The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-26
Some Pointers on Bees.

This month may be considered as clos
ing the winters rest with those who
value the spring honey flow, as these will
begin feeding early in March to induce
the queen to begin laying, so there may
be plenty of workers for the field when
TIE How begins. Last season the quick
jump from winter cold and snow to sum-
mer heat and gentle rain forced the bios
SONS. in this vicinity at least, before
their time, and neither pollen nor nectar
was in the usual quantity, and but few
had their colonies in condition to take ad-
vantage of what there was.
Bookkeeping is coming to be considered
a very necessary adjunct of fruit grow
ing. and within the year very many
colonies have been benched in the or
chacdS of New Jersey and left to take
care of themselves These have increased
the sWarms in some cases having been al
loved to go out as they chose and TO To-
cate at will Some orchardists have bor-
rowed colonies during the season of
bloom, getting the use by paying the cost
of transfer from and to home again and a
tr'fle more.
Very little is said nowadays about bees
destroying fruit. but instead there is
very kindly feeling towards them because
of the work they do, as evidenced in the
talks upon spraying. when the word is
Don't spray when the blossoms are open,
out of regard for our friends the bees
Before Il recent bee-keepers' convention.
Mr.. Selser said he introduced new queens
so quickly that the bees never realized
that a change had been made. This plan
is practiced in the evening. when queens
are not laying rapidly. The queen TO be
introduced must be taken from another
colony in the same apiary. Queens COM
ing through the mail in queen cages could
not be so introduced. The way of doing
it Is to remove the old queen, leaving the
colony queenleSs for a couple of hours.
Then at about nightfall lift the cover
carefully, blow in a little smoke insert
the new queen. and the thing is done
The bees, Mr. Selser said, seeing things
going along successfully. accept the queen
all right. Queens. he says. are harder
than are the workers. and can endure
considerable more rough handling.
Queens, during the laying season, Mr..
Selser said. are fed by the workers, but
at other times would feed themselves.
Their egg-laying capacity is from 1900 TO
1850 per day. In California and Florida,
where there is no season of rest. the use
full life of queen is about two years,
but here 1t is about four. Before intro
ducing queen to a colony the colony
should be brought to a condition of great
~ desiring queen, but If colony de-
cides TO rear a queen it is a very difficult
matter to get them to abandon the idea.
The worst situation is when fertile work
ers make their appearance. Mr.. Selser
and others believed that there We're sew
eral fertile workers in a hive, but DR..
Townsend was of the opinion that there
was only one.
The result of experiments in bee-keep-
ing made at the Vermont station. as re-
given in brief as follows:
The amount of honey secured by the
use of a contracted brood chamber after
swarming is notably greater
Stimulative spring feeding to start
brood rearing preparatory to gathering
the white honey flow has proven positive
~ injurious in that northern climate.
Such feeding. says the report, should not
be allowed until enough young bees have
Matched in the hive to maintain the heat /
of the colony. Should ii become necessary
TO feed, the advice is to place combs of I
honey or boxes filled with sugar syrup
in the brood chamber where the bees can /
have access to them.
Any management that will cause bees |
to become active during cool, windy !
weather is liable to bring about spring !
which is very demoraliZing in !
lessening the working force necessary to |
preserve the welfare OF the colony until /
the young bees with greater vitality are I
able to supply the hive. After the weather I
is settled and warm, stimulatiVe feeding 1
may often prove beneficial particularly /
Il there promises to be a scarcity of [
honey in the field.
TO find out if bees would use bits and |
scraps of wax in comb construction dur |
nS the honey flow, a handful of fine !
scrapinSs from. cake of yellow wax was /
placed on top OF some fairly well filled /
sections with combs partly capped, COW
ered with a screen of wire cloth and dark I,
aned- The bees came up through the sec
ions at once and bounced upon the wax.
After SO hours the wax was gone, the |
combs showing notified appearance, the /
tapping being white and yellow.