1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



561 



are out and at it again as bad as ever. If you get 

 this in time, please tell us in Gleamngs at the foot 

 of the class what to do. It may aid us in the future. 



Well, I do not know but that I should keep 

 on feeding, if that kept peace in the family, 

 friend B. In the first place, you must see 

 that every hive has a good queen, brood in 

 all stages, plenty of bees to defend their 

 stores, and a narrow entrance to enable 

 them to keep thieving bees at bay. Now 

 watch each hive, and make them take care 

 of their stores. When each one does this, 

 there will not be any more trouble. It is 

 probably one weak colony that is to blame 

 for all the trouble, and you must make this 

 weak one strong, or unite it with one of the 

 others. 



How many pounds of honey does it take to keep 

 an average colony from now until spring? 



La Veta, Col., Oct. 19, 1883. E. Burch. 



Perhaps 20 lbs. ; 2o will do no harm. 



QUEENS FKOM DRONE EGOS. 



y^ou say in A B C book, also in Oct. Gleanings, 

 that in no case will bees make a queen out of drone 

 eggs. Now, I am satisfied you are mistaken. I took 

 a frame of drone comb with eggs, in all stages up to 

 hatching drones, put It in a new hive with two 

 frames of foundation, moved a strong swarm, and 

 set this in Its place, and they made 6 queen-cells. I 

 cut out two, gave them to a queenless hive, and 

 they hatched as fine a queen as I ever saw; both 

 have filled a Simplicity hive full, top and bottom. 

 They are my two best out of 30 stands. 



My bees have done the best this year they have in 

 20 years. If I succeed in wintering them I shall 

 want 50 hives next spring. I am well satisfied that 

 the queen's eggs are all exactly alike; all the differ- 

 ence is In the feed and make-up. The bees can 

 make just which they please, whether drone comb or 

 worker. I have had queens, drones, and workers, 

 all in a little piece of worker comb. A. Bixby. 



Foristell, Mo., Oct. 11, 1883. 



Friend B., we shall become the laughing- 

 stock of sensible men by the recklessness of 

 your theorizing, if you don't have a care. 

 Why do not the bees rear workers from the 

 eggs of a drone-laying queen, or even a lay- 

 ing worker, if they have the power? Your 

 frame may have been all drone comb, and it 

 may have also contained drones in all stages 

 of development ; but it surely had also eggs 

 that would have hatched workers (they may 

 have been in drone-cells), or you would 

 never have seen a queen emerge from the 

 queen-cells built. An egg is not changed by 

 moving it to a different kind of cell. 



making wax sheets — A suggestion. 

 I have just maie some wax sheets for fdn. by a 

 new process, which I think will bo of value to the 

 bee fraternity. It is merely to have a large surface 

 of very hot water, upon which hot wax (or co'd) is 

 put, and allowed to spread itself at will. This it will 

 do, making very even sheets; now allow the water 

 to cool down, or slowly add cold water, till your wax 

 is right to be cut into strips for the mill. Draw off 

 the water from under the wax. A common deal 

 table, with strip? around the outside, three in. high, 

 is all you want for a tank. Knowing the size of your 

 table, say 7x4 ft., you can add the wax so as to make 

 sheets of any thickness desired (to the pound). 

 With your steam system, and a thermometer to tell 



1 just when to stop cooling the wax, you could make 



more sheet wax this way than by any other. I have 



j good reasons for thinking that this wa.x will work 



I better, and sag less, than the old dipped sheets. By 



, cutting the strips the long way of your "billiard 



table " you can run strips through the mill seven ft. 



long; this you can see will also expedite the pro- 



I cess of fdn. making. F. Bella Torre. 



Reisterstown, Md., Oct. 11, 1883. 



I We have used the plan you mention, to 

 1 some extent, friend D.; but if I remember, 



we did not get a very good surface on the 

 I side next to the water. Perhaps we may do 

 j better with more care ; and I confess your 



idea of making sheets several feet wide and 

 ' long is a new one ; still, it seems to me the 



process must be a slower one than the one 



we now use. 



I A NOVEL WAV OF TRANSFERRING, INVENTED BY A 

 i 14-YEAR-OLD bee-keeper. 



Being one of your ABC class, I thought you 

 1 would like to hear how I got along with my bees this 

 I season. I have had very good luck with them, but 

 j the honey crop has been considerably smaller than 

 ! last year; however, I do not grumble, as I think 

 j they did as well as they could. I started in the 

 spring with three colonies, two of which swarmed, 

 and the other hung out. The way I fixed the one 

 that hung out was this: I turned the hive upside 

 down and placed a new hive filled with foundation 

 ! on top of it. and smoked the bees up. They went to 

 work all right, and are now one of my strongest col- 

 onies. I sold one colony, and now have five packed 

 I in chaff, with chaff cushions on top. I took my honey 

 I to the Gait Exhibition, and got the first prize for 

 I comb honey, and a diploma for the strained honey. 

 ! I am 14 years of age, and take care of the bees my- 

 I self, but my father makes my hives. 

 I Archie G. Watson. 



i Ayr, Out., Canada, Oct. 19, 1883. 



WHERE DO BEES KEEP THEIR PRISONERS? 



In September last I had two queenless swarms 

 that I had failed to Italianize, so I gave each a black 

 queen. One queen was soon laying, but the other 

 made no sign; so, after duly watching for eggs or a 

 dead queen, I gave them a frame of larva;, and eggs 

 to raise some more queens. They commenced at 

 once, and made 13 or 15 cells. I saw them after all 

 were sealed up. When it was time to commence 

 hatching, I examined and found scarcely a vestige 

 of the cells, but there were eggs, and next I saw the 

 old clipped queen that I had put in. Now, they had 

 a good fertile queen all the time after I gave them 

 one, but it appears she was not acknowledged, and 

 not permitted to lay; therefore the colony consider- 

 ed itself queenless. Now, why and where was she 

 restrained, and what happy event terminated her 

 captivity. Joel A. Barber. 



Lancaster, Wis., Oct. 10, 1883. 



I confess, friend B., I don't know. Had 

 they not started queen-cells, I should have 

 no trouble in explaining the matter, for I 

 should say the queen would not commence 

 to lay so late in the season ; but why she 

 should come to life, or wake up after they 

 had got some cells nearly ready to hatch, I 

 can't tell. Can some one elseV I might say 

 she was killed, and another queen got in 

 from somewhere ; but you say she was clip- 

 ped, and how could a clipped queen get into 

 the hive just at that time'? 



