18S7 



GLEA^UNGS IN i3EE CULTURE. 



No. 1 produced Im sections. No. ~ produced S4 

 lbs. ill boxes. No. 3 produced 1*5 sections. 



The sections were part 1^4 inch and part 1 "» inch 

 wide, and T use separators, so they lall considera- 

 bly short of 1 lb. each in weight. Hut reclconing 

 them at ^ lb. each, they make an ayfjrejrate of ;!(X) 

 lbs. for the thi-ee swarms. 



LEGISLATION FOK FAUMKHS. 



I am a farmer, and have undertaken to keep bees 

 for honey for home use; but what am I to do with 

 it all, when the bees pile it up like this ? There has 

 been some complaint about the farmer sellinfr hon- 

 ey so low that the market of the a|)larist is being- 

 demoralized. Some have intimated that legislation 

 in favor of the bee-keeper is needed. I for one 

 would be very willing to give up my bees, could we 

 farmers have a little legislation in our favor that 

 would enable us to get prices, say about double 

 what we are now getting for our farm produce. I 

 think it quite probable that the lowest price at 

 which any farmer ever sold honej- is no lower in 

 proportion than those at which he is obliged to sell 

 his horses, cattle, hogs, gi-ain, potatoes, etc. I 

 plead guilty to having parted with lOi lbs. net hon- 

 ey at 12!2 cts. per lb., cash, and 60 sections at 11 cts. 

 each In trade, and it was no easy matter to dispose 

 of it, even at these figures. E. H. Whitaker. 



Peru, 111., Nov. 3T, 1886. 



HOW MUCH ROOM DO THE BEES NEED 

 FOR BROOD AND POLLEN? 



IF CROWDED, IS THERE DANGER OF PUSHING THE 

 POLLEN INTO THE SURPLUS RECEPTACLES? 



R, ROOT:— On page 94, Gleanings for 188.5, 

 Mr. Doolittle says: "I use six (Jallup 

 frames of comb (equal to .5 L. frames) for 

 the veiy largest swarms, while others have 

 but 4 or .5," etc. In an Oct. No. of the 

 American Runtl Home, of 1886, he also says: 

 " Queens, as a rule, will not occupy more than 800 

 square inches of comb with brood, for any length 

 of time," and, further along, " In order not to get 

 any pollen in our boxes, we will allow 200 square 

 inches of comb for that, and the little honey they 

 always have in the upper corners of the frames, 

 above the 800 the queen occupies." If it requires 

 800 to hold the brood, where will the i)ollen go to, 

 when we hive our very largest swarms on t> Gallup 

 (or 5 L.) frames, which give but 72.5 square inches of 

 comb'/ Is there no danger of the queen entering 

 the sections, where side storing is practiced ? or if 

 we use dummies to contract the brood-nest, will 

 they not swarm as soon as the queen tills the combs 

 with brood? In hiving swarms on empty frames, 

 according to W. Z. Hutchinson, Avhere will the 

 pollen go to that some of the bees of the swarm are 

 carrying, at the time of hiving? As there are no 

 cells below in which to jilace it, will it not be left in 

 the sections, if they are supplied with full sheets of 

 foundation or comb? I think there is pollen 

 enough carried thus in one swarm to spoil a large 

 number of sections, if it is put in them. How 

 many pound sections should be given a large 

 swarm, hived on 5 L. empty frames, or frames of 

 comb in a good honey-flow? A little explanation of 

 this subject would prove acceptable to me, at least. 

 Ogden, N. Y. M. E. Gkidley. 



.\N explanation by g. .m. dooi-ittle. 

 Some of the readers of Gleanings do not seem 



to understand why it is that I should recommend 

 a hive holding 1000 scjuare inches of comb surface, 

 as the right size for a brood-chamber, and then 

 hive swarms in a hive so contracted that there is 

 only enough room for less than TOO square inches 

 of comb surface in it. To best explain, I will gi\e 

 the reader a little view of brood-rearing as I find it 

 in this localitj', after careful experiments which I 

 have conducted for .years. One queen lays all the; 

 eggs which are to become the future bees for lion- 

 ey or otherwise. These eggs hatch in three days, 

 so that a small larva takes the place of the egg; 

 this larva is fed on chyme tor six days, during 

 which it has grown from a mere speck so as to 

 nearly fill the cell, at which time the cell is capped 

 over. During the next twelve days this larva pass- 

 es through the transformation process " from cat- 

 erpillar to butterfly," and at the end of that time 

 comes out of the cell a perfect bee, making a peri- 

 od of 21 days in all from the time the queen lays the 

 Qgg till the bee bites off the covering to its cell. 

 Very warm weather hastens the process of devel- 

 opment during all the stages, and steady cool 

 weather i-etards it, so that I have known the period 

 to be shortened to about 18 days and lengthened to 

 nearly 24, but 21 is the rule. Now, the Creator of 

 all things designed that bees should " multiply and 

 replenish the earth," the same as all animated 

 things, so gave them as strong instinct to prepare 

 for swarming as we see manifested in birds to 

 build nests wherein to lay their eggs and rear their 

 young. This instinct causes the queen to greatly 

 enlarge the circle of the brood during May and 

 June, so that, when the height of her ambition is 

 reached (from June 10th to 20th), she lays from 

 3000 to 3000 eggs daily. 



From experiments conducted along another line 

 I find that, at this season of the year, some of the 

 worker-bees, in a colony being in a normal condi- 

 tion, exceed 45 days as to length of life; so as the 

 time, 21 days (from the egg to the perfect bee) is 

 4.5 days (the life of the bee at this season) we can 

 find the reason for swarming, through the crowd- 

 ing of the hive. It will be seen that the queen can 

 get 2 1-7 generations Of bees on the stage of action, 

 to where one dies off; hence comes swarming, with 

 both bees and queen bending every energy in that 

 direction. Swarming accomplished, the same in- 

 stinct that causes the Ijirds in midsummer to cease 

 building nests, and prepare for a journey south in 

 early fall, seizes hold of both bees and queen, the 

 bees bending every energy toward getting a su])ply 

 of food sufficient to carry them over winter, while 

 the queen keeps " pace " by laying only enough 

 eggs to koej) good the population of the hive. 



From this understanding of the inside workings 

 of the hive I drew these conclusions: First, that up 

 to time of swarming I desired a brood-chamber of 

 the size occujiied by the average queen, plus the 

 pollen room necessary for the brood. Careful ex- 

 periments gave this as 1000 square inches of comb, 

 or!) Gallup frames. Second, desire for swarming 

 gratified; two-thirds of the room needed before is 

 now amplj' sulticient to keep the population of the 

 hive good, and care for the less amount of pollen 

 now required. Besides, with the desire for less 

 brood, pollen is gathered in far less quantities, so 

 it is a rare thing for me to find half as much pollen 

 in the combs surrounding the brood at this season 

 of the year as I do in May; hence it is not often I 

 get any pollen in sections. Again, the bees gather 



