900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



be taken from them as from a large box (did not Mr. 

 Sladen tell you about our small nuclei?); besides, 

 queens kept in these small boxes are never so heavy 

 with egg-> as in the larger boxes. 



.■\s to queens being injured when hea\-\- with eggs 

 when stripping, this is quite reasonable Our experi- 

 ence would indicate that queens taken from full colo- 

 nies, when heavy with eggs, do not mm out quite as 

 well". We have" had some very discouraging reports 

 from some such queens sent out; but it rarely happens 

 that we have a bad report from queens taken from 

 these small boxes As a rule our higher-priced queens 

 are kept in full colonies or in three or four frame 

 nuclei It unfortunatelj' happens that these queens 

 appear to get the woist of it ; in fact, we have come to 

 the conclusion that hereafter we shall be obliged to 

 keep our very best queens in nuclei instead of in full 

 colonies 



It often happens that a queen receives a dent in the 

 abdomen when sent in the mails. Many migtit give a 

 queen a passing glance and call her O. K., but this dent 

 will prevent her from being a good layer unless it is 

 removed. The removing of the same is very simple 

 Take the queen between two fingers, and press gently. 

 If done properly the dent will snap out. To illustrate, 

 take a sheet of writing-paper, roll it up the size of 

 your thumb, then dent it: then try to remove the ,>-ame 

 by pressing on each side of the dent. Practice with 

 the paper, then try the queen. It may take a little 

 practice to do it. We have gotten so we can take a 

 dent out in two or three seconds. 



Of late years we have come to the conclusion that 

 many queens are injured while being introduced, both 

 as virgins and as laying queens, the bees themselves 

 doing the mischief But in our own apiary we have 

 practically overcome even this difficulty. The remedy 

 IS to have'brood of the proper stage in "the nuclei; and 

 when no honey is coming in, feed them. Permanent 

 feeders are attached to all our nuclei. An ounce or 

 two of feed to such a small nucleus is equivalent lo 

 five or six pounds to a full coloiy; and should there 

 be no nectar in tfie flowers we can very easily make 

 an artificial honey-flow, which we cons"ider quite an 

 essential to get the young virgins developed into good 

 laving queens as it is to feed the cell-building colonies 

 to" get good cells. H G QuiRiN 



Parkertown, Ohio, Oct. 31. 



[We should be glad of further evidence 

 from queen-breeders. Those who make a 

 business of sending- queens by mail in large 

 numbers are more competent to give an 

 opinion in this tnatter than the general bee- 

 keeping public who buy them. In sayin,g 

 this, I do not in the least question the abil- 

 ity of Mr. Miller. It is important that we 

 get at the truth of this, let that truth cut 

 where it may. If a sudden stoppage of 

 egg-laying, or if the queen, as Mr. Miller 

 believes, is starved for want of proper food, 

 then knowing the fact we can provide the 

 remedy. As to how much the queen needs 

 of one'element of food over another I should 

 like to hear from Prof. Cook. And right 

 here, let me ask, has it been demonstrated 

 that a queen needs more nitrogenous food 

 in the time of her egg-laying than at other 

 times? All of this is deep water, and I hes- 

 itate to wade out where I can not swim. — 

 Ed.] 



THE SWARMING IMPULSE AND A GOOD HONEY= 

 FLOW. 



The Relatbon of the One to thi Other ; an Intcrest= 



ing Theory that Possibly Explains Certain 



Phenomena in the Bee^hlve Economy. 



BY L. STACHELHAUSEN. 



Since E. R. Root mentioned, page 520, 

 that in Southern Texas " the bees commence 

 swarming early in the spring, and, when the 



main honej^-fiow commences, acttially stop 

 swarming," this matter was disctxssed 

 somewhat in the bee-papers. I observed 

 this fact when I commenced bee-keeping 

 here in Texas, 21 years ago. If we consid- 

 er all the circtimstances we shall find it 

 not so very astonishing. 



In our climate the bees commence breed- 

 ing when the first pollen-spending plants 

 are in bloom. This is at the end of Jan- 

 uary or the first half of February. From 

 this time we have a moderate honej'-flow, 

 more or less according to the weather. If 

 the conditions are favorable otir bees build 

 up verj' fast. I had swarms as early as 

 the middle of March. Generally they are 

 strong enough to swarm the first half of 

 April. The main honey-flow in my local- 

 ity generally commences in May, about a 

 month later than the regular swarming 

 time. 



If we use small brood-chambers, the col- 

 onies will have cast prime and after- 

 swarms, and these will build up to good 

 colonies before the main honey-flow com- 

 mences. This is .so in favorable years, and 

 then we get more honey from these divided 

 colonies than from an undivided one. In 

 this case it is qtiite natural that we should 

 not expect more swarms during this com- 

 parativel}'^ late honey-flow. 



If we use large brood-chambers, by which 

 we can, to a certain degree, prevent swarm- 

 ing, we may think, as some say, the bees 

 wotild swarm later, and would gi%'e larger 

 swarms. In some very favorable springs, 

 when these large hives get full of brood 

 before the main honey-flow commences, they 

 will, in fact, swarm more or less. So it 

 was in 1900. In most years the colonies 

 will not reach this maximuiu of brood be- 

 fore the main honej'-flow commences; and 

 during this honey-flow even these strong 

 colonies will not swarm any more. 



Why this is so is a problem very little 

 understood as yet. We knew, long ago, 

 that a good honey-flow will stop swarmin.g, 

 sometimes even when queen-cells are al- 

 ready' started. I do not know who the first 

 one to observe this, but I do know that 

 Gravenhorst told us so about 25 j'ears ago, 

 without explaining why. 



The qtiestion, then, is, " By what circum- 

 stances are the imptilses of the bees incited 

 and governed?" At present we have a 

 theor^^ based on the knowledge of the 

 notirishment of the bees. In my opinion 

 this knowledge of the nourishment is as 

 important as the Dzierzon theor}^ for prac- 

 tical bee-keepin,g, of which A. I. Rootsa3's: 

 "It is the cornerstone and solid rock upon 

 which nearly all we know about bees is 

 based." But I am. sorry to say this theory 

 of nourishment is so mtich ne.glected as yet 

 by the bee-keepers of this coimtry that one of 

 our prominent writers confounds " ch3'me " 

 and " chyle." 



It would take too mucli space to explain 

 all this thoroughl}'. As briefly as possible 

 I will say that the fully digested food call- 

 ed chyle, which is prepared in the trtie 



