638 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



blood, and it can not be relied on to reproduce 

 itself. I'm not saying by this that careful 

 breeding may not fix a valuable type of hybrids, 

 but I doubt if such a one exists that equals the 

 pure Italian. 



I don't know for sure, but I am of the opin- 

 ion that queenless bees will store honey almost 

 if not quite as well as those having a queen, 

 provided they have empty combs to store in; 

 But if comb has to be built, queenless bees 

 seem a good bit behind. At any rate, after a 

 good deal of experence with caged queens and 

 queenless colonies in harvest time, I am strong- 

 ly of the opinion that I never want a colony 

 working in sections to be without a queen lor 

 a day. 



ROBBING. 



DOES IT OCCUR DURING THE HONEY SEASON? 



A correspondent wishes me to tell him, 

 through the columns of Gleanings, whether 

 bees are subject to robbing during a flow of 

 honey, and writes thus: "I see it recommended 

 in a certain book that we should not try to 

 remove the surplus honey from the hive im- 

 mediately after a sliower, in the honey season, 

 for fear of robbing, thereby causing the bees to 

 become very cross; the reason therefor being 

 given, that the shower has washed the honey 

 from the flowers, hence the bees are eager to 

 rob. Do you find this so? With me the bees 

 do not off'er to rob till a day or two have elapsed 

 after the bees have been gathering honey plen- 

 tifully." 



I would say that bees are not subject to rob- 

 bing during a honey-flow, for this is the time, 

 above all other times of the year, when they 

 can fly, that they are the least inclined to rob. 

 My bees act just as the correspondent says his 

 do, for I never knew bees out in search of honey 

 immediately after a heavy rain which came in 

 the height of the honey-flow. During a heavy 

 yield of honey the bees seem almost glad of a 

 rest for at least 24 hours, especially if the 

 weather is dull. I have taken off hundreds of 

 times immediately after a shower, without 

 being bothered by the bees trying to rob in the 

 least. At such times each bee is so full of 

 honey that, if squeezed a little, it will throw 

 the honey out on its proboscis; and if jammed 

 a little too hard the honey-sac (filled with hon- 

 ey) would burst through the sides of the ab- 

 domen. When bees secure honey rapidly, each 

 bee takes all it can into its honey-sac, then 

 throws it out on the tongue, draws it back 

 again, then throws it out again, and so on to 

 evaporate the watery part of it; for all nectar, 

 when gathered, is so thin that it needs much 

 reducing before it is of the right consistency to 

 be sealed over. After all the thin nectar has 

 been evaporated, then the bees begin to look 

 around for more; and if the flowers fail to 

 secrete any, robbing is the result where honey 

 is left exposed; and all wise persons will avoid 

 leaving honey exposed at such times. It takes 

 about the length of time spoken of by our cor- 

 respondent to reduce all the thin nectar in the 

 bive to the consistency of honey after it has 

 rained during a good honey yield. 



BLACK bees; HOAV LONG DO THEY LIVE? 



Another correspondent wishes me to tell 

 " how long the German (or black) bee will live." 

 This all depends upon the season of the year 

 when the trial is made, and the condition of 

 the colony. If in the summer or working sea- 

 son, 45 days will be about the length of life the 



worker-bee will enjoy; while if during the fall 

 and winter months, the time will be found to 

 be from six to eight months. For instance, if 

 we take away a black queen about the middle 

 of June, and introduce an Italian queen in her 

 place, we sh. 11 have Italian bees hatching 21 

 days thereafter, which date we are to mark on 

 the hive as the time we are to count from, as 

 there will be no black bees hatched after this. 

 At the end of 40 days the black bees will be 

 found to be very few in numbers, while at the 

 end of the 45th day not a black bee will be 

 found in the hive. If the colony is made queen- 

 less at 20 days after the Italian queen was 

 introduced, then the length of life to the 

 workers will bn prolonged, on account of their 

 not laboring so hard, for queenless bees never 

 have that <Miergy shown by those which have 

 their mother with them; and it is the amount 

 of labor done which has to do with the length 

 of life given to our pets. Again, if the change 

 of queens is made during the fall months we 

 shall find plenty of black bees in the latter part 

 of spring, although they soon disappear after 

 the active labor of honey-gathering comes on. 

 This length of life has much to do with spring 

 dwindling, with preparation for winter, making 

 new colonies, our surplus crop of honey, etc., 

 and therefore should be understood by all. It 

 is impossible to secure a good crop of honey 

 where the most of the bees are nearly worn out 

 with age just as the harvest is commencing; 

 and where bees become uneasy in winter, and 

 wear themselves out with worry, spring dwin- 

 dling is sure to occur. So, all old bees in the 

 fall will result in empty hives the next spring; 

 and a divided colony, so made that one part 

 contains all old bees results in no profit from 

 that part. Let us be practical along these lines. 



IMPORTED QUEENS BETTER THAN HOME-BRED. 



I am asked by another party what I think of 

 the claim made by some, that imported queens 

 are superior to those bred in this country. 1 

 do not think that any proof can be found to 

 substantiate such an assertion. In fact. I be- 

 lieve the balance of proof is on the other side. 

 Very many have written me that they would 

 not exchange their home-bred queens for im- 

 ported stock on any account, as their honey- 

 yields are much increased above what they 

 were when they first obtained Italian queens 

 from the old country. Queen -breeders on the 

 other side of the water do not take the pains in 

 breeding that we Americans do; for, if I am 

 correctly informed, the most of the queens sent 

 over here, unless it is very lately, are from a 

 promiscuous selection, mostly taken from 

 second and third swarms, on account of these 

 swarms not being liable to winter. How much 

 different the mode practiced by our best breed- 

 ers! Queens are selected for generations, each 

 selection being made from those which are tbe 

 most hardy, and give the best results in every 

 way; then the very best specimen is selected 

 from the next generation, and so on, always 

 selecting the queen each time which scores the 

 highest number of points, till perfection is well 

 nigh reached. It seems strange that any one 

 can believe that queens from a promiscuous 

 importation will equal queens bred with such 

 care and painstaking. Where people are not 

 satisfied with the stock they have, my advice 

 would be. for all those so situated, to buy an 

 imported queen, if they think them supei'ior, and 

 a home-bred one from some reliable party, and 

 try the two equally, rearing as many queens 

 from one as from the other, when they soon 

 can tell which is the best for them. If they do 

 not choose the home-bred queens, then I am 

 greatly mistaken. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



