February, I 



American l^ae Journal 



Answers. — No, and yes. Let a queen lay an 

 egg in a drone-cell, and the drone produced 

 therefrom will, so far I know, be exactly 

 the same, whether the queen has mated or 

 not. But take two queens reared from the 

 same lot of cells, the same in every way ex- 

 cept that only one of them has mated, and 

 examine the lot of drones in the hive of each, 

 and you will find a big difference. The un- 

 mated queen will likely have some drones 

 reared in drone-cells, and these will not differ 

 in any way from the drones in the other hive. 

 But most of the drones from the unmated 

 queen will be reared in worker-cells, and these 

 can be distinguished at a glance as very much 

 smaller, because not having room in a worker- 

 cell to be fully developed. 



a. Yes. 



3. I don't know. By having bees of differ- 

 ent kinds at different distances, one might find 

 out something about the greatest distance at 

 which a drone from one yard would meet a 



aueen from another yard; but that would not 

 etermine the distance of a drone's flight un- 

 less the distance of a queen's flight were known. 



4. If by *'all manner of bees" you mean hy- 

 brids of varying colors, the question may be 

 asked whether they do thus degenerate. Either 

 Italians or blacks, isolated, are likely to de- 

 teriorate, but I don't know enough to tell just 

 why. Some one may say it's because of in- 

 breeding, but that's only dodging the question, 

 unless some one tells us why inbreeding causes 

 degeneration, which, indeed, it does not al- 

 ways do. 



5. I don't know. Very likely they don't 

 know enough. And yet, do they not do so, 

 practically? 



6. Can^t they? 



7. Aside from what is contained in books 

 on bee-culture in general, there are the works 

 specially devoted to queen-rearing by Doolittle 

 and Alley. That perhaps still leaves room for 

 a book to be written exactly to answer your 

 question. 



Some Interesting Questions. 



1. As an extensive reader of bee-culture, and 

 a comb-honey producer, what have you read in 

 the past 3 years that you found profitable to 

 put into practice? 



2. Is there any particular thing that you 

 would have adopted if you were using a 7^2- 

 inch deep frame? 



3. If you make increase or rear queens, do 

 you take any other course than is set forth 

 m your work of "Forty Years Among the 

 Bees?" 



4. Is it a local freak that an artificial or 

 nucleus-reared colony, no matter how strong 

 the first season, does not become a first-class 

 honey-producer until in its third year? 



5. How many years have you run colonies 

 (any number from one up) without making any 

 internal changes, feeding or otherwise, except 

 queen-clipping? 



6. Does not a queen reared in the hive she 

 occupies become, as a rule, more successful so 

 far as rearing bees and storing honey is con- 

 cerned than a queen reared elsewhere, and in- 

 troduced ? 



7. Suppose at the beginning of a clover-flow 

 you hive a prime swarm in a hive differing 

 widely in construction from the average hive, 

 and found the section-honey stored by it far 

 superior to any stored by 50 colonies in the 

 same yard and time. Would you consider it a 

 case of working on different bloom, or that 

 the hive mi^ht have something to do with it? 

 Can you point out the trail to this fine qual- 

 ity 01 honey, the time of honey on the hive 

 being the same as the rest? 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — To answer that question in full 

 might take a good deal of time in hunting up, 

 and more space than can be afforded to tell 

 about it. I never dare omit reading anything 

 contained in any bee-paper I receive, for fear 

 I may miss something that is new and good. 

 Generally I get something to pay me for thus 

 reading; so you see it would be a long story 

 to put it all down in black and white. 



s. There are probably many things that I 

 would use with that kind of frame. One that 

 happens to occur to me just now is putting 

 a weak colony over a strong one in spring in 

 order to strengthen the weak colony. 



3. I tried to give in "Forty Years Among the 

 Bees" exactly the way I do things, and rearing 

 queens was given just as other things. I shall 

 probably follow the same course the coming 

 season, except as to using the two hives and 

 exchanging queen, as given on page 242. It is 

 less trouble on the whole, and more simple, 

 to make a fresh colony queenless each time a 

 fresh batch of cells is to be reared. 



4. Must be a freak of locality. I should 

 expect a colony to do good work the next year 

 after being started as a nucleus, if strong 

 enough. 



