452 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 15 



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A NORMAL FRAME OF SEALED BROOD. 



ed as a curiosity to those who have not 

 seen a bee-tree when they visit my apiary. 

 Somehow or other, that honey seemed 

 sweeter and nicer than the honey we get 

 in our regular way. Was it the novelty and 

 the trouble that gave it its flavor? 

 Hespeler, Ont., Can., June IG. 



NORMAL BROOD-REARING. 



Some Characteristics of Races in the Matter of 

 Brood-rearing ; the Influence of Environment. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



The accompanying photograph of a frame 

 of sealed brood shows the work of a normal 

 Italian queen under favorable conditions, 

 or, rather, perhaps I should say, conditions 

 during warm weather or when the colony is 

 sufficiently strong so that the queen can ex- 

 tend her egg-laying clear out to the end- 

 bars. While the camera was being jiosed 

 a number of young bees emerged, or were 

 just hatching, leaving a number of empty 

 cells in the center; and before the exposure 

 was taken they had to be brushed off in or- 

 der to show a clean frame of brood. The 

 empty cells scattered here and there near 

 the margins of the comb contained pollen. 

 So, taking it all in all, this would represent 

 a good comb of sealed brood, ratlier fuller 

 than the average. The queen had exident- 

 ly laid all her eggs within 24 hours on this 

 side of the comb. Most of this brootl, i)rob- 

 ably, would hatch or did hatch inside of 24 

 or 48 hours. 



This frame of brood is a little abnormal 

 for an Italian queen, in that the brood 

 alone reaches clear to the top-bar and al- 

 most to the bottom-bar, and comes a little 

 nearer the end-bars than we usually find 

 them. As a general thing there is about one 

 inch or two inches of cells of honey near 

 the top-bar. This is due to the fact that 



there is apt to be a slight stretching of the 

 cells near the top-bar — so much so that an 

 Italian queen, at least, will not lay in them. 

 The bees fill these with honey, or with syr- 

 up if they are being fed. An Italian queen 

 generally won't come much nearer than 

 one inch or an inch and a half of the end- 

 bars. She may. however, reach clear down 

 to the bottom-taar if the colony is fairly pop- 

 ulous. On the other hand, if the conditions 

 are just right for brood-rearing, and there is 

 not much honey in the hive, the queen will 

 fill out a frame just about as we see it here, 

 liecently I was looking over one colony 

 of Cyprians that we have; and if I did not 

 look at the bees at all, nor notice their nerv- 

 ous, irritable temperament, I should know 

 at once that I had a colony of Cy]irians or 

 Syrians, because of the fact that the brood 

 was filled clear out to the toj) and bottom- 

 bars and to the end-bars. In fact, there 

 were whole frames with solid masses of 

 brood without any vacant corners, as will be 

 found in the average frame of brood from 

 an Italian queen. These solid frames seem 

 to V)e very characteristic of the Eastern 

 races of bees. The Italian bees, however, at 

 least the leather-colored stock, reared as 

 they are in southern Switzerland and north- 

 ern Italy, have apparently learned by cen- 

 turies of experience that the brood in the 

 corners of the frames and the extreme edges 

 of the hive is liable to be neglected. When- 

 ever a cold night comes on, the cluster 

 shrinks in a Langstroth hive something to 

 the form of an oblong sj^here — that is to 

 say, it assumes the shape of an egg. Any 

 brood that is left outside of this cluster is 

 quite sure to be chilled. On the other hand, 

 the Eastern races are bred in hot climates, 

 and t/u ir centuries of environment have 

 shown them that it is not necessary to "cut 

 olT the corners'" in their brood-rearing. It 

 tlierefore follows that the leather-colored 

 Italian bees and the black bees are better 

 prepared to stand the shock or extremes of 



