1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



783 



number of pounds of honoy required to produce 

 a pound of wax would depend on the honey- 

 flow, the same as feeding L-orii to a hog pro- 

 duces fat. If fed scantily, the gain will be very 

 slow; but if fed all they can eat. the gain will 

 be larger in proportion to the feed. As to work- 

 ers removing eggs from one cell to another, or 

 mating with drones, or drones from such, or 

 mismated queens, fertilizing queens, or the de- 

 generation of inbred bees, if correctly answered 

 would only satisfy our curiosity without better- 

 ing our financial condition a particle. The 

 amount of foundation to use depends also on the 

 honey- flow, the same as the wax production. If 

 you wish to decide the question as to the differ- 

 ence in amount of honey production, take two 

 colonies, of the same blood and equal strength, 

 and perfect queens. Run one for comb honey 

 and the other for extracted, and I think we can 

 satisfy ourselves on this point. The fact of our 

 knowing so few things is due largely to our de- 

 pending too much on others; or. in other words, 

 jumping at conclusions of ourselves and others. 

 Let us prove all things, and hold fast to that 

 which is good. 



THE VA.RIATIONS OF E. E. HASTY'S SECOND 

 SWARMS. 



I should also like to say just a few words in 

 regard to the variations of second swarms as re- 

 corded by E. E. Hasty, page 700. As to the sec- 

 onds cast on the 6th. 7th. and 8th days. I would 

 say that the first swarm is delayed either by 

 bad weather or else some trouble with the old 

 queen; those on the 9th are natural, and, I be- 

 lieve, in accordance with the rule; those on the 

 10th to 17th are those where the first swarm is- 

 sued ahead of time, varying from one to eight 

 days. The better way. I think, is to avoid sec- 

 ond swarms, and not be bothered with this rec- 

 ord. I had over 30 swarms this season, and no 

 seconds, without cutting out queen-cells. I had 

 a honey-crop of 4600 lbs., extracted, from 32, 

 spring count. Elias Fox. 



Hillsboro, Wis., Sept. 28. 



[There is much of truth in what our corres- 

 pondent says. We should take account of Na- 

 ture's ways, and then adapt our appliances so 

 far as practicable. As to the national govern- 

 ment testing appliances, we quite agree with 

 him. For the government to indorse one man- 

 ufacturer's goods over another's would hardly 

 be just the thing, although the goods of the 

 first mentioned were actually better. 



Perhaps more discussion on all these ques- 

 tions may not come amiss.] 



WILL TWO QUEENS FIGHT T 



DR. MILLER DEFENDED, ETC. 



I see in the Sept. 1.5ih issue of Gleanings 

 that Dr. Miller has been taken to task for the 

 statements he made in Stray Straws, to the 

 effeLt that he never saw two laying queens 

 fight. Now. I hardly think that Dr. M. has 

 lost the good opinion of tlie bee-keepers up here 

 (at least not all of them), regardless of the fact 

 that he never saw two laying queens fight. 

 Perhaps the circumstances under which the 

 queens were put to ti'St, that Dr. Miller wit- 

 nessed, were not the best to make them fight. 

 Queens that have been caged for a day or two 

 are less liable to fight than queens taken direct 

 from the hives. Virgins one day or more old 

 are as liable to fight as laying queens. Dr. M.. 

 to sustain his claim, asserts that he has no less 

 than three colonies with two queens in them; 

 and, by his article. I take it for granted that he 

 did not put them together, but that nature 



brought it about. Bless the doctor, he wouldn't 

 expect either queen to show fight in such a 

 case, more than he could expect a honey-flow 

 at Christmas in his locality. Say, Dr. M., sup- 

 pose, when you unite nuclei, you watch and see 

 how long two queens will remain together. 



an experience with fertile workers. 



Along in midsummer I had a colony that lost 

 its queen. I can not say positively, but I think 

 it was presumably from old age. The bees, at 

 any rate, built queen-cells, and therein were 

 deposited eggs; and in due time there were two 

 capped cells in the hive; but when, within two 

 or three days of maturity, the cells were de- 

 stroyed by the bees, I in turn gave them a caged 

 queen-cell; but I suppose the queen was kill- 

 ed on emerging from the cell. I again gave 

 them a caged cell, which hatched, and the 

 queen was allowed to live for about four or five 

 days, when she must have been killed, as I 

 could not find her. 



At about this time fertile workers made their 

 presence known by eggs appearing in the cells. 

 I now left the fertile workers alone until the 

 bees began to cap the cells, when the combs 

 the cells were on were taken from the hive, and 

 three combs with bees and brood were put in 

 their place, with a laying queen. The fertile 

 workers were shaken off' their comb in front of 

 the hive, and left to unite with the bees having 

 a fertile queen, which they did without any 

 fighting, as no bees were killed through the 

 union. Four days afterward I examined them 

 and found the fertile queen all right and lay- 

 ing: consequently I supposed that the fertile 

 worker was no more in the land of the living. 

 In two more days the queen was removed, and 

 a caged queen-cell was given the bees, which 

 hatched, and the queen was allowed to live 

 three days, when the queen was killed by the 

 bees. Now comes what causes me to write this 

 article on fertile workers. I soon found that a 

 fertile worker was present, and had been from 

 the time I united the bees with the fertile 

 worker and the bees with the laying queen. 

 Of course, the fertile worker was never killed, 

 but continued laying right along with the lay- 

 ing queen. This I can prove, as drone brood 

 was scattered miscellaneously over the combs, 

 in the ratio of one-third drone-cells to two- 

 thirds worker. Now, why did the bees harbor 

 a fertile worker when they had a good laying 

 queen? This latter part overthrows Dr. Mil- 

 ler's plan of giving pulled virgins to colonies 

 having fertile workers, but seems to be in har- 

 mony With his experience as regards laying 

 queens not showing fight. 



I see there are some reports quite discourag- 

 ing in Gleanings of Sept. 15th. even from the 

 good old State of Ohio. The honey crop in my 

 section has been somewhat better than usual 

 this season. My colonies run for extracted 

 have yielded about 210 lbs. each, and for comb 

 honey 165 lbs. The queens in these colonies 

 were reared from one of Doolittle's breeders, 

 and crossed with drones from leather-banded 

 stock. Tliere is no linden, in my locality, the 

 honey being gathered mainly from white clover. 

 We also have an abundance of clover growing 

 along the roadsides and ditches. This is the 

 kind winch A. I. R. and friend Boardman have 

 been accused of going out at midnight and 

 scattering the seed along the roadsides. Of 

 this there has been more this season than any 

 year that I know. 



Along in the spring Dr. Miller made some 

 remarks about dandelions opening t-arly. Well, 

 they have not only blossomed early in my lo- 

 cality, but they are still open — that is, about a 

 square rod of 'em. They have been in blossom 

 a few days only, while it was warm enough for 