5. I don't know. I couldn't be sworn that 

 I ever run a single colony even one year 

 without making any changes, even if it were 

 only to change the location of a frame. To 

 be sure. I may have left them undisturbed, but 

 then I don't know. 



6. Perhaps so; if the two queens are equal, 

 because in the one case there is at least a lit- 

 tle disturbance of the regular order of affairs 

 in the hive, and in the other there is not. 

 That, however, by no means militates against 

 the fact that there may be real gain by doing 

 a lot of introducing. 



7. I should think that particular colony was 

 working on something different from the rest. 

 When that has occurred with me I have not 

 been able to point out the trail, partly because 

 it comes at a time when there is little leisure to 

 find what bees are working on, and possibly 

 also because I may not be a good trailer. 



Golden Italian Bees. 



I divided a colony of bees last summer and 

 introduced a standard-bred Italian queen, which 

 I had sent for. As soon as her bees com- 

 menced coming out of the cells, I was sur- 

 prised to find that both the drones and worker- 

 bees were golden Italians. I have read so 

 many times that the golden Italians were not 

 hardv and not desirable for practical purposes. 



But this colony did so much better than 

 any of the rest, and capped the combs better 

 and cleaner, that I can not decide whether to 

 breed from her or not. 



WTiat do you think of the goldens? Would 

 it be practical to breed from this queen ? I 

 don't want to get a start in goldens if they are 

 not as good as the leather -colored as a general 

 thing. Idaho. 



Answer. — Seeing that so far her stock has 

 shown itself superior to your other stock, I 

 would breed in part from her and keep close 

 watch as to results, comparing her progeny with 

 others. .There seems to be quite a difference 

 in the all-over goldens, some being reported 

 extra good and some extra bad. 



An Early-Reared Queen. 



On page 26. Wm. Marshall says he had a 

 queen born March 20 that was as prolific a 

 queen as ever was in a hive, and says, "Now 

 this does away with some of the theories that 

 have been advanced." I think you claim that 

 early-reared queens are poor. Which of you 

 am I to believe? Subscriber. 



Answer. — Believe both. At least what each 

 of us states as fact. Believe that he had a 

 fine queen very early, and that queens reared 

 early by me have been mostly worthless. I'm 

 not entirely sure what he means about doing 

 away with some of the theories that have been 

 advanced, but I suppose he means the theory 

 that early queens are poor. I hardly see how 

 an exception does away with a rule. Even with 

 Mr. Marshall, that good queen was the ex- 

 ception to the rule, for he says 2 other early 

 queens "were no good." If I understand him 

 I wish he would tell us what theory he means 

 is done away with. 



Simple Requeening Without Buying 

 Queens. 



Walter M. Adams, page 28, asks for a sim- 

 ple plan for requeening without buying queens. 

 He has 11 colonies, and 3 of them have pure 

 queens. The thing desired, evidently, is to 

 give the 8 colonies queens of the same stock 

 as the other 3 colonies. There is nothing much 

 simpler than to rear queens from the pure 

 stock and introduce them; but from the way 

 the wish is stated I suppose he wants some- 

 thing more simple yet. So I'll give a plan 

 that is exceedingly simple, that may be used 

 with either a box-hive or a frame-hive, per- 

 haps without even opening a hive, although it 

 has the drawback that possibly only a part 

 will be changed. But by following up the 

 plan there will never be any increase of the 

 poorer stock, all the increase being from the 

 preferred slock. 



If the best three are not stronger than the 

 others, so as to be ready to swarm first, then 

 brood or bees from the poorer must be given 

 to the pure stock, so they will be sure to swarm 

 first. Suppose the 3 pure colonies are num- 

 bered 1, 2, and 3, and the others 4 to 11. 

 When No. i swarms, hive the swarm and set 

 it on the old stand, and set No. 1 on the 

 stand of the strongest of the poorer colonies, 

 say No. 6. if that happens to be the strongest 

 of the poorer ones, setting No. 6 on an entirely 

 new stand. That will result in having all the 

 field-bees of No. 6 go to No. i, weakening No. 

 6, and strengthening No. i. In a week or 

 more No. i will be pretty certain to cast a 

 swarm, which is to be put on the stand of 



No. I, and No. i is to be put on the stand 

 of the strongest of the poorer colonies left, 

 say No. 4, No. 4 being put on a new stand. 

