keeper is 

 ■on hand very soon after ; then scat- 

 tering young bees, and bees with crip- 

 pled wings in front of a hive, will be 

 the index.— G. L. Tinker. 



After you have hived the swarm 

 and taken them away from the place 

 where they were clustered, take a 

 bunch of the bees to a little distance 

 and throw them in the air. In a little 

 ■while you will find them ventilating 

 at the entritnce of the old hive. If 

 floured, it is all the better. But the 

 best way is to clip the queen's wing.— 

 •C. C. Miller. 



I have experimented considerably 

 to overcome cases like the one here 

 ■described. I have succeeded by put- 

 ting soaoe flour in a deep tin cup and 

 dipping up some bees from the clus- 

 ter, and after shaking them up, and 

 giving them a good scare, turn them 

 ioose in the apiary. Some of them 

 will generally go straight home and 

 discover to the observer the hive from 

 which the swarm issued. Once in a 

 while the bees refuse to identify their 

 ■old home in this way, and I am 

 "swamped."- G. W. Demaree. 



The " flour" plan is a success with 

 me. Flour a tea-cupful after having 

 kept them until just as the bees in 

 your apiary cease flying, and then 

 carry them some rods away to some 

 warm nook, and scatter them broad- 

 ■cast ; hurry to your apiary and you 

 will see where they swarmed from. — 

 James Heddon. 



After you have hived the swarm 

 you will find a few bees trying to 

 ■cluster where you took the swarm 

 from. Take a good handful of flour 

 -and throw it upon them and drive 

 them from the place, and you will 

 •soon find them at the entrance of the 

 hive from which they came. I do not 

 think it ever failed me. Use plenty 

 of flour.— H. D. Cutting. 



There is no sure way unless you can 

 ■fin(^the queen. If you remove her 

 from the cluster, then the bees will 

 go back to their old hive. By close 

 attention previously, you would be 

 able to know possibly what colony 

 was preparing to swarm. By opening 



the hives you could very likely tell by 

 the number of bees, what colony had 

 swarmed. If you are away, as you 

 say, you ought certainly to clip the 

 wings of your queens. Then the bees 

 will show you, as they will go back, 

 and usually you will find the queen in 

 the hive, or in a knot of bees hard by. 

 —A. J. Cook. 



Take a tea-cupful of bees from the 

 swarm and put them in a bee-tight 

 box, being sure not to get the queen. 

 Hive the swarm, placing them (as 

 soon as in the hive) where you wish 

 them to stand. Now open the box, 

 and at the same lime throw all the 

 bees in the air so they will take wing, 

 when in a moment or two they will 

 return to the parent hive and set up 

 the call (by fanning of wings) of 

 " home is found." — G. M. Doolittle. 



You can toss a few bees in the air 

 some distance from the swarm, and 

 ascertain which hive they return to ; 

 or you can examine the hives and see 

 from which a swarm has come out. 

 Either plan is uncertain, however. 

 Why not use a queen and drone trap, 

 or make your swarms either on the 

 nucleus plan or by dividing '( Either 

 way would be preferable to myself, 

 than to have swarms issuing during 

 an unavoidable absence. — J. E. Pond. 



If they have no queen with them, 

 you ought to be able to see which hive 

 they go into. 1 would search the 

 queen out of the cluster and put her 

 into a cage, and when the bees begin 

 to return to the hive, remove it and 

 put a new one in its place. As soon 

 as they begin going into it, let the 

 queen loose amongst them. You 

 should know which colonies are most 

 likely to swarm. This would aid you. 

 — C.'W. Dayton. 



By using a drone and queen trap 

 you may prevent the queen from leav- 

 ing, and the bees will return to the 

 hive. Then you can divide the colony 

 at pleasure. The flour would, no 

 doubt, successfully determine from 

 which hive the bees came, if tried 

 just before they cease to fly.— The 

 Editor. 



Convention Notices. 



XW The St. Jose[)h Inter-State Bee-Keepers' Ag- 

 soclalion will meetin the Lecture Room of" CJnity 

 Church," at St. Joseph, Mo., Oth between Felix & 

 Edmond Sts.), on Wednesday, March 16, 1887, at 7 

 p.m. All are invited. B. T. Abbott, Sec. 



I*" The Pan-Handle Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will meet at Wheeling, W.Va., In the K. of P. Hall, 

 1138 Main St., on Mar. 3 and 4, 1887. 



W. li. KiNSEY, See 



System and Success. 



^'~ All who intend to be Bystematic in 

 their work in the apiary, should get a copy of 

 the Apiary Register and commence to use it. 

 the prices are reduced, as follows : 



For 50 colonies (120 pages) $1 00 



" 100 colonies ('320 pages) 125 



" 200 colonies (420 pages) 1 50 



The larger ones can be used for a few col- 

 onies, give room for an increase of numbers, 

 and still keep tho record all together in one 

 book, and are therefore the most desirable. 



(^tiXXtST^tiMtitntt. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist Is 

 located near tne center of the State named ; 

 6 north of the center; 9 south; O* east; 

 •O west; and this li northeast ; X) northwest: 

 o» southeast; and ? southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Restoring Good Prices for Honey. 



JOSHUA BULL. 



Much is being written about the 

 low price of honey, and the conse- 

 quent discouraging prospect for bee- 

 keepers, and the blame for this state 

 of things seems to be laid, by some 

 writers, chiefly at the doors of the 

 farmers and others who keep only a 

 few colonies of bees, and who con- 

 seq.uently have but little honey to 

 sell, and hence it goes at any price, 

 thus spoiling the market for others. 

 To the careless observer this, no 

 doubt, has much of the appearance 

 of truth in it ; for no doubt some 

 know by painful experience that even 

 a very small quantity of honey sold 

 at a low price in a small town makes 

 it very hard for the next person who 

 may come to the same market with 

 honey to sell, to get any more for it 

 than his predecessor sold his for. But 

 before we saddle all the blame upon 

 this class of producers, let us see if 

 the cause for this condition of things 

 is not traceable to some other source. 



It is not because those who have 

 but little honey to dispose of are 

 willing to sacrifice the little they may 

 have for mere nothing— not at all ; for 

 generally those who have but little 

 honey to sell feel the necessity of get- 

 ting all they can for it, as much so as 

 those who have more. But let us see 

 how one of those farmers is trying to 

 sell his small lot of surplus honey to 

 some shrewd grocer. 



The farmer says, "Mr. Grocer, can 

 I sell you some nice comb honey to- 

 day V' 



Grocer : " How much do you want 

 for it ?" 



" Twenty-cents per pound." 



" Whew-o-o-o ! ! why honey is sell- 

 ing for only 10 to 12 cents in Chicago, 

 and if you should send it there, when 

 you have paid freight and commis- 

 sion, you would not have more than 

 about 8 cents per pound left for your 

 honey. But now, to be fair with you, 

 I will give 9 cents cash, or if you will 

 take your pay in groceries. I will allow 

 10 cents per pound for it." 



"That is not enough ; it would be too 

 little pay for the time and labor that 

 I have spent in taking care of my 

 bees ; allow me 15 cents, and you can 

 have it." 



The grocer (very independently) 

 says : " O, no, no, I can get honey 

 shipped from Chicago for less than 

 that. You must accept my offer or 

 we cannot trade." 



The farmer goes on and visits a 

 number of other grocers with like re- 

 sults, and at last is obliged to sell for 



