In ordinary circumstances, when a swarm has left a stock, the oldest of the young queens is ready to emerge from her cell in about eight or nine days; if no second swarm is sent ou...
How far they will travel in search of a home, is also uncertain. I have heard of their going seven miles, but could not learn how the fact was proved. I have no experience of my ow...
The first eggs are deposited in the centre of the cluster of bees, in a small family; it may not be in the centre of the hive in _all_ cases; but the middle of the cluster is the w...
The particular manner of obtaining pollen has been witnessed by but very few persons, as it is generally brushed from their bodies and packed on their legs, while on the wing, ther...
A box for a cover or cap, that size inside, will fit any hive. The height of this box should be seven inches. Of course other sizes will do, but it is best to commence with one tha...
I am not anxious to establish a new theory, but to get at facts. If we pretend to understand natural history, it is important that we have it correct; and if we do not understand i...
A case in point occurred in the spring of '49. I sold over twenty stocks to one person. He had constructed a bee-house, and his arrangement brought the hives within four inches of...
A neighbor purchased thirteen stock-hives; six were old ones, the others swarms of the last season. As the old hives were heavy, he of course thought them good; either he knew noth...
We have faithfully supported a host of speculators on our business for a long time; often not caring one straw about our success, after pocketing the fee of successful "humbuggery....
Probably the best conveyance is a wagon with elliptic springs. But a wagon without springs is bad, especially for young stocks. Yet I have known them moved safely in this way, but...
A good family will form a ball or circle about eight inches in diameter, generally about equal every way, and must occupy the spaces between four or five combs. As combs must separ...
Some of my neighboring bee-keepers lose a quarter or half of their swarms by flight, and how do they manage? When the word is given out, "Bees swarming," a tin-horn, tin-pan, bells...
But the process of returning such requires some little patience and perseverance. I have said there may be a dozen young queens in the old stock. Now suppose one, two, or more leav...
I am satisfied that 2,000 inches in the clear, is the proper size for safety in this section, and consequently, profit. On an average, swarms from this size are as large as any. Th...
In passing along I have not mentioned garden flowers, because the amount obtained here is a small item, compared to the forest and fields--especially ornamental flowers. It is true...
When extreme hot weather occurs immediately after the bees have been gathering from a plentiful harvest for two or three weeks, or even during the yield, the wax composing new comb...
Swarms will sometimes get in places where it is impossible to jar them off, or cut off a branch, such as the trunk of a tree, or a large limb near it. In which case place the hive...
I have occasionally adopted yet another method of making a good stock from two poor ones, which the reader may prefer. When all your old stocks have been reinforced that need it, a...
I once removed the bees from a hive on the tenth of January, and found brood amounting to about five hundred, sealed over, and others in every stage of growth down to the egg. This...
But when I attempted the next link in the chain (to wit) What caused the death of this brood just at this stage of development? I was obliged to stop. Not the least satisfaction co...
This making one good stock out of two poor ones, cannot be too highly recommended; aside from its advantages, it relieves us from all disagreeable feelings in taking life, that we...
The clustering out of the bees I find but a poor criterion to judge from, further than full hives do swarm--many such do not. EXAMINATIONS--THE RESULT. I will detail a few circumst...
Physiologists tell us "that innumerable pores in the cuticle of the human body are continually throwing off waste or worn out matter; that every exhalation of air carries with it a...
Should nearly all the combs in the hive become detached from any cause, and lie on the bottom in one "grand smash of ruin," their first steps are, as just described, pillars from o...
Sometimes a swarm will issue and return three or four days in succession, but this I generally remedy, as it is often owing to some inability of the queen, and she may be frequentl...
To remove from the mind of the reader all apprehension that I am about condemning one patent to recommend another, I would say in the beginning, that I have _no patent to praise, n...
The careless, unreflecting observer, when seeing the bees enter the hive with a pellet of pollen on each of their posterior legs, is very apt to conclude that it must be material f...
This substance is first used to solder up all the cracks, flaws, and irregularities about the hive. A coat is then spread over the inside throughout; when the hive is full, and man...
Vegetable physiology seems to indicate a similar necessity in that department. The stamens and pistils of flowers answer the different organs of the two sexes in animals. The pisti...
Besides the loss of bees on the snow when standing in the sun, and taking an airing occasionally, there are some economical bee-keepers who urge this disadvantage, "that every time...