1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



421 



Dear iMr. Root: — I iiud that our Ontario 

 County, N. Y., bee-keepers are very much 

 displeased with the version Dr. Miller 

 reads into my report g-iven in American 

 Bee Journal oi March 6, 1902. In addition 

 to what I wrote in a previous letter I wish 

 to say that I did not intend to convey the 

 idea that what I had said at the convention 

 reg'arding the importation of foreign bees 

 was to represent the sentiment of the Asso- 

 ciation, but simply that of the speaker. As 

 I re-read my report in the American Bee 

 Journal it does look as though I meant it 

 otherwise. However, it seems Mr. Benton 

 understood it. Friedemann Greiner. 



Naples, N. Y., May 6. 



[Dr. Miller's reply to Prof. Benton will 

 make his position clear. — Ed] 



NUCLEI MANAGEMENT, 



The Swarthmore System any thing but a Success ; 

 an Experience. 



BY OUEEN-BREEDEK. 



Continued from April j^lli issue. 



To insure the safe return of the queens I 

 secured a number of wooden paint-tags, 

 each of different color, and fastened one 

 under each flight-hole for an alig-hting- 

 board. This was contrary to Swarthmore, 

 who claims, I think, that a queen pays no 

 attention to color or shape, but is guided 

 solely by the little cluster of bees awaiting- 

 her return; but it was in accord with E. R. 

 Root, who claims that both color and shape 

 are essential in guiding the queen. Cer- 

 tainly the latter plan can do no harm, and 

 so I use it. 



I have now 40 frames on stakes set 4 feet 

 apart in rectangular form, each containing 

 8 queens, or 320 in all. The next day after 

 opening the flight-holes, drones were flying 

 freeljs and I was on the lookout for queens. 

 Standing inside, and at one end of the rect- 

 angular space, I was able to get a good 

 view, and I shortly saw a queen emerge 

 from a box only a few feet from me, and, 

 after a short turn or two, she was lost to 

 view. While awaiting her return, three 

 others came out from the same frame and 

 took their flight. In about ten minutes, 

 what I supposed to be the first queen out 

 returned, but without any evidence of hav- 

 ing met the drone. This queen hovered 

 around the entrances of several boxes, and 

 attempted to enter, but was repulsed by the 

 bees, frequently dropping into the grass, 

 and then renewing the attempt with the 

 same result. Finally I picked her up, and, 

 placing her at the proper entrance, she ran 

 in at once. 



Other queens were now issuing from dif- 

 ferent parts of the apiary. Of course, I 

 found it impossible to wiitch all of these at 

 once, so I confined my observations to the 

 frame first noted. All around this frame 

 queens were circling, and some were trying 

 to enter, and this I found to be true of the 



other frames generally. Soon a queen that 

 had evidently met the drone returned to the 

 frame in question, and, after attempting 

 several entrances, entered what was prob- 

 ably the right one. This I marked for fu- 

 ture reference, together with several others 

 later on. I was surprised at the difficulty 

 shown by returning queens in finding the 

 proper entrances, and I am convinced that 

 many queens are lost in this way. 



The next step is a search for eggs, which 

 one might reasonably expect to find in a 

 day or two, or within a week if the queen 

 is all right. 



Now, right here is another one of those 

 perplexing points of practice — not explained 

 by Swarthmore — which makes one feel like 

 giving up the whole thing in disgust. 

 Swarthmore says, " Examination for eggs 

 may be made through the backmost holes," 

 etc. It must be borne in mind that each 

 one of these little nucleus-boxes has been 

 already filled with eggs, honey, etc.; and 

 when the backmost holes are opened, near- 

 ly every available cell (not containing bee- 

 bread or honey) will be occupied by this 

 time with quite a fair-sized larva. Now 

 you see what a predicament one is in. 

 What shall — what can — be done? I might 

 wait for the bees to remove the larva; and 

 thus make room for the new eggs ; but 

 would they do it? Probably not, and the 

 experiment is too hazardous. I might re- 

 move the cover of each nucleus, and with a 

 pin remove the larva; but this would re- 

 quire time and fussing, and disturb the 

 queens, and result in loss, no doubt. I 

 finally take 320 empty section boxes and fit 

 a piece of drawn-out comb inside each one, 

 and on one side I place a cover taken 

 from a nucleus-box on the side opposite the 

 flight-hole, and these section boxes are 

 then fitted by a clamp to each nucleus-box, 

 on the side opposite the flight-hole, so that 

 I then had two combs instead of one in each 

 nucleus. This arrangement solved the dif- 

 ficulty, and gave room for laying eggs. 



In due time I found, by examination, 

 eggs deposited in about 200 boxes, which I 

 marked for convenience. The remaining 

 boxes were, many of them, queenless, and 

 others with queens evidently not fertilized. 

 I gave virgins to the former, and awaited 

 developments with the latter. 



Of the 200 boxes containing eggs, I sup- 

 plied 100 with queen-cards, to be kept un- 

 til the brood hatched for warranted queens, 

 etc. I had some orders for untested queens 

 to be filled in a short time, and congratu- 

 lated myself on having the other 100 queens 

 to apply; but, alas! 



The best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley, 

 And leave us naught but fear and pain for promised 

 joy. 

 Well, I went to these little colonies, ex- 

 pecting, of course, to find in each a fine 

 healthy queen. Out of the 100 I took 27 

 queens, all that could be found. The re- 

 maining 73 were queenless, and many with 

 queen-cells in various stages of construc- 

 tion. Here was a direct loss of 73 queens. 



