1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



819 



later laying leaves the colony, in the^oplnion of 

 many, in better condition for wintering, because 

 Qf the larger number of young bees.". :zi 



Some queens are better at four years old than 

 some others at a year old; and as the bees^seem 

 to have good judgment, and supersede usually 

 at the time when good queens can be reared, 

 and when such rearing will be at least cost to 

 the honey crop, it seems pretty good practice 

 to leave the matter in their hands, especially 

 as that is the easiest way for the bee-keeper. 

 But then there are exceptions, a worthless old 

 queen being sometimes retained, and sometimes 

 being superseded at a loss early in the season, 

 so there's a good deal in favor of at least some- 

 times taking the thing into one's own hands. 

 If Mr. Doolittle is right, it might at least be 

 well to make sure each fall of the supersedure 

 of each queen whose colony had done poor work 

 during the summer. He says if you put a 

 queen-cell in a super about the close of the 

 honey-harvest, the old queen will be superseded. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE COLONY. 



It is nothing unusual for a failing queen to 

 remain in a colony for a time with her laying 

 daughter, but I have at present an exceptional 

 case. June 19 I started a nucleus by putting 

 into No. 36 a frame of brood with adhering bees 

 and a three-year-old queen. June 23 I found 

 the hive deserted by all but a very few bees. I 

 don't remember how much I looked for the 

 queen ; but at any rate I didn't find her. I then 

 put into the hive a frame of brood and bees 

 with a iwo-year-old queen. This was a very 

 yellow queen. July 8 I was surprised to find In 

 the hive a very dark queen, the three-year-old 

 queen I had first put into the hive. Looking 

 further I was still more surprised to find the 

 yellow queen. No mistake about it, there they 

 both were, doing duty peacefully together. 



A curious feature of the case is that the yel- 

 low queen shows she has had pretty rough 

 treatment, her feathers being gone as well as 

 her wings, except just a shred of one wing, 

 while the dark queen shows no trace of ill 

 usage. As there were scarcely any bees in the 

 hive except those put in with the yellow queen, 

 one would expect the other queen to be the 

 victim of ill treatment. 



To-day, Aug. 1, 1 have been down to the hive, 

 and both queens are all right after 39 days of 

 friendly association. 



Marengo, 111., Aug. 1, 1896. 



STAYING UP FOUNDATION. 



HOW WOOD SPLINTS HAVE BEEN TESTED ON A 

 LARGE SCALE, AND FOUND TO BE A SUCCESS. 



By B. F. Avcrill. 



Noticing the importance that Dr. Miller at- 

 taches to the idea of using small sticks for sup- 

 porting comb foundation in brood-frames, I give 



below a plan I have adopted, and tested exten- 

 sively for many years— almost since comb foun- 

 dation was invented. My frames have a slot in 

 top and bottom bars. The gauge of saw with 

 which the slots are sawn corresponds to the 

 thickness of the splints to be used — about }^ 

 in. wide; and the thickness according to the 

 strength of material used is a suitable size; and 

 K in. longer than the distance between top and 

 bottom bars after the frames are nailed up is the 

 appropriate length. The numher of splints to 

 be used depends upon the thickness of the 

 foundation, thin foundation requiring more 

 splints. To put in the foundation, lay four or 

 five of the splints with the ends fitted into the 

 slots, and twice the distance apart that splints 

 will be required; then lay the foundation upon 

 these, springing the alternate splints into place 

 as nearly midway between as possible. Then, 

 having the foundation at a proper temperature, 

 roll the splints, imbedding them firmly. A 

 board of proper dimensions, and in thickness 

 equal to half the width of frame material, will 

 be required; also a roller, which can be con- 

 veniently made from a section of small spool by 

 sawing off the ends and fitting it to a handle. 

 No waxing of splints is necessary, as eggs de- 

 posited upon splints hatch, and the larvae ma- 

 ture quite as well as under ordinary circum- 

 stances. It is necessary to have one side of the 

 foundation very straight, and fitted closely to 

 the top-bars ; otherwise the combs are liable to 

 bulge before being built out. and fastenod at 

 the top. I utilized splints for upward of L'OOO 

 frames In the season of 1885 at an apiary I es- 

 tablished near Beulah, Miss. 



The combs, with a few exceptions, where they 

 were carelessly set up, were the most perfectly 

 built that I have ever seen. There were a few 

 irregular cells; but, having experimented with 

 a desire to know. I found that this defect could 

 be obviated by having the combs drawn from 

 foundation sized to bring the cell-walls in per- 

 pendicular alignment with the splints. Under 

 these conditions a splint nearly covered a per- 

 pendicular row of cells, making the arrange- 

 ment of the separating walls of wax to be built 

 so accurately in line with the splints that no 

 defective construction of cells could be observed. 



The time required to fasten foundation is in- 

 significant. Four or five times as many frames 

 can be filled by this plan as a man can possibly 

 wire for foundation, and no considerable pains 

 or skill is required. Combs are more rigid, and 

 better adapted to uncapping where splints are 

 incorporated in them, than those built in wired 

 frames; and this method of fixing foundation 

 can be safely employed to any extent with 

 frames of ordinary proportions. I have han- 

 dled many thousands of frames in numerous 

 apiaries which I have owned ; and where I have 

 been employed, these foundation splints always 

 gave better satisfaction than wires. 



