December, 1913. 



American Hee Journal 



issue just the same as if the queens 

 could riy, but they would always return 

 to the hive^ or to some other hive, 

 after flying about for a short time, pos- 

 sibly after remaining clustered upon a 

 tree for a short time. I hardly need to 

 waste words to argue that no such 

 swarm would return if a virgin with 

 perfect wings were present. 



In my former article I said I didn't 

 know why drones should go with a 

 prime swarm. I didn't; but before I 

 was through writing there occurred to 

 me a possible reason, which I offered 

 in a hesitating way. Having had time 

 to think it over more fully, I am now 

 prepared to repeat it with confidence. 

 I believe drones a necessity for most 

 prime swarms, and that their absence 

 would bring disaster. Of course, drones 

 of neighboring colonies would answer 

 every purpose, but nature doesn't take 

 any chances as to there being any 

 neighboring colonies. 



In the normal course of affairs every 

 laying queen is superseded by the 

 bees. Close observation shows that in 

 nearly all cases preparation for this 

 supersedure occurs after swarming ; in 

 many cases very shortly after swajm- 

 ing; in some cases immediately after. 

 Now let us do a little figuring. When 

 an egg is placed in a queen-cell a vir- 

 gin emerges from the cell in about 15 

 days, and is ready for the drone about 

 5 days later; thus making liO days from 

 the laying of the egg to mating. A 

 drone emerges in 24 days from the 

 laying of the egg. I don't know how 

 old the drone must be before he is 

 ready for service, but if memory serves 

 it is estimated to be when he is 10 days 

 old. To be on the safe side let us call 

 it 5. That makes 2!t days from laying 

 of egg to mating. When a swarm is 

 hived and has its combs to build, it is 

 well known that no drone-comb will be 

 built at first, only worker-comb. So 

 long as the queen keeps pace with the 

 comb-builders, the bees will continue 

 the worker-comb, and when they do 

 begin to build drone-comb it will be to 

 fill it with honey. Later on may come 

 the drone-eggs, if indeed they come at 

 all that year. It will probably be a 

 conservative statement to say that no 

 drone-eggs may be expected generally 

 until 3 weeks after the hiving of the 

 swarm. Add that 3 weeks to the 29 

 days we already have, and we have 50 

 days from the time the swarm is hived 

 until there are drones ready for mating. 



When the bees, making their prep- 

 arations for swarming, consult Dame 

 Nature as to what shall be done about 

 the matter of drones, the old lady will 

 say : " Well, eggs may be laid in queen- 

 cells anywhere from 5 to 25 days after 

 settling in the new home, and 20 days 

 later drones will be needed for mat- 

 ing ; in other words, they will be need- 

 ed somewhere from 25 to 45 days after 

 swarming. But they will not be ready 

 until 50 days after that time. So you 

 would be 5 to 25 days short if you de- 

 pend upon rearing drones after being 

 hived. That won't do. Don't take any 

 chances. There are plenty of drones 

 here in the hive; take 'em along, and 

 make sure." .-Vnd take 'em along they 

 do. And that's the «■/;>■ of drones 

 going with swarms, no matter whether 

 they come early or late in the season. 

 In the case of after-swarms, the matter 



is still simpler. A virgin that goes 

 with the swarm must mate at once, so 

 there's no other way but for drones to 

 go with the swarm. 



Typographical Error 



On page 307, speaking of the peasants 

 of Gascony who brimstone a part of 

 their bees every fall, I am made to say 

 that "each brimstoned colony brings a 

 return of about $20." For fear that 

 some of our readers may want to emi- 

 grate to Gascony to reap such a lucra- 

 tive harvest, I hasten to say that the 

 figure should be $2 instead of $20; that 

 is to say, the contents of the basket 

 hive which they call a " bournac," bring 

 them about 4 cents per pound, more or 

 less according to the " fatness " of the 

 contents. 



