^tSt B^lPA^^ 



41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, JUNE 13, 1901, 



No, 24, 



\ * Editorial. * I 



Sivarthinore's System of Queen- 

 Rearing, as given on another page, is well 

 worth a trial. The part that costs, as 

 he well says, is the part after the young queen 

 emerges from her cell up to the time she com- 

 mences laying. If Swarthmore's plan proves 

 a practical success— and it certainly has a 

 promising look — it will require a much smaller 

 force of bees thau has heretofore been used 

 during this expensive period, and it is the 

 size of that force that has caused the expense. 

 It is given now in good time for a thorough 

 trial. 



A " Large Force " of Bees— AVhat 

 Constitutes It '.'—Speaking of strong colo- 

 nies, the editor of Gleanings in Bee-Culture 

 said, " By a ' large force ' I mean a colony the 

 bees of which will weigh S or '.I pounds, or 

 what would aggregate in numbers 40,000 to 

 .50,000," Dr. Miller replied : 



■' Are you not a little modest, Mr. Editor, in 

 demanding only 40,000 to ,50.000 bees for a 

 'large force J' L. Staehelhausen says, 'I 

 have, in large hives, many times observed that 

 the queen had laid, during the previous 21 

 days, 3400 eggs daily, on an average.' Three 

 weeks later about all the bees from that 21 

 days' laying ought to be on hand, making 

 ri,400. It ive count the life of a worker six 

 weeks, then there ought also to be present 

 bees from the eggs of the preceding 21 days. 

 Say the (|ueen during that time laid 2000 eggs 

 daily, and allow that half that number had 

 been lost by fatalities, we should have 21,000 

 to add to the "1,400, making 02,400 \a all. 

 Perhaps that is not often reached, but I sus- 

 pect it is nearer the right mark than 40,000." 



That answer seems to be carefully built, and 

 yet it is only reasoning that such a number cf 

 bees ought to be present, which is a different 

 thiug from citing a case in which such a num- 

 ber of bees has been present. Editor Root re- 

 turns to the charge by citing actual cases. He 

 says that when they bought swarms by 

 weight the average weight was .5 or pounds, 

 and some tremendous swarms that had to be 

 hived in a two-story chamber weighed from 

 S to S'^4 pounds. As 8J4' pounds at 4,500 to the 

 pound would make 38,2.50 bees, he thinks his 

 estimate of 40,000 to .50,000 none too low. He 

 thinks the Doctor wrong in assuming that all 

 eggs laid by the queen are matured as bees, 

 because bees certainly in some cases destroy 

 eggs, and he says: " I should think we would 

 be safe in saying that, out of 70, 000 to SW.OOO 

 eggs laid by a queen, we could not cxiieot over 

 40,000 or .50,000 bees."' The Doctor, in reply, 

 questions whether eggs are destroyed l.iy bees 

 unless ([ueenless, and the editor closes the 



controversy by challenging the production of 

 a colony of bees that will weigh more than 9 

 pounds, equivalent to 40,500 bees. 



There are two questions of fact in this con- 

 troversy that it would be interesting to have 

 settled. What is the largest force of bees that 

 may be secured as the progeny of one queen i 

 That ought not to be a very difficult thing to 

 determine by actual weighing. Certainly it 

 ought not to be difHcult to determine whether 

 40,000 or 90,000 is nearer the right mark. The 

 other question may not be so easily deter- 

 mined. Is it true that of all the eggs laid 

 only 56 percent mature as bees ! If it is true, 

 it would seem a very wasteful thing. But if a 

 queen lays 3000 eggs daily for six weeks, and 

 her colony weighs only 9 pounds, it is hard to 

 get away from the conclusion that nearly half 

 the eggs have been wasted. 



Moving Bees Together for Winter. 



