840 



THE mvmmmi^mm mmw jmumnmt^. 



Linden bloomed on Jnly 12, and 

 lasted twelve days. These trees are 

 scarce here, so the bees did not have a 

 " boom." Golden-rod bloomed on July 

 26, and the bees got some surplus 

 from it, which is ver}- nice, and fully 

 up to the white clover honey. 



Buckwheat bloomed on Aug. 5, and 

 the bees gathered enough from it to 

 give some of them the swarming fever, 

 but no surplus. Asters were in bloom 

 on Aug. 20. They are like the buck- 

 wheat where the sun strikes it — the 

 bees only work on them in the fore- 

 noon. 



Last .spring I bought 5 colonies of 

 bees from a man near Cincinnati, O., 

 and I told him to ship them by freight 

 about the close of apple bloom. They 

 were shipped on May 7, and arrived 

 on May 17 in good condition, and not 

 a comls broken. In 23 days No. 1 

 swarmed, in 24 days No. 2 swarmed, 

 and they were all at work in the sec- 

 tions. Thej' were shipped in two- 

 story Langstroth hives, a notched strip 

 being put in the bottom to hold the 

 frames, which were nailed at each end. 

 Each hive was fastened together with 

 cleats, and a IJ-inch hole was in the 

 side and in the end of the hive, covered 

 with wire-cloth. A hole was also 

 bored through the front of the hive, 

 under the portico (which is very im- 

 portant), and wire-cloth nailed over 

 the portico. Bees packed in this way 

 are good for a sliipment of ten da3"s or 

 two weeks. The queens all kept lay- 

 ing on the way, but the bees capped 

 no brood. 



The past season was a very poor 

 one. I got 500 pounds of honey from 

 19 colonies, and increased them to 37. 

 I fed 250 pounds of honey for winter 

 stores. 



On Nov. 22 I carried 29 colonies into 

 the cellar ; they are very quiet at a 

 temperature of 48^, Fahr. Eight col- 

 onies are packed in chaft", on the sum- 

 mer stands. 



Leechburg, Pa., Dec. 10, 1888. 



MOVING BEES. 



When to Buy and move Colonies 

 of Bees. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 



BY MES. L. HARRISON. 



A subscriber wants to know which 

 is the best time of the year to purchase 

 bees — fall or spring ; and if they can 

 be moved at any other time of the 

 year, except when there is snow on 

 the ground, so that they can be moved 

 upon a sled. 



If bees are purchased in the fall, 

 there cannot possiblj' be any profit in 

 the investment, except they can be 

 sold at an advance, until the following 



summer, and the risks are large. 

 Veterans, who have grown old in the 

 service, often lose manj- colonies dur- 

 ing the winter. The seasons are so 

 variable, and we have not the gift of 

 knowing whether the coming winter 

 will be very cold, moderate or mild ; 

 if we had, we could advise more wisely. 



I have seen bees die during the win- 

 ter when the conditionswere favorable 

 for their living. When I took out the 

 combs and examined everj'thing con- 

 nected with the hive carefully, I could 

 not see anj' cause for their death. I 

 simply knew that the bees were dead. 

 Perhaps if there had been a coroner's 

 jury, the verdict would have been, 

 " heart disease." 



When a colony of bees that belongs 

 to a person who owns many colonies 

 dies, the loss is triiling, for he can, 

 another season, use the hive and comb. 

 But when a person purchases colonies 

 in the fall, and they perish during the 

 winter, he may lose his combs by the 

 moths, before he can procure swarms 

 to put into the hives. Occasionally, 

 colonies are sold at sales for not more 

 than the honey and hives are worth ; 

 then it would be safe enough to invest. 



In the spring, a good, strong colony 

 of bees promises to be a good invests 

 ment. I have never seen a season 

 but that, during some period of it, bees 

 laid up stores for winter. It is true 

 that a crop of honey cannot be de- 

 pended on every season, in most 

 localities. Last year and this, were 

 partial failures, owing to the severe 

 drouth. Agriculturists and horticul- 

 turists have losses and failures in 

 crops ; pigs and chickens die of 

 cholera ; apples fail ; while corn, wheat, 

 oats and potatoes are not always sure. 

 On the average, taking one year with 

 another, three crops of honey out of 

 five can be depended upon. 



moving Bees. 



Bee-keepers of "ye olden time," 

 who used the gum, or box-hive, thought 

 that the only time to move bees was 

 during good sledding ; but this is a 

 mistake, for they can be moved, with 

 care, almost any time during the year. 



There are several points in favor of 

 moving bees upon the snow, where 

 they are wintered out-of-doors. Thej- 

 can be lifted carefully and taken many 

 miles, when the sleighing is good, with 

 so little jar that thej- will not find out 

 that they are moved at all. 



A bee-keeper told me that when he 

 started in the business he purchased a 

 colonj- in a box-hive and moved them 

 home in cold weather in a wagon over 

 rough roads. The bees were shaken 

 from the combs into a pile in the bot- 

 tom of the hive. Many of them were 

 numbed with cold and perished, for 

 they could not crawl back where their 

 stores were. 



Beginners in bee-culture have got 

 into more scrapes in moving bees, 

 than in any other part of the business. 

 Many pei'sons do things by halves, and 

 when told that they must fasten up the 

 hives so that no bees can get out, thej' 

 will stick a wisp of hay into the en- 

 trance, saying, " I guess that will do ; 

 and I will stuff some more ai'ound the 

 hives when they are in the wagon," 

 and lift them in. 



I have known of a serious accident 

 by the second story of a hive being 

 knocked ofi' through the jolting of a 

 wagon over a rough road. A few nails, 

 wiselj' driven, would have saved much 

 loss. 



There is another difficulty in moving 

 bees, even in December. They may 

 be moved safely, and all go well until 

 the first warm day when they are on 

 the wing, when they will return to the 

 place where their liive stood, unless it 

 has been moved more than a mile. 



Late one fall we moved hives to- 

 gether so as to protect them, and the 

 first warm day I noticed bees flying 

 where hives had been. The night fol- 

 lowing there was a light snow, and the 

 next day I gathered up handfuls of 

 benumbed bees that could not find 

 their hive. When bees go to work, 

 they run out and fly, apparentlj- taking 

 no note of their surroundings. 



A new swarm alwa3"s takes its bear- 

 ings, and returns to the same place ; 

 if it only remains a few hours after 

 hiving, and is moved after sunset, 

 many will return to the place where 

 the swarm was hived. 



When bees are moved in the spring, 

 they are not so apt to return ; it ap- 

 pears natural for them to mark their 

 locality, with the advent of a new sea- 

 son. When hives are moved, it is well 

 to put hay or grass against the en- 

 trance, or a board, so that they cannot 

 run out and fly as they usually do. 

 When they bump their heads, they 

 will look for a reason, take notice of 

 their surroundings, and return to the 

 same place. 



Tenant farmers usually move about 

 the first of March, and many of them 

 have a few bees — if they are not in 

 hives of the latest fashion. March 

 and April are very trying months on 

 winged stock, and it is best that they 

 be kept as quiet as possible. As the 

 roads are usually rough and full of 

 chuck-holes at this time of the year, it 

 would be well to move their bees in 

 advance, the last of winter, on the 

 snow if possible. They should be pro- 

 tected from winds, and from the in- 

 roads of stock, and then not be afraid 

 of using straw and corn-fodder lib- 

 erally. It would be better for the 

 owner to do this moving at his leisure, 

 than when crowded with moving, seed- 

 ing, etc., and much better for the bees, 



