1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



715 



does not prove that blacks are better than 

 Italians in general, only that, by continued 

 selection, I had bred up an extra strain of 

 hybrids. Now I'm working out the dark 

 blood in hopes of gentler bees. 



F. DiCKEL has for some years taken up 

 no small space in German journals, saying 

 that the Dzierzon theory is all wrong; 

 that all eggs are fertilized, and the work- 

 ers make the difference in sex after the 

 ei^ps are laid. Now he comes out in 

 Deutsche Imker with, what he considers a 

 settler. In a black colony he shaved the 

 heads off drone brood, shook out the brood, 

 and transferred into these cells worker eggs 

 or brood from a yellow colony. In due time 

 there emerged from these cellsyellow drones! 

 Devauchelle, L'ApicuUeur, oio, gives mi- 

 nute details of experiments in the same line, 

 but he did not succeed in getting drones 

 reared from worker brood or eggs. 



A FURNACE in the cellar may knock out 

 your idea of keeping the temperature down 

 to 45. But don't worry if it keeps at 50, and 

 sometimes even up to 60, if you do not keep 

 the cellar opened up enough so the air will 

 be as fresh as outdoors. I've come to be- 

 lieve that pure air is more important than 

 temperature. If too warm, just keep the 

 cellar opened up big. [According to our ex- 

 l)erience, every word of what you say is 

 true. AVe have never been able, in this lo- 

 cality, to maintain a uniform temperature 

 of 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature 

 has shown a tendency to go up as high as 

 60, and sometimes as low as 36 or 37. When 

 it reaches the high points we have found 

 ventilation a cure for roaring and general 

 uneasiness on the part of the bees. Our 

 theory is this: When the temperature is be- 

 tween 40 and 45 the bees go into a state of 

 semi hibernation, during which respiration 

 is very low. When it goes above 50 they 

 become active, and consume much more 

 largely of the oxygen in the air, which soon 

 becomes vitiated, and, of course, uneasiness 

 follows. This uneasiness manifests itself 

 in "roaring," and roaring is nothing more 

 nor less than the rapid flapping of the 

 wings to stir up the air to create circula- 

 tion, and circulation brings in new air. Aft- 

 er a time the whole cellar air becomes viti- 

 ated, and then it is that the bees fly out of 

 the entrance and all over the cellar bottom. 

 There is no cure for this except a large 

 amount of fresh air. 



In the case of most cellars, especially un- 

 der houses, is very difficult to maintain a 

 uniform temperature. Unless it can be 

 held steadily within a degree or two of 45, 

 there must be ventilation. The higher the 

 temperature goes, the more ventilation will 

 be required. Of course, it is desirable not 

 to have the temperature go as high as 60 

 degrees, because the bees get into a condi- 

 tion of summer activity. At such times 

 they will consume too largely of their win- 

 ter stores. This brings on overloading and 

 congestion of the intestines, finally result- 

 ing in dysentery. — Ed.] 



Notes from Canada 



By R. F. IIOLTERMANX 



BURR-COMBS. 



Dr. Miller, page 612, Oct. 1, refers to burr- 

 combs, and objects to having them left year 

 after year, because the bottoms of sections 

 will finally get mussed up. I have another 

 very strong objection to such combs. In 

 handling combs, when replacing them these 

 bits of comb in a crowded hive pinch bees, 

 and much time is lost in releasing the bees, 

 or they are killed. Bees thus held, for hours 

 afterward are angry and make a lot of other 

 bees angry. Is it not probable that the 

 angry bees about the apiary, after manipu- 

 la,tions, can be in part traced to this cause? 



A FOUL-BROOD ACT IN ENGLAND. 



My name has been dragged into a contro- 

 versy raging in the Britifih Bee Journal, 

 concerning the wisdom of having a foul- 

 brood law in that country. Let me say that, 

 at no time in convention, in the apicultural 

 and agricultural press, or in private conver- 

 sation have I ever suggested that it was de- 

 sirable to do away with a foul-brood act in 

 Ontario, Canada. That the act could and 

 should have been operated in a better way 

 I have claimed. Recent amendments to 

 the act have been an improvement, and bet- 

 ter conditions prevail — conditions which 

 surely could not have been brought about 

 without a foul-brood act and the means to 

 carry it out. 



ELIMINATING THE SWARMING IMPULSE. 



On page 682 Mr. Fowler has the courage 

 to grapple with this subject. He asks if any 

 one has "tried to breed the tails from lambs. 

 Would this be more difficult than breeding 

 the tail from a cat?" I am not very well 

 posted on cats and cat-breeding, but would 

 like to ask Mr. Fowler if any one has suc- 

 ceeded in breeding the tail from a cat. He 

 refers us to the 31st chapter of Genesis for 

 evidence that the swarming impulse can be 

 eliminated by breeding. I see a vast differ- 

 ence in the objects sought. In one, color 

 was changed, but not disposition. In the 

 swarming impulse we have the instinct of 

 reproduction; in nature there would be no 

 reproduction of colonies without swarming. 

 The surest way to convince the skeptical is 

 to produce such a bee. In the meanwhile 

 bee-keepers had better mabter the art of 

 keeping bees from swarming. Much can 

 be done in this direction. Could not Mr. 

 Fowler develop a non-swarming strain of 

 bees by keeping bees from swarming for 

 several years? [See what Raleigh Thom- 

 sas to say on this subject, p. 736. — Ed.] 



