484 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



A BOY'S EXPERIENCE IN INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



Mr. Boot:— Have you any idea how a boy feels 

 when he has worked hard to get a little money, and 

 sends it off for a bee— just one bee'/ 1 Then the worry 

 for fear she won't come, or will come dead, or will 

 get killed in introducing! I can describe every 

 symptom. It is a fever that must run its course, 

 which it will do in ten days usually. It's a fever 

 that just makes a boy Sick, but the getting well 

 makes him a man. I am just a little too big for my 

 pants, but can't help it. I received my queen on the 

 loth. Next morning was rather showery, so I could 

 stay at the house. I had a colony which had never 

 had a queen. 1 opened the hive, took off one side of 

 the queen cage, laid it on top of the frames, and, in 

 a few minutes, some of my blacks came up to see 

 who were their visitors. According to the nature of 

 all true Southerners, bees as well as people, they 

 cordially invited her and her attendants down, and 

 gave to them of the best they had. On the 17th, she 

 had gone to business. There were only 2 dead bees 

 in the cage; honey was all gone, but very little can- 

 dy or water was consumed. Wasn't that nice? and 

 am I not lucky? But you must know that I inherit 

 my love of bees and honey. Some of my ancestors, 

 I doubt not, were Noah's bee-keepers; for as far 

 back as any one knows, the Trices were bee-keepers 

 in the old fashioned way, but they would have lots 

 of honey. I think I will have to get me some fdn. 

 I am feeding now; it is so dry, bees have done noth- 

 ing this year. 



Many, many thanks for the nice bees and good 

 advice. I hope you will be the bee-keeper in the 

 ark when the next flood comes. 



Thomas H. Trice. 



New Providence, Tenn., Aug. 22, 1879. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM CANADA. 



FDN. ON PAPER, SUCCESSFUL WINTERING, ETC. 



^jnjpjVEAR NOVICE:— Try sheets of paper dipped in 

 fflffl wax, instead of using wire to keep fdn. from 

 ' sagging. I_have used sheets the same as the 



one I now write on (the bees have not eaten out the 

 paper yet), and also leaves of fashion books, and va- 

 rious pictures on paper foundations. I am trying 

 other things. Try all kinds of paper. Have your 

 illustrated catalogue put in foundations, and built 

 out, and hang it in your olhce. Give it a trial in 

 strong stocks, but don't "raise Cain" about it until 

 we prove it beyond doubt. 



I intend writing on wintering soon, as I have . 

 solved the mystery and winter hundreds of stocks, 

 every year, without loss. 



My bees are very strong and I am taking from i 

 1500 to 3000 lbs. per day, and have been for a long 

 time. American honey is now shut out of the mar- j 

 ket, by the high tariff, which is about fifty per cent : 

 on value. 



Bee keeping is looking up in Canada, as I never | 

 had so many orders for fdn. before, and the demand ! 

 for extractors is increasing. Some days, I ship 6 a j 

 day. Increase of business, however, is probably 

 partly owing to the national policy, which places the 

 duty so high on imported goods, that they can be 

 procured much cheaper here. In a few years more, 

 I think, we will be able to compare favorably with 

 California for honey. My crop, this year, will be 

 hundreds of barrels, if the season continues good to 

 the end, as it has been so far. The basswood is just 

 out, and the tops are a perfect cluster of bloom. I 

 never saw it so good, and all our honey this year is 

 very fine. 



I am pleased to see Gleanings so well edited, and * 

 the extraordinary efforts you are putting forth to 

 make it a success, combined with your large expe- 

 rience and "unselfish motives, must soon make it a 

 welcome visitor to every bee keeper in our land. 



D. A. Jones. 

 Beeton, Ontario, Can., July 19,^1879. 



Many of our readers will remember friend 

 Jones, and his articles a few years ago. Of 

 late, we have not heard from him, and I often 

 wondered what new invention lie was work- 

 ing at, that caused him to keep silent so long. 

 It seems he has been quietly building up an 

 apiary, and now he is reaping the reward, 

 and so full of business he can hardly stop to 

 tell his old friends of his sucesses. I have 

 delayed the above article, hoping to hear fur- 

 ther in regard to that great yield of honey, 

 but as he does not write, have resolved to 

 give it as it is, before the year closes. 

 Combs built on paper work nicely in our 

 apiary, as long as the flow of honey holds 

 out; but after it is gone, our bees go to dig- 

 ging it all out. Tell us more about the hun- 

 dreds of barrels of honey, friend J. I shall 

 have to beg our readers' pardon for printing 

 that concluding paragraph ; I think friend 

 Jones' prosperity must have had the effect of 

 making him look with charitable eyes on all 

 the world, your humble servant included. 



m f t m 



CAN BEES HATCH THEIR EGGS AT 

 WILL? 



||HIS may seem a strange question to ask after 

 we have been told, for years, that the eggs 

 ~ * laid by the queen hatch in about 3 days. We 

 have been told a great many things, which a 

 little practical experience, based on a few careful 

 experiments, will prove to be false. Not but that, 

 as a rule, bees hatch the eggs laid by the queen in 

 about 3 days, but we claim that bees have the power 

 to control the hatching time of the eggs; that is, to 

 lengthen the time to weeks, but not to shorten it 

 materially. 



Now for the proof of our position: On p. 11, A. B. 

 Journal, Vol. 10, you will find these words from our 

 pen: "We never had so much brood according to 

 the number of bees in our hives, five hundred bees 

 covering five thousand of brood easily." This brood 

 appeared as if by magic, and this was the first time 

 we gave the matter any attention. Next, on p. 71, 

 of Gleanings for 1875, we again wrote, on the sub- 

 ject of feeding for brood rearing, as follows: "We 

 have succeeded in getting the queens to lay, but the 

 bees would not hatch the eggs." These experiments 

 were conducted in Oct., 1874, and at that time we 

 were quite positive that the above assertion was 

 correct; yet it was not till 1878, that we proved it 

 beyond the shadow of a doubt. It will be remem- 

 bered that the spring of '78 was extremely warm till 

 about the 10th of May, at which time, it became cold 

 and continued so till well into June. As the frost 

 spoiled the apple blossoms, we were obliged to feed 

 to keep our bees from starving. We fed for three 

 weeks, and during all this time there were always 

 eggs in plenty, but no larva 1 . 



These eggs kept the same place in the combs, yet 

 at no time could we discover any larva 1 . But, says 

 one, the bees removed them as fast as they were 

 ready to hatch and the queen kept laying. We were 

 almost ready to think so ourselves, but listen. It 

 came warm suddenly, and the bees went to work 

 bringing in plenty of pollen, and some honey, and 

 in 24 hours the cells were teeming with larvae just 

 hatched. Tell us where these came from, if not 

 from those eggs that had been in the cells for three 

 weeks. The queen commenced to lay again and, in 

 due time, these eggs hatched, but not till the former 

 larva? had attained 1-2 their size. 



