I think that had one-half the pains been taken to improve some of our native bees that have been devoted to rearing foreign races, beekeeping of to-day would be in a far better condition. It is the general result and the general summing up that decide which is the more profitable vocation.
Of late years I have wintered my bees in a frost-proof building, and have found it to be a great saving of honey. At some future time I will tell your readers, if they wish, how this building is constructed so as to carry bees safely through five months of as cold winter weather as ever existed in my section, together with my experience in fruit raising in connection with beekeeping and how I manage to save my natural swarms from absconding.
This having swarms decamp to parts unknown is all wrong. I have had more swarms come to me than I ever had desert, and the idea that bees injure fruit blossoms is altogether erroneous. Why! we were obliged to prop up our plum trees last season to prevent them from breaking down with the load of plums, and of cherries we had a most bountiful crop and this right in our apiary too.
I should be pleased to give your readers a paper on fruit and bees if it would be acceptable.[4]
Hooper, N. Y.
HOW TO FORM NUCLEI.
By Henry Alley.
Most beekeepers wish to rear a few queens and must have for such a purpose a few nucleus colonies.
The following plan for forming them is an easy and simple one. The nucleus hives should be constructed of light material and about one-third the width of the large hive, and the covers should be cleated to prevent splitting and warping. If the hives are painted they will last many years.
The nucleus colonies should consist of three combs and two quarts of bees. When ready to form them, place in one of the hives two combs containing honey and, in the centre, one containing brood, after which add the bees. Perhaps the better way would be to remove from a full colony a comb containing brood, together with the adhering bees, being careful of course not to take the queen with them. In such case there will be a sufficient number of bees on the comb to care for the brood; if not, a few more may be brushed from another comb into the hive.