1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



103 



XATPEAL VERSUS ARTIFICIAL SWARAIIXG. 



Last spring I had S w^ak swiinns of Ii.vbnd bees. They 

 Miereased by iiaUirji! swimiing to m hives and one artili- 

 (•it\i swarm. I Italianized > swarms. I had one hive that 

 Micreased to <), aiid gtive considerable honey; all have 

 hnmy to winter M'ell; I ^vinter on summer stands ; our 

 reasons are so uncertain that it is not considered safe to 

 JiK'rease by artificial swarming. Some of my neighbors 

 iiad large apiaries in the spi-ing of Ti; thoy had an im- 

 (lorfect idea of arti/jcia! swarming, and commenced di- 

 viding; a severe drought followed and almost all of their 

 iK-es were lost I have known m^v bees to raise and kill 

 drones some 3 or 4 times in one season aiid then not 

 ^^varm. I think I shall pn-efer tiatural swarming ; I like 

 ;iu' excitement, I have a florist's plant (Bocconia J.apon- 

 •■t) that IS hardy a?id increases by root runners, that the 

 ■^ees faa-jy swarm upon from July to frosts. It can be in 

 ■leased, runs fast and I thiiik it woiUd pay to raise for 



*' aiaton. Mo., Feb. Olh. 1877. ^^ ^^ ^''''^''• 



If you can iucrease from 1 to by natural 

 ; warming, it seems rather queer that artiticial 

 .licrease is risky in your locality, friend B. On 

 the contpiry, we should say your locality was 

 a splendid one. If your 9 were all provisioned 

 .or winter without any feeding, you should 

 have made about 12 from 1 with artificial 

 swarming, at least that is the theory. If the- 

 ory and practice do not agree in the matter it 

 were well to and it out. 



of the frames ; also, a friend asks why wood- 

 veneer will not do for separators ; simply be- 

 cause the bees will attach comb to it so much 

 more readily than to the tin, and because wood 

 always warps m a bee-hive. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 

 Most writers tell us (do they copy from one another 

 or give the result of careful experiment.') that thJ 

 liive should bo left queenless 48 hours , and then the 

 queen be caged in the hive another 48 hours before 

 she Is released. Charles Dadant, on the contrary. 

 (3I;iy, '7«, pp.179,) says the queen should be introduced 

 as soon as the old queen is removed, before the bec^ 

 have ascertained their loss. If Dadant's method Is 

 equally safe, it is certainly piefcrable to the other in 

 the matter of saving time and trouble. Let us hive 

 this subject ventilated. jas. H. Parso.ns 



Franklin, X. Y. 



We would agree with Dadaut, so far as to 

 . ut the caged queen into the hive as soon as 

 the old one is removed, and if more convenient 

 we often do so before we have found time to' 

 remove the old one. If anyone thinks it ad- 

 vantageous to wait 48 hours, or any other 

 length of time, please let tiiem give their 

 reasons. ^ 



MOVING FOU nETTEK TASTUKAGE. 



I commenced in the spring with 13 stocks in pretty 

 tAii- condition, and with the help of some 20 or 3u I " '"" ''"■' '^'J ^veu, as we otten get 75 or 80 lbs of 

 ir.>imes ol old comb, and one small swarm of blacks ^''''''^ ^™"' O"® box hive, without any honey boxes at 

 wnich I boi^ht. I increased to 42, besides loeing .5 fine I ''"' -'"^^ ^^ t"'^*"? off the lid and cutting out the honer 



' ntiri 1/ifffii*^ ^v. „ .till ^_ 1 . ' 



There arc some of my neighbors who begin to feel 



an interest in bee-keeping, though they often say 



humbug." Frame hives are a new thing here, so are 



Italian bees. I don't know how it will pay, but think 



It will pay yery well, as we otten get 75 or 80 lbs of 



•swarms, which went to the woods on account of not 

 i'omg watched closely; my bu.siness preventing me 

 n-om being with them all the time. I extracted! 1200 

 U.S. ot linden honey, and took 100 lbs. of fall honey in 

 Mnall boxes. It pays well in this place to move bees 

 out on the prairie, about 10 miles from here, ou the 

 1st 01 August. I put my bees in the cellar on the 1st 

 <>i Dec, where they remained until the 27th of Jan 

 M hen I let them oat for a fly. The weather has been 

 i<ne here ever since, and they are breeding first rate 

 no^T. By the way, friend Gormlcy, can't you tell an- 



! and letting them fill and cut again, &c. Z. D. H^RRiLif 

 I Mooresboro, Cleveland Co., N. C, Dec. Sth, 1876. 



