80 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ July 26, 1864. 



of the country people, however, do not consider such weather 

 unpropitious to bees, especially if it terminate by the middle 

 of April. The latter part of April and the month of May 

 were very favourable, and during these months most of my 

 stock-hives made great progress, and increased much in 

 population. The temperature was so high during the latter 

 part of May that large masses'of bees hung in clusters and 

 festoons about the entrances and underneath the stools of 

 the hives, and several hives in the district swarmed. There 

 was one swarm so early as the 15th of May — an unusual 

 occurrence in this locality. The last ten days have been 

 very unpropitious. Many hives that were preparing to 

 swarm were arrested in their progress, the bees destroying 

 the drones in their larva and pupa conditions, and tearing 

 down the royal cells that were in course of construction. 



The great obstacle to the prosperity of bees in this quarter 

 is the state of the weather, and so much has this been the 

 case during my experience, which extends to more than a 

 quarter of a century, that I have sometimes thought the 

 climate entirely unsuited to such insects. Curing the last 

 three or four years the seasons have been especially unpro- 

 pitious, and as a natural consequence thousands of hives 

 have perished, and many apiaries have gone to ruin. 



I have at present four apiaries consisting of nineteen hives, 

 and with the exception of two all in common straw hives. 

 The first apiary is in a back area adjoining my dwelling- 

 house. It consists of two hives — one a foundling, which I 

 had literally dug out of the roof of a house to which it had 

 migrated last season, and which I had transferred to a 

 Huber-hive, and the other the swarm that had taken pos- 

 session of the glass hive in my attic window, and to which I 

 alluded in a former communication. These two hives are 

 rapidly progressing in strength, but they are " far behind " 

 for the season. The population of the foundling may average 

 10,000, and that of the glass hive 5000 or 6000. No drones 

 have yet (June 10th) appeared. This apiary is so surrounded 

 with tall lime trees, and high gables of houses, that the bees 

 have often difficulty in surmounting them, having to mount 

 up a spiral of 40 or 50 feet in height. Any natural swarm 

 coming on 7 in this apiary is generally lost. 



In the second apiary I have only one hive. It is in good 

 condition, and may swarm in about a week. My third 

 apiary is situated in a distant forest, in the midst a young 

 oak coppice ; the disadvantage of this apiary lies in its 

 distance from immediate observation. The bees, however, 

 are most vigorous, healthy, and prosperous. Their peculiar 

 hum as they depart from and return to their hives is very 

 pleasing. This apiary consists of four hives, three young hives 

 and one old hive. The old hive is unusually strong in bees, 

 and at present is lying out in masses on the stool. Drones 

 have appeared in all the hives, and they are in good condition. 

 No swarms have yet been sent forth. Though, perhaps, it 

 would be for my interest to make artificial swarms, I have 

 such a desire to witness the egress of natural swarms that 

 I have as yet delayed forming any. One of the four is an 

 artificial swarm of last year, which had only half filled its 

 hive with comb ; but by this time it must have brought it 

 down to the surface. 



The fourth apiary consists of twelve stocks domiciled in 

 straw hives ; eight of these are young swarms of last year, 

 and four old stock -hives. Nine are in first-rate condition, 

 lying out in masses, and abounding in drones. The cause 

 of the bees in so many hives clustering in such masses on 

 the board lies in the circumstance of their having been ar- 

 rested by the cold weather in the process of constructing 

 royal cells, and having no royal cells sealed the old queen is 

 unwilling to emigrate. 



In closing this article can any apiarian inform me whether 

 he has ever known a swarm emigrate without a royal cell 

 sealed, or in process of being sealed, in the old stock ? — 

 Philisots, Dunkeld. 



WOEEIED TO DEATH. 



