32 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



ItAISINO CllEIJNS FROM EGGS. 



■rt^jfrOVICE: Two jears ago the coming spring, we 

 1^ sent to you for some comb and eggs, from >vhich 

 '« * we hoped to raise some Ohio stock, but alter 

 •vaithig a long time and iiearing nothing Irom either 

 Xovice or eggs, we sent to T. G. McGaw, Monmouth, 

 Ills., who lives about •21') miles from us, and in a short 

 time received a piece of ni(5e new comb containing 

 iVcsh and good looking eggs. Thinking we had the 

 ihlngallin our own Jiands then- judging I'rom our 

 reading— wo inserted in a previousl}- jirejjared nucle- 

 us and left them to themselves 24 hours, then exam- 

 ined -when lo and behold! every miserable little egg 

 had gonc-'Who can tell where to ? We closed that 

 hive feeling not so sure we had the thing so much in 

 our own liands, and not to be discouraged by one fail- 

 ure we sent for more eggs, wliich came i)roniptly to 

 ■•land and were duly inserted, this time putting them 

 ivitli two different stocks- i)repared in dilVerent man- 

 ner. Alter waiting 24 iiours, we with trembling limbs 

 went to our examination and "plague take the little 

 iTi-itters"— if they hadn't done away ^vith every egg 

 tgain and "nary" a cell. We therefore wrote Mr. Mc- 

 <jaw exi>laining state of affairs and re»(uested him to 

 rteinl us a piece of comb with /«.s/ hatehrd ?((ri'w which 

 i;anie to hand in a sliort time an<l was inserted as 

 previously. Knowing liow nnx/owa we were to suc- 

 ceed in tliis matter you may imagine our feelings on 

 going to make the examination alter tlie 24 hours had 

 expired. We tinally mustered courage and looked in- 

 si(le and^'tiZ/;)/ to say ! there were three or four nice 

 healthy looking cells begun, the result of which were 

 nice Queens. Not wishing to jump at conclusions by 

 imagining we liad found tlie goal— because we had 

 Bucceedeti in this one trial after failing twice -conclu- 

 ileci to try again. Upon arrival of combs and larv:e we 

 immediately inserted as before and again were we 

 treated to neveral nice Queens, and one of these same 

 tjueens is now among the very best breeders and lion- 

 ey gatherers among all our bees. 



Our expeiience Ixas satislied us the egg lousiness is h 

 failure— nut nine out often times larvcv will succeed. 

 Try it and report. 



Our 110 colonies "yellow boys" in cellar are doing 

 nicely. J. Oatman & Co., Dundee, Kane Co., Ills. 



We agree with j-ou cxactl}^ friends O. & Co., 

 but yoii can only succeed even with larva; du- 

 ring; warm weather. Beyond a certain temper- 

 ature say about 00", they are hopelessly chill- 

 ed ; aijain, very small larvic should be selected, 

 and such as have been bountifully supplied 

 with food, especially if they are to be sent long 

 distances. Remember these little "innocents" 

 are ordinarily fed a great many times a da}\ 

 We have imagined that where there were but 

 few small larva', in a fair colony of l)ees of the 

 proper age, they received a more abundant 

 supply ol food. Our elibns met with so much i 

 success last season, that we shall be prepared j 

 to again send small larva* in a wooden box to 

 all who may apply, as soon as the weather is i 

 warm enough. We shall send all from an im- | 

 ported Queen. We think it will be safest, for \ 

 all to send to some one as near them, I 

 as may be practicable. ! 



— ^^^ ♦^^ -^ 



AVESlAGi: NUITIBIOK OF DAYS RE<(IJI. I 



i:sei:i> to get eaving chjeens. 



^rj!*i\KAU NON'ICl'; : — Looking over some memoranda 

 J|l ™ of f'^TI and '72 which wei-e kcjtt for no other pur- 

 *"!!!' jiosc^ but com cnience at the time, 1 lind the time I 

 was noted when brood was given to a nn(;leus or | 

 <Jueen1<'ss colony, also the ilatc when a (>ucen hatched ; 

 out, and the date whin ^-lie conimcced to lav. Of :« i 

 Queens Huis noted in 1S71, and k; iioteil in 1S72. or4il [ 

 in all, I get these results. Counting the length of time ' 

 from giving brood to hatclilng of (,)ueen. i 



2 hatched in 12 (lavs, it in li; uavs, \ 



« " " 1:5 "■ 4 " 17 "" ■ 



15 " " 14 " 2 " lii " [ 



11 " " If) " 

 One (Jiieen began to lav in T) davs from being hatched, ! 

