THE AMERIC^VK BEE JOURNAL. 



411 



and if tlie weather is favorable we 

 may have a flow of honey from it. 



Last season I sowed a small lield in 

 Alsike clover, on my farm about 2J2 

 miles from the city. It is now in 

 bloom, and makes the most beautiful 

 carpet with which the earth ever was 

 covered. 



Bloomington,? Ind., June 14, 1887. 



Semi-Tropic California. 



Divicling for Increase. 



S. D. BARBER. 



To do this successfully, queens 

 should be reared and ready to furnish 

 each new swarm with a fertile queen 

 at the time of forming such colonies; 

 the time saved in breeding is very 

 important. 



TO KEAK THE QUEENS. 



Form a nucleus from the strongest 

 colonies, select a comb containing 

 capped brood and plenty of eggs and 

 young larvte ; look it over carefully 

 lest the old queen is on it ; cut one- 

 third or one-half the lower part out 

 of this comb, which gives the bees 

 room to build cells on the lower edge 

 — a convenient place for the operator 

 to remove them. When forming other 

 nuclei. Place this, with its adhering 

 bees, in an empty hive, and next to it 

 another comb containing honey and 

 bee-bread ; tliis affords food and pro- 

 tection. Give the nucleus colony at 

 least a quart of bees, and put it on a 

 new stand, and confine the bees 

 there until the next morning. Then 

 contract the entrance so that but one 

 or two bees can pass out at the same 

 time. They will usually build six or 

 ten or more queen-cells on the eighth 

 or ninth day after the nucleus was 

 formed. Then open the hive, and 

 with a very thin-bladed knife cut out 

 all the queen-cells but one, and use 

 them immediately in forming other 

 nuclei, by attaching each to a frame 

 of comb and bees taken from an old 

 colony as before described, and 

 placed in an empty hive. 



In transferring queen-cells care 

 must be taken not to expose them to 

 cold or heat, or to denting the cell. 

 Leave about an inch square of comb 

 at the base of the cell, and insert it 

 among the young brood. Never leave 

 a nucleus colony destitute of young 

 brood after the young queen hatches, 

 as the bees are very apt to abandon 

 the hive when the young queen goes 

 out to meet the drone. Now watch 

 and care for the young queens until 

 they become fertile. 



WHEN AND HOW TO INCREASE. 



When your colonies are strong and 

 you are ready to form new ones, Urst, 

 cage the young queen, then from a 

 number of colonies take sufficient 

 frames and bees to form a good col- 

 ony of bees ; close up the hive of the 

 new colony until the next morning, 

 then open" it, and on the second or 

 third evening liberate the queen. 

 Continue in this manner until you 

 have such increase as you desire, but 

 in all the operations use plenty of 

 smoke. 



Again, the forwardness of the sea- 

 son must he yourftuide as to the time 

 to form colonies. You can rear queens 

 early and keep them in readiness; a 

 colony of bees without a fertile queen, 

 build mostly drone comb. The bee- 

 keeper that rears queens for new col- 

 onies must have the hives for the 

 season-ready early. Success is not in 

 the number of colonies on hand ; it is 

 not bees we want, it is honey. It is 

 not a great number of workers in one 

 field that will secure this, but a large 

 force in each hive. 



The apiary should have the cheer- 

 ful ray of the morning sun. A very 

 good way to check robbing is to place 

 a bunch of grass or wet hay over the 

 entrance to the hive. The bees will 

 find the way to their own hives, but 

 robbers will be caught by the senti- 

 nels while passing tnrough the grass. 

 The moth is a scavenger which comes 

 to clean up the wreck of the negligent 

 bee-keeper. 



Downey,? Calif. 



Prairie Farmer. 



Getting Bees out of Honey-Sections, 



3IRS. L. HARRISON. 



