The second season after moving to Iowa, I had occasion to go to
Postville on the stage. At Decorah we stopped for dinner, and to change
horses. I saw a man in a back yard all bundled and tied up from head to
foot. As I approached to see what was up, he ordered me away, saying
that I would get stung to death, etc. But seeing that he was at work
with bees, I still advanced, but he said very excitedly, “You foolish
man! I tell you to keep away from here, or you will certainly get stung
to death!” I remarked that bees very seldom stung a fool, etc.
On inquiry, I found that he was to receive $5.00 for destroying a very
powerful colony that had been in a large hive for a number of years,
had never swarmed, and had become so vicious and strong in numbers that
it was dangerous to live in the neighborhood.
Here was the largest honey-bees that I ever saw, without an exception.
They looked as though they were a cross between a common honey-bee
and a bumble-bee--large, light-grey, hairy bees, with quite a flat and
stubbed abdomen. Their wings were more like a drone than a worker,
etc. The operator said that they were vicious Italians. One thing was
certain, he went about the operation of destroying them in the most
awkward manner possible.
Now, in this case, and all the cases that I mentioned last week, were
where bees had improved themselves, especially in size of colonies,
working qualities, etc. Thinking the matter over, and dreaming of large
bees, large hives, large colonies, etc., for a long time, led me to
get up the large twin hive that Mr. Doolittle mentions in one of his
articles. My standard hive contained 12 Gallup frames. My first large
hive contained 4 times 12, or 48 frames--24 in front, and 24 in the
rear. The balance of large hives that I made contained 36 frames--18 in
each end. By closing the passages between the two apartments, I could
work two colonies in each hive, if my plan did not work to suit. But I
never worked two in a hive.
My first and earliest natural swarm I hived in the largest hive,
confined them to one end, and used a division-board. As soon as
they commenced building drone-comb, I filled out with ready made
worker-comb, and just before basswood bloom, opened the passage-ways,
filled up with comb, and spread the brood one-half in one end and
one-half in the other. The queen was from my Grimm-Hamlin stock, and
extra prolific, and she spread herself grandly in the laying business.
We had the best and longest basswood bloom that I ever saw, and I took
from that hive, by extracting from one end one day and the other end
the next day, 600 pounds of honey in 30 days--not by actual weight, but
by measure. It was so thick and matured that it all candied in short
order, that I took out that season. I took in all about 750 pounds
for the season, besides what was left in the hive, and it was left
completely full. This was all the product of the bees of one queen.
The following season none of my large colonies swarmed, but all
superseded their queens. Their queen-cells were extra large, and
contained extra-large queens, with the largest amount of royal jelly
left in the cells that I had ever before observed. Now, you had
better believe Gallup “hollowed” and swung his old hat! He had got a
non-swarmer, a great honey-yielder, etc. You could hear him from Maine
to California--through the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. In fact, they heard
him in Germany.
But the third season the colonies in large hives were the first to cast
swarms nearly 3 weeks earlier than those in my standard hives, and here
was another dilemma. The swarms were so large that I had to pile up
three standard hives on top of each other, in order to get the bees all
in.
The fourth season they cast swarms again, but here was another
drawback: the fall was an extra open one, and they piled in so much
pollen that they nearly ruined one-half the combs, and then having so
much pollen they got the diarrhea before spring, and dwindled badly.
But I demonstrated one fact, which I believe to be a fact, that one
can rear long-lived queens large and prolific; also that their workers
are longer lived than ordinary, else how could all those extra-large
colonies that I have mentioned, both blacks and Italians, keep up their
extra-large number of workers the entire year?
I forgot to mention that I had two ¾inch holes in the ends of those
hives--one near each side at the top, and when the bees were gathering
so rapidly, one could see the stream in early morning passing out of
those holes, thus demonstrating that evaporation of nectar was going
on very rapidly inside the hive. Water would also be dripping from the
lower entrances. We understand that a portion of that probably was from
the breath of the bees.
Now we have demonstrated, at least to our own satisfaction, that bees
can _certainly_ be improved under judicious and intelligent management
instead of retrograding; and the great wonder to me is, that they have
held their own under the bad management of as large a proportion of
queen-breeders as we formerly had.
Now, Mr. White, your argument that the blacks are superior to Italians
because one can rear black bees from Italians under unnatural and
unfavorable conditions, is about like the argument of the large
queen-breeder that I before mentioned, who claimed that when he tried
to rear queens from the eggs or larvæ just hatched, many of the larvæ
sealed up were not larger than kernels of wheat. You see that he was
rearing them under the greatest possible unfavorable and unnatural
conditions, hence his argument was drawn from false premises.
You can readily see how the old man Gallup hollowed and swung his hat
about his non-swarmer, etc., before he was “out of the woods.” No
wonder that bees are afraid to sting him! I have always held that bees
seldom sting a fool, for that was the most satisfactory answer that I
could give to a majority of people that asked why they did not sting
me. Of course I _have_ another reason, but that is the quickest and
easiest manner of disposing of the question, and proves satisfactory to
a majority of questioners.
By the way, I am asked why, in my method of queen-rearing, I kept
the colony five days before giving the brood. Because the bees were
all young, or nursing-bees, and it takes about that time before a
sufficient number become outside gatherers, and we want all the
favorable conditions possible.
Santa Ana, Calif.
Foul Brood and Its Propagation.
_Written for the American Bee Journal_