On the 14th inst. I missed the young queen of a small 

 artificial swarm. After a long and unavailing scrutiny of 

 every comb, I at length bethought me of examining the 

 ground in front of the hive, and there I found the body of 

 the unfortunate queen. Its peculiar appearance at once 

 satisfied me that she had been pinioned and literally worried 



to death by her own workers ; and although I failed in de- 

 tecting the usual sign of impregnation, I more than sus- 

 pected that the maltreatment to which she had fallen a 

 victim had closely followed her return from a successful 

 wedding trip. Three days afterwards I found these suspicions 

 verified in the case of a very beautiful young queen of 

 another small artificial swarm, whose lifeless body I ex- 

 tricated from a dense cluster of workers within the hive, the 

 sign of impregnation in this case remaining distinctly visible. 

 Can any one suggest a reason for these singular aberrations 

 in the instincts of bees, dooming the community in each in- 

 stance to certain extinction by the destruction of its juvenile 

 sovereign at the very moment when she had become fully 

 capable of fulfilling her important functions ? — A Devon- 

 shire Bee-keepek. 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. 



Pebhaps the result of my driving operations condemned 

 in your Journal of the 28th ult., may not prove uninterest- 

 ing. On July 1st, and the three following nights, piping 

 was heard in the old stock. On July 5th a fair-sized swarm 

 issued, and settled so quickly in a neighbour's orchard that 

 had I been absent for fifteen minutes it might have been 

 lost to me. Might I have driven again, or could I have 

 done anything to prevent the swarming ? In the afternoon 

 the old stock expelled dead two young queens. I have, 

 therefore, had from one stock, first, a natural swarm, which 

 sent out a maiden swarm (a very large one) on July 10th; 

 next, two artificial swarms (both doing well) ; lastly, a 

 natural swarm. — A Village Doctok. 



[You certainly ran great risk in your operations, but good 

 luck has pulled you through. Young queens do not on the 

 average lay eggs until they are fourteen days old, but the 

 one you saw on the 25th of May, must have left brood behind, 

 although but twelve days old at the time she quitted the old 

 stock. You could not have prevented the swarm, which 

 issued on the 5th of July.] 



BEES IN SUPERS. 



Oveb one of my hives, a common straw one with flat 

 board at the to]}, in which there is a circular hole, I have 

 placed a bell-glass. The bees congregate there in numbers, 

 but show no signs of building or forming the comb. Ought 

 I to have attached a small piece at the top (inside) as an 

 inducement ? or will they do it of then' own accord when 

 the hive is filled. I am quite a beginner in the apiarian 

 line, having bought two stocks only last autumn. One died 

 during the winter; the other threw out two swarms in May 

 and June, which I put into these new hives, made in the 

 village, and have now placed the bell-glasses over. I placed 

 the bell-glasses over because the bees hung out so much, 

 and I was afraid they would swarm, which (the people say 

 here), in July is not worth a butterfly. They only look at and 

 visit the extension of their new homes, but will not build. 

 I ought to say the glasses are rather large — 9 or 10 inches 

 in diameter. Is the extent of their new apartments too 

 large, or what is the reason ? I have placed an empty hive 

 over the glasses, so that they are in darkness. 



Supposing they do form the combs and fill the glasses 

 with honey, how am I to take the glasses off so as to get the 

 contents without injuring the bees, and when is the proper 

 time for doing so ? — Eectok, Kent. > , 



[If the bees remain in the bell-glasses they will probably 

 form combs therein, but would have done so more readily if 

 some clean comb had been fixed in them beforehand. The 

 glasses should be taken off when filled, or when the honey 

 season is over. Pull directions for removing supers are 

 given in page 125 of the sixth edition of Taylor's "Bee- 

 keeper's Manual.] 



OUR LETTEE BOX. 



Apiarian Requisites— Sufering Stocks {Chateau Vail on).— Messrs. 

 Neighbour & Son supply bell-glasses and caps, and In their advertisement, 

 which appears in another column, you will find a list of apents, but none 

 we fear in Yorkshire. Can any of our readers say where apiarian requisites 

 are sold in that county? Caps or supers maybe used with advantage as 

 long as the honey harvest continues, and if there be much heath near y0U s 

 may even now be of service. 



