876 



GLEANINGS IN UEE CULTURE. 



Dec. Io. 



I think that, if the old queen were removed, 

 tlie protected cell would be respected: but, for 

 that matter, so would a cell without the pro- 

 tector. 



■' ITLLEI) ■' QUEENS. 



It is pr(4-ty generally known, that a very young 

 queen may be put into a hive, and usually al- 

 lowed to remain unchall(>nged. if no old queen 

 is there. It may not be so g(>iu>rally known 

 that queens may differ no little m age at time 

 of hatching. A single cell in a (|ueenless hive 

 will hatch out a white soft-looking thing, not 

 able 10 tlv for some time. In a hive having sent 

 forth a i)iime swarm, at the time of sending 

 forth the second swarm there will usually be 

 found a number of young queens in cells, some, 

 of them immature, some of them like the white 

 soft things already mentioned, and some of 

 them ready to fly. The same state of affairs 

 will be found in a strong colony from which the 

 queen has been removed, although it is ques- 

 tioned whether the queens are as good. When 

 one of my colonies with a clipped queen swarms 

 and returns, and the queen is lost or removed, 

 then I find a goodly number of cells, the quality 

 of which will be questioned by no one. For a 

 few years I have made a practice of saving such 

 queen-s, at least all that! could find use tor, it 

 tlie stock suited me. Please iiear in mind, that 

 the white-looking ones are old enough to use. 

 and I suspect that they are much easier to in- 

 troduce than those that have been imprisoned 

 by the bees in their c<^lls till they are strong 

 enough to fly. I do not wait for any of these 

 young queens to hatch out. I take out a frame 

 with cells, take hold of tlie end of a cell with 

 the nails of my thumb and linger, and pull oft 

 the cell. If the queen is one of the oldest, the 

 cap of the cell will pull off, and, after a little 

 hesitation, the queen will emerge. If the queen 

 is younger, the whole cell will pull oft, and a 

 little pulling apart at the larger end of the cell 

 will set the queen free. All the cells are thus 

 taken out of the hive, any queens too young, or 

 with immature wings, thrown away, and the 

 rest put in cages. These are then given to any 

 colony or nucleus needing them, dropping them 

 directly among the bees, with no preparation 

 or caution whatever. These " pulled " queens, 

 as we call them, are, I think, just as good as it 

 each one had hatched out of its own accord: 

 and when such cells are plentiful, a large num- 

 ber can be had in a very sliort time. ]\Ir. A. I. 

 Root was here one day when we pulled a lot, 

 and seemed quite interested. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Nov. 13. 



I. too, friend M., have seen queens, once in a 

 great while, sting a worker-bee; but it usually 

 happened under the influence of excitement or 

 alarm, so that she could hardly have been said 

 to be i;i a normal state. I have introduced 

 young queens into a hive containing an old 

 queen; but my experience has been about like 

 yours. Yes, I remember about the "pulled" 

 queens; but there were so many things to see 

 when I made you that visit that it is not any 

 wonder that I failed to mention some of them. 



WINTER REPOSITORIES, ETC. 



DOOI.ITTLE SUGGESTS SOME THINGS TO AVOID. 



On pages 816 and 817 I find a description of a 

 winter repository as given by Harry Lathro]). 

 There is not the least doubt that it will winter 

 bees splendidly; and if Jiro. L. can stand the 

 racket of renewing it as often as may be needed. 



and take the risk of a '•cave in "on the bees 

 wliile in the repository some winter, should he 

 not renew it when it should be. ho is all right 

 as he is. My lirst repository, or " mud hut,' as 

 such repositories were then called, was built on 

 almost exactly the same plan as his; but it 

 lasted only three years so as to be safe. 



The trouble seems to be, that, during winter, 

 the wood part of it becomes saturated with the 

 moisture arising from the bees; and as, in the 

 summer months, it does not seem to dry out as 

 it should, just the right condition comes about 

 to cause till' wood to decay quickly. Wood that 

 would otherwise last for years will decay in 

 three years so that there is no safety in it," ac- 

 cording to my experience, as I have three times 

 had to throw all the dirt, out of my bee-cellar 

 by its caving in when I did not expect it. After 

 the lirst one rotted out I built the side-walls of 

 mason work, (ui which was made a regular roof 

 of rafters and lioards. the same as a roof is made 

 for any building, less the shingles. The dry 

 dirt was now placed on this roof to the depth of 

 three feet, and a cover put over the whole, so 

 that the dirt never got wet at all; yet at the 

 end of three years I could stick the blade of my 

 pocket-knife through any of the boards. I now 

 put in extra sets of rafters so that none of these 

 rafters were more than eight inches apart. 

 This held the earth all right till the rafters 

 gave out, as an eight-inch space was too small 

 for the earth to fall through after it was pack- 

 ed as it was by this time, especially as the old 

 rotted boards helped a little to keep it in place. 

 When the rafters gave outlreneAved the roof 

 again: but this latter one did not last as well 

 as the tirst, .so I decided to cover the top with 

 flagging. 



As I gave a full description of the cellar a 

 year or two ago in Gleanings, together with 

 illustrations, I will not describe it further at 

 this time, more than to say that the repository 

 proper is 2i feet long, 7 feet wide, and 6 feet 

 deep, inside measure. As I could get no flag- 

 stone thfck enough to hold the weight of dirt 

 if they were laid directly across the wall, I pro- 

 cured them a little over four feet long and set 

 them up the same as rafters would be set up, 

 resting the foot of each on the side-walls, while 

 the tops rested against each other, the same as 

 rafters would. This gave me the height of 8 

 feet in the center of the cellar, and I am veiy 

 glad now that I could not get the whole stone 

 thick enough: for had I been able to do so I 

 sliould liave had my hives sopping wet all the 

 while. 



No one, who has not had experience, would 

 believe the quantity of moisture which will 

 arise from a lot of bees in a cellar. The bees 

 have been in the cellar but about 30 days; yet 

 these same flagstones, which at that time were 

 as dry as could be. have drops of water coursing 

 down their under surface to the top of the wall, 

 so that it stands in little puddles there. What 

 effect this will have on the bees before spring, 

 I am unable to say; but I fear no trouble as 

 long as this moisture can be kept from the 

 hives, and the temperature kept at from 43° to 

 4.5°, the same as it has formerly been. 



In using flagging for covering I find that the 

 stone must be at least three inches thick. The 

 stone to cover this cellar cost me $2r>.00. deliv- 

 ered. Besides those which were intended for 

 the cover I had some thinner ones to use as 

 battens for the cracks between the stones, as all 

 of the covering stone were not dressed at the 

 sides. After the stone were delivered I found it 

 was necessary to use one of them over the 

 threefold docjrwiiy, so I used one of the stone 

 intended for a batten in the main roof, and on 

 to]) of this 1 init another one of the battens, 

 thinking that the two, which were somewhat 



