1871 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GAKDENER. 



181 



a half pounds the best size for honey. Mr. Haskell 

 sold his honey in fniniesofHliout 2}2 pound.s. Gets 

 as high as ciglity pounds t'nun a stock. Mr. Coke 

 thought smiiU Im.xes far the most sahilile. Mr. 

 Deunison said, in the New York market they pre- 

 fer honey in boxes of about four pounds. 



On the height of hives from tlie ground, Mr. 

 Haskell prefered four to six inches, as bees often 

 fall on the ground when returning with stores, and 

 could not ascend to the hive. Mr. Knght prefer- 

 red having them as low as possible without absorb- 

 ing moisture from the ground. He put them about 

 one foot from the ground. Mr. Chase made his 

 stand about three inches from the ground. 



Bee Robbers aud Bee ITIotlis. 



Robber bees and the moth worm may be c<nisid- 

 ered as the cause of the most of the serious trouble 

 that the bee-keeper meets with. It is so discourag- 

 ing to find that a swarm has been driven from its 

 liive, and the honcj' store robbed, when you had 

 supposed it was in good coudilion. It is difficult 

 to tell when a hive is being robbed. It is after a 

 swarm has been subdued that you are deceived liy 

 supposing, as you see them pass in and out of the 

 hive, that they are the rightful owners. You cau 

 readily ascertain, however, when a swarm is being 

 attacked, if you watch them a few minutes. As the 

 robbers fly on the alighting board they try to eftect 

 an entrance, but are met and examined by the 

 owners of the honey store that they seek to secure 

 in an unlawful manner. Y'ou cau see the bees take 

 rough hold of the robbers, while the latter will not 

 make the least effort to defend themselves, but will 

 only try to pull themselves away, making a kind of 

 frightened buzz meanwhile. If 3'ou suspect that a 

 swarm has been driven out by robbers you have 

 only to raise the top of the hive, aud if the bees are 

 robbers they will fly quickly away, as they come to 

 the top of the honeyboard. Legitimate owners 

 will linger for a moment or two on the honeyboard, 

 as if looking for the cause of di-sturbance, and will 

 then fly about your head and face. 



When I discover a .swarm being attacked by rob- 

 bers I close the entrance so that only one bee can 

 enter at a time, aud place two or three lumps of 

 camphor on the alighting board. This soon has 

 the efi"ect of dispersing the robber bees. Camphor, 

 which has been prepared for family use by being 

 dissolved in alcohol, will probably answer the pur- 

 pose, if a cloth be saturated with it and placed in 

 front of the hive. Robbers are attracted by the 

 smell of the honey, aud camphor, being so much 

 stronger, destroys the attraction. 



The use of camphor gum to prevent robbing is of 

 recent discovery. Having tested it several times, I 

 can assure my beekeeping friends, that if they will 

 keep a supply on hand, they need have no fear of 

 losing swarms by their being robbed.— Coc. Chicago 

 Tribune. 



Artlflclal S warming. 



I generally abopt a plan that I learned, I think, 

 from Mr. R. C. Otis. Suppose you have two hives. 

 No. 1 and No. 2, both strong, and an empty hive, 

 No. 3. 



From No. 1 take frame after frame, brushing 

 back aU the bees into the hive, until only two or 

 three frames are left, and as fast as the frames are 

 emptied, put them in No. 3. Fill up the vacancies 

 in both hives with empty combs or frames. 



Remove No. 2 to a new location, and set No. 3 in 

 its place. The returning bees from No. 2 will sup- 

 ply No 3 with a good colony and will raise a 

 queen ; but it will save time if you furnish them 

 with a fertile queen from a nucleus. To do this, as 

 soon as No. 3 has started queen cells, which will be 

 in two or three days, simply put in the (pieen at 

 the top of the hive or at the entrance, without 

 caging or any precaution whatever. I have not 

 yet found an exception to the rule that a qiimdess 

 colony which has ijueen cells started, will readily accept 

 any guee7i, fertile or unfertile. 



I am asked whether the Peabody melestractor 

 will suit any but the Langstroth frames. I think it 

 will suit any frame in use, but I have never tried it 

 with any but two kinds.— Cor. Am. Bee Joitriial. 



Arresting Absconding Swarms. A correspon- 

 dent of the Amr. Bee Journal says: "My Impres- 

 sion is that the old-fashioned practice of tanging 

 proceeds from a correct idea ; that is, that a swarm 

 will always alight when thoroughly alarmed, so as 

 to disconcert them. The past season I used a large 

 mirror and stopped by that means a swarm, which 

 I had hived a few days previously, and which 

 started to go off. I ran after it, flashing the sun's 

 rays among them most thoroughly— the mirror 

 being fourteen by twenty inches square. I stop- 

 ped them on the last tree in the vicinity, and in five 

 minutes had them nicely hived. I have frequently 

 stopped them by throwing water, chips, or dirt 

 among them, when starting to leave. 



Potato Bugs Afloat.— The Detroit Post thus 

 announces the arrival of the everlasting potato 

 bug : " They come into our gardens, and even into 

 our houses, and swarm upon our sidewalks to be 

 crushed by the feet of pedestrians. A gentleman 

 from Grosse Point reports that they seem to be quite 

 as much at home on the water as upon the land, 

 and that the surface of the lake is literally alive 

 with them, as it often is with June flies which so 

 swarm about our street lamps ou warm summer 

 evenings. He says that the potato bugs often fly a 

 considerable distance, and that they float easily on 

 the surface of the water. They are evidently bound 

 to make a raid on Canada, and it will prove more 

 disastrous than any Fenian raid has ever been. 



