750 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



CONVEKSATIONS WITH DOOLITTLE 



At Borodino, New York. 



- ... SPREADINO brood; PIPING QUEENS. 



WBr% "Did yon read what Editor Root 

 ^Bjin said on page 345, May 1, about the 

 ^^Hi folly of spreading- brood ? Again, 

 ^^^1 did you read Dr. Miller, p. 435, 

 ^^BJ June 1, on the same subject? I 

 am surprised at what both write. 

 I have spread brood with good results for 

 more than twenty years, in accord with 

 what you told us at a National bee conven- 

 tion which I attended nearly a quarter of 

 a century ago. Do you still practice spread- 

 ing the brood ? " 



Since I began using the plan of "millions 

 of honey at our house," as given in the 

 " Management of Out-apiaries," I have not 

 been as enthusiastic about spreading the 

 brood as I was twenty-five years ago — not 

 that a gain cannot be made by a judicious 

 spreading of the brood, but the Avork and 

 manipulation, as well as a careful diagnosis 

 of each colony, overbalances the extra gain 

 that can be made above the abundance-of- 

 honey plan as hinted at by Dr. Miller. 



But both Editor Root and Dr. Miller put 

 two words in what they wrote that would 

 make the spreading of brood a failure nine 

 seasons out of ten ; and to me it is no 

 wonder that Dr. Miller says, " In my local- 

 ity, and with my bees, brood can be spread 

 in spring always and only at a loss." The 

 two words are " empty comb." Empty 

 combs put between combs of brood are no 

 incentive toward a greater laying of the 

 queen unless there is an abunclant flow of 

 nectar to be had from the fields, and such 

 a flow is )iot the rule at the most advanta- 

 geous time for spi'eading, which time is 

 always from 35 to 40 days before the main 

 honey crop will be at its best. Putting an 

 empty comb between combs of brood at a 

 time when the bees were living " from hand 

 to mouth " would be like throwing a wet 

 blanket over a lot of motherless chickens on 

 a cold morning, resulting, as Editor Root 

 tells us, " in almost irreparable damage to 

 the colony sliould a cold spell come on." 

 Any comb that is to be put between combs 

 of brood should be full of honey, and that 

 honey preferably sealed, though in the ab- 

 sence of honey a comb filled with good 

 sugar sirup of the consistency' of honey 

 will work nearly as well. If the sealed 

 honey is partially candied it will do no 

 barm, especially if a cool spell of several 

 days sliould come on. The cappings to the 

 cells should mostly be broken by passing a 

 knife flatwise over them before the comb is 



inserted between the frames of brood. By 

 thus spi-eading you will cause a great activ- 

 ity to come to this colony, the queen to be 

 abundantly fed by the bees, and the neces- 

 sary heat kejit up during quite a spell of 

 cool weather, while the honey not consumed 

 in brood-reai'ing will be stored all about 

 the brood, the same as would be the case 

 with a day's flow of nectar from the fields 

 during a time of scarcity, making quite a 

 gain in bees at a time when such bees would 

 work to the best advantage in the main 

 honey harvest. 



'' I see that you are behind the times as 

 to the piping of queens except when they 

 are on the combs in the brood-chamber, p. 

 312, April 15. Have you ever heard queens 

 piping in cages with bees where they were 

 to be sent in the mails or otherwise?" 



Certainly, a great many times. As the 

 questioner was a person whom I had in- 

 structed to listen at the side of the hive for 

 the piping of queens so that he could locate 

 the time of day when an after-swarm could 

 be expected (this piping matter being en- 

 tirely new to him), I answered from his 

 standpoint, not for older heads like E. R. 

 Root, Dr. Miller, J. L. Byer, etc. Where 

 there are only scores of these old veterans 

 (in the commercial liandling of queens) 

 who are readers of Gleanings, there are 

 hundreds who know little regarding queens 

 only as they are in.side of the hive, except 

 that they aecomiiany swarms which issue. 

 When I wrote what I did I was writing 

 from tlie standpoint taken by the multi- 

 tudes who had kept bees for only a few 

 years, or had f i om three to fifty colonies. 



Again, it will be noticed that I was talk- 

 ing about young or virgin queens. Now 

 allow nie to propound a question for these 

 " older heads " to answer. Did any of them 

 exev hear a virgin queen pipe or quahk at 

 or in anj' other place than the combs of tlie 

 luAe Avhere there was rivalry among these 

 queens? If they have, then I am "behind 

 the times," as our questioner says. I have 

 sent out scores of virgin (jueens in the 

 inails, but 1 never yet heard any \irgin 

 ijueen pipe in the cage nor in any other 

 l)lace, except on the combs where there 

 woi'e rival (]ueens in queen-cells. In my 

 writings I have alwa^'S tried to give some- 

 thing useful to tlie gi-eat mass of everyday 

 beekeepers, and something which they could 

 reasonably put in practice with tlie means 

 they had. without going to some great ex- 

 jjense (o secure something they did not have. 