— In the Bee Keepers' Review is given a pic- 

 ture of an apiary of E. B. Tyrrel, the space 

 between the hives in a row being just enough 

 to allow another hive to be placed between, 

 the object being to move the two rows to- 

 gether into one solid row for winter. Before 

 packing the bees for winter the two rows are 

 now moved together, a little at a time, one 

 row being moved backward, the other for- 

 ward. Of course, this takes only about half 

 the labor, and very much less than half the 

 packing material it would take if the two rows 

 were allowed to go through winter as in sum- 

 mer. 



Here is another way that gets them into 

 still more compact fortn : 



00 00 ()i) 00 00 



00 

 00 



00 

 0() 



00 

 00 



00 



00 



00 



00 00 



Here are 3ti hives in four rows, and, of 

 course, the rows could be continued to any 

 length. The first row of 10 hives and the 

 second row of S hives both face the same way 

 — toward the top of the page. The third row 

 of S hives and the fourth row of 10 hives both 

 face the same way — toward the bottom of the 

 page. That makes the central two rows stand 

 back to back. When winter approaches, the 

 first row is gradually moved back until in a 

 straight line with the second row, and the 

 fourth row is moved liack in line with the 

 third row, the four rows now standing in two 

 rows thus: 



000000001 »( )00O000C)O 

 OOOOOOOt )()( )00000000 



Foot! of Queen.'*, Drones, and Larvse. 



— Among American bee-keepers there is a 

 feverish anxiety fur ithmediate results, and 



they pride themselves on being intensely prac- 

 tical, but they would have better success in 

 the long run if they would take the trouble to 

 inform themselves upon some of the elemen- 

 tary matters that have been carefully sought 

 out by scientific men, especially in Germany. 

 In the Progressive Bee-Keeper, L. Staehel- 

 hausen gives in a succinct manner some things 

 about the prepared food which although by 

 no means new, are probably new to the ma- 

 jority of bee-keepers. Asked whether at the 

 time of contemplated swarming the workers 

 withhold from the queen the egg-producing 

 food, he leads us up to an affirmative answer 

 by giving the fcl'.owing information : 



The queens and drones never eat pollen, 

 but are fed chyle by the workers, which is 

 fully digested pollen, and is identical with 

 the blood of the bees. They may also help 

 themselves to honey, which is fully digested 

 nectar. So the queen does no digesting, 

 being entirely dependent upon the workers. 

 This freedom from the burden of digestion, 

 and being fed so freely with food that is con- 

 centrated and nourishing, explains how it is 

 that a queen, whose body without eggs weighs 

 only 0,20 grains, can lay in 34 hours 3000 eggs 

 weighing 0.60 grains, or three times the 

 weight of her body. 



"The larvse receive quite the same food, 

 that is, chyle regurgitated from the stomach 

 of the worker-bee, Xevertheless, we find the 

 necessary difference in nourishing of the 

 different kinds of larv*. Queen-larvic are 

 supplied with pure chyle till the cell is 

 capped in large quantities: we call this food 

 •royal jelly,' Worker and drone larvip re- 

 ceive the same chyle during the first three 

 days only, afterwards the food is less digested 

 t)y and by, and we call this food chyme. From 

 the fifth day, till the cell is capped, honey 

 and pollen is fed to worker as well as to drone 

 larvic." 



3Iichigan Bee-Keepers will serve their 

 own interests if they will read the following, 

 and follow the suggestion made : 



To THE Bee-Keei'ers of Micuk-.an: — ' 



I take this method of informing the l>ee- 

 keepers concerning a few points in regard to 

 the .Michigan fcnil-hrood law. 



A locality must be reported to the Dairy 

 and Food Commissioner, Lansing, Mich., be- 

 fore it can be inspected, and as our funds are 

 limited it would be a great saving if the bee- 

 keepers would work with the inspector by 

 repcirting all kicalities where foul brood ex- 

 ists, or where it is thought to exist, as soon as 

 possible. If this is done, it will en!il)le the 

 inspector to plan a trip through the State and 

 cover the whole territory to be inspected at a 

 much smaller traveling expense. Localities 

 first reported will receive first attention, and 

 those who neglect to report their localities 

 until late will in all probabilities be obliged 

 to wait until next year for assistance. 



.loHX M. Rankin, limpector. 



