526 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Deamber 15, 1887. 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING.—No. 25. 
When the bee-keeper does not desire to diminish the 
number of his stocks, and yet perceives that certain of 
his colonies require reinforcements of bee3 before they 
are in a fit state for wintering, it is advantageous to either 
beg or purchase a few pounds of driven bees and add 
them to the weak stocks. Driven bees can in many 
neighbourhoods be purchased at Is. a pound; and 
although it is impossible accurately to gauge the number 
of bees which make a pound in weight, owing to the fact 
that gorged bees weigh more than those with empty sacs, 
and for other reasons of a somewhat similar nature, 
still, taking the average, it is, I think, a safe estimate to 
reckon that in a pound there will be at least 4000 bees. 
In effecting the purchase of driven bees, or in acquiring 
them by driving honey stocks for friends or neighbours, 
it is well to remember that in August every stock contains 
a quantity of old bees, many of which will die before the 
end of September; a pound, therefore, in August will 
contain a large per-centage of worn-out workers, while at 
the end of September many of these old stagers will have 
perished, and consequently a pound of bees at that time 
will be far more valuable than the same quantity in the 
preceding month. In any case, however, after adding 
5 lbs. of driven bees to a stock the winter may be awaited 
with absolute confidence, and with the certainty that in 
the spring such a colony will give the best results as a 
reward to the bee-keeper for his trouble and expenditure. 
There is not the slightest difficulty in adding driven bees 
to established stocks. One precaution may be taken, and 
one only is required; indeed, in some oases a safe union 
may be effected without the exercise of the slightest care, 
but it is far safer to adopt the surest method. Late in 
the afternoon the bees to be united must be taken to the 
stock to which it is intended to join them. A sheet must 
be spread on the ground in front of the stock ; two pieces 
of wood a few inches high must next be placed on the 
sheet. Six or seven puffs of smoke may then be blown 
in at the entrance of the stock, the driven bees with a 
sudden jerk being next thrown on to the cloth and 
sprinkled with scented syrup. The hive in which the 
stock is located may then be lifted from its stand and 
placed on the sheet, the opposite sides of the hive resting 
on the two pieces of wood in order to prevent crushing of 
bees and consequent loss of life. The hive must then be 
protected from the weather in any manner which is con¬ 
venient, and wdien in the morning the stock has been 
replaced in its stand, which has, of course, been kept in 
a dry place during the night, the union is effected. If 
this method is not convenient the bees may, after smoking 
the stock and sprinkling the combs from above with thin 
warm minted syrup, be thrown upon the tops of the 
frames, and after also sprinkling them a quilt may be laid 
over all until the united bees descend between the combs, 
when the ordinary covering may be replaced in the usual 
manner. 
If it necessary to unite two stocks—bees established in 
their hives—the colonies should be brought as nearly as 
possible together; both stocks should then be smoked 
and sprinkled with syrup, preferably scented, and the 
combs and adhering bees of both stocks be placed alter¬ 
nately in the same hive, the empty hives being of course 
removed. In these manipulations it is absolutely neces 
sary that the syrup used should be very thin; if thick 
syrup is used the bees will be absolutely glued together 
in one seething mass and many will perish. A few drops 
of essence of peppermint may be added to a pint of syrup 
in order to give it a scent sufficiently strong to deaden 
the difference in smell which undoubtedly exists, and is 
at once perceived by bees of different stocks when it is 
attempted to unite stranger bees to those already estab¬ 
lished in their hives. Some bee-keepers, however, never 
use any scent, and others adopt what I think is the need¬ 
less precaution of taking the bees of the stock to which it is 
desired to unite the homeless bees from their combs, and 
thus rendering them less inclined to fight with one 
another, because they have neither of them anything worth 
defending. 
With regard to the treatment of queens when uniting 
bees, so much depends upon individual circumstances that 
it hardly seems wise to lay down a hard-and-fast rule. 
In many instances the bee-keeper has no knowledge what¬ 
ever, save by conjecture, as to which is the best queen. 
He knows that his stocks probably contain queens, but is 
utterly ignorant of their respective values. In such a case 
it is just as well to let the bees decide the question for 
themselves, not attempting to pick out the inferior queens, 
but leaving the point to be decided by the bees in their 
own way. But when an intelligent bee-keeper knows that 
one queen is very valuable and another comparatively 
worthless, the valuable queen alone should be saved and 
all the others killed by the bee-keeper at the end of the 
honey season. In some cases it is even wise to cage the 
queen until the union has been peaceably effected, and 
then some forty-eight hours afterwards release her, or the 
direct introduction method, about which we shall have 
more to say, may be used. Other things being equal a 
young queen is almost always preferable to an old one. 
The bee-keeper who bears in mind the fact that there are 
five main essentials to successful wintering, keeping in 
view the future harvest, will always take care to fulfil the 
conditions which ensure success. Briefly, these conditions 
may be said to be:—- 
1, A good queen. 
2, A strong stock. 
3, A dry hive. 
4 , Good ventilation without draught. 
5, A sufficient supply of food. 
When snow lies on the ground the strongest stocks 
may be confined to their hives if certain conditions are 
observed. Perforated zinc may be used to block the 
entrance, and a board should, in addition, be placed 
against the front of the hive to throw off the rays of the 
sun. Occasionally a little snow on the floorboard is also 
an assistance in the case of restless stocks on very bright 
warm days when soft snow is lying round the apiary. 
Many bee-keepers object to entirely closing the entrances 
of stocks, and maintain that by doing so strong colonies 
occasionally become excited and irritated by the confine¬ 
ment and are smothered to death. This may be so, but 
it has never happened in my own apiary nor in any 
apiary within my knowledge, but certainly a great loss of 
bee life has been occasioned when no perforated zinc has 
been used, but reliance has instead been placed upon the 
use of a board only. In warm sunny weather—even in 
midwinter — the air is often so mild that whether the 
rays of the sun fall upon the entrance or not many bees 
creep out and fly, and even if they do not perish in the 
snow they are utterly unable to find their way back to the 
hive—disguised by the board leaning against the front— 
but fly hopelessly about until by mere exhaustion they 
1 fall and die. Others, again, never either shade or close 
