38S 



November, 1913. 



American Hee Journal 



torily those same shallow-frame supers; as 

 after but little work has been done in them 

 by colonies getting them first, subsequent 

 colonies might the sooner take to same, pre- 

 liminary to getting regular section supers. 

 Would It be best to use a queen-excluding 

 honey-board with shallow-frame supers ? 

 ^2. In a method of swarm control. J. E. 

 v.,hambers. of Texas, says that " when a col- 

 ony is found getting ready to swarm, he re- 

 moves one comb with adhering bees and 

 brood, and sees that such comb has. 'at 

 least, two sealed queen-cells." Will you de- 

 scribe how a colony would hare to look in- 

 side before you would apply such methods, 

 or shook swarming? 



3. Is one queen-cell iw/i capped in a whole 

 colony enough ? 



4. It might seem that besides; there may 

 be few or several queen-cells in a colony, 

 but no more than one on a frame. How 

 about then deferring procedure until there 

 are two queen-cells on some one frame ' 



On page 301. Miss Wilson quotes Miss 

 Candler's method of swarm proventing— the 

 above question as well applies to latter. 



Pennsylvania. 



.■Answers.— I. One cannot help wondering 

 why the bees began work on those " helter- 

 skelter ■ sticks and then refused to work on 

 orthodox arrangements. Just possibly, if 

 you had revrsed the proceeding, giving the 

 regular surplus arrangements at the time 

 you gave the sticks, and then the sticks 

 when you gave the regular, yon might have 

 found the action of the bees reversed, for 

 the flow of nectar may have been the decid- 

 ing factor. 



I have never tried Townsend's way side 

 by side with bait-sections. One would be a 

 little inclined 10 give ihe preference to 

 Townsend's plan in the belief that the 

 combs on the outside would at least be a 

 /iirfcr temptation than a single bait-section 

 in the center; yet the fact of the bait being 

 in tne center might give it some advantage 

 over a comb at the side. But with several 

 baits and a central location 1 would expect 

 the bait-sections to be ahead. 1 surely know 

 that I don't have any trouble in getting bees 

 to start ill the baits if they have anything to 

 store there, and in a poor season I've had all 

 bait sections used, mosily tilled and sealed, 

 and nothing more done in supers. 



I think you will do well to use excluders 

 under your shallow extracting-combs. 



That scheme of moving extracting-supers 

 from one hive to another as fast as work 

 starts will no doubt work; and so it will if 

 sou shift section-supers in the same way. It 

 might be worth your while to try some in 

 the way you propose, and others merely 

 with baits, and report results. 



2. Just one thing to look for inside to see 

 whether a colony contemplates swarming 

 (which is generally equivalent to saying it is 

 ready for swarming . and that is to see sev- 

 eral queen-cells started. Id like to be more 

 definite and iust say how many, but there is 

 nothing very dertnite about it. They may 

 start half a dozen, 20. or more. If less than 

 half a dozen I should guess it was a case of 

 superseding rather than swarming. 



3. As already intimated, a single cell start- 

 ed would look like superseding, but if a 

 number of cells are present, and only one 

 capped, that would be all right, only if that 

 one has been capped only a short time, 

 which is likely to be the case, it would be 

 full as well to wait a little longer. 



4. If you find a single cell on each of half 

 a dozen combs, don't wait; that s just as 

 well as if they were all on the same comb; 

 only you will likely always find at least one 

 comb on which more than one cell will be 

 found. Having two cells on a comb is a mat- 

 ter of security, for sometimes it happens 

 that a cell contains a dead larva. If it suits 

 you any better you can cut a cell or cells 

 from other combs and fasten on the comb 



you have chosen, selecting, of course, the 

 best-looking cells. In general that will be 

 the ones having the deepest indentations on 

 them. 



Parthenogenesis 



I have carefully read the clipping referred 

 to by Illinois," on page 332, current volume 

 ot American Bee .Tournal. and am con- 

 strained to repeat the question, is it true ? 

 lam aware that I am stepping upon verv 



thin ice." and admit that I am poorly able 

 to support that " ice " from above or below 

 except by theory, backed by the lessons 

 which nature has taught, and is continually 

 teaching to those who have the ability and 

 willingness to observe. I venture the asser- 

 tion that if drone-bees are hatched from in- 

 fertile eggs, nature, in ail her mysterious as 

 well as comprehensible processes, has per- 

 mitted this one lone exception. 



With the profoundest respect for vou. and 

 neartily joining you in respect for the mem- 

 ory of Dzierzon. I can but doubt the long 

 accepted theory. It is a well established 

 theory of physiology that the female is pro- 

 vided from inception with every ovum 

 which she will produce during the period of 

 reijroduction, and that these ova are male 

 and female. When these are fertilized 

 they— under favorable environments-bring 

 forth eachoneafter its kind." The queen- 

 bee deposits eggs, male and female, in vary- 

 ing proportions, and from the peculier na- 

 ture of the work of preparing for race per- 

 petuation, deposits mostly females, as na- 

 ture, from the beginning, had provided these 

 worker bees immature females upon whom 

 evolves the task of lookingafter the interest 

 of the race.i who are able to distinguish the 

 sex of the embryo bee. and proceed to de- 

 stroy or nurture as the exigencies of the 

 colony require. Missouri. 



