isrfi 



t>LEA.NIiSrGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



21V> 



Fi"om Diff«iieiit FieUls. 



/f^f} A-\" queens be introduced successfully into colonies 

 V\^j], that have Iteen QuceiiJ ess feuT er five weeks 



^^^ 



I have 

 two of that kijid. One of tkem swarmed tlv3 latter 

 i});!rt of June and gave lao ftfty pounds surplus in section 

 3ioxts, £he other gave neariy one h'j.ndrod. pounds and j 

 r.ever swarmed at all. To-day neither of them has a par- | 

 ■tide of bwxxl- r eet HiVEir. j 



niarlboro., Stai4c Oo., 0-, Aug. .7th, 'tjW 



We -can hardly thiuk the bees mcutioned <i.tc i 

 <iueenless, for there would likely be fertile 

 workers by this time. When bees are de- i 

 prived <jfa<:iueenT and all m-eans of rearing 

 •one, w-e very soon Had eggs scattered abou^ I 

 irregularly, and a listless air pei'vading the] 

 ■vvhol-e hive, quite unlik-e the prosi>erity aud j 

 activity that is seen ivhen a j-oung queen first | 

 .cocimences to lay. If th-e honey season is i 

 over, with you, it may be that brooil-rearing ! 

 has only stopped teinporarily, aud will soon ! 

 resume. Give them a good fec-d for several i 

 <'aTs, and if no eggs are then to be t^eeu, j-ou ' 

 ZTiny consider them queenless, and proceed to j 

 introduce almost any queen with sa.^ety ; in] 

 i'act after a queen i-s lost, where there is noj 

 brood in the hive, they will aluiost invariably I 

 ireceive a qiieeu without any introduction at 

 ill!. You can try them by presenting them the ; 

 •cover of the queen ■cage to "smell" of; if they i 

 gather about it with limning wings, betoken- j 

 .ing joy, she may be let loose with safetj'. If: 

 .you find they have fertile workers, give them j 

 two or three frames from other colonies, con- I 

 taining abundance of brood and ]>ees. Find j 

 the queens of these colonies iirst, and put the j 

 SVarae containing them on one side, that they j 

 anaj" not by mistake l>e taken Avith the other 

 bees. I 



c u a shelf. I now have 20 ; lost one old one by worms. I 

 ha\e hived all swarms this jear, in frame hives, nine, 

 standanl -frames to the hiAe. Is this the rigbt size ': Bees 

 doiiig nothinis at this time. Had u rw.sjng bis swarm to- 

 day. itcaae out of a hive that I hed not touched. It is 

 or.L- ci the descendants of theAujrust swarru, they now 

 nu-niber four. A. H. Boit.les. 



Cloverland, Ind.. Auj;. f th, '7o. 



We fear you are a little ca-reless, friend B-, 

 although j'ou have had excellent success. We 

 can hardly thiuk your colony was killed by 

 the worms, nor can we comprehend how you 

 bad a swarm of bees when no honey was being 

 gathered. We have several ti-mes heard the 

 remark that the bees were doing nothing, 

 when it was only because their owner hacl 

 failed to give them room. We have colonies 

 now — Aug, 6th — that are at work in 30 section 

 boxes, the honey beiag from i-ed clover, and 

 yet some of our neighlDors are feeding. The 

 yield many times, in the fall, comes quite un- 

 expect-ediy ; and a colony suspended on scales, 

 win niauy times show quite an unexpected 

 result on the dial. 



Vv'oiikl it be practicable to remoTC bees frota a \k>7: 

 Siive to a frame hive filled with fdn,, and then feed 

 Sor winter on sugar syrup ? C. S. Milleu. 



It would be practicable, but not advisable 

 nt this time of the year ; principalh' because I 

 nev.- combs are not as safe for wintering as { 

 Old thick ones. The new combs built from j 

 the fdn. are scarcely any protection at all, be- | 

 fore they have had one or more sets of brood ; 

 hatched in them. We would advise transfer- 

 ring and using the old combs for wintering. 

 If a new swarm is furnished with a full hive 

 of fdn., ihey will have the brood combs thick 

 and strong before winter. The silky mater- 

 ial of which the cocoons are woven, seems 

 quite necessary for the piotectiou required in 

 Avinter, and we should be very careful in ex- 1 

 tractiug, making artificial colonies etc., that 

 we do not drive them away, or divide this 

 brood nest late in the season. 



1 wr.c. ;^ou by to-dyy's maii a piece of drone ■comb con* 

 tainini: worker tees ; the piece it was cut -from, was about 

 6x7 indies square, about one-half worker and tlio rest 

 drone comb with workers in. Sometimes the drones and 

 workers will be mixe<l in the comb. What do you think 



of it •;' R. R. JIUKPHY. 



Garden Plain, His., Aug, 41h, '.vG. 

 We have frequently found workers in drone 

 comb, but in all such cases have found th* 

 openings to the cells contracted with wax un- 

 til they looke<l almost like ordinary worker 

 ceils with very thick wails i the workers 

 rearetl in such, were of the ordinary si^se, and 

 the capped brood, was capped with the com- 

 mon worker caps. Strange to tehold, the 

 piece of brood sent us by friend M., was drone 

 comb full size, and the capped brood looked 

 precisely like drone brocKl, except in having 

 flat topped cells. The bees which hatched out 

 ou the way, are certainly remarkab!}- large for 

 bees just out of their cells. If you will take 

 care of that queen friend JI., you may have 

 somethiaig worth considerably more than "Al- 

 bino" bees. Tell us more about the colony; 

 are they ail large, aud how about their honey 

 gathering powers 'r 



The extractor came all right. \Vhen I went aiter it the 

 ■cixpress agent said the wisest heads had been puzzled to 

 know what it was. "Every body and his wife" came to 

 ■see It work. lam a beginner; commenced one year ago 

 3ast spring with one box hive. It swarmed four times and 

 I caiiglit one swarm the 10th ol Aug.— wintered the sis— 

 .•ill came thiough well. I wintered this way; made a 

 ^:ilse «.iii ill my stable two feet from the real wall, stufCed 

 viihstrav.- between, made enclosure dark, and set them 



Our friend Salisbury of Camargo, Ills., sent 

 us a queen by mail with the tbllowing, pasted 

 on the cage. 



A QCEEN EEE. 



She was one year old the 12th iust. Breil from an im- 

 ported motlier, from the Highlands of Italy— came olt 

 with a prime swarm of bees the (>th inst, leaving behind 

 for her master, 60 lbs. of fine comb honey.— Tmy insect 

 although so small, how wonderfully formed, and how 

 grsiiid in results ! A. Salisbcrt. 



Carmargo, Ills., July 31st, '70. 



If a handsome queen is ncccessarily a yellow 

 one, we can not call her handsome; but if one 

 that fills comb after comb with eggs, as regu- 

 lar as hills of corn in a field, is a beauty, we 

 may call her comely indeed. Thanks friend 

 S., she is domiciled in the house apiary with 

 your name on the register card above her, and 

 with abundance of chaft' shall she and hers be 

 made happy, ere the frosts of winter come. 



