The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-05-04
For the Hawk Eye.
Hints ON Rec Keeping...No.5 s.

Hints ON BEE Kecping...No. s.
The grea: obstacle to the success Of Bee keep
ers hitherto has been the uncertainty attending
swarming. Some years they will not swarm Al
all, and other seasons they swarm too much, Sc
that their strength Is reduced; the young swarm
are small aud poor, and the old ones do not re
cruit sufficiently to be in good order for winter
Again, they<equre constant watching through
sthe swarming season, and are very prone afel
all the watching you give thvn TO come of
when you are absent, or SO busy that the time
they require is worth more than the swarm.
few years ago it was first discovered with cef
tainty, that bees can raise q new queen from
worker eggs, and that, wonderful as it seems
the queen 10 Matched from the same kind of eggs
| "a the worker bee; and that the treatment and
care the egg receives makes the great difference
In the two insects. From this fact sprang new
interest in bee keeping, and many experiments
have been made which have demonstrated to a
certainty that artificial swarms can be made with
ease, and bee keeping thus made more easy
! Any one at all acquainted with bees can see how
| great.an Improvement on the old method it is,
to be able any leisure day to swarm all his bees
at once. For the two last seasons have tried
artificial swarms with most Of my hives and
these have done much better than the ones al
lowed to swarm themselves; probably because I
made my swarms little earlier than the natural
ones appeared. shall describe my way ofman-
aging them, as briefly as possible-and would
! advise any one attempting the process to follow
my way eractly. If they do can insure them
saccess--but slight departure from my rules
might spoil all. The time of day is not impor-
| tant, but usually choose the middle of it, as
| the most bees are absent then. 1t can safely be
| done soon as the drones appear-usually the
latter part of May.
Take full hive, raise it a little, blow under a
little smoke, rap it few times smartly with
your hand or switch so as to arouse the bees
and then wait FIVE minutes or so. During this
time the bees, alarmed for the safety of their
treasures, will fill themselves with honey, and
this is necessary to their new house keeping
Then carry the hive o rod or two from Its old
place, and gently turn it bottom upwards, placing
an empty hive or box on the old stand where the
bees absent at the time can rendezvous as they
come back. If this is done gently and expedi.
tiously, few bees will leave, and a little more
tobacco smoke blown among them will drive
them down among the combs. The new hive is
then placed over this, every hole where bee
can csc pc being stopped with paper. If the
hives are of the same size, this is easily DONE
Then ms ly tbaS Sii nft tLn nj,
stick, and continue this rappng with little ces-
saton-the alarmed bees commence to ascend
into the upper hive as possible, and in fifteen or
twenty minutes will be clustered together in the
top of the hive like a natural swarm. There is
no fear of driving too manv-if you can you may
drive every bee
Raise one edge Of the upper hive occasionally
to see the progress, and you will find they are
hurryin. upward as fast possible. When they
seem all clustered in the top, lift it gently off
aud set it in shady place for few minutes;
you will soon discover whether you have the
queen with the SWARM if not, they soon COM
mence running out and in; and in short time
will all leave the hive. If you have her safe
they will remain quiet. When you have settled
this point, 7aa the soarin eractty vhere The old
one stood. This is ecry important, as the swarm
will not adhere to new location as natur al
one always dses. If the old hive was intending
to swarm, there will be young qneeEs in process
OF Matching in the hive, if not now, that it is
deprived of its queen, the bees will at once pro-
coed to raise one from worker eggs, and in fifteen
do will hnca pprfant I nlapa tho
old hive, if possible, about two feet in front of
the new one-if this is not convenient, the same
distance at one side,. 1t must not be carried
anywhere else unless you wish to lose it Bees
always 60 on the safe side and in raising queen
will not be satisf. ID with one but have half
dozen, or even more. When these are Matching,
if honey is abundant they may swarm second
time--if not, all but of the young queens
is killed. As these swa,ms are to be made at
the season of the year when young bees are
rased--thousands Of bees are left hatching in
the old hive, when you deprive it of its queen
consequently it will soon be as populeus ever.
1t is Il well established fact that bees do better
to swarm every year; and if tie season is not
very poor, young bees will be abundant in every
healthy hive. II the nights cool, after driving
a swarm, it should be covered with piece
carpet or quilt to preserve the heat in the hive
necessary to the Matching bees; if it is warm,
this is not necessary.
Some one may object. as have heard people,
that they had better be left to themselves this
is not natural for them-but it must be remem-
bered, that we do not keep bees in a natural
way when we domestica.e them, and keep num-
bers of hives in one apIary. The Same objection
would apply with equal force to all domestic
animals and fowls, as we improve upon nature
very much in our care of them, and do it with
safety as long as we follow natural laws. L.
Brighton, April %.
g@-There are at present 1876 miles of railway
track laid in the State of Missouri, the projected
| lines when completed will be 1928 miles.
| SOUTHERN ENLISTMENT FAILuRE.-The New
| Orleans DAILY True Delta of tie 18th says that
! the system OF enlistment for ihe Southern army
has proved failure in the parishes. The voun.
/ teer companies of New Orleans are called upon
/ to make up the forces called by JEFF Davis. Ihe
/ Delta says:
I This is unequal unfair and unjust.-Why should
4 the parish OF Orleans hear all the brunt of the
precipitate secession movement both III fighting
men and money? These fire-eating secession
parishes throughout the State that took SO active
part in the prccipitate movement should NOW
show their hands, and furnish at least their quota
Of fighting material. Up to this moment, We
have not heard of single parish in the STATE
outside the parish Of Orleans, thut has tenderet
a single company, single inap, to the Con
federate army. If the city of New Orleans ha'
to pay all the money and do all the fighting fo
the State the sooner the city separates from th'
State the better.