640 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



iug, it is quite likely you have foul brood. We 

 should be glad to have you keep us posted in re- 

 gard to it. If there is some disease which is very 

 similar, or akin to the disease which we have had, 

 we should like to know it. 



DHONE CELLS FROM WIIHKEH FOUNDATION. 



A. W. O., Wisconsin.— Bees will seldom work 

 worker foundation out into drone comb. Some- 

 times, when the foundation is not wired, it sags, 

 and the cells elongate, and the result is drone-cells, 

 or at least the same are sometimes filled with drone 

 brood. If the foundation is wired, and there is a 

 young queen in the hive, you will not get a single 

 cell of drone brood; in fact, you will rarely get 

 drone comb out of worker foundation under any 

 circumstances. 



SWARMING AS A RESULT OF A SURPLUS OF CELLS. 



C. F. S., Massachusetts.— The reason your bees 

 swarmed is because you allowed them to build 

 queen-cells. Immediately after the issue of the first 

 swarm you should have examined the parent colony, 

 and pulled out all the queen-cells but one. As long 

 as there is a surplus of young queens or cells, so 

 long, probably, will you have swarming. If they 

 still continue to swarm, give them a young laying 

 queen, and they will be likely to settle down to 

 business. The latest edition of our ABC book will 

 give you further hints on this point. Please read 

 " Swarming and its Prevention." 



CAN THE PURITY OF AN ITALIAN QUEEN BE DE- 

 TERMINED BY HER LOOKS? 



C. M. H., Wisconsin.— The queen and your letter 

 came to hand. Allow us to correct the wrong im- 

 pression that you have. Pure Italian queens vary 

 in color, all the way from black to a bright golden 

 yellow. In fact, the Italian queens are the most 

 variable in color, stripes or no stripes, of any race of 

 queens. It is utterly impossible to say from looks 

 of a queen whether she is Italian, hybrid, or black. 

 Her purity must be judged entirely by her prog- 

 eny—the number of their yellow bands, their dis- 

 position, etc. The other colony which you speak 

 of, which were first Italian, and then turned out to 

 be blacks, probably lost its Italian queen, and the 

 hybrid was reared in its stead. 



J. L. U., Mississippi.— The Golden bee-hive is a 

 swindle, and the venders of the same are rascals. 

 The less you or anybody else has to do with them, 

 the better. You can make any hive you please, 

 and they have no right to interfere. If they threat- 

 en you with suit, tell', them to come on. They will 

 do nothing but talk. Their hive is virtually the 

 Laugstroth hive, as Prof. Cook says, and this hive 

 is the property of the world. The Golden bee-hive 

 people may possibly have a patent on some insig- 

 nificant feature of the hive, but that need not trou- 

 ble you. If they are going to enter suit so fast, tell 

 them to sue A. I. Root. He is one of the biggest 

 infringers on their alleged patent, and we do not 

 care if you show them this letter. We have pub- 

 lished the Golden bee-hive as a swindle for years. 

 They work only in localities where the people are 

 ignorant of modern apiculture. 



HOW TO ITALIANIZE ECONOMICALLY. 



0. B. f Kentucky.— The best way to Italianize is to 

 purchase three or four untested queens of some re- 

 liable breeder, if you want to do it with as little 

 money ag possible. After these have produced a 



lot of Italians, are populous and strong, give to 

 each of the queens a frame of drone brood; cause 

 as much Italian drone brood to be raised as possi- 

 ble. In the meantime, keep all black-drone brood 

 shaved down. If you have any black drones Hying 

 in the air, trap them with perforated zinc. After 

 you have raised a lot of Italian drones, start raising 

 young queens from your tested Italians. These 

 will probably be fertilized by the Italian drones. 

 If your neighbors have black bees in box hives, 

 put perforated zinc successively in front of each 

 hive until you have trapped out all the flying 

 drones. Your neighbors will not object if you tell 

 them what you wish to do. We can not very well 

 send you drones by the pound; but you can rear 

 them in the way stated above— enough so to make 

 quite a decided showing of pure Italian queens 

 from those you raise. 



FOUNDATION IN HIVES SET UP ; OLASS IN THE 

 SIDE OR ENDS OF HIVES. 



I/., Pennsylvania.— We do not furnish foundation 

 for the brood-nest of our regular hives set up, un- 

 less it is specially ordered. Foundation is a great 

 convenience, and prevents the comb from being 

 built irregularly; but as it is not absolutely neces- 

 sary, we do not send it out. In regard to the ar- 

 rangement of your hives, we would not advise you 

 to put them upon benches. Put them on a nice 

 clean place directly on the ground. Very few good 

 bee-keepers recommend having the bees raised up 

 from the ground. To put glass on the sides of all 

 the hives so that you can see what the bees are do- 

 ing would make a big bill of expense. The glass 

 would break in shipping, and we can not see that 

 it would be of any particular advantage. If you 

 get more good colonies, we think you will agree 

 with us that we don't want any glass at the sides or 

 ends of a hive. The best way to examine a hive is 

 to open it and pull out the combs. To watch the 

 bees to the best advantage, get an observatory 

 hive. 



HOW TO MAKE A COLD-BLAST SMOKER CONQUER. 



J. E., New York.— We do not make any smoker hot 

 blast. If you will use excelsior and sawdust mixed, 

 or even planer shavings mixed with a little saw- 

 dust, pack them solid in the fire-box, make a little 

 ventilating hole with a lead-pencil or other instru- 

 ment through to the grate, ignite with a match, and 

 get well a going, you will have a volume of smoke 

 that is equal to any hot-blast smoker. When we 

 have filled the smoker in this way we have some- 

 times wished, on account of the abundance of 

 smoke, that there was no such thing as a smoker 

 around the bees. Yes, we have even had to drop 

 the smoker and step a little distance away and get 

 a chance to breathe. The great secret of making 

 shavings and pine sawdust burn is so make a draft- 

 hole right through its center, after packing it solid. 

 As it burns, this hole continually enlarges. Anoth- 

 er point: Suppose you have a hybrid colony to han- 

 dle. They are very cross, and you want an extra 

 amount of smoke. Fill the smoker as before di- 

 rected ; place your thumb over the end of the smok- 

 er, closing the nozzle. Work the bellows until the 

 fuel of the fire-box is ablaze, and the flame shoots 

 out at the rear end of the smoker. Now then: 

 Turn on your hybrids; and if you can not conquer 

 them, smoke will not do it. You may think you 

 would burn yourself to close the orifice to the 

 smoker with your thumb, but you w^l not;. 