The Former Editor a Popular 

 Alau 



From divers editorials published in 

 the papers of the Northwest, it appears 

 that our former editor-in-chief, George 

 W. York, is a very popular man in the 

 city of his choice, as well as in the 

 Northwest generally. He was selected 

 as judge of the honey exhibit of the 

 Interstate Fair at Spokane, Wash. He 

 was also elected secretary of the Sand- 

 point, Idaho, Commercial Club and of 

 the Sandpoint Chautauqua Association 

 for 1914. 



Uitt'ereut-es in Location 



Our good, practical apiarist and 

 friend, Mr. Wilder, has an article in 

 this issue entitled, " Not Much Differ- 

 ence in Locations." We believe it is 

 necessary to underline the fact that he 

 is writing this from a southern State, 

 in a part of the country where there is 

 probably but little difference between 

 one spot and another. But we should 

 not take this as typical of the entire 

 country. There are spots in the L'nited 

 States where bees could not make 

 enough to live, even in isolated colo- 

 nies. There are other spots where it is 

 almost impossible to overstock the 

 region. 



In most of our northern States the 

 most desirable locations are probably 

 those in which pastures are numerous. 

 The white clover is the main resource. 

 There are other spots where a variety 

 of plants or trees give a sufficient har- 

 vest. In alfalfa regions many more 

 colonies may be kept to the square 

 mile than in corn-growing regions. It 

 is necessary to study the flora of the 

 locality, and to have some actual ex- 

 perience with the honey crops to pass 

 an opinion. Keeping bees as we have 

 done for years, in six or eight dift'erent 

 spots, we have discovered that crops 



vary much more than we thought, and 

 some spots are constantly ahead of the 

 others. 



In most localities of our Mississippi 

 Valley, bees may be kept profitably. 

 But some localities will sustain 100 

 colonies or more, with good results, 

 while other fields, only a few miles 

 away, may not sustain more than 40 or 

 50 with as much profit. Study the con- 

 ditions, and do not forget that bees 

 usually do not forage farther than a 

 mile or two away from home. The 

 exceptions only prove the rule. 



Dequeeniufi: for European Fool 

 Brood 



In the Beekeepers" Review, page 3-53, 

 J. M. Buchanan, Tennessee State In- 

 spector, says : 



" In the treatment of European foul 

 brood by requeening. Dr. Miller rec- 

 ommends letting the colony remain 

 queenless for two or three weeks be- 

 fore introducing the new queen. Per- 

 haps this is best, as it gives the bees 

 more time to make a thorough job of 

 cleaning up. I know of one apiary in 

 which there were perhaps 50 colonies 

 of hybrids, most of them badly affected 

 with European foul brood. No treat- 

 ment was given them except that the 

 queens were removed and young golden 

 Italian queens introduced at once. By 

 the next season at least 90 percent of 

 these colonies had cleaned up and 

 were in a healthy condition.". 



In the case mentioned, where there 

 were 90 percent of cures by the mere 

 change of queens, it will likely be un- 

 derstood generally that the change to 

 different and more resistant stock was 

 accountable for the result. Possibly; 

 but there is another factor that may 

 have played no small part. When an 

 old queen is replaced by a new one, the 

 new one does not begin laying the very 

 minute the old one stops laying. In- 

 deed, it may be considered successful * 

 introduction if the new one gets to I 

 laying within three days after the de- 

 thronement of her predecessor. That 

 break in brood-rearing is the factor 

 meant. Until a better theory is ad- 

 vanced, it is the belief of the writer 

 that the disease in a hive is generally 

 perpetuated by the nurse bees feeding 

 the young larvae with the juices of 

 larvae that have just died from the dis- 

 ease, and that very soon after the death 

 of such larvae — possibly within two or 

 three days — their juices become so 

 offensive that they are no longer sucked 

 by the nurses. According to that the- 

 ory, if there be a break of two or three 

 days in laying, there will be a corres- 

 ponding break in the feeding, which 

 might go a long way toward the dis- 

 continuance of the disease. 



Mr. Buchanan seems to have my rec- 



