TTHE' KMERICJSr* MMM J^JSMMMI^. 



405 



'■^^'■^'■■—--"■^ ' ■^ t^'- ■^_'i^ 



First S^varniN for the season have a 

 peculiar interest, and Mrs. L. Harrison 

 gives the following to the Prairie Farmer 

 as lier experience with lier first swarm for 

 this season : 



Bees have a very poor reputation for ob- 

 serving the 4th comniaiidmeiit, and 1 sup- 

 pose we notice more when tliey swarm on 

 the day of rest. On Sunday, June 3, our 

 first swarm for tliis year issued. I saw them 

 in the air, and finally they scattered all over 

 the leaves of a green ash ; they did not 

 cluster, tliought better of it and returned to 

 their hive. 



Tills morning about half-past eight a 

 neighbor called to me saying, " Your bees 

 are swarndng." There is notlung which so 

 arouses my enthusiasm as to hear their 

 tocsin note. It is like the souud of the 

 bugle to an old war-horse, or the bag-pipe 

 to a Scotch highlander. 



On going into the apiary, I found that it 

 was the same one that was on the wing 

 Sunaay, and 1 went up to the entrance to 

 watch for the queen, noping to catch her, 

 but failed to see her. 1 inferred that she 

 might be unable to fly, from some cause. 

 As soon as the bees were out, I moved the 

 old hive and put one filled with frames of 

 comb in its place, so if they returned they 

 would give up swarming, and if the queen 

 was in the grass she would crawl back. 

 They did not cluster, but came pouring 

 back pell-mell in their hurry, like children 

 running from room to room calling, "Where 

 is mamma." It is a pity that this bee had 

 not been called mother instead of queen. — 

 [" Mother" is the correct name.— Eu.] 



This swarm had hardly returned to their 

 hive when another came pouring forth from 

 its hive, as if driven out by some unseen 

 power, and in lieu of clustering, came to the 

 first one. Why they came there 1 could not 

 imagine, as there were very few of the first 

 ones in the air to attract tnem. I covered 

 up the first swarm with my apron, to keep 

 the others out ; and finally carried them to 

 a new stand. 



I soon noticed however, • that they were 

 not satisfied, ruuning around and toucliing 

 the antenna! of their fellows, enquiring for 

 mamma. Here was a pretty kettle of fish ; 

 a swarm entering a hive placed upon the 

 former stand of the first swarm, while it 

 was deserting its hive and returning. In 

 despair I went to the house to write this 

 paper, telling them to arrange matters to 

 suit themselves. 



After awhile I laid down my pen to go 

 and see how matters were progressing. I 

 found one queen balled, and while trying to 

 rescue her she was stung to death. To be 

 certain of a queen in thishive,I now opened 

 the old colony which formerly stood there, 

 and look out a frame upon which was a 

 sealed queen-cell, and put it into the hive. 

 If they have a queen it will do no harm, and 

 if they have not, they will soon have one. 



The first swarms that issue aretlie best 

 bees; that is, they have a prolific queen— 

 if tliey did not, they would not be ready so 

 soon." If they are nice, bright bees, 1 like 

 to save as many of the queen cells as pos- 

 sible, for queens reared under the swarming 

 impulse are tlionuht to be the best. Acting 

 on tills principle this morning, I opened 

 the hive tha' had swarmed, and found a 

 number of large, well-built cells. I took 

 out a frame that had a nice cell, and cap- 

 ped brood, and covered with l)ees. and put 

 It iiitfi a luve with another fraine of honey, 

 and put in a division-board. As the bees 

 have no queen, they will remain ; the 



?ueen will Oe out in a few days, and become 

 ertilized. 



Where frames of brood and bees are re- 

 moved from a hive having a fertile queen. 

 so many bees will return that there will not 

 be enoUL'h left to perform the work for the 

 brood Therefore it is a much better way 

 to divide up a colony that has swarmed, 

 and has choice queen-cells, as I have done. 



If there are a diizen choice cells in a hive, 

 and the bees decide not to swarm, the cells 

 are all destroyed. And there is no way to 

 preserve them, and have the young queen 

 fertilized, but to have one in a hive. The 

 cells can be preserved by. being cut off and 

 put into queen-nurseries, but they must be 

 with a colony of tiees, either large or small, 

 or they will not become fertilized. 



ttm!»»»»WT»*t»»ggt««gg»;»;szg; 



I^j-vajla Ilouey-PIant.— Mr. G. W. 



Cover, of Downieville, Calif., sends the 

 following : 



I send a specimen of one of our honey- 

 bearing shruhs in the Sierra Nevada range 

 for name. Bees are booming, and honey is 

 coming in fast. 



This Californian plant is Chamcebatla 

 foliosa, (Benth), a shrub belonging to the 

 rose family, but havini; no near relatives in 

 the country east of the mountains. No 

 common name is known to the writer. 



