1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



oS7 



there are no flowers for them to work on in this local- 

 ity, and they store lots of honey from this source, and 

 the honey looks about the color of apple-blossom 

 honey, but doesn't suit nearly as well. 



These insects made their appearance about the 

 ■~Uth of June, and they work on several different 

 plants and trees, but seem to prefer the willow. 



I have heard a great deal of talk about this honey- 

 dew, but I never had an opportunity to examine in- 

 to it till tJhia' summer, and I have not found any 

 honey-dew yet where there were no insects to pro- 

 duce it;j and I don't believe I ever shall; but the 

 people in. this country all think it falls the same as 

 natural; dew. 



Bees have done well so far this season, and are 

 still getting honey from thistle and honey-dew (or 

 bug-juicei. D. K.\rFFMAN. 



Needy, Ore., August it, 18f.5. 



Many thanks, friend K., for your valuable 

 samples. We will at once forward the in- 

 sects to Prof. Cook, and may be lie can tell 

 us something more about this insect that 

 produces not only the honey-dew. but solid 

 candy that would do credit to a confectioner. 



OBBEBVATIONS AMD CONCLUSIONS 

 ON QUEENS. 



Does the Number of Days in the Cell bear any 

 Relation to the Liongevity of th« Queen^ 



H.\TCHi\(;. 



T HAVE had .jueens hatched on the sth, 10th Jllli, 

 m 12th, 14th, iJith, and IBth days from starting of 

 Ml cell. Those early-hatched queens were raised 

 ^ from larvic several days old; the one on the 

 8th, 1 judged to be about Ave or si.v days old 

 when cell was started over It. It was raised by a 

 prime swarm of l)lack bees which lost their queen 

 at hiving. A swarm that Issued Monday, :.• i*. .m., 

 hived on empty comb and foundation; Tuesday 

 morning, 8:30 a. .m., restless; found a dead <|ueen In 

 front of hhe, and at once gave them a comb of 

 Italian brood. On Wednesday morning I found a 

 cell well advanced, and on the ne.\t Wedne8<lay, 10 

 A. M., the queen had hatched and destroyed the re- 

 maining cells. The following is the appro.ximate 

 duration of life and prollflcness of queens compar- 

 ed with the number of ilays in the cell: 



. 4ue«n hatched 8th day: 1 queen llvedHm'th^t: 1 falily |iiullt1c. 



1 year; 'i " 

 "1 •• i ■• 

 .. .2 



lUth 

 nth 

 mil • 



1» 



U que«as 

 siU queens 



Ittli 



th; 1 



7 •• '• S •• ■• lex. pro. 



• 1 .... 4 '• 1 •• proline 



leaving plenty of brood aod eggs at death. One queen hatched 

 17th day, lived It months, not very prollfle, but line honey 

 gatheiei ■>. 



Sl'PKRSKDINa. 



Queens are almost uniformly superseded in the 

 spring, or within U5 days after swarming. In ten 

 years' observation, 1 have only twice known thesu- 

 persedure of queens raised in the fall. One was the 

 last of September, and the other died in the winter; 



the other in October, the mother living until the 

 next spring. This young queen proved to be bar- 

 ren, the only one I over met with. I kept her for 

 observation, until the 10th of July, but she never 

 laid an egg. 



Ten supersedures took place in the spring; Ave 

 did not swarm that season— one at early swarming 

 time, and four swarmed in the fall. 



Four supersedures took place in from 45 to 05 

 days after swarming. One queen-cell was almost 

 the uniform rule in superseding; only once have,I 

 seen this varied from, and that was in the case of 

 early swarming above referred to. The queen was 

 a yearling, whose wings had been badly mutilated 

 in introducing the previous season. This swarm 

 raised three cells, the mother dying about 48 hours 

 before the swarm issued, and leaving the combs 

 full of brood and eggs. The young queen began to 

 lay eight days after swarming. 



tONCI.rSIONS. 



Queens raised In weak nuclei, or in swarms with 

 more combs than they can cover, are shorter lived 

 than those raised ill strong nuclei or full swarms. 

 Queens should never be raised in less than three- 

 frame nuclei, and they should be full of bees, and 

 the cell on center combs. 



! should iH-eler four-frame nuclei, full of bees, 

 Mild the cells in the renter space. Superseding cells 

 are mostly near the middle, and a little above the 

 center of the brood-nest. I believe that supersed- 

 ing queens, and those raised under the swarming 

 Impulse, are longer Ihed than forced queens. 1 

 ha\ e never met with an inferior superseding queen, 

 except the barren one above referred to. Forced 

 queens are those raised to replace queens* purpose- 

 ly or accidentally removed. There is very little if 

 any difference iii(|iieeii8 raised in ciowded nuclei 

 and those raised in strong colonies. I tirowd the 

 combs with bees to raise queens. 1 always prefer 

 a mother one or more years oUl, to raise (|Ueens 

 from, i.oiig-lived queens are, I think, always prel- 

 erable. Queens may be superseded at swarming 

 time, unknown to the apiarist, but not often, if he 

 I be a close observer. Further observation may mod- 

 ify these conclusions. I raise no queens for sale. 

 E. S. Ahwink, M. D. 



Patterson. Texas, July 31, 1885. 



Friend A., yoiu' observations are e.xtreme- 



I ly interesting and valuable ; but I can not 

 see why you make the remark, under the 

 head of superseding, •• within ^^.', days after 



I swarming."" Had you said two or three 

 months, we might have hunted up the rea- 

 .son for it. I have observed that more queens 

 are superseded in the spring than at any 



i other date. IJiit where there is a great num- 

 ber of queens superseded in one apiary, I 

 have generally found it accompanied by a 

 sort ot demoralized condition of the whole 



' apiary : i. e.. at the time when spring dwind- 

 ling and troubles of that kind are prevalent. 

 1 believe it is also true, that where a young 

 queen is reared to assist or take the place of 

 the reigning queen, bees start only one cell •. 

 for we often tind a young queen in the hive 

 at the same time the old one seems to be do- 

 ing pretty fairly ; and wlien we tind the cell 

 she hatched out of it is usually if not always 

 just a single cell. I have heard of queens 

 living between three and four years ; but the 

 case you mention, of a queen that lived and 

 did service up to tive years of age, is, I 



