422 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



■writings that there was a pickle-factory at Marengo, 

 and an extensive field of cucumbers, but he did not 

 know what cucumber honey is. 



Until fourteen years ago, in the neighborhood 

 where I lived melons were cultivated extensively for 

 the Lowell and Nashua market, and I always had 

 bees. Yet I don't know what melon honey is. I 

 think it is principally pollen that the bees get out 

 of their blossoms. 



Woburn, Mass. John P. Coburn. 



[We believe our correspondent is in error in be- 

 lieving that bees do not get nectar from squash- 

 blossoms. See ABC and Z Y Z of Bee Culture, 

 page 360. " Nectar abundant in a little reservoir 

 at the bottom of the flower." — Ed.] 



Making Increase with a Pound of Bees and 

 a Strong Colony 



With one strong colony of hybrids in one hive and 

 half a pound of Italians, with breeding queen, in 

 another, how would you proceed to get the greatest 

 possible increase in one season? Wisconsin. 



fin the first place we would draw a frame of 

 hatching brood from the strong colony, giving it a 

 slight shake to jar oflf the old bees. The young bees 

 will cling to the frame. Give this to the pound of bees. 

 As soon as the brood has hatched, or the larger part 

 of it at least, give another frame of hatching brood 

 as before. Give it a slight shake before doing so. 

 Continue thus to draw on the strong colony till both 

 are of about equal strength. From that time on, 

 increase can be secured by any of the well-recogniz- 

 ed methods given in the text-books. Queens should 

 be reared from the breeding queen; and as fast as 

 the nuclei are made they should be given a cell or 

 a virgin queen from the breeder. 



At the very beginning of things all drone brood 

 in the hybrid colony should be uncapped and be- 

 headed, and a drone-traiJ attached to the entrance to 

 catch the flying drones. 



As soon as it is practicable, a cell or a virgin 

 from the breeder should be given to the hybrid. 

 After increase is well under way, give the breeding 

 queen to a nucleus. It is always desirable to keep 

 a breeder down so she will not exhaust herself by 

 continual egg-laying. If she is kept in a nucleus of 

 one or two frames she will furnish all the eggs for 

 grafting or cell-building that will be required. — Ed.] 



Some Questions on Queen Introduction 



I am haviniT considerable trouble getting the bees 

 to stay in twin mating boxes. I have set out so far 

 about 100 boxes, giving each a feeder of thick hon- 

 ey, a day-old virgin, and a pint dipper of bees. The 

 bees seem to drift or abscond from some of them 

 by degrees. 



In thinking the matter over, it seems to me that 

 my mistake must be in using too young a virgin 

 without any brood. At any rate I shall give the 

 next bunch about a five-day-old virgin, as an ex- 

 periment. I do not see how bees can be made to 

 stay on dry comb for ten days. Please advise if this 

 is my mistake. 



How old can a virgin be before introduction is 

 made, and still be reasonably sure of mating? 



In this country every thing has to be protected 

 from heat, and I have set the boxes out under shade- 

 trees, four on a stand. 



We still have 200 of these boxes, or 400 nuclei, 

 to set out, and you will realize that, bees and all, it 

 is quite an investment. 



How old should a virgin be for smoke introduc- 

 tion ? I used threo-day-olds last fall, and very little 

 smoke, but find a lot of drone-layers this spring. 

 This locality is extremely peculiar in that virgins 

 seem to remain soft, pale, and distended between 

 two and four days after hatching on account of 



heat, and are a very bright yellow after mating, and 

 until shipped elsewhere, when they assume natural 

 shade. 



I do not believe it safe to introduce by smoke 

 here with the queen less than five days old — may 

 be not at all when it gets hot. It averages 105 to 

 110 in the shade here during July and August. 



Overton, Nev., April 2. T. W. RlGGS. 



[Mr. Mell Pritchard, our queen-breeder, replies:] 



We prepare our boxes by opening the ventilators 

 and closing the entrances, filling the feeders with 

 very thick sugar syrup, and putting in one dry 

 drawn frame on each side. We next di'op in a 

 virgin, and pour in about hi lb. of wet bees on each 

 side; close up the covers, and set the boxes in a 

 cool shady place, leaving them there until late in 

 the afternoon of the following day, when they are 

 placed on the stands, and are released before sun- 

 rise the next morning. By this time the feed has 

 all been taken out of the feeder and put in the one 

 frame. After the bees have had a fly and settled 

 down we put in the other frame on the side next to 

 the division-board. The queen will lay in this frame, 

 and the brood is the warmest part of the box. We 

 prefer virgins about two days old; but virgins in- 

 troduced at four days old probably make just as 

 good queens. We would not use them much older 

 than thai. 



Our boxes are on individual stands, in rows 15 

 feet apart each way. We have tried putting them 

 closer, but find too many queens are lost at mating 

 time. Our boxes are in the shade. With a temper- 

 ature of 100 the frames would surely melt down if 

 thev were not shaded. 



Transferring Made Easy 



In transferring from box hives I simply made a 

 frame out of half-inch stuff which would cover a ten- 

 frame hive-body. This frame had a square hole in 

 the center, about 8 x 12 inches. I laid this over the 

 new hive, then took off the bottom of the old box 

 containing the bees, and set the box (bees and all) 

 over the new hive. After stopping the entrances to 

 the old box I pried off the lid or cover, and with a 

 little smoke drove most of the bees off from the 

 combs into the new hive. Starting on one side I 

 began cutting out the old combs. When I came to 

 the brood I filled two or three frames with this, 

 and put it in the new hive. 



I transferred ten hives of them in February in 

 this way, and about the 10th of March I had to 

 put on supers, having saved every one of the queens. 

 They went right to work in their new quarters. 



This method, I find, saves most of the muss one 

 makes by the old way as described in the ABC 

 and X Y Z. Besides, there are practically no bees 

 flying about to bother. What little honey there is 

 dripping around is in the new hive. They soon clean 

 this up and store it in their own hive. 



Willowbrook, Cal. F. E. Dutcher.' 



Two Queens Wintered in the Same Hive 



I have a queen I purchased two years ago. Last 

 summer the bees seemed to want to start cells to 

 supersede her. I let one of the cells hatch out with 

 her. Last fall I found the young queen laying, and 

 Ihe old molhor queen, which was clipped, on the 

 same comb to-day. I opened the hive and found both 

 (lueens, the old queen laying, but the young one on 

 tlie outside comb in perfect condition, but not lay- 

 ing. She is a nice large queen, larger-looking than 

 the mother. I never knew two queens to winter in 

 one hive loo.se together this way before. I am very 

 sure the young queen was laying last fall, and am 

 sure the old queen is laying now. 



East Dennis, Mass. O. P. Stjow. 



