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.
Jewell Davis.
Charlestown, Ill., Sept. 5, 1870.
[For the American Bee Journal.]