1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



765 



We do not go so far as to say that this 

 scheme of indoor wintering is not a success. 

 We expect to continue our experiments. — 

 Ed.] 



THE OLD LONG IDEA HIVE. 



BY GEO. SHIBBR. 



In our yard we have several of the " Long- 

 idea " hi\es. In most cases they are old 

 hives that I bought containing bees, and I 

 made them over to take the L. frame. 



The illustration shows the inside of the 

 hive. It is a first-rate summer hive, but 

 not good for winter, as it is, of course, too 

 bungling and heavy to carry into the cellar. 

 In a locality where bees can be safely and 

 profitably wintered outdoors these hives are 

 all right, as one can get booming colonies 

 in them. It is too cold to winter on the 

 summer stands in this locality. 



Randolph, N. Y. 



A SUBSTITUTE FOR GRAFTING CELLS. 



A Tool for Cutting out a Cell Containing a Lar- 

 va of the Right Age for Queen-rearing. 



BY MARK W. MCE. 



Oliver Foster once said, "Some of us have 

 clumsy fingers, and do not succeed very well 

 in transferring larvae for queen-rearing." 

 Perhaps I have not quoted him exactly, 

 but his words were to that effect. He went 

 on to state how he cut out bits of comb hav- 

 ing just one larva in each piece 

 and then fastened these to a 

 bar with melted wax and rosin. 

 In my own experience, though 

 I have tried repeatedly, I have 

 met with unsatisfactory results 

 whenever I tried to transfer, so 

 that I always went back to the 

 Alley plan of cutting the comb 

 in strips and shaving the cells 

 dow n close to the middle of one 

 side, and then, after destroy- 

 ing every other larva, fasten 

 such a piece of comb with 

 melted wax and rosin to the 

 bar. 



All this led to another sit- 

 uation which I did not like, 

 and that was that I was oblig- 

 ed to cut the cells apart, thus 

 spoiling .<^ome of them, and 

 then having cells that were 

 more fragile than the artificial 

 ones. I had to leave the cells 

 attached to each other in the 

 cell-building colonies, no mat- 

 ter how many cells were missing, instead 

 of having ea;-h cell readily separable, as are 

 the wooden cell-cups. To sum it all up, I 

 wanted some method by which I could 

 transfer larvte without disturbing them, 

 and still have all the advantages of artificial 

 cells and wooden cell-cups. At least in my 



experience, bees accept the larv.u much 

 better when they are not tampered with 

 by man; and if we can eliminate the trans- 

 ferring of royal jelly we save just that much 

 time and bother. Mr. Will Atchley accom- 

 plished this by cutting the comb down with 

 a sharp knife or razor, and transferring with 

 tweezers the cocoons containing the larva^ 

 together with the food which the workers 

 had placed there. Mr. Pridgen u^ed a stick 

 that just fit the inside of a worker-cell, with 

 the end hollowed out so as to avoid touch- 

 ing the larva when transferring. I have had 

 some success by using the latter plan, but 

 it necessitated using old comb, and some- 

 times even then the cocoons would not sep- 

 arate from the comb in a satisfactory man- 

 ner. 



The larva -transplanter or cell -cutter 

 shown in the illustration will transfer larvae 

 from tough old black combs, or from partly 

 drawn foundation, or from any condition of 

 combs between these two extremes, without 

 touching or disturbing the larvie in any 

 way. This means that those of us who 

 have clumsy fingers can use it as well as 

 any one else. The comb which I prefer, 

 however, is a comparatively new one, as I 

 can work more rapidly with it. 



By this device we can have all the advan- 

 tages of the Alley, Atchley, and Pridgen 

 plans combined with those of Doolittle, 

 Root, and Swarthmore as well. There is no 

 necessity for hunting for royal jelly or mak- 

 ing a colony queenless several days to ob- 

 tain it before starting a lot of cells. Other 

 conditions being right, the bees readily ac- 

 cept the larvte. 



Select any larvse desired, regardless of the 

 age of the comb. No transferring-tools are 

 needed besides this device. If the cut-out 

 cells are to be attached to regular Swarth- 

 more compressed cells the shape of the com- 

 pressed wax might have to be altered some- 

 what, but I think the regular shape would 



