t>evote:d to beeh Aisr> honey, aivi> iio]m:e interests. 



Vol. V. 



DECEMBER 1, 1877. 



No. 12. 



A. I. ROOT, ■) Publisbcd Monthly. rTFT^ins: Rl.OO Per Annum in Ad- 



PubUsh^ and Proprietor, > ■] vance; 3 Copjes/or $Z..50; 5/orft3.75; 



Medina, O. ) X^sta.'blislied in 1873. ClO or more, 60e. each. Single Number lOc. 



BEE HUNTIIVG IN TEXAS. 



ALSO SOME VALUABLE HINTS TO BEE-KEEPERS. 



fHERE is a timbered rliige 5 miles from my house 

 called the Postoak ridjre, and on it a place about 

 , 4 miles square, very thickly covered with grape 



vines and green briers called the Postoak Ruflfs. I 

 wa< in this pl-^ce la«t spring getting timbers, and 

 while cutting down Sour Oaks I noticed honeybees 

 on the cliip^ and stumns. As the place is very un- 

 healthy, no o le livo3 within 5 miles of the spot. Next 

 dav I took my hnnting pan, well baited, with me. 1 

 didn't get anv tinibr^rs that day; my pan was covered 

 with bees ii 30 minutes and I found three bee trees 

 thnt day, but I have been so busy I have never had 

 time toivke a general b°e hunt. I have only hunted 

 a little going in and out a'ter wood. I found 8 bee 

 trees and I have sev^ril more lines to hunt after, as 

 soon as I get ti n"-. The bees all go in at the ground 

 or so close, to it that I need no climbers to hunt here. 

 I think I can And as many wild bees as I want, for I 

 am called a good hand at the business. 



MT METHOD OF HUNTING BEES. 



I make a wooden pan with a long handle, cutting 

 two or three gullies in the body of the pan sufficient 

 to hold corn cobs from being easily rolled out. On 

 these corn cobs I pour mv bait ; the cobs have little 

 cells that hold it from spreading or running off it my 

 pan should happen to turn at any time a little to 

 one side, and the bees can quickly and easily load 

 themselves. When they find the bait, I let them come 

 an<l go a few times until they take a straight line 

 homeward. If there is undergrowth in the way I get 

 a good course, trim out mv waj% and then while there 

 are bees loading themselves on the pan, I carefully 

 take hold the handle and walk on the line till I see 

 one commence wiping his mouth to start home ; then 

 I stop and watch him very closely, set mv pan down 

 and let them gather again. When they get to pitch- 

 ing off home on a straight line I walk again, and con- 

 tinue in this manner until I pass the tree and they 

 turn back; then I find the tree without much hunt- 

 ing. Sometimes I cross line them but only when the 

 tree is hard to find. I have never failed in finding 

 them when I got a good line. 



BEES LYING OUT, IDLE ON THE HIVES. 



I have often been vexed at my bees hanging idly 

 out-doors in the midst of a good honey season with 

 plentv of room in the hive. One day I " studied out a 

 plan " to make them work. I took a qaart of strained 

 honey, mixed it with a little water, and poured honey 

 all over every bunch of l>ees that was lying ouC They 

 at once began to sip and clean themselves off and as 

 soon as they would get full they would go up an<l 

 empty, and return for more. They would soon clean 

 themselves off and tear round as tiiongh mad at find- 

 ing no more honey there. They have the "lazy" 

 " knocked off" and nearly every time they will fly olV 

 to the forest after more stores. 



HIVING BEES ; A NtW "BEE BOB." 



Priends, you that are keei)ing bees in the old-fash- 

 ionecl way, if you want no trouble in hiving your l)ees, 

 go to the woods and hunt a knot that re'sembles a 

 swarm of bees settled, and Ptick it up (> or 8 feet high 

 in front of your hives. Nine times out of ten, they 

 will settle on it, and you can take them anywhere you 

 please. Plaae your 'hive where you want it to stay, 



shake your bees off In fiont of it, and you are done. 

 I have never had a swarm leave me when I was at 

 home. If I see they are determined to emigrate, I set- 

 tle them and wet them good, so the3- can't fly, shake 

 them on a cloth, on the ground or a table, and etir 

 them about till I find the queen, clip her wing, and I 

 have them "lied." After you put a new swarm in ji 

 hive, if you will watch closely, you can tell when tbfy 

 have a notion of leaving by their stillness between the 

 hours of 9 o'clock a. m. "and 4 P.M. About 30 min- 

 utes before' they intend starting they will be very 

 quiet, scarcely any stirring; if few are coming in and 

 nore going out, yon may look out, but if they ate 

 coming out as well as going in, they are all right. If 

 I had space I could tell a "heap" more, but 1 don't 

 suppose it would be of any use to auv one. 



E. J. Atchley. 

 Lancaster, Texas, Oct. 19th, 1878. 



Many thanks, friend A. Your remarks about 

 clippinjr ffueen's need a little qualification. It 

 will do very well for first swarms, but if you 

 clip the wings of the queen of any after swarm, 

 it will make you much more trouble than it 

 wouM to clip her head off. Your idea for ma- 

 king lazy bees go to work, and your "bee bob," 

 I am inclined to think quite favorably of. 



^0»^»^^^"~ 



ITAI.IAIVS ; THEIR MARKINGS. 



f||HERE is something about the marking of bees, 

 that I do not understrind. One of the " Blood " 

 1 queens that I got of you. produ<;es bees, the 



greater part of which are beautifully marked, light 

 colored, and three banded, while a few. (very few) 

 are the iilackest bees I ever saw. Old fashioned black 

 bees can't, begin to shine with them, for they look as 

 though they were polished. Now what kind of a 

 drone did she meet ? 



In the spring of '76. I had a swarm of Macks, the 

 queen of which became drone laying. All their brood 

 was drone brood, and there was lots of it. I thought 

 those small drones iiisiht fertilize a queen. This was 

 in April, and I don't think there were any other 

 drones in this part of Canada, certainly there were no 

 Italians. AVell. I killed the black queen, and gave her 

 bees a frame containing brood in all staees, from the 

 only pure Italian swarm I had. In a little over two 

 weeks, thcv had a fine light colored laying queen. 

 They did not get weak at all. and strange to say, when 

 those young bees hatched, they were all beautifully 

 marked Italiftns ; they were not light colored, for they 

 were of the world renowned imported stock, but every 

 bee showed the three bands distinctly. I have them 

 yet— a very strong s-.vann. snugly packed in chafl". 



I have one swarm of hybrids, of which one-half are 

 black, and the other half all three banded, while an- 

 other swarm cnntaini ig a (juecn. full sister to this 

 last, are nearly aU two banded with no black bees at 

 all. Should a'cpteen rrared from a pure mother pro- 

 duce any black bees ? My drones are all pure. Young 

 queens that were reared this summer, and mated im- 

 l)urely, produce bees difl'erent from those of last sum- 

 mer, and so I am perplexed. 



• Since mv loss in the spring of '7.5, 1 have irceased 

 slowly. I lost three last winter by tiylng different 

 plans of winterins. I ha<l but six left— four pure Ital- 

 ians and two hybrids— which I increased to 20. I sold 



