474 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUxNE 1 



cloth cage, kept on hand for this purpose ; 

 spread the combs a little in the center of the 

 hive, and then by means of a wire attached 

 to the cage suspend it in the center of the 

 hive, and the bees will soon return. The first 

 queen cell will be due to hatch in seven days ; 

 but if we wait the seven days and cut off the 

 queen-cells at that time the bees will have 

 bniod still young enough so they will start 

 cells over the larvae, and often cherish these 

 cells, raising a queen from them and killing 

 the old queen when liberated, thus destroying 

 the usefulness of the colony, as a queen reared 

 from such brood is practically worthless. So 

 to overcome this difficulty I open the hive in 

 four days and cut off all the queen-cells which 

 are sealed, allowing the rest to remain, which 

 satisfies the bees so they do not build any over 

 brood. I now wait six more days, or ten days 

 from the time the swarm issued, when all 

 queen-cells are cut off and the queen liberated. 

 The bees will now go to work in the sections, 

 with a will that is almost surprising ; and the 

 honey that has been stored in the combs while 

 the queen has been caged, together with that 

 coming from the fields, makes an aggregate 

 which booms work in the sections to the 

 greatest degree." 



' ' But suppose that I do not wish swarms to 

 issue ; what then ? Can not the queen be 

 caged without waiting for the swarm to is- 

 sue? " 



" Yes, I often hunt them up and cage them, 

 putting the cage near the entrance in one of 

 the frames, allowing it to rest on the bottom- 

 bar to one of the frames not having the comb 

 built fully down near one end. Where you 

 cage in this way it is necessary to cut the 

 queen-cells but once, unless you find some 

 nearly ready to seal, for none will hatch from 

 those built over brood before the eleventh to 

 thirteenth day. Therefore, if we cut the cells 

 on the tenth day and liberate the queen we are 

 all right. But where a swarm has not issued, 

 the bees will not always be satisfied without 

 trying to swarm, if the queen is released in 

 ten days' time, so on cutting the cells at this 

 time I put a plug filled with queen candy in 

 the cage, which is long enough to take the 

 bees three or four days to eat out the candy to 

 get to her, thus liberating her." 



" This candy is put in a hole bored through 

 the center of the plug ? " 



<< Yes." 



" How long a plug does it take for three 

 days? " 



" If the hole is only }i inch, 3 inches long 

 is about right, as they eat out about an inch a 

 day. But I hear a horn blowing up at your 

 house. What does it mean ? " 



" It means my bees are swarming, and I'm 

 off." 



The lawn-mower is now needed in the api- 

 ary to keep down grass. If the apiary is 

 fenced in, try a few lambs or even sheep. It 

 is not safe to turn larger stock into the bee- 

 yard. But it will not do to use sheep if there 

 are grapevines for shade, for the sheep will 

 eat the vines as well as all other vegetation. 



A MANIA FOR SUPERSEDING QUEENS FOR 

 THE WHOLE APIARY. 



Honey is coming in at a good rate, and the 

 bees are casting a few swarms. We are met 

 with a condition that is causing us considera- 

 ble trouble, for the reason we are not able to 

 strike on any plan to prevent it. The condi- 

 tion is, the bees are possessed with a mania 

 for superseding their queens. Queens of last 

 season's rearing have been superseded while 

 keeping from four to six frames filled with 

 eggs and brood in all stages. Often they will 

 build queen-cells, and just a few days before 

 hatching will tear the whole lot down, thus 

 rendering themselves hopelessly queenless. 

 At other times they will permit a queen to 

 come out, become fertilized, and kill her be- 

 fore she begins laying; and, again, they will 

 permit the queen to lay a few days, then 

 start cells while the queen is yet laying ; and 

 about the time the cells are ready to seal, the 

 queen is missing from the hive. The trouble 

 is not with a colony or two in a large apiary, 

 but we are finding about thirty such in one 

 apiary of 250 colonies, and a neighboring bee- 

 keeper reports over 60 in an apiary of 200 col- 

 onies. I noticed a little trouble of the same 

 nature last season, but attached little or no 

 importance to it ; but this year we hear of 

 several apiaries with the same trouble. We 

 should like the opinion of bee-keepers as to 

 what causes the trouble, for trouble it certain- 

 ly is. M. W. Shepherd. 



Marchant, Fla., Mar. 26. 



[The condition you describe is somewhat re- 

 markable. I have known of colonies that 

 persisted in superseding queens, but I never 

 knew the mania to extend to any considera- 

 ble number. It would almost seem as if there 

 were some disease or trouble that the bees had 

 knowledge of, which you as their owner could 

 not discover. We lay it down as a rule that 

 supersedure does not take place unless the 

 queen is defective or is getting old. I should, 

 therefore, be inclined to believe that there is 

 some disease that attacks the queens, but 

 which for the time being does not apparently 

 cut down the egg-laying to the observer. If 

 some one else is in position to give informa- 

 tion on this question we shall be glad to hear 

 from him. — Ed.] 



GOOSE WING FOR BRUSHING BEES. 



If you have never tried a quill out of a 

 goose's wing to brush bees off the comb, try 

 one. I use them and think they are nice. 

 When it gets sticky, throw it away and catch 

 a goose and pull some more. One at a time is 

 enough for a brush. Irving Pierce. 



Union City, Mich. 



[I have used turkey feathers and chicken 

 feathers, but I do not remember distinctly 

 that I ever tried the big feather of a goose ; 