RIPENING HONEY. 



We hnd .57 colonies of bees last spring. Extracted IGOO 

 bs of honey, 1000 lbs. of clover and linn, and the balance 

 tall honey. I guess you will ha^e to put us in the columu 

 of Blasted Hopes, ^-ot that wc don't think we can pro- 

 dyco houey, but getting it on the market in good condi- 

 tion IS just what bothers m at this time. We extracted 

 1000 lbs. of clover and Hun honey between June 25th and 



oth^r "1 So- .^i, „ ,: ■" ""*" " •*"" ^^'^'- ^»- """ '"■^- "' Clover ana iiun honev between June -"ith nnri 



dots weeL?"''^' "'' "'''''■^' v."^f^- "5 '^^^ '^'^'^ .'"?'f*"- ^^ '''^^^ -'^ -- ^^ ^--tiyt;: the bb,:! 



inuopendence. Mo., Feb. lOth, 1877. 



VIRGIN QUEENS, INTRODUCING THEM 



> OU want friend Sayles to tell you how he introdu 

 ces nis >agc-d" virgin queens, ^ow I warn you that it 

 ^■•11 do you no gooO, for although I have seen him do 



reiHJatedly and he has given me instri/.fir.r,o L- . - - •^-j. ^v. <^iiix w;.iuu. as inis was our 



-.ough to fil, a small volume, ! have ZealT2l on "bH "'f , ""''''' ^""^"^ =* ""''^ '^''^ ^' ^'-^ -"«* 

 Mv h^«. o„„.. -, ""^" ^^" *<f "««• I one bbl. out and commenced to put it into 3 lb. fruit iars. 



and bunged it up tight until a few days ago when the 

 thermometer got a little too low to be good for some can- 

 necl frujt we had in our honey house. So we set a kettle 

 of live 1-re coals in to raise the temperature a little, but it 

 r.ever got above 10. The nest we noticed was the white 

 honey running out between nearly all the staves. We 

 ha<l the bbls. well painted and waxed. As this was our 



a^> bees averaged 70 lbs. of honey to a swarm and 23 



1 e^^. Pf ^' ^^'^'■'^- TI'C honey, was at the rate of 4 

 •I'S. extracted to 3 of comb. Beos 

 «nd none Uead as yet. 



l-liOl-OMS, TIN VEHSUS WOOD. 



am'^!!!^!'!'"^^^^-'^-^ ^'-P^ of tin on the 



good shape now 



We filled all we had and stopped for a short time, and 

 went into the house considerably elated over the nice 

 wlute granulated honey, thinking bow the people iwould 

 Iikeil. After awhile, said I, "Hark! what is that blo'w-- 

 in;- .-- ^^ e looked in our box where we had set our jars of 

 honey, and erery one was boiling over. We were not sat- 



s-abbetawifhf I. >••,*' ^^ "' "" 0" LiiG houev 



^ang on P V^^ T^ Z^Z::^^^::^ ;r ' - - <•- ^- mo. jars and " exp.e;r';h;m Zl 



Now don-t say get metal corners as wa^^ \t fo Ipl ST " T"'"'"'''^ ^^'°" ^^^^^^"^' -^' °- °^ ^'^-^^^ 



<- iramcs now in use that I can't put he coined on m? 'r"' ^"^' ^" '^'"^ " '''''' '^^"^•^ '^"'^ been aired 



J. Kekn 1.0.GLA.S, Neosho, Wis. Mar. th ^7 "■ t t S^7''V'"''^^'"^'^ '''^'^ ""^ ^™^''^=«- ^"^ -^"^n't 



There is certainly no need of <.,^!^l]u ^'•■•" ^"«''- <'i° f'-^^oro^ti^e honey? 



corners unless yL wi h bi?t ou genSs ' If '"■-'• '''^^"^" "" ^"^•' ^^^^ ^™"^^-'' ^O" 

 Huiuld ail learn that bees propo be wood mS l- f^'^o"l• ^P^'^-^^^ion that the honev was ex- 

 -orsetha.thoydo tin ; ^or tlft r?So^ wc ' woxdd^^^ ^"^ ^^^" scaled reven thts 



'""■'U'avethetin come up above tiren^s nn?^^^^^^^^^^^^ jou 



enus .not .(bed your b:!rre!s quite full, and left the 