 In 2 or 3 days No. i will swarm again, when 

 the same process is to be repeated. When 

 Nos. 2 and 3 swarm, there must be the same 

 management, and there ought to be no trouble 

 in having at least 8 coolnies with queens of 

 the better stock. Indeed, it is entirely possible 

 to go beyond that, for so long as a swarming 

 colony with a lot of virgins is continually 

 strengthened by being set in the place of a 

 full colony, it would be nothing remarkable 

 for it to send out 4, 5, or more swarms. Well, 

 suppose you have already had 8 swarms, and 

 all the colonies from 4 to 1 1 have been set on 

 new stands. When the next swarm issues, put 

 it in place of No. 6, or some other of the 

 ones moved first, and if you continue in that 

 way it would be nothing strange to have as 

 many as 10 or 12 swarms altogether. Some of 

 the last ones will be weak. Break up the colo- 

 nies with the poor queens, strengthening the 

 weak swarms with them, and there you are 

 with nothing but new stock on hand. 



A Hydrometer for Density of Liquids- 



On page 5 of the American Bee Journal for 

 1908, in an article on "Testing Honey as to 

 Ripeness," it is said "it would be a good thing" 

 to "get a hydrometer." What is a hydrome- 

 ter? and especially, how is it used? Of course, 

 I understand a "hydrometer" must be an in- 

 strument to measure moisture. Still I repeat 

 the questions, What is it? and how is it used? 

 Massachusetts. 



Answer. — A hydrometer is an instrument 

 for determining the density of liquids, con- 

 sisting of a weighted glass bulb with a long 

 stem on which there is a graduated scale. It 

 is put into the liquid, where it stands upright, 

 the denser the liquid the higher it stands, the 

 figures on the scale thus showing the density. 

 It an up-to-date dairyman is near you, he 

 may have a hydrometer which he calls a lac- 

 tometer. 



Weak Colonies in Spring. 



What do you think of Mr. Alexander's spring 

 management of weak colonies: What would 

 you advise me to do to save the weak colo- 

 nies in the spring? Iowa. 



Answer. — Some of the things Mr. Alexander 

 favors it would be wild for others to follow,, 

 such as keeping so many colonies in one 

 apiary, his special conditions favoring that; but 

 as to the matter of weak colonies in spring 

 he has done the fraternity a real service. Care, 

 however, must be taken. The first time I tried 

 it the strong colony was at work inside of 10 

 minutes fighting the weak one, and didn't stop 

 till it made a finish. The colonies must be 

 gently handled so there will be no getting to- 

 gether till the upper colony has had time to 

 get the scent of the lower, or else a wire- 

 cloth must separate the two for 2 or 3 days. 



Vinegar in the Bee-Cellar — Increase — 

 Crop for Honey and Produce — 

 Sugar Syrup in Section Honey. 



1. I have a cellar that is suitable in every 

 way for wintering bees, out I have 10 or 12 

 barrels of very strong vinegar stored in it, 

 which throws off a very strong odor. In your 

 opinion, would it affect the bees' wintering 

 well ? 



2. If small particles of ice form on the hive- 

 entrance of a colony of bees that are wintering 

 on the summer stands, is it an indication that 

 they are not in guud condition for winter? 



3. Can you give the name or names of any 

 person or persons running an apiary and not 

 engaged in any other business, and making a 

 success of it? 



4. I will have 4 colonies of bees providing 

 I winter them all right. I wish to increase 

 to the fullest capacity, and yet not reduce the 

 parent colony so much as to interfere with 

 their storing some honey. Will you lay down 

 a rule that I may follow? 



5. What becomes of bumble-bees when cold 

 weather comes on? You can never find them 

 in their nest after the first cold spell. 



6. What crop do you think would be the 

 most profitable to plant for honey and produce? 

 I refer to New York State. 



7. Why is it that this paper docs not pub- 

 lish the names and addresses of questioners? 



8. If a person should feed bees with sugar 

 syrup, and they should store some of it in 

 sections, and those were sold as pure honey, 

 would this be violating the pure food law ? 



New York. 

 Answers. — i. I don't know. To smell the 

 air in a cellar where even a single barrel of 

 strong vinegar is, one would think it bad for 



