Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1879-07-02

BY T. b. MINER.

One would suppose that the bee
keepers of the United States had had
sufficient experience TO settle down
on established rules for the manage
ment OF bees; but instead OF this, we
continually find in ths correspondence
Of the bee magazines contradictory
theories and statements. to such an
extent that q beginner in the business
void be led to suppose that the man
segment of the bees was in its infancy
and that scarcely anything pertaining
thereto had became established be-
you'd all doubt. The following are
few examples Of the fallacies that are
extapt In regard to agriculture.
The Italian bees are now universal
y admitted to be far superior to our
native blacks This is not true, as
the testimony Of bes.keepers general.
" is about equally divided on the SUBJ
ject; and some skilled bee keepers
claim our native bees to be best.
The Langstroth frame has come al
most into universal use The facts
are, that not oue-tenth Of the bee
keepers Of this country use them, be-
cause they find other shapes and sizes
more profitable.
1t Is expected that all apiarists will
clip all queens wings as soon as they
get to laying, thereby saving all loss
Of swsrms by fightto the woods Bad
advice; batter not tinker too much
with bees. How many swarms go
to the woods when the queens wings
are not cut. Not one in twenty-five,
if one provides good clustering bush
es, the best being cedar, or henlock
branches lied to stakes set around the
spiary. Then, no natural swarms can
BE- obtained with the queens Grip
pied.
tAll queens should be changed in
the month OF June to prevent Increase
Of swsrIns.' All bosh. MIR, Doollttle
cites q case in which Q noted bee
keeper made this experiment at the
cost Of nearly his whole honey crop
1t 10 but little labor to keep beesP If
one lets them take care Of themselves,
Ii does not require much labor to at
tend to them; but as Q business TO sup
port . family, man will find that be
has got to work, and keep his eyes
vide open, as regards the condition Of
bis bees. -1rr
4 killed twenty-sevsn fertile work
srs in q nucleus Of ], 900 bees So says
= bee>kseper. A fertile worker bee
Is one that is supposed to have been
fed on aporhsn of the royal jelly
thai makes queens. Whether they
are thus fed IN the empryo state BY
accident, mistake, or Otherwise, is not
known; yet our most scientific bee keep.
trss alters life time spent in apiarian
researches, have failed TO see . fertile
worker, but the above party killed
.wenty.seven' 10 q little nucleus of
I 900 bees : Mr.. Moses Quinby, a
shor. times befor bis death !. in pub
lished article said in regard to this
class of bees.' i never saw one,' the
great difficulty being in discovering
thsm.- that they are exactly like the
common workers. Now, the idea that
. man could single out twenty-seven
fertile workers in 8 few minutes and
kill them, 10 the grOssest kind Of hum'
bngery.
The honey must be extract from
the central brood combs in the fall, or
the bees will not winter we'll This
tallscy is also being published fin the
papers, 10 being claimed that empty
combs are warmer than those filed
with honey and capped oyer. But
taking away the honey from the imme'
diats vicinity of the cluster is the
worst thing that Can DO done, because
in very cold weather the bees must
have hon ey whore they are clustered,
or they will perish if the weather con-
tinus cold several weeks.
AS early in the season as we are
able to obtain queens, we must re-
queen all ours stocks The sspient
bee.keeper who wrote this, SAID it must
be done because mo queen will be as
fertile the second as the first year
How has be proved this? 1t never
has been so proved by any evidence
worth . straw. deny the assertion,
and call for the proof that Il am wrong.
Probably the man who claims that all
stocks must be re-quesned, raises
queens TO sell.
Fifteen years ago, some one made
the discovery that the fertilization OF
the queen could be confined TO three
or four selected dronesp Nobody
ever made any such discovery and
never viii, as the nature of the honey
bee, as regards the fertilization OF
queens BY dronss on the wing, high
in the air, will forever be bar to any
,uch thing. do not say that the
writer OF the above intended to deceive
people, bat merely that he 10 mista-
rem.
we can work our bees to good ad |
by putting their extracted
honey into combs. That is, at GER
ain season Of the year, take the hon
sy that has previously been extracted
q lew wesks befors) and feed to the
bees to make comb honey What
next? The bee.keepers of this coun-
Try after extracting the honey stored
q the brood combs, will probably
h,nk that feeding it back to the bees
. not advisable; and that su:h an OPP
,rs ton will not pay.
Queens after the third year lay drors
,00s orlvJ T deny the truth of his