i\m 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June 1 



be i)refcrre(l to that which was old. On p. 

 1(1(5 of the Feb. 15th issue, K. (Jreiiier men- 

 tions the fact tliat S. I). House prefers to 

 till his sections with fresh foundation the 

 very day he wishes to i)ut them on his hives. 

 Since this statement was i)ublished, how- 

 ever, we have heard from a number of our 

 readers, and the general agreement seems 

 to be that there is jiractically no dilTerence 

 between the old and the new foundation as 

 to the way in which it is worked by the 

 bees. 



In the April number of the American 

 Bee Journal, Dr. Miller was asked what he 

 thought of the matter, and he replied that, 

 although he would jnit his foundation in 

 sections and have it on the hives within 24 

 hours after it left the mill, if possible, he 

 thought that, after all, the dilTerence be- 

 tween the new and the old was very little. 

 He cautionetl his (juestioner, however, 

 against putting old foundation on the hives 

 when the bees were idle. This is good ad- 

 vice, and just as good, too, when applied to 

 fresh foundation, as it is a bad i)lan to put 

 foundation, oltl or new, over hives during a 

 time when the bees are idle. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant, in the May issue of the 

 Amtrican Bee Journal, in commenting on 

 Dr. Miller's answer as mentioned above, 

 gives a very nice explanation of why there 

 may be some ditterence of o])inion in this 

 respect. He points out that foundation 

 after a time becomes brittle, just as fence 

 wire, even though gahanized, becomes 

 more brittle after a few years. This foun- 

 dation that is old and brittle can be rejuve- 

 nated by being warmed again. Mr. Dadant 

 selected a piece of foundation two years old, 

 and another piece that was fresh, and filled 

 a brood-comb with each kind, putting both 

 combs in the center of a cluster. He found 

 that both sheets were drawn out, and eggs 

 laid in the cells. As soon as the founda- 

 tion became crowded with bees the animal 

 heat warmed it enough so that it became 

 soft and plialjle again, and therefore lost its 

 brittleness. Mr. j3adant i)oints out, further, 

 that if both the old and new are put into 

 NHjM TN the bees, because of a lack of suffi- 

 cient warmth at the start, will not hesitate 

 to approi)riate the new more promptly be- 

 cause it is more i)liable. 



CilVING CELLS OR JUST-HATCHED VIKGIXS 

 TO QUEENLESS COLONIES; TWIN OR SIN- 

 GLE NUCLEI KOR QUEEN-REARING. 



For over a year back our Mr. Bain and 

 our Mr. l*ritchard, each in charge of ditfer- 

 ent queen-rearing yards, have been pursu- 

 ing slightly different methods. Mr. liain, 

 for example, claimed that he could get bet- 

 ter queens by introducing just-hatched vir- 

 gins to his baby nuclei. Mr. Pritchard, on 

 the other hand, claimed that too many of 

 these virgins were killed for him, and he 

 found it very much better to give cells, al- 

 lowing the young queens to hatch out rath- 

 er than be let loose. 



Both men are good queen-breeders, and 



we were a( a loss to account for their seem- 

 ing dilTerence of ex|)erience. Mr. Bain right 

 along demonstrated he could introduce 

 these young baby queens to his nucleus 

 hives. He objected to giving cells because 

 the cells, he said, could not locate them- 

 selves in the warmest part of the cluster; 

 and, besides, he averred you could not tell 

 from the looks of a cell what kind of a queen 

 was inside. If a scrub or deformed queen 

 hatched, she must be destroyed and anoth- 

 er cell given, wasting time. Mr. Pritchard, 

 on the other hand, said that, while he could 

 introduce these virgins, the bees worried 

 them,. gnawed their wings, perhaps tore ofT 

 a leg, and too many of them had to be dis- 

 carded because of their rough usage. 



Yesterday, May 24, Mr. Bain called us 

 out to the yard and said he had found why 

 it was Mr. Pritchard could not succeed in 

 introducing just-hatched virgins to his nu- 

 clei. "Why," he said, "it is as plain as 

 day when you come to think about it. Mr. 

 Pritchard uses twin nuclei — a bunch of bees 

 and two combs on each side of the division- 

 board — while I pull out the division-board 

 and use the ivhole nucleus box." Then he 

 added, "1 have been trying a lot of these 

 twin hives, and I find, like Mr. Pritchard, 1 

 can not introduce virgins successfully. 

 Here is the explanation: The side of the nu- 

 cleus that has a laying queen will draw 

 largely from the other side."* So saying 

 he showed us a number of "twins" having 

 a laying queen on one side and a cell or 

 virgin on the other. The side with the 

 laying queen in every case had the stronger 

 bunch of bees. 



"Now, then," he said, "the intiuence or 

 odor of the laying queen on the strong side 

 seems to permeate the other side; and when' 

 we let loose a virgin they just kill her. But 

 we can give that side a cell; and when that 

 cell delivers its virgin the bees accept her. 

 Again, suppose I take the laying queen out 

 of the strong side and give it a cell. In the 

 meantime the virgin on the other side be- 

 gins to lay, when almost immediately her 

 side will draw from the other that probably 

 has only a virgin or possibly nothing. You 

 see, the trouble with these twin nuclei is 

 that the side that has the laying queen 

 seems to dominate to a great extent the side 

 that has none. Now when each nucleus is 

 on its own hive-stand, remote from any oth- 

 er bunch of bees, it is possible to introduce 

 these day-old virgins right along. I tell 

 you, Mr. Root, I do not want any more to 

 do with these 'twins.' I want to select my 

 virgins — that is, cull out all but the very 

 best, and give these very best to the mating 

 nuclei." 



Mr. Bain went on to explain that we can 

 give two virgins simultaneously, one to each 

 side of a "twin," and all will be well, be- 

 cause one side has no advantage of the oth- 

 er in the queen. 



* The entrances to these tvvhis are on the diagonal- 

 ly opposite corners. It is evident that the odor of 

 the laying iiueen draws the Hying bees over to the 

 entrance where she is laying. 