Answer. — Not being a scientist, but only 

 a practical beekeeper, it is hardly in my 

 line to discuss that Dzierzon theory, or par- 

 thenogenesis. The safest thing might be 

 merely to say that so far as I know the the- 

 ory is quite generally accepted among scien- 

 tific men, and you are entirely within your 

 rights to reject it if you wish. Still, it will 

 do no harm to talk a little about it, even if. 

 a-; you say. I may be on thin ice. Wouldn't 

 it be a joke if the thin ice should give way. 



and we'd both get a ducking ? 



You say it is a well established theory 

 that the female is provided with every ovum 

 which she will produce, and that these ova 

 are male and female. If that be true, it set- 

 tles the whole business at once, and sends 

 the Dzierzon theory kiting. I venture, how- 

 ever, the guess that you may find such a 

 theory not so well established after all. I 

 may mention one or two things you must 

 " buck " against before fully settling down in 

 that belief. Microscopic investigation shows. 

 I have read, that when the queen is fecun- 

 dated her spermatheca is filled with sper- 

 matozoa from the male; that these same 

 spermatozoa are found in the eggs in worker- 

 cells, and that no such spermatozoa are 

 found in the eggs while still in the queen's 

 ovaries, nor yet in the eggs in drone-cells. 

 Moreover, the eggs of an unmated queen, if 

 she lays at all, will produce only drones, no 

 matter whether they are in drone-cells or 

 worker-cells. Doesn't that look as if the 

 eggs in the queen s ovaries are all alike, in- 

 stead of being male and female r 



You call the hatching of drones from in- 

 fertile eggs "one lone exception." Beg par- 

 don; plant-lice also lay eggs that produce 

 life without impregnation, and perhaps 

 other things. 



Here is what is to be found in the .Standard 

 Dictionary ; 



"Parthenogenesis, reproduction by means of 

 unfertilized eggs, seeds or spores, as in 

 many rotifers and polyzoans; production of 

 a new individual from a virgin female with- 

 out intervention of a male, as in plant-lice 

 and some hymenoptera." 



Please don't think that's a definition oi my 

 making. Although I was editor of bee- 

 terms. I had nothing to do with that difini- 

 tion. and you see it gives parthenogenesis as 

 a thing settled. Still, if all this doesn't 

 "cut any ice" with you. you have the privi- 

 lege of standing on whatever ice you like. 



A Hive Record 



For a hive record I drive two tacks in the 

 back of the hive and drop a "V-shaped piece 

 of galvanized iron between them. In the 

 summer the marks are outside, and in the 

 winter are turned in. 



Small slates would be a good thing if made 

 V'-shaped. Chas. Chandler. 



Garden City. Kan. 



Dry in Kansas 



I started with 3 colonies and haven't al- 

 lowed them to swarm this season. They 

 have produced 43 pounds of fine honey, and 

 have big stores for winter This has been a 

 fearfully dry season here. J. A. TuFTS. 



.'\bilene. Kan.. Aug. 30. 



severe drouth we have had over this coun- 

 try. I am afraid, will kill out all of the old 

 white clover, and if I am correct white 

 clover grown from the seed does not pro- 

 duce much honey the first year. 



Yesterday we had the first good rain of 

 any consequence since the latter part of 

 June. The corn crop here, which is the best 

 in the State, will probably be equivalent to 

 about 's or S of the crop, but the fodder 

 dried up a month too soon, and has already 

 been cut. 



The apple crop is also practically lost, as 

 the apples did not grow to more than half 

 their usual size, and most of them have 

 already fallen off the trees. 



Higginsville. Mo. Leahv Mfg. Co. 



A Fair Crop 



Poor Honey Crop in Kansas 



We had the poorest honey crop this year 

 that we have had in ten years. \'er*5* few 

 colonies have sufficient stores to winter. I 

 have ly colonies and did not get any honey, 

 but had to feed more or less ail summer. 

 H F. Hillebrandt. 



Osborne. Kan.. Sept. 20. 



Notwithstanding the extreme drouth our 

 bees have made quite a bit of honey of a 

 very fine quality. Foul brood has not given 

 us any trouble, for which we are very thank- 

 ful. H. O. Bader. 



Browning. III. 



Afraid for Clover in Missouri 



WJlat is the general opinion in regard to 

 white clover for next season ? The very 



Good for a Beginner 



In Richland Co.. Wis., the honey crop has 

 been the best in years. While clover 

 bloomed until Sept. 4. Right now my bees 

 are working as lively as at any time this 

 season (Sept. . 



I started bee-keeping this spring, bought 



