1877. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



159 



quantities than those growing wild, oi- with- 

 out attention. Our basswoods that have 

 eonunenced to blossom, have shown a larger 

 amount of honey in the nectaries, than we 

 ever saw in any that grew in the woods or 

 fields. Tiie <iuestion, ''How many acres of a 

 good iKuiey bearing i)lant, woidd be needed 

 to keep 100 colonies busy V' has often been 

 asked. If ten acres of buckwheat would an- 

 swer while in full bloom, we shoidd need 

 perhaps ten other similar fields sown with 

 rape, mustard, catnip, etc., ))lossoming at as 

 many different periods, to keep them going 

 the entire warm season. It wo'JId seem 200 

 acres should do nicely, even if ni.ihing were 

 obtained from other som-ces, but at present 

 we can only conjectiu'e. A colony of bees 

 will freiiuently pay for themselves in ten 

 days during a good yield from natural pas- 

 turage, and if we could keep up this state of 

 affairs during the whole of the summer 

 months, it would be quite an item indeed. 

 Buckwheat, rape, and alsike clover, are the 

 only cultivated plants that have given pay- 

 ing crops of honey, without question, so far 

 as we have been informed. 



AKTZriCIAIi SWARIkHNG. To 



attempt to give all the various plans and 

 modifications that are reconnnended and 

 l)racticed successfully, woiild make a book 

 of itself ; we shall therefore only give those 

 we think safest and simplest. 



If you are a new hand with bees, you had 

 better not undertake to do such work, mitil 

 you find that bees are swarming naturally in 

 the neighborhood. At such a time, you will 

 probably succeed by almost any plan. If 

 you have plenty of money and not much 

 time, you had better buy your queens, and 

 the dollar queeils Avill do very well ; if you 

 shoitld get them killed, it will be no serious 

 loss. If you also have plenty of empty 

 combs, you can make an artificial swarm in 

 a very few minutes, by simply moving any 

 strong colony several rods away, and pla- 

 cing a new hive filled with empty comb, in 

 its place. That the returning bees may not 

 kill the strange queen they find in place of 

 their accustomed mother bee, we protect 

 her for a day or two in a wire cloth cage, 

 see QUEEN CAGE. As they enter with their 

 loads of pollen and honey, they seem very 

 much perplexed and astonished, scram- 

 l)le out of the hive and after a few turns 

 about the premises to reassure themselves, 

 they go in again, repeating this until too 

 tired apparently to bother tiieir little heads 

 any farther with a matter that is altogetlier 

 l.)eyoiid tlieir comprehension, they wisely 



conclude that " what can't be cured, linist 

 be endured," unload in the empty combs 

 near the (pieen, and go after more spoils. 

 We have had a colony of this description 

 l)ring in over 20 lbs. of honey, during the 

 first two days. Let the (pieen out after they 

 get friendly to her— see introduction ok 

 QUEENS— and your work is done. Should 

 the colony get weak before the young bees 

 begin to hatch out, you can give tliem a 

 comb of hatching brood from some strong 

 stock. , 



coMus of hatching brood. 



As these combs of hatching brood 

 are a very important item in bililding up. 

 or strengthening stocks, and as we shall 

 have need of referring to them often, we 

 will explain that you are to look over the 

 combs of a very populous colony and select 

 one that has bees just gnawing through the 

 caps of the cells. .\t the proper season, you 

 should find combs that will hatch out a doz- 

 en bees while you are holding them in your 

 hand ; it shoidd contain little or no unsealed 

 brood, for the new colony might not be able 

 to feed all the larva^,. One L. frame will if 

 full of cai)ped brood, make a very fair swarm 

 of bees, and as these newly hatched downy 

 bees are — like newly hatched chickens foi- 

 all the world— ready to take up with any- 

 body or anything, we can put them sjifely 

 anywhere without fear of their being hos- 

 tile, to either queens or workers. 



Can we not get .along without the empty 

 comb by using foundation in its stead y 

 Yes we can, but it is hardly advisable, unless 

 we can have two or three old combs to start 

 with, for the foundation should always be 

 built out between two finished combs. 



If you prefer to rear your own queens, 

 which every apiarist should do, move your 

 colony as before, but instead of the queen, 

 give them a frame of eg(js from your choicest 

 queen. Now if you want fine queens, equal- 

 ly as good as those reared in natural swarm- 

 ing, be sure you do not give them any large 

 larvae, with the eggs. The best and safest 

 way, is to take an empty comb, place it in 

 the centre of your colony containing your im- 

 ported or choice queen, and leave it tlier'e vm- 

 til you find eggs in it that are just hatching 

 into larvae ; these larva? will be scarcely vis- 

 ible to the naked eye when first hatched, but 

 in place of the egg. you will see a tiny spot 

 of the milky food that the nurse bees place 

 round the embryo bee. This is just the age 

 you wisli the larvte for (pieen rearing, and 

 you may take the frame, bees and all, if yon 

 are sure you are not carrying your old queen 



