American l^ee Journal 



as convenient to that point, until the 

 whole mass has been warmed through 

 to the center, and then a very little 

 heat will melt the center. Indeed, it 

 is possible that by leaving it in such hot 

 air a sufficiently long time it may be- 

 come liquid throughout without addi- 

 tional heat. 



The foregoing sensible suggestion is 

 given by R. F. Holtermann, in "Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture," and to it might 

 be added that when the quantity to be 

 liquefied is small, the old plan of leav- 

 ing it over the reservoir of a cook-stove 

 for a number of days is excellent. It 

 will warm and cool a number of times, 

 but there is plenty of time for it to be 

 warmed entirely through, and it can 

 never become overheated. 



Breeding Queens or Drones from 

 Best? 



On page 43, Mr. Scholl advises get- 

 ting a few good queens, rearing young 

 queens from the best one, encouraging 

 drones from the rest of these good 

 queens, and discouraging drones in all 

 other colonies. With regard to this the 

 following questions have been raised: 



"Suppose I get 3 or 4 queens, how 

 can I tell which is best? As we are 

 told that the character is derived more 

 from the father than the mother, would 

 it not be better to breed drones from 

 the very best queen, and queens from 

 the others?" 



If the 3 or 4 queens are all good, it 

 is not likely that any one can select the 

 best by merely looking at them. That 

 can be told only by keeping close ac- 

 count of the work of the worker prog- 

 eny of each queen, and then comparing 

 results. That, of course, obliges select- 

 ing at random the first year ; but in 

 most apiaries that could not fail of im- 

 provement if the queens purchased be 

 really good. 



With regard to rearing drones or 

 queens from the very best queen, bet- 

 ter results might be obtained if drones 

 were reared from the best and queens 

 from the next best, provided one could 

 be sure that no other but these best 

 drones should meet the young queens. 

 But as it is practically certain that a 

 considerable proportion, if not a large 

 majority, of the virgins would meet 

 other drones, and as one can be entirely 

 certain as to the parentage of the vir- 

 gins, the advice of Mr. Scholl is emi- 

 nently sound. Indeed, in most cases 

 there would be a sure improvement by 

 purchasing a single good queen from 

 which to rear virgins, and discouraging 

 drones in all but a few of the better 

 colonies in the yard. 



Prevention of Swarming 



In one of his replies. Dr. Miller said 

 sometliing about discovering a plan 

 whereby swarming might be prevented 

 with very little time taken, and without 

 ever seeing a queen. As he gave no 

 particulars, and hinted something about 

 a secret, it was left somewhat uncertain 

 whether it was anything more than a 

 joke. But the Doctor says there is no 

 joke in the case, except as to the matter 

 of secrecy. Moreover, he says he has 

 practised the plan in a good many cases, 



and thinks it more reliable than the 

 plan of shaking swarms, to which he 

 much prefers it. Here is the plan : 



"Just before danger of swarming, 

 shake and brush into the hive all the 

 bees from all combs but one, that one 

 being one of the outside combs with the 

 least brood, and put beside it 2 entirely 

 empty frames — no starters — leaving the 

 balance of the hive vacant; over this put 

 an excluder and a second story with the 

 brood, a dummy filling the vacancy, and 

 then the supers. Ten days later (in 

 several cases it worked all right with 7 

 days) remove the second story, return- 

 ing brood and bees to lower story. A 

 little comb will be found built into the 

 2 empty frames, which may be melted 

 ua or otherwise disposed of."' 



Only trial will tell whether the plan 

 will work as well with others, but should 

 it do so it will be a step well in ad- 

 vance. Over the plan of shaking swarms 

 it has the distinct advantage that no 

 brood is taken away. To be sure, there 

 is a loss of the queen's laying for 10 

 days — possibly 7 — but that is quite dif- 

 ferent from the loss of 21 days' laying 

 when a swarm is shaken. Moreover, it 

 is quite possible that there is compensa- 

 tion for the loss of the 10 days' laying, 

 in the fact that during that time the 

 queen has a real rest, for with nothing 

 but the outside comb and the little comb 

 that is built in the empty frames she 

 can lay but few eggs. In the shaking 

 plan there is no such rest. That rest 

 may be an important factor. 



We don't know whether this plan is 

 Davenport's secret, but it fulfills the 

 conditions. Now maybe Mr. D. will 

 tell us all about his plan to prevent 

 swarming. 



