Thus it appears to be with granting patents and premiums, if we take what has been patented and praised by our committees and officers as improvements in bee-culture. These men may...
If the object in feeding is to induce early swarms, of course the best stocks should be chosen for the purpose; but some care is necessary not to give too much, and fill the combs...
One stock in fifteen may commence piping, yet send out no swarm. The bees will change their minds about coming out, and kill their queens, or allow the eldest one of them to destro...
There is nothing about the apiary more difficult to determine, nothing more likely than to be deceived. It is generally supposed, when a number are outside fighting, that it is con...
As for bees getting on the snow, I apprehend that not many more are lost there, than on the frozen earth; that is, in the same kind of weather. I have seen them chilled, and lost o...
That the old queen does leave with the first swarm is indicated by several things: one is, eggs may often be found on the board the next morning; another, when the first swarm has...
One cause of superior thrift may be found in the circumstance, that all moth eggs and worms are frozen to death, and the bees are not troubled with a single worm before June. No yo...
Suppose one stock has caught the infection, but a small portion of the brood is dead. In the heat of the hive, it soon becomes putrid; other cells adjoining with larvae of the righ...
The chamber hive is made with two apartments; the lower and largest is for the permanent residence of the bees, the upper or chamber for the boxes. Its merits are these: the chambe...
The inquiry is now made, "Where do they get it from, if not from pollen?" I might with propriety answer, they don't get it at all. "Stop, there, if you please; if you expect us to...
A large swarm will probably carry with them some five or six pounds of honey from the parent stock. I only guess at this, because I am uncertain what the bees weigh exactly. "I can...
We will now suppose that some of your stocks are ready to cast their swarms: we will also presume that your empty hives for the reception of swarms are ready before this period; to...
When not kept perfectly dark, a few would leave the hives in either case. I have found it much better to make the room dark to keep the bees in the hive, than to tie over them a th...
Probably the first delusion in the patent line originated with the idea, that to obtain surplus honey, it was absolutely necessary to have a chamber hive. To get rid of the depreda...
This disease is probably of recent origin. Mr. Miner, it appears, knew nothing of it until he moved from Long Island to Oneida County, in this State. Mr. Weeks, in a communication...
All _good stocks_ may be wintered in this way, with but little risk in most situations. Whether in the bleak north-wind, buried in a snow-bank, or situated warm and pleasant, it wi...
We now approach another disputed point in natural history, relative to the queen leaving at any time except when leading out a swarm. Most writers say that the young queen leaves t...
Several years ago, I thought I had obtained a principle that would revolutionize the whole system of bee management. In 1840 I constructed such hives, and put in the bees to test b...
I said one apartment would be filled with brood-combs; this will be occupied, at least partially, with brood as long as the yield of honey lasts; consequently, there will be but li...
It is as much work to construct each separate section, as a common hive; consequently, it is three times the expense to begin with. It is objectionable for wintering bees, on the s...
Bees are so changeable, especially in the summer and swarming season, that we can seldom be certain what they are, by what they have been. It is safest, therefore, _to know what th...
"Prevention is better than cure." We can, if we keep a good lookout, often prevent more than one issuing at a time. This depends on our knowledge of indications, in a great measure...
I had so many cases of the kind, that I became somewhat alarmed, and made inquiry through the Cultivator, (an agricultural paper,) as to a cause, and remedy, offering a "reward for...
When you are all ready, take a stock that can spare a swarm; if bees are on the outside, raise the hive on wedges, and drive them in with a little water, and disturb them gently wi...
Whatever location is chosen, it should be decided upon as early in the spring as possible; because, when the chilling winds of winter have ceased for a day, and the sun, unobstruct...
Jones' dividing hive was probably suggested by this instinctive principle of the bee, viz.: when a stock by any accident loses its queen, and the combs contain eggs or very young l...
Instinct teaches the bee to make the matters left to them as nearly _sure_ as possible. When they want one queen, they raise half a dozen. If one drone or only half a dozen were re...
By what I have said about artificial swarms, it would appear that it is unsafe at any time but the swarming season; that is my opinion. It may do a little in advance or a little af...
The month of March has been recommended by several; others prefer April, August, or September. Here, as usual, I shall have to differ from them all, preferring still another period...
Silkweed (_Asclepias Cornuti_) is also another honey-yielding perennial, but a singular fatality attends many bees while gathering it, that I never yet saw noticed. I had observed...