 ;! In 7 days, T) in S day's, l(i in"'.) days, 12 in 10 days, 

 7 " U " 4 "i:5 " 1 "l.i " • , 



Counting the total time from date of giving brood to 

 laying of t^ueen, 

 i began lo lay in 18 days, 3 in 21 days, 1 in 22 days, 



7 in 2:5 days, Ift in 24 days, 5 in 25 days, 



4 " 2t! " 5 " 27 " 2 " 28 " 



1 " 2!» " 1 " ;W " 1 " 32 " 



From the time brood was given till the Queen was 

 hatched out the average length of time was in 1871, 10 

 days; in 1872, 14K days; for both years 14 41-4;i ilays. 



From the time the Queen was hatched till she began 

 to lay, the average was in 1871, U 20-3;i days ; in 1872, 

 !» 13-lf) days ; in both years, i) ;«-4il days. 



From the time brood was given till the Queen laid, 

 the average was in 1871. 24 20-3;i days ; in 1872, 24 5-16 

 days ; in both years, 24 25-4!) days. 



li. LiiNUEUKK, Chicago, Ills. Feb. 23rd, 1875. 



Many thanlvs "B. L.," for you have certainly 

 given us a faithful record of an important 

 matter, whatever "blunders" yon have made 

 elsewhere. We liave generally estimated that 

 where a Queen was liilled by a careless Apia- 

 rist, or where the bees were from anj' other 

 cause, compelled to raise a new one from their 

 brood, the colony would be destitute of eggs 

 for at least three weeks on an average. If this 

 loss occurs during April or May, it generally 

 spoils all hope of either surplus or increase, of 

 any account, during the season. 



Advising to re-Queen all colonies during ap- 

 ple bloom, as given in "Money in the Apiary" 

 would, judging from our past experience, 

 be almost if not quite equivalent to the loss of 

 a swarm from each colony. Giving the colony 

 a Queen cell instead of larva; saves about it 

 days of the 24; giving them a virgin Queen 

 just hatched, about 14 days out of the '24, aud 

 we know of no way of shortening the 10 days 

 remaining, unless it be giving the colonies ev- 

 ery third day during tliis interval, a comb 

 containing eggs only, from some other colony. 

 These eggs can be obtained by putting an emp- 

 ty comb in the center of a pi'osperous colony 

 over niglit or may be a little longer. We 

 should bear in mind that we are always losing, 

 during the spring months, when we have a 

 good Queen without bees, or a good colony with- 

 out a laying Queen, and that many times the 

 deticiency may be best made up for the time, 

 by moving eggs, as advised above. Remo- 

 ving and introducing Queens in the spring, we 

 have always found hazardous. 



A F5 KTIIER l!tIIl»180VEMENT IN 

 STRAW TIAT ITIAKING. 



WM ^- ^^^^'^^ of Le Clair, Iowa, sends us a 



1 



o neat little model of a machine for making 

 good mats, rajiidli/. Suppose you lay three pie- 

 ces of wood say l,'^.x'2 and 8 feet long, on the 

 floor side by side. For a Laugstroth mat, they 

 should be alwut ;> inches from each other; to 

 keep them in ])lace a striji of board is let in to 

 each end, and this may be arranged so as to 

 allow^ the distance between tlie bars to be va- 

 ried at pleasure, where diH'erent sized mats are 

 to be made. In mortises made in these bars, 

 six uprights are firmly secured, two in each 

 l)ar, and their distanee ai)art governs the length 

 of your mat. \ow if you spread your straw 

 on these bars, Itetween the ui)rights, it is in a 

 proper jjosition to sew, but to i)ress it down 

 flat, comptict, and even, we use three more bars 

 just like the lirst, and mortised so as to slip 

 loosely over our uprights or stakes as they 

 might be termed. Now if tlierc are holes in 

 these stakes, we can put a pin tlirougii above 

 the bars, and S(|ueeze the str.-iw down hard and 

 firm to l>e sewed. We \mI1 let our friend tell 

 the rest. 



