Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton

“ And even at the present time it is amusing to see how many old bee-keepers manage their bees. There is a class of old fogies, who denounce all improvements and progress in bee-keeping, and who, year after year, move in the same tracks in the management of their bees, asserting that they know all about bees that is worth knowing. It is, to say the least, amusing, to see how this class of bee-keepers manage when their bees swarm. ”

“ The bee keeper sometimes finds his bees idle, when the flowers are in bloom in profusion, the sun shining brightly, and, to the superficial observer, everything indicating honey in abundance. And yet the bees are dormant, and scarcely a one flying about the hives, notwithstanding the hives and boxes are full of them. The truth of the matter is, there is no honey in the flowers, although they are in full bloom. ”

“ In the middle of some very warm day in June or July, the alarm, "bees swarming," is sounded. Immediately the whole household is turned out, some beating tin pans, some sounding horns, some shaking cow bells—anything and everything with which to make a terrible din is caught up in the excitement, and every member of the household works with the sole aim of making as much noise as possible. This is done to make the bees cluster! ”

“ There can be no question as to the great benefit to be derived from feeding bees. The only question is, how, when and what to feed. It is as much a necessity to feed bees, as to feed our domestic animals, cows, sheep, &c., or to apply manure to plants, or any crop the farmer cultivates, to stimulate growth and increase the product, and consequent profit of the same. We should look upon that farmer as either a fool or a lunatic, who should furnish his domestic animals no food, except what they obtained by grazing in the pastures and fields, the year round. ”

“ Every one who attains success with bees, will find that there is something more to be done, than simply to stand with folded hands, with the expectation that a fortune must inevitably follow. Know the precise condition of your bees at all times—whether they are weak or strong, whether they are without a queen, or whether the queen has become so old as to have passed her usefulness. After a period of years queens become barren, and unless they are removed, and a young queen substituted, the bees will rapidly decline in numbers, and all disappear from the hive in a few weeks or months. ”

“ I do not believe that a strong, healthy stock of bees was ever attacked and destroyed by the bee moth. The stock must from some cause become reduced in numbers, so there are not bees enough to cover all the comb, before the moth will make an attack. But when the comb is unprotected, the moth follows the instinct of its nature, and deposits her eggs in it. The bees from some cause keep decreasing, and the moth continues depositing her eggs in the vacated comb, until the entire comb of the hive is a complete mass of vile worms, the progeny of the bee moth. ”

“ The finger pointed at them with a quick, spiteful motion when they are standing as sentinels about the entrance of the hive, often provokes stings. If they come buzzing around, threatening to sting, perhaps striking your hat almost like a bullet, and should you return the compliment by striking at them with your hand, they will be quite sure to sting you. The better way is, if unprotected, to hold down your head so as to protect your face, and move away from the hive as quietly as possible. When the bees find you are retreating, they will not follow you far. ”

“ After an experience with bees dating almost from childhood, and a careful study of all works published on the subject of bees, and the journals devoted to that particular branch of rural affairs, I find theory, guess-work, prejudice and selfish motives are so prevalent, as to confuse and discourage the beginner, and finally, all who are seeking after information by which they may make bee keeping a source of profit, and who wish to adopt a correct and scientific system of bee management. ”

“ Twenty-five years ago it was thought impossible to successfully imitate the bee in the construction of honey comb, but invention has triumphed in this, as in many other improvements deemed impossible. We now have honey comb manufactured by skillful workmen, so closely resembling that made by bees, that it seems the bees cannot detect any difference. I have always studied to give my bees every possible advantage, and I find that comb foundation, used in conjunction with my system of feeding, secures very large yields of surplus honey—much greater than I could otherwise secure. ”

“ Experience is a good teacher, but often a very costly one. Some told me if I wished to prevent swarming, I must cut out the queen cells, which the bees constructed preparatory to swarming. This was simply impossible with the box hive, so I constructed a hive with moveable frames, so the bees could build their combs in the frames, and each comb of the hive could be lifted out separately. But when I attempted to prevent swarming by cutting out the queen cells, I found if I was to thwart nature in that way, I had, to say the least, a big job on my hands. ”

“ In one year they get five dollars profit from a stock of bees; the next honey season they get nothing, and the bees all die in the winter; or perhaps they will survive that winter, and the next season swarm, and fly away to the woods; or perhaps refuse to swarm, and remain idly clustered on the front of the hive throughout the entire honey season, and die from want of food before the winter is half gone.
Bee keeping by the ordinary methods is a very precarious and uncertain occupation. The profits are small at best, and losses large and frequent. ”

“ Every person, who has a farm or garden should keep bees, at least one or more swarms, to furnish honey for the use of the family. There is no greater luxury than nice honey in clean, snow-white comb in nice glass boxes, such as is produced by my new system of bee management. This best of all sweets is now within reach of every one who has a plot of ground large enough to set a hive of bees upon. ”

“ The first Italian bees brought into the New England States, I had the honor of receiving. The Italian bees being entirely distinct from the native or black bees in color and size, I determined to avail myself of the opportunity offered to satisfy myself on the long-disputed question—"How far a bee will go to collect honey." I therefore made close and repeated examinations, at different times during the honey season, and it was no uncommon occurrence, to find the Italian workers seven miles from their hives. ”

“ If you leave all the cells in the miniature hive as constructed, the first queen that hatches will destroy all the others. She will visit each cell, gnaw an opening in the side, curve her abdomen and insert her sting into the opening, and sting the rival queen to death while yet in her cradle. The worker bees will then enlarge the opening, and drag out the lifeless body. The victorious queen now reigns over the little colony, the same as in a large and natural swarm. ”

