187(> 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1S5 



S\^'AK3'1ING OJJ'r l?i THE SPRIXG. 



f' HAVE a jylan by wbicli I feel sure I can prevent n.iiy 

 stock from swarmiii;; out in spring. I winter none 

 — but small stocks aucl have lost many by swarming 

 out. Small apiaries of a dozen or two, can every one be 

 saved by my plan. In large apiaries it would be difficult, 

 and yet the weak stocks may be saved. 



My theory is that they do not intend swarming out, 

 that the whole thing is a mistake. WTien first set out, 

 most of the bees leave the hive to enjoy the sunshine ; 

 the few that remain get uneasy and some little simpleton 

 screams fire ! fire ! They all rush out, and rather than 

 1)6 left alone the old lady reluctantly follows. 



When I get ready to set out my bees I have a spare 

 clean hive ; I bring out a swarm and wait till they com- 

 mence flyinar. I then transfer them to the clean hive ; if 

 they have plenty of honey uncap some, if not, give them 

 a comb well filled vrith syrup. I then scrape and scald 

 the last hive for the nest swarm, going through with 

 them all in ths same way. If we have a cold snap soon 

 after setting them out, I put the weak ones back in the 

 cellar and leave them until those outside get through 

 with their rnsJi on the first fair da v. 



0. W. PiRKiE, Xew London, O., June ISth, 76. 



Your plan may partially remedy the trouble, 

 but as many of ours have swarmed out several 

 weeks after beiuj; set out, we fear it will not 

 always apply. Will it not be an easier way, to 

 have heavy stocks and pack them in chaff to 

 keep them strong V Providing of course, that 

 chaff answers. The scraping and scalding 

 the hive, we can but think unnecessary, unless 

 it is soiled from effects of disease. 



one OWS APEAEi'S^ 



WE have increased from 4(5 to To by natu- 

 ral swarming, and the experience we 

 have had in this new direction has been some- 

 what amusing, to say nothing farther. By the 

 use of empty combs, we have as yet entirely 

 prevented swarming, for not a swarm has come 

 off from those so treated ; furthermore the 

 (iueen has in few instances p".t brood in any of 

 the upper stories. The plan adopted was to 

 put in one less comb above than usual, and 

 to spread these as fast as the cells became 

 came lengthened. Of course a second story 

 soon becomes filled, and a new one filled vzith 

 combs is then put under the one that is ready 

 to be, or is partly capped over. In this man- 

 ner we do not intrude on the brood apartment 

 any mors than with box hone}% and yet we 

 verily believe that fuily as much honey will 

 be obtained the season through. Again, as no 

 combs are to be handled except those in the 

 upper stories the work is even easier than with 

 the long one story hives. Besides if one has 

 plenty of empty combs, which every bee-keeper 

 may have, he can keep putting on stories and 

 do the extracting at some convenient time, or 

 even hire some cheap help to do it. In this 

 <;ase the honey will be as fully ripened as the 

 most fastidious can desire. If it be urged that 

 it is a very difficult operation to remove honey 

 from the hives when the bees are not gather- 

 ing, v/e will advise removing the combs by 

 moonlight, an operation not difficult at all, as 

 we have several times proved. The honey can 

 be stored in a convenient I'ocm and with wire 

 cloth doors and windows, a couple of girls 



could do the extracting and keep every thing 

 as neat and clean as any well kept kitchen or 

 pantry. The one item of being able to work 

 without a single bee to buzz or bother by get- 

 ting in the honey, would in our estimation be 

 worth ever so much (or more). This is not all 

 either, if we use white, or even a very nice 

 yellow wax for our combs, we can remove 

 them from the hives as soon as filled and cap- 

 ped, and then we are ready to accept either an 

 offur for comb or extracted honey, or even if 

 honey is wanted for feeding, we are ready for 

 that. Sell it just as the market demand-*, and 

 there will always be the consolation of bein:: 

 able to give consumers just which they de- 

 mand, and no charge for packages. If they see 

 fit to return the empty frame, it is worth just 

 as much or more to the bee-keeper, and if the 

 frame is given in with the honey, the expense 

 is less than one cent per lb. for the package- 

 To be sure there will always be a demand for 

 fancy packages, glass boxes, etc., and to sup- 

 ply this, every one should keep on hand a sup- 

 ply of a variet}'^ of these as ma.y be needed ; 

 and if he retails honey, as every one should to 

 make the most of his bees, he will keep a nice 

 little show case of these on hand the year 

 round. 



The foundations of pure wax are proving all 

 that could be desired, and the way the new 

 swarms commence in a whole set of boxes at 

 once, is astonishing. With the Italians it al- 

 most seems as if the foundations were a neces- 

 sity, for without them they commence at the 

 bottom and build upward in a way that is 

 most wasteful and untidy. A new fact seems 

 to be developing, which is that if more wax 

 be put into the foundation than is required, 

 they will use it for comb building in other 

 places. There is no mistake about this, for by 

 using wax of different colors, we can demon- 

 strate it to the satisfaction of any one. Still 

 farther, we can give a queenless colony foun- 

 dations and thus secure the most beautiful 

 worker comb, at a time when no comb would 

 be built at all. How comb is going to com- 

 pare with extracted honey now, is a problem 

 we are as yet unable to solve. After tliey get 

 under full way, with the foundations, perhaps 

 they store honey in them nearly as fast as in 

 empty combs, but we have swarming frequently 

 when they have boxes or sections only partly 

 filled, while as we have said before, none when 

 at work in the furnished upper stories. 



One more item, and an important one for 

 box honey raisers : In the house apiary we 

 have one of the most beautiful sights, in the 

 shape of a full set of faucy gla-ss boxes with 

 bees at work on the snow white foundations 

 in each. Below, is a full fram.e built, and part- 

 ly capped over, also foundations. Well, this is 

 a spectacle so much admired, that visitors are _ 

 invited to look at it almost every hour in the ' 

 day ; and to avoid disturbing them with too 

 much light, we throw over the boxes a cloth 

 curtain when no one is watching them.' On 

 one of the hives wc used by accident a thick 

 woolen spread and several times when this 

 cover was carelessly omitted, we thought the 

 the bees seemed to cease work in the boxes. 

 Experiment .showed this to be the case, for if 

 the spread was left off, although the house is 

 dark as pitch when closed, the bees would very 