As I was one day out driving, a 

 man shouted as he drove by, "How 

 do you get bees out of the honey- 

 boxes ?" I felt like replying, " Get a 

 stick and drive them out," for the 

 reason that this man is too penurious 

 to invest a cent in a paper or book, in 

 which he could learn how to manage 

 bees, expecting to get his information 

 without expense or labor on his own 

 part. Different kinds of surplus 

 boxes of course call for different man- 

 agement. Where one pound sections 

 are used in Ileddon cases and tiered 

 up, the nearest finished on top, when 

 these are completed, the bees can be 

 driven below with smoke or the 

 breath. The box is then carried into 

 the honey house or close room, as the 

 case may be. and set upon the edge ; 

 the bees, if there are any, will cluster 

 upon the windows, and may be put 

 out. I once saw a farmer who kept 

 only a few colonies for his own use, 

 take off old-fashioned close boxes and 

 put them into the bottom of an empty 

 barrel, and cover it up tightly except- 

 ing a small hole for the bees to go out 

 of. He was not troubled with rob- 

 bers in this way, and the bees flew 

 home to their hives. 



SWEET CLOVER FOR HONEY. 



Indians call white clover the 

 '' White man's foot," and sweet 

 clover (Mdilottts alba) might appro- 

 priately be named the " bee-keeper's 

 tracks," for it is generally found 

 growing in their vicinity. When 

 traveling, sind this plant is visible, it 

 always seems to indicate the prox- 

 imity of the fraternity, and I feel 

 that friends are near. It appears as 

 if bee-keepers carried the seed of this 

 plant in a pocket which had small 

 holes in it, letting It trickle out. Some 

 farmers class it as a noxious weed. 

 This, however, is a mistake, as it 

 dies root and branch the second year, 



and appears to thrive best in poor, 

 gravelly soils, and protects uneven 

 ground from washing out in gullies. 

 It starts very early in the spring, be- 

 fore other clovers, and at this time is 

 eagerly eaten by fowls. Melilot ap- 

 pears to yield honey at a time of day 

 when others fail. From observations, 

 I conclude that the flow of nectar at 

 any one time is not large from sweet 

 clover, but is very valuable on ac- 

 count of its continued bloom during 

 drouths, and during the interim be- 

 tween spring and fall bloom. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time and place of Meeting. 



Nov. Ifi-lR,— Nortli American, at Clilca^o, Ills. 



W. Z. llutcliinsoii. Sec, RogersviUe, Mich. 



Dec. 7-9.— Micliigan State, at East Safjinaw. Micll. 

 H. D. Cutting. Sec., Clinton, Mich. 



PF~ In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— ED. 



WtMFEwm 



WO'X^ 



-Oliver Foster, Mt. 

 on June 18, 1887, 



EiBsin^ Bees. 



Vernon ,0 Iowa, 

 writes : 



Dear Editor :— Will you please 

 pardon the following (see page 371)^ 

 and print it as a bit of '" scientific 

 pleasantry," written at my out- apiary 

 on a hive-cover, with honeyed hands 

 and a swollen eye : 



" It a body kiss a body, 



Need a body cry ?" 



Or should a bee kiss you or me. 



Or, with her wish comply. 



And kiss the lady's hand, I'm sure 



The lady would not lie. 



Should "doubting: Thomas "—though 



trom us high- 

 Think 'twas " in her eye ?" 



Now bit or miss, I'll tell you this, 



My bees are not so ehy ; 



They trom my fingers sweetness kiss. 



And beauty from my eye. 



And is it queer, with charms and cheer. 



The winning mistress found 



Her honey would bring " fltty cents," 



Or stety cents per pou nd 7 



Taking New Honey. — Nate C. 

 Fedley, Dubuque, o Iowa, on June 21, 

 1887, says : 



My bees wintered pretty well, as I 

 lost only one colony out of 17. I have 

 had 2 rousing swarms so far. I will 

 take off three cases of clover honey 

 on Friday. 



Fair Crop Expected. — Jos. E. 

 Shaver, North Kiver,6 Va., on June 

 21, 1887, says: 



For the last 10 days bees have been 

 doing extra well on white clover; 

 before that time they were in a starv- 

 ing condition. But now the fields are 

 white with clover, and the weather is 

 very fine, and we have hopes for a 

 pretty fair crop of honey yet. 