“ If you have bees in a box or patent hive, or any of the thousand and one bee hive humbugs, which are of little or no profit, and cause you much trouble and perplexity in swarming time, and frequent and heavy losses in winter, you can move them into Controllable Hives—comb, honey and bees together—and manage them on the plan here recommended, and they will winter well, come out strong and healthy in the spring, and cause comparatively no trouble in swarming time, yielding you a good profit yearly. ”

“ A SWARM of bees contains one Queen, thousands of workers, and in the summer season a limited number of drones. The queen is the only fully developed female in the swarm. She never leaves the hive except on two occasions—when leading a swarm, and when but a few days old, to meet the drone, or male bee, in the air, for the purpose of fecundation. It appears from close observation that only one impregnation is operative during life, as old queens have never been known to leave the hive for that purpose. ”

“ As the young bees hatch, the queen proceeds with her duties of laying eggs, until every brood cell is occupied, and as fast as a bee matures and leaves its cell, she is on hand with an egg to occupy the vacant place. This is kept up without cessation till swarming time, when the hive becomes crowded with bees, then, as preparation for swarming, the queen deposits eggs, from which the bees by a special course of treatment, rear queens. When they are sealed over, as shown in the plate, the old queen leaves the hive with the first swarm to seek a new home. ”

“ The workers produce wax from honey, and from the wax they build comb, in which to store the honey and bee bread they collect, for their own use in time of need. Wax is produced from honey, as butter is produced from milk. Bees do not collect wax, but they collect honey, which by a natural process in the stomach of the bee is changed, and exudes from between the rings of the abdomen in minute scales of wax, which is detached by the bee and moulded into comb. The worker bee possesses a sting, and is ever ready to make use of it in defending home and treasure. ”

“ As in warm weather the instincts of the fly is directed to the dead carcase, so is the moth directed to honey-comb left without bees in the summer season, and by a similar process is each destroyed. When the bees have been off about ten days, or perhaps a little less if the weather is very warm, examine closely for the first appearance of the moth worms on the surface of the combs in the boxes. Their presence may be known by small, thread-like webs or cocoons on the surface of the comb, growing larger as the moth worm enlarges in growth. ”

“ ON my plan of bee management, if a stock does not change its queen for three years in succession, the fourth season the old queen should be taken away, if she shows the least sign of failing, and a young laying queen substituted in her place. It often happens, if the queen in a stock dies or becomes seriously injured, that the bees will, of their own accord, rear another to take her place. ”

“ THE anger of bees, when once thoroughly aroused, is much to be dreaded, as the results which follow are often of a very serious nature. In my own case, I can handle bees with perfect impunity. They rarely make any attempt to sting, no matter what liberties I take with them. I always intend to be very careful, and handle them gently, making them understand that I do not mean to harm them. In my first efforts in handling bees they were very apt to sting me, for the reason that I did not understand their nature ”

“ Another great cause of loss in winter is improper ventilation, or no ventilation at all. Every swarm of bees throws off a considerable amount of moisture from their bodies. In very cold weather, if the hive is not properly ventilated, this moisture collects on the combs at the sides and top of the hives in the form of frost and ice. In moderate weather this frost and ice melts and runs down into the hive, completely saturating the bees, and then, if a sudden change to extremely cold weather takes place, all are destroyed by freezing ”

“ I say the queen lays all the fertile eggs, because occasionally under certain circumstances we find eggs laid by workers, but under my observation such eggs never mature. Egg-laying workers are known to be such, by eggs being found in stocks that have been deprived of their queen, and the means of rearing another. This is one of the wonders of nature, of which no satisfactory solution has been given. The points established as to the sex of bees are these: the queen is a fully developed female; the drones are fully developed males; the worker,—what is it? ”

“ Not one drone in five thousand ever fulfills the purpose for which it was created. Fifty drone cells are enough for one hive, and when more than this number are constructed (sometimes they will number a thousand or more in a hive) cut out all but a very few, and fit in a piece of worker comb in their place—it is more profit to raise workers than drones. Drones leave the hive to sport in the sunshine in large numbers, every fine afternoon in June and July. When on the wing, they make a very loud, coarse buzzing. They have no sting and may be handled without the least fear. ”

“ They appear to fully realize the vast importance of a mother, and that with no means to supply her place they must soon perish; and to avoid their impending fate they return to the old hive. With old stocks deprived of their queen the result is different, as will be shown further on. Every one who keeps bees should strive to become familiar with the appearance of the queen, that they may be able to recognize her at a glance among thousands of workers, as it will often be necessary to look her up in my new system of bee management. ”

“ If surplus honey is our object the coming season, early in this month put on the boxes at the sides, and the last of the month, or as soon as the bees commence work in the side boxes, put on the top boxes, except at the place occupied by the feeder. It may be well to feed liberally for about ten days before fruit blossoms appear, in order to get the bees at work in the boxes. You can judge what is best. If the stocks are backward in breeding, the comb not filled with eggs and brood in nearly every part, it will be best to defer liberal feeding until a little later. ”

“ IN some localities the bee moth is said to be very destructive, yet I regard the depredations of this insect as much less to be feared than some bee-keepers suppose. The bee moth is the agency provided by nature for returning back to the earth the contents of any hive when left by the bees, in the same manner that the flesh fly is the means provided for returning to the earth the carcass of any animal. ”