_Red Hill Depot, Albemarle Co., Va._
[For the American Bee Journal.]
The Drouth, Bee Pasturage, and Queens.
The honey season has not been good, in this section of country, since
the middle of June, in consequence of continued hot and dry weather. Two
timely showers served to make a fair crop of corn, but did not much
increase the secretion of honey--hence the bees have not gathered more
in that period of time than to supply their daily consumption, and keep
them brooding. These points I have watched closely. The white clover
bloomed nearly two weeks earlier this year, than usual here; and,
therefore, by the time the colonies had brooded up to the point of
swarming, the chief honey harvest was gone. Hence, but few natural
swarms came off, and most of these came near starving to death, and will
require doubling up for wintering.
I made a number of artificial swarms, by taking a comb of brood, honey,
and bees, from six full hives and putting them together into a new
hive--using empty frames to fill the vacancy made in the old hives. The
swarms thus made have done well, compared with natural ones, and will be
in fair condition for winter.
It continues so dry yet that we cannot look for a large yield of honey,
either from buckwheat or other flowers; nor, if we could, can we expect
much honey to be stored in boxes, where comb has to be built to receive
it, as the nights are becoming too cool for comb-building.
I have seen the bees work incessantly for two or three weeks, this
season, upon the plant known as Carpenter’s Square, (SCROPHULAREA NODOSA
MARILANDICA, _Nodose Scrophularia_, _Figwort_,) and also, as usual, on
the Purple Polynesia, which appears to yield honey remarkably in hot and
dry weather. In this vicinity, also, both the black and the Italian bees
have worked on the red clover, during the last weeks of August. But,
more than all this, our bees this season seemed compelled to visit the
groceries for sugar and other sweets, to supply the lack of honey in the
flowers, and have perished by thousands in their demoralized eagerness
to obtain them.
From all this we have learned again the _necessity_ of cultivating more
extensively some crops or plants that will yield honey in the usual
barren interval between the failing of the white clover and the Alsike
and the coming in of the buckwheat and fall flowers. The linden trees
supply this in some localities, but not in ours--being too remote from
them. Buckwheat sown about the first of June, will often fill this
interval, and that sown a month later will make the fall pasturage.
Thus, by a proper disposition of crops, we may, with favorable weather,
make a continued honey harvest all the summer months; and, in
unfavorable weather, secure at least a partial supply for the same
period of time--thereby saving millions of bees from the demoralizing
effects of visiting groceries, and the consequent loss of their lives.
This summer my bees have not been disposed to start as many queen cells
as I desired; and, hence, after supplying all my colonies with queens,
have not had as many as I wished, to experiment with in the various
proposed methods of fertilization in confinement. But I have had enough
to show me that under our present knowledge of these processes, none of
them are as successful as is desirable for the purposes of the
intelligent queen-raiser. I have learned, moreover, that by most of the
methods employed the queens and drones become so excited, that, without
fostering the disposition for mating (the purpose for which they are
confined) they worry themselves to death in a very short time. To remedy
this, I have made cages on the same plan of my Queen Nursery cages, but
larger every way, with the covered way at one end converted into an
_ante-chamber_ for the introduction of the drones at the proper season,
without disturbing either the workers or the queen in the queen’s
_parlor_. In this parlor we put two square inches of comb, filled with
mature brood, and, over this, three inches square of comb filled with
honey for feed; and in the vacant part of it, we suspend a queen cell
sealed over. Then, after closing the door, place the cage in a populous
stock of bees, for the queen and workers to hatch. Thus, by the time
the queen hatches, she will have nearly a hundred workers in the cage
with her, and will not become uneasy or excited to get out of the cage.
She will thus remain quiet on the comb, until she is old enough to leave
it and go in search of the drones. Near this hour the drones can be
introduced by the little tin door at the bottom of the ante-chamber,
that door closed again and the tin slide carefully removed. The drones
and queen are thus let together, without excitement or disturbance. This
cage may be made six inches long, by four inches deep, and one and a
half inches wide. Then, by placing the comb in the middle, at the back
end of the parlor, with the capped cells facing the wire sides, the bees
can emerge from the cells and pass all around the comb.
From various experiments I am led to conclude that the above arrangement
will approach nearer to the thing wanted, than any of the plans yet made
public. I am, also, further convinced that much attention must be paid
to the age of the young queen, and to the state of the weather, in order
to secure fertilization in confinement. In fact, we must approach as
near as possible to the natural state of the circumstances that govern
the mating of queens and drones. I may say, in addition, that it is
evident some queens will mate earlier than others, if not hindered by
bad weather. The meeting of the queens and drones must not be attended
by any circumstances calculated to cause either of them to become
alarmed and seek release from confinement; for if thus alarmed or
excited, they will worry themselves to death in a few hours, or forget
all their natural instinct for mating or fertilization. On the plan
above described the queen feels at home where she was hatched, with her
hundred associates around her, and under careful management, not liable
to become excited. The drones alone are liable to be in any degree
alarmed under this method; and I find this is quickly removed by letting
them into the presence of a few workers, as in the above case. If done
quietly, little excitement need occur.