1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUBE. 



297 



to ripen the pollen so slowly that it was in the best 

 condition to carry, judging from the size of the 

 loads they brought in. The most of the fruit is 

 killed, although the trees are in bloom nicely, and 

 they will yield the usual amount of pollen, but no 

 honey. The bees are building up finely, some stocks 

 being strong enough to swarm. Can you tell in 

 what proportion pollen is used as food for brood- 

 rearing? Have any experiments been made to find 

 out whether bees can rear brood on pollen alone, or 

 with very little honey when it is plentiful? I have 

 thought that they were able to accommodate them- 

 selves to the season; and if pollen were plenty and 

 honey scarce, they could get along by using more 

 pollen. John Baird. 



Elm Grove, Ohio Co., W. Va., May 10, 1883. 



I have often thought of the same thing, 

 friend B., and I am satisfied it does many 

 times support destitute colonies for a con- 

 siderable time, when they can fly out, with 

 but very little honey ; but as to whether pol- 

 len alone will do, I am unable to say. I 

 presume they seldom get pollen from any 

 plant, without getting at least a little honey 

 with it. New pollen has a sweetish taste 

 that somehow always reminds one of honey. 



WATER FOR BEES, AGAIN. 



Sunday, the Tth, the bees were out in a mass, and 

 acted as if honey had been spread on the grass. I 

 thought they were after water; then on looking at 

 the bee watering-trough I saw from a gallon to half 

 a bushel of bees in and around it, and they oven neg- 

 lected fruit-bloom for about 3 hours until they had 

 enough water, and then they went for the bloom 

 lively. My bee watering-trough is 12 feet long, 1 

 foot wide, 4 inches deep, with coarse gravel and 

 stone in it; gravel is to keep water pure, and 

 stones are for bees to crawl up on when they get in. 

 It works well. Corn-cobs would do for floats, but 

 would soon become impure. 



A WORD IN FAVOR OF COMB FOUNDATION. 



While after- swarms in box hives starved, I 

 found those with foundation all right. I put 3 third 

 swarms in one hive with foundation and division- 

 board, 3 entrances; each gave 10 lbs. surplus, and 

 wintered well. Fdn. did it. E. Pickup. 



Limerick, 111., May, 1883. 



" INTRODUCING " BROOD. 



Please answer the following question through 

 Gle.anings. Will a nucleus or any colony accept 

 unsealed brood? I have found the cells empty, 

 when I looked a few days after. 



Jacob Fischer. 



Elizabethtown, Ky., May 13, 1883. 



At first I was a little inclined to laugh at 

 such a question, because it is so well known 

 how quickly a queenless colony rushes for a 

 little unsealed brood, and how obstinately 

 they stick to a frame, after they have once 

 got on it ; but after a little I reflected that I 

 had. been many times puzzled to find small 

 bits of comb, which I had put in for queen- 

 rearing, in a few hours with every cell emp- 

 ty. At other times thelarvic is all removed, 

 except the few that are *in the queen-cells 

 just started. It has been several times ex- 

 plained, by saying the bees ate up the extra 

 larva} to make royal jelly for the queen-cells; 

 but I think this has been shown untenable. 

 Now, who can tell why they sometimes throw 



out the eggs and larva% and do not start 

 queen-cells at aHV Is it because they some- 

 times get contrary and stubborn, and decline 

 their greatest blessings, like some other poor 

 mortals? 



how small a NUMBER OF BEES MAY BECOME A 

 COLONY? 



How small a quantity of bees and a queen can a 

 person start a hive with? D. F. Marikle. 



Sioux Falls, Dak., May (>, 188}. 



If yon put the bees and queen on a little 

 patch of hatching brood, a teacupful of bees 

 or less would answer; but without bees 

 hatching daily, it would be almost impossi- 

 ble for such a quantity to hold out until new 

 ones could be reared. A pint of bees and a 

 queen, in the height of the clover season, 

 might build up on dry comb, but there 

 would be great danger of the queen getting 

 discouraged and swarming out, because she 

 could lay as many eggs as the bees could 

 cover and care for, in a few hours, and then 

 she would have nothing to do for about 20 

 days, or such a matter, unless it were to go 

 round and lay more eggs in the same cell, as 

 they often do when they have too few bees. 

 As a pint of bees is pretty nearly i lb., it 

 might be worth while for some one to weigh 

 them out, and try the experiment. But I 

 predict it a failure, unless in the hands of an 

 expert. With a very little brood in all stages 

 to start on, the matter is comparatively easy, 

 because you will soon have more bees com- 

 ing out daily. 



QUEENLESS COLONIES. 



I have a colony that I can't find any queen in, nor 

 eggs nor brood, but lots of bees. Now, if I give 

 them a frame of brood from -another hiv^e, can they 

 raise a queen so early in the spring? If a colony 

 has plenty of their own honej', would you feed 

 them? If bees carry in pollen, is it a sign they have 

 a queen, or will they carry it in if they have no 

 queen? D. M. Stowits. 



Beaver Dam, Schuyler Co., N. Y., May 15, 1883. 



Your colony is probably queenless ; still, 

 they may have an old barren queen. In any 

 case, the thing to do is to give them a comli 

 of unsealed brood. In 24 hours, you should 

 be able to find rudimentary queen-cells start- 

 ed, if they are queenless. If they have a 

 poor queen, you will be sure to find her on 

 the comb of brood. In the latter case, pinch 

 her head and they will raise a queen from 

 the brood, and fetch up, if they have bees 

 enough. A queenless colony will carry in 

 some pollen ; but the loads will be few and 

 small. If pollen is going in briskly, you are 

 about certain they have a queen, or are rais- 

 ing one. I would not feed when they have 

 an abundance of honey. 



OPEN-AIR FEEDING. 



Please allow me to countermand my order of the 

 6th for 100 Simplicity feeders, if it is not too late. 1 

 have been trying open-air feeding, and like it much 

 better than feeding 140 colonies separately. 



Dayton, 111., May 13, '83. J. A. Green. 



If you haven't neighbors' bees around, and 

 there is no robbing, no doubt but that out- 

 door feeding is the cheapest ; and when the 

 weather is warm and dry, I rather think I 

 like the effects of it the best. 