Sundry <tii<'!>tions.— W. W. Morse, 

 Worthington, Dak., on June 9, 1888, asks 

 the following questions : 



I have just started in bee-keeping. 1 have 

 one colony of Italians, and would like to 

 ask a few questions ; will you please to 

 answer them in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal : 



1. I have an artificial grove. Would it be 

 best to i;ut the hives in the shade, or out in 

 the opeii ground ? 



2. How high from the ground should 

 they be? 



3. Will they g' t the honey from white 

 clover it it is with timothy grass, or would 

 it be better alone ? 



4. Is buckwheat honey as good as any 

 other ? 



1. A little shade would do, but it would 

 be better out in the open ground than in 

 too much shade. 



2. There should be but little space under 

 the hives, if any. It is so difficult for bees 

 loaded with honey having pitched, to rise 

 again and get into tlie hive, or up on the 

 alighting-board. 



3. Yes. The timothy will not be any dis- 

 advantage. 



4. No ; it is of the poorest quality— dark, 

 and not fit for modern table use. 



PaiiKiiij^' Hives — ^Vlien to Clip 

 Queens' Wings, ete. — Mrs. Mary 

 Blachly, of Delta, Colo., on June 1, 1888, re- 

 quests answers to these questions : 



I should like very much to ask some 

 questions which 1 have been unable to get 

 answered, and I tlioutiht as a last resort that 

 the Bee Journai. would not fail to do so, 

 as it can answer anytliing asked in regard 

 to bees, I believe : 1. Should hives be 

 painted different colors ? My hives are all 

 white. I lost a queen, having gone into the 

 iiive next to it, and the bees carried it out a 

 few hours after, dead. 2. What colors are 

 best? 3. Should virgin queens' wings be 

 clipped ? and how can one knovp when to 

 clip the same ? 4. In S. A. Shuck's article, 

 on " How to Renr Good Queens," on page 

 344, he speaks of opening sealed larvie, and 



in the same article be says: "And the 

 food from the cell from which the larvse 

 were removed, can be given to larvre not 

 yet sealed." How should sealed larvse be 

 removed ? .5. Is it necessary to remove it 

 when pollen is plenty ? 6. For a nucleus to 

 keep queens over winter, how many frames 

 of bees are needed, and how large should 

 theframes be; should there l)e empty frames 

 put in with each queen's brood-chamber (or 

 apartment) ? 



1. Y'es ; it is better to paint them of differ- 

 ent colors, because it will aid the queens to 

 find tfieir proper hives when returning from 

 their wedding excursions. 



2. Red, white and blue alternated present 

 a good appearance. 



3. Virgin queens should not have their 

 wings clipjied, else how are they to go on 

 their wedding trip. When they return from 

 that trip, the suecessfnl fertilization will be 

 apparent to the observing person. Then 

 their wings may be safely cut. 



4. Will Mr. Shuck please answer this and 

 the two following questions, as the method 

 there described is his own ? 



:VIiistar<1 as a Ilomcy-PIant.— W. 



H. Prior, of Madison, Ga., on June 9, 1888, 

 asks the following questions : 



I have three rows of white mustard across 

 a square in the garden, which has been in 

 full bloom for a week past, and the bees 

 are very busy on it every morning, for sev- 

 eral liours, since it came into bloom. 1. Is 

 mustard a honey-plant, or is it pollen the 

 bees are gathering ? The m-ustard blossoms 

 are literally covered with bees till two or 

 tliree hours after sunrise. 2. Do bees ever 

 remove eggs or larvie from one cell to 

 another, or from one comb to another for 

 the purpose of making queen-cells and rear- 

 ing queens ? 



1. Wild mustard (Sinapls arvensls) fur- 

 nishes excellent honey. It is very light in 

 color, and of excellent flavor. It commands 

 the best market price, when put up in de- 

 sirable packages. It is a great favorite with 

 the bees. 



3. Yes ; eggs are removed by the bees, 

 when forming queen-cells, from the cells 

 destroyed to the reconstructed and enlarged 

 ones made for rearing queens. 



Botanical.— Wm. G. Cory, of Carson, 

 Ind, on June 4, 1888, writes as follows : 



I send herewith for name, a sample of a 

 plant that grows on low, wet lands, about 3 

 feet higli, and in many places the ground is 

 white with it. Bees are swarming on it 

 from morning until night. No one here 

 knows the name of it. Bees are doing well 

 so far, but the prospect is very poor for a 

 crop of honev, as the white clover as well 

 as all other clovers was killed last winter. 



This is F(irtCclMTpMrs?iii, a noted honey 

 plant belonging to the water-leaf family. 

 Phacclla is the common as well as the 

 scientific name. 



Xo Prevent Bees ltol>l>inK' one 



another's hives, contract the entrance to the 

 smallest space possible, as it compels the 

 robbers to pass in singly, thus enabling the 

 bees inside to repel them. 



