1874 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
81 
JI i* si d K of €. i* si in, 
FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 
s \ if i-:ssus A. I. ROOT & C°.— In March we had a 
j»yjl tine flow of honey, but 1 being a beginner hatl 
wV“ 9 weak stocks and did not reap full beneflt, but 
i: was of great service In building up and we had much 
nice honey. I raised Queens in March and was care- 
ful to put no comb in except pure Italian, but to my 
surprise I found three Black Queens, or nearly so, and 
1 have not yet seen any workers from them witli yel- 
low bands. All other Queens raised then and since, 
are bright. 1 live on Vermillion Itiver out of reach of 
over flow. Pryest ground is right on bank. How far 
oil' would you put an Apiary? How far off will It lie 
safe lo keep black drones ? will soon have none and no 
neighbor within half mile. When and how can I 
move bees 100 yards safely ? J. B. Ra.mseY M. D. 
Abbeville, Vermillion, La. 
We are inclined to think the Queens men- 
tioned came from common brood by some 
means. 
We are too little acquainted with the South 
to be able to advise intelligently as to locating 
an Apiary, but would remark generally, that 
we would choose the lowest ground we could 
And, that was not too wet to be in danger of 
drowning the bees; our reasons are that they 
might be sheltered from high winds ; if sur- 
rounded by hills, rocks or tall forests, all the 
better; secondly, we would have the bees de- 
scend, when going home laden. On going 
home before a storm and perhaps wearied, they 
would sail down into the quieter valley almost 
by gravity alone, whereas were their home on 
a “hill top,” the hardest part of the battle 
would be to ascend in the face of the blast, 
when laden with pollen and possibly honey 
too, besides the fatigue usually resulting after 
a day of labor. We should pay but little at- 
tention to proximity of water, for this can be 
easily secured artificially. 
Bees are reported to go home, even after 
having been removed as far as 2 miles ; careful 
observation however is needed to be aware of 
this ; but we think drones should be kept two 
miles away, or more if possible. 
We know of no way of moving a colony of 
working bees during the working season, 100 
yards, without loss. We have made careful 
experiments in the matter, have smoked, and 
drummed, and clustered them with their Queen 
apart from their combs, yet go home they 
would a great part of them, in spite of us. 
Thoughtless people may claim there is no 
loss, but if they put a similar hive on the 
original spot, they can easily determine how 
many are lost ; if no such hive is used, they 
scatter about in a way that would likely be 
unnoticed, but careful inspection of the shrub- 
bery, gra$s, etc., at night or early in the 
morning, will generally reveal the homeless 
wanderers. Moving them one foot a day is the 
safest plan we khow, but ’tis a great bother, 
and after all a considerable damage to their 
labors. 
, ^ any one can direct us in a better way, 
twin be a favor. Of course by confining the 
bees to the hive, or after a spell of bad weath- 
er of a week* or more, they can be moved with- 
out much loss, but careful observation shows 
that even then, the older bees are many of 
them missing, and in some cases the loss is 
considerable. We once purchased a colony of 
a ucighbor in January ; they had no weather 
enabling them to fly freely until March, but 
even then so many bees went back that they 
froze outright, the first cold night ; and exam- 
ination showed a great part of them scattered 
about on the ground at their old home. That 
such is not always the case we are well aware, 
but it should be borne in mind that such re- 
sults may frequently be expected. 
I put 50 colonies in cellar last lull. In Lnngstroth 
hives— uneasy all winter— thermometer between 31" 
and 50®. Two died with dysentery- more had it— ha\ e 
united unfil 1 have 40 left. Bound to have all strong 
if have to do so some more. Some had brood in ten 
combs— will average about eight. Cold bad spring. 
Adams, Wis. May 30th, 1874. J. L. Woeeknukn. 
Have just examined the stock of black bees, trans- 
ferred from "big hive” and find lhat the Queen lias 
laid more eggs than any two Italian Queens in the 
Apiary, since I transferred them. Think Adair is 
quite light on the dwarfing hive system. 
Downglac, Mich. May 16th, 1874.' James Heddon. 
Mr H. sent us an account of transferring a 
colony of blacks, from an extra large box hive, 
so large in fact that it was never filled with 
comb, but it contained an unusual number of 
bees. The letter has “got away” somehow but 
the above is a further report from it. 
1 had enough Queen cells to start 4 nuclei, which I 
formed in about 10 days, well they hatched out, but no 
drones. I looked everywhere for Instruction as to 
what would be the result. Langstroth page 3(1, says, 
“retarded impregnation of Queens results in produ- 
cing drone laying Queens.” Of course this would not 
do, and I could find nothing contrary to lids in Bee 
Journals or Gleanings; In fact they did not even 
treat on the fact that such was the ease. 1 have often 
seen the remark that it would not do to raise Queens 
too early, hut 1 have never seen the reason why. 
Please do not think I am scolding our Editors, but 
you know it is best to tell our troubles sometimes. 
Well. Thursday last 1 killed two of those Queens, and 
one flew away. Did I do right? S. J. M. 
Elyria, O. 
Tell us your troubles by all means, and we'll 
help as far as we know. 
Our Queens usually commence to lay when 
from ten days to two weeks old, and occasion- 
ally not until three weeks of age. A Queen 
now in our Apiary that has proved herself 
quite prolific, did not commence to lay until 
after she was a month old, but as a general 
tiling we do not think it pays to keep them 
over three weeks. When Queens are reared 
in the spring before drones have made their 
appearance, we should, most cwtainly keep 
them if any sealed drone brood could be found 
in the hives at the time they were hatched. 
There would however, be some probability of 
their proving only drone layers, and we should 
be careful to see some of their brood sealed 
over before deciding positively they were 
fertile. 
Value of little attentions to bees. 
1 noticed to-day that one or two bees commenced 
carrying water, hut it was so cold they sipped a little 
and then stepped. I warmed the water to see tire 
effect amt it was amusing as well as interesting to see 
how soon tlie bees tounditout; in about 20 minutes 
there were from 40 to 50 eagerly at work. No doubt 
we can save bees much labor by attending to their 
wants. Think for instance of hoes carrying off a 
handful of debris as line as sawdust, a particle at a 
time, wltea the Apiarian can sweep off tne whole in 
a moment. IX C. Miu.ett. 
Hvdinesburg. Pa. March 21st, 1874. 
AVc carried the above in our pocket several 
weeks, proposing to try it before it was pub- 
lish 'd Notwithstanding we met with no de- 
cided success in feeding the warm water we 
fully approve of the general sentiment of the 
letter. 
