February, 1913. 



American ^Bee Journal 



Ai'iABV oi L, C. McCarty. of Nampa. Idaho. 



'Tills yard was starled in tlie spring of iQio with 70 colonies. There are now 450 colonies 



in modern hives. Jhoco worth of comb honey was sold in three seasons." 



apiarist himself. The Italians are more 

 prolific than the blacks. They soon 

 have their hives full of brood, and then, 

 having no more room, swarm. What 

 else could they do ? If their owner 

 had given them a larger hive, they 

 would have remained, built up a strong- 

 er colony, and given far more surplus 

 than the blacks. But some apiarists, 

 like many other men, cannot see be- 

 yond the tips of their noses. 



M.\TING ST.^TIONS. 



Something has been said about es- 

 tablishing mating stations such as ex- 

 ist in Switzerland. The conditions 

 with us are not the same, .^s stated 

 above, the apiaries there are small, 

 very numerous, and close together, 

 Many have skeps or box-hives, produc- 

 ing a large number of drones. Under 

 such circumstances the chances of 

 having queens mated with the drones 

 of the same apiary are very slim in- 

 deed. Furthermore, and worse yet, if 

 the improved stock is of the same color, 

 the mismating cannot be detected. 

 Thus improvement is impossible. To 

 obviate the difticulty, mating stations 

 are established in isolated places, the 

 best of stock installed, plenty of drones 

 are reared, and the apiarists send their 

 queens there to be mated. The charges 

 for it are very moderate. 



INFLUENCE OE DRONES. 



This brings us to the question 

 whether the worker-bees derive their 

 qualities from the drone or the queen 

 stock. From both likely, but I think 

 chiefly from tlie drone. In the human 

 race, and in all of our domestie stocks, 

 the influence of both sides is equal, as 

 far as we know. But it takes both 

 parents to produce the offspring, no 

 matter whether this is male or female. 



With bees it is altogether different. 

 The unimpregnated queen eggs pro- 

 duce drones which of course derive 

 their characteristics from their mother's 

 stock. Impregnation has invariably 

 the effect of changing altogether the 

 sex of the eggs. Such being the male's 



power, it looks reasonable to conclude 

 that the female is more like her father 

 than her mother. 



Occasionally hermaphrodites are 

 found ; that is. bees possessing organs 

 of both sexes. Instead of being an in- 

 termediate or combination of both 

 sexes, we find invariably some com- 

 plete female organs associated with 

 some complete male organ; for in- 

 stance, a worker's head on a drone's 

 body. This goes to show that where 

 the drone influence reached it pro- 

 duced full female organs. 



Coming to' actual facts, we find Doo- 

 little's assertions published two or 

 three times in Gleanings in Bee Cul- 

 ture. He introduced the first Italian 

 queens in his locality. All the mis- 

 mated queens, either black or Italian 

 that came during the first year, were 

 necessarily producing bees of a first 

 crossing. He says that the bees from 

 a black queen fecundated by an Italian 

 drone were invariably gentle, clinging 

 to the combs, and in every respect 

 almost like Italian bees. On the other 

 hand, a cross between a black drone 

 and an Italian queen gives workers 

 usually very irascible, as many api- 

 arists know only too well. 



Frank Benton's experience corrob- 

 orates that of Mr. Doolittle's. It was 

 published in Gleanings some four or 

 five years ago. 



NON-SWARMING. 



It is said that the improved blacks of 

 Switzerland are almost non-swarming. 

 I don't doubt it. But it is a question 

 of management rather than stock. The 

 European apiarists work exclusively 

 for extracted honey. There is no dif- 

 ference in price there between ex- 

 tracted and comb honey. They use 

 large hives, mostly the Dadant. Under 

 such conditions very little swarming 

 takes place, no matter what the stock 

 of bees is. Mr. Dadant himself obtains 

 as good, or even better results, as he 

 can explain himself more fully. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



Use of Smoke and Feeding Bees 

 in Cellars 



BY E. S. MILES. 



Having noticed that smoke is not 

 mentioned in connection with handling 

 bees in cellars, and having nearly 

 twenty years experience In cellar win- 

 tering I cannot help but think that 

 many bee-keepers are losing the use 

 of their smoke at one of the most 

 needed places. There is scarcely a 

 place where I value smoke more than 

 in putting bees in and out of cellars 

 I am reminded of my early care and 

 caution in getting strong colonies set- 

 tled in the cellar without smoke years 

 ago, by the query headed "A Problem 

 In Cellaring" on page 28, issue of the 

 American Bee Journal for January. 

 But as I soon began to discard the 

 bottom-board while the hives are in 

 the cellar, as well as to increase my 

 number of colonies, it became neces- 

 sary to get them in with less time de- 

 voted to each hive. In answering the 

 query referred to. Dr. Miller has given 

 excellent advice as usual, but if I 

 were to carry those bees in, I should 

 not use a wet cloth, not because it will 

 not be effectual, but because smoke 

 and a little care in handling the hives 

 is all that is necessary. 



There is another important point in 

 cellaring bees to avoid having them 

 fly out .and where conditions are such 

 that they are likely to do so. This 

 point is the time of day chosen to do 

 the work. According to my experience 

 the ideal time to cellar bees is when 

 there is moonlight, and begin toward 

 dusk in the evening. It is then light 

 enough out of doors to see the hives 

 and where to walk, yet the bees will 

 not ordinarily take wing if handled 

 carefully. 



A candle may be set In the doorway 

 of cellar, or wherever it will best 

 light the cellar with a dim light. By 

 having only about the same light in- 

 side the cellar as outside, the eyes are 

 not required to re-adjust themselves 

 every time one goes in or out, and one 

 is able to work in a light not strong 

 enough to induce the bees to take 

 wing. I always want my cellar thor- 

 oughly aired, and as near the outside 

 temperature as can be had, before 

 beginning to carry in. Then I want 

 two good smokers, with good dry fuel 

 that will "keep a goin" while I carry 

 in. If I leave off the bottoms I get 

 along very well with one smoker for 

 putting in the cellar. After taking one 

 smoker down cellar and thoroughly 

 smokinfT the cellar, I set the smoker 

 up on end so it will keep going. T 

 gauge the amount of smoke by myself. 

 When the smoke becomes so dense in 

 the cellar that I begin to cough, I 

 kick the smoker over on its side thus 

 checking the draft, until some of the 

 smoke has escaped, when I put the 

 smoker again in working order, keep- 

 ing the air of the cellar about as 



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