.Tune, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BP;E CULTURK 



349 



Yet if left vvithuut that, would tlicro be any 

 great harm, at a time when they are too in- 

 active to tear paper, for them to be left 

 imprisoned a week? At tlie end of that time 

 you would be likely to look after them any- 

 way, and if necessary could then make a 

 hole in the paper, and feel quite sure against 

 their returning to their old stand. [When 

 the hole is not punched thru, in some caseswe 

 have had the bees die of worry. If the two 

 lots of bees are not too weak, they will make 



their own hole. — Editor.] 



* * * 



Speaking of A. I. Root 's saying, ' ' There is 

 no easier, quicker, and safer way of feeding 

 bees that are short of stores than to give 

 them sealed stores of honey, ' ' .1. E. Crane 

 says, page 283: "This is quite true; but 

 how are we to proceed when we have no 

 sealed stores, as often happens in spring 

 time?" Well, in that case we must do the 

 best we can, and the way you offer answers; 

 but really, friend Crane, do you think being 

 caught without sealed stores "often happens 

 in spring time " with the right kind of bee- 

 keeper? Just between you and me, I should 

 say once, and never again. For after being 

 caught once, ought it ever to happen again 

 that he does not provide the previous year 

 for a stock of sealed combs for the follow- 

 ing spring? Often, if not generally, these 

 sealed stores may be of fall, dark honey, in 

 which case there is a gain in having tnem, 

 even if not needed to prevent starvation. 

 For when the flow of white honey comes, a 

 lot of empty space must be filled in the 

 brood-chamber before storing in supers be- 

 gins, and, if these extra combs supply this 

 need, it will be really swapping fall honey 

 for white honey in the supers. 



* * » 



G. A. Sheppard, you are told, page 300, 

 that it would not be well to use drone foun- 

 dation for sections, since "the worker foun- 

 dation results in comb of such superior 

 grade that this more than offsets the appar- 

 ent preference of the bees." There's an ad- 

 ditional reason. Bees prefer drone-comb 

 because they want to raise drones, and if 

 you should have a super filled with drone 

 foundation you may count on a big lot of 

 space in the super filled with drone-brood. 

 To be sure, you can prevent that by the use 

 of an excluder, but that 's an extra expense 

 and trouble, and besides, even with an ex- 

 cluder you will find that the bees will be 

 slow to finish up some of the space where 

 they expect the queen to come up and lay 

 drone eggs. When using worker foundation 

 in sections, more than once, if a section hap- 

 pened not to be entirely filled with founda- 

 tion, I have found the vacancy filled with 

 drone-comb, and not a drop of honey in it, 

 the bees holding it open for the queen 's use. 



* * * 



J. L. Byer, you seem to link me up with a 

 certain editor in insisting on empty cells as 

 a "winter nest," page 162. Said editor is 

 too conservative for me. So are you. You 

 think "bees will get along splendidly, even 



if combs are about solid at tlK> beginning of 

 the winter." I think they'll get along all 

 right if combs are entirely solid at the begin- 

 ning, middle, or end of winter, provided 

 there's plenty of room to cluster under the 

 bottom-bars. ["Provided there is plenty of 

 room for the cluster under the bottom-bars." 

 — aye, there is the rub! In most brood cham- 

 bers that condition does not exist. While it 

 may be a matter of locality, solid combs of 

 stores would be all right here in November, 

 but before cold weather sets in the bees 



would have to make a winter nest. — Editor.] 



* * * 



Stancy Puerden, you say, page 1.56, that 

 you put grain thru your hand-mill twice, be- 

 cause it makes a more evenly ground prod- 

 uct than to attempt to grind it fine the first 

 time. I didn 't know that, but have always 

 ground twice because it's too hard work to 

 make it fine enough the first time. Thanks 

 for telling me what's your name. Now tell 

 us whether there's some good way to cook 

 cornmeal mush without standing over it stir- 

 ring all the time. And look here, Stancy. 

 You don't want to be called a deserter or a 

 slacker these times, do you? Well, then, don't 

 talk any more about stepping out and giving 



some one else your job in Gleanings. 

 '* * * 



As addenda to what is said on page 302, let 

 me say something of what I have learned 

 from quite a bit of experimenting in intro- 

 ducing virgins. If a virgin is picked out of 

 her cell before maturity, she will be thrown 

 out of the hive, not because a queen, but 

 because immature, just as an immature 

 worker would be. When quite mature, and 

 until she attains a certain age, she will be 

 received kindly in any colony, even in one 

 with a vigorous young laying queen, or one 

 with laying workers. No precaution is 

 necessary in introducing; just drop her on 

 the top-bars or let her run in at the entrance. 

 But when she ceases to be a baby, and be- 

 gins to put on airs as a young lady of royal 

 blood, then it 's a different story. She will 

 be promptly assassinated wherever intro- 

 duced, unless in a colony that feels des- 

 perately in need of a queen, or one which 

 is about to supersede its queen. I'm sorry 

 I cannot say just when the change from a 

 baby to a young lady occurs. Possibly when 

 she is about 24 hours old. In a number of 

 cases I have dropped into a hive with a lay- 

 ing queen a virgin not long after emergence 

 from her cell, found her all right five or 10 

 hours later, but the next day missing. But 

 if the bees desired to supersede their queen, 

 the virgin would be retained. G. M. Doolit- 

 tle tells of requeening by giving a young 

 virgin late in the season. It is almost im- 

 possible to introduce a laying queen into a 

 colony w4th laying workers, but I think a 

 virgin young enough might always succeed; 

 altho a colony of laying workers is generally 

 not worth a queen. Now can some of you 

 tell us at what age the change of a virgin 

 occurs, when she is no longer considered a 

 baby but an aspiring candidate for a throne? 



