686 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



nuclei on the verjre of starvation, and they had to be 

 fed until favorable weather permitted the bees to 

 gather nectar. 



All queen-rearing nuclei and some of the stronger 

 colonies were being robbed as soon as we put on 

 the feeders. After spraying kerosene on the alight- 

 ing-boards and entrances, leaving enough space un- 

 tprayed for the bees to get in and out, we inserted 

 a Porter bee-escape in the entrance of one nucleus 

 without spraying kerosene. In less than 24 hours 

 nearly every robber bee was caught in that one 

 nucleus, and they stayed there, too, defending the 

 new home from the few stray robbers that were left. 

 All colonies and nuclei that were sprayed with kero- 

 se!ie were not bothered, the robbers just hovering 

 around n minute or so. 



The odor from the kerosene kept the bees in the 

 hive for a time, but they seemed to defend themselves 

 much better, probably on account of the number of 

 robbers being diminished. No need to use hay or 

 grass. We simply reduced each entrance to one 

 bee-space, Ve have used the above plan several times 

 since, and it proved successful in each instance. 



New Albany, Ind. Walker & Mabzian Apiaries. 



[Kerosene has been mentioned before as a preven- 

 tive of robbing. We should, however, be a little 

 careful about rel.\ing on it. Where robbing is badly 

 under way it would probably not have very much 

 effect. From reading your letter we are more in- 

 clined to think that your bee-escape robber-irap 

 caught all the robbers and therefore stopped the 

 robbing, and not the kerosene, for the simple reason 

 that there were no robbers at large to annoy the 

 nuclei. 



One of the most reliable and ei¥ective means to 

 stop robbing is to use the robber-trap. Usually not 

 more than one or two colonies are involved. Remove 

 the robbed hive and put the robber-trap in its place. 

 In fifteen minutes all will be as quiet as if nothing 

 had happened. We would place more reliance on the 

 robber-trap than on kerosene, although wo know the 

 bees do not like the smell of it; and a little sprin- 

 kling at the entrance has a tendency to drive away 

 intruders, while it does not necessarily keep out the 

 inmates of the hive. — Ed.] 



more virgins from cells hatched later. There is no 

 invariable rule about swarming. — Ed.] 



A Virgin Queen Leading a Swarm Out and 

 a Laying Queen Remaining in the Hive. 



Something occurred in my apiary that I never 

 heard of before. I put a queen-cell in one last 

 week and looked for her yesterday. She was lay- 

 ing well, when in about three hours a fine s'^arm 

 came out. I wondered what was the cause. After 

 the swarm had settled I looked in the hive for 

 queen-cells and found the laying queen in the hive. 

 I looked on the swarm and I found a virgin 

 queen which I caged. In a few minuutes the swarm 

 came back to the hive. 



I was always under the impression that the 

 laying queen always led the swarm out. What 

 was the cause of the two queens in the hive, one 

 laying and virgin leading the swarm out? 



Roanoke, Va. Henry S. Bohon. 



[There must have been another cell in the hive 

 that you overlooked when you supplied the colony 

 with a queen-cell. 1'he one you furnished was 

 probably older, and hence hatched out first. The 

 younger cell, shortly after, hatched its virg;f>: and 

 when it went out to mate the bees went with her, 

 the layine queen remaining in the hive. As a 

 general rule, however, the laying queen would have 

 gone out with the virgin also. 



It is not true that the old queen is always the 

 one that goes with the prime swarm. When cells 

 are due to hatch, the swarm will usually issue, and 

 with it the laying queen. A second swarm might 

 have several vii-gins, provided they were in the 

 hive; and a third swarm might have also one or 



A Late Indiana Report 



I have kept bees for twenty years, and have 

 never seen a year here like this. It was so cold 

 and wet in early spring the bees missed the early 

 llov.', so they have been on the edge of starvation 

 ever since. I liave been feeding twenty-eight colonies 

 for si.\- weeks. The young larvas starved in colo- 

 nies extra strong. 



Our main fiow is from the bluevine, which is 

 just coming into bloom. But it is raining almost 

 every day, washing all the nectar from the bloom. 

 White clover looks promising for next year; but it 

 seems to bear no nectar, neither does the alfalfa in 

 this locality. 



I must mention a large colony taken from a 

 tree Nov. 9, 1914. I did not get the comb nor the 

 honey — only the bees. They were hived in a Dan- 

 zenbaker super containing cull sections of honey 

 gathered from white asters, half of it unsealed. The 

 bees wintered nicely out of doore and built up 

 earlier in the spring than the rest of the colonies. 

 Do you think the fence separators were of any bene- 

 fit in wintering? T am inclined to think that if we 

 would remove two combs from our brood-chambers 

 and place a slatted fence between each comb for win- 

 ter it would be better for localities where dysentery 

 cause's trouble. 



Blnomfield, Ind., July 10. John M. Wood. 



[There is probably no merit in fence separators 

 for wintering, beyond the fact that they separate 

 combs a little further apart, thus giving a little 

 better clustering room between the combs. It was 

 formerly the common practice to separate the 

 combs a little further apart just before packing for 

 winter : but that practice has practically disap- 

 peared. Tlie tendency nowadays is to let the 

 colony alone. Too much tinkering with nature is 

 sometimes disastrous. — Ed.] 



Hitting the Vital Spot 



I have read in 

 Gleanings and 

 other papers 

 that bees cannot 

 sting each other 

 except in certain 

 places. I am 

 sending two 

 bees. Upon ex- 

 amination you 

 will find that 

 one of them has 

 stung the other 

 in the middle or 

 second joint of 

 the front leg. 



A friend 

 brought the bees 

 to me, and said 



The bee on the left was killed 

 by a sting in the second joint of 

 the front leg. 



that he saw the bee sting the other, and that 

 killed it almost instantly. 



Bristol, Tcnn. • A. H. Goodman. 



Sweet Clover, 70 Acres; Buckwheat, 20 Acres 



Wc have 12 acres of sweet clover this year, and 

 we sowed 70 acres this spring. 



I am mostly an orchardist, but I take care of our 

 l)ees. 1 think horticulture along beekeeping lines is 

 bound to be developed to some extent in a practical 

 way some time. -At any rate, I am quite interested in 

 some honey -plants. We had ten acres of Japanese 

 buckwheat" last fall. We got no surplus, but all 

 ■ii'(>s were filled. It seemed not to yield honey very 

 well. We got 25 bushels per acre, and 90 cts. per 

 liushel, which made it our best crop last year. We 

 have just sowed 20 acres this summer. 



Danville, Iowa, July 7. Wendell P. Williams. 