Prolificness of Queens 



Other things being equal, a queen 

 which keeps up a large amount of brood 

 is to be preferred. But if one queen 

 keeps twice as many frames filled with 

 brood as another, it does not neces- 

 sarily follow that the one colony is 

 twice as valuable as the other. Two 

 important factors in the problem are to 

 be considered. The less prolific queen 

 may have workers of greater industry, 

 so that her smaller force may do more 

 storing. Her workers may live longer, 

 so that with a smaller amount of brood 

 she may keep up an equal population. 

 On the whole, a pretty safe way to 

 compare two colonies as to value is to 

 compare the amount of surplus stored 

 by each. 



Feeding Bees for Winter 



In the Canadian Bee Journal (page s) 

 is quoted the item headed. "Feeding 

 Bees for Winter in Canada," on page 

 741 of the American Bee ojurnal, end- 

 ing with the question, "After reading 

 these three varying views from three 

 authorities, and all under the same cov- 

 er, is it any wonder the beginner should 

 feel somewhat dizzy?" Then Editor 

 Hurley remarks : 



"Editor York has done us a service. 

 Differing conditions make it impossible 

 to lay down any hard and fast rules. 

 Let us suppose Friend York had added 

 his opinion in a small paragraph at the 

 foot of the above three, would the dizzi- 



ness have been increased or lessened? 

 It would have been very interesting to 

 have seen it there." 



More than one reason may be given, 

 Mr. Hurley, why such opinion was not 

 added. Please note that feeding in 

 Canada was under discussion, and it 

 might have seemed an impertinence for 

 one dwelling under the Stars and Stripes 

 to have intermeddled. Again, it would 

 only have made the beginner more diz- 

 zy, and that seemed an unnecessary 

 cruelty. For said opinion, based on the 

 needs of this locality, would have been, 

 "Don't feed at all." And then he would 

 have been dizzy. 



Please note, however, that no ques- 

 tion was raised as to the correctness of 

 each opinion given, only to the diver- 

 gence of views. And one of the first 

 things the beginner needs to learn is 

 that "differing conditions make it im- 

 possible to lay down any hard and fast 

 rules." Along with that he needs also 

 to learn that he must use his own head, 

 and decide in each case whether condi- 

 tions in his case warrant the follow- 

 ing of any given rule. If the begin'ner 

 in this locality were invariably to fol- 

 low the rule to do no feeding for win- 

 ter, it would cost him the loss of many 

 a colony. For while conditions are gen- 

 erally such that a colony which has 

 been strong enough to do super-work 

 may be counted on to lay up from late 

 flow a goodly store for winter use, there 

 may be exceptions in dividual cases, 

 and there may be years of failure. 



Editor Hurley gives in detail the 

 course of the season in his locality, 

 breeding keeping up continuously, the 

 season ending with a buckwheat flow. 

 The same thing occurring here, the ex- 

 pectation would be to find hives well 

 stocked for winter, with no need of 

 feeding. But if he finds it a fact that 

 it is necessary to feed, it's hardly worth 

 while to dispute facts. There may be a 

 difiference in bees, some crowding honey 

 into the brood-chamber more than oth- 

 ers. Very likely Mr. Hurley's experi- 

 ence is with extracted honey, while in 

 this locality comb honey prevails, and 

 it is well known that there is a greater 

 tendency to crowd honey below sectioiis 

 than below extracting combs. On this 

 point of difference the remarks of J. L. 

 Byer, on page 13, are enlightening. 



But the intention was not to enter 

 into any general discussion of the sub- 

 ject of feeding; rather to emphasize 

 the point that while the wise bee-keep- 

 er, whether beginner or veteran, will 

 learn all he can from others, he will 

 at the same time not fail to do his own 

 thinking. 



Honey as a Health-Food.- This is a .16- 

 page honey-pamphlet intended to help in- 

 crease the demand for honey. The first 

 part of it contains a short article on" Honey 

 as Food." written by Dr. C. C. Miller It 

 tells where to keep honey, how to liquefy it. 

 etc. The last part is devoted to ' Honey- 

 Cookinir Recipes" and "Remedies Using 

 Honey." It should be widely circulated by 

 those sellinK honey. The more the people 

 are educated on the value and uses of 

 honey, the more honey they will buy. 



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