1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURK. 



509 



LIQUEYING HONEY IN CANS; WEIGHT OF 



STORES COMPARED WITH WEIGHT OF 



SUGAR FED. 



A word about heating cans of honey. Aft- 

 er the honey has begun to warm, loosen the 

 screw cap with that corner of the can upper- 

 most. This will let out the expanded air 

 and gases. The cap can then be replaced, 

 and later the act repeated if occasion de- 

 mands. There is no danger of a can burst- 

 ing from the swelling of the honey; but the 

 expanding of much enclosed air or gas is 

 quite likely to bring disaster. 



If one has only a can or two to liquefy, let 

 him try this plan: Lay the can on its side on 

 the hot stove, turning it to expose a new side 

 to the heat every two or three minutes. Aft- 

 er the four sides of the can are fairly hot, set 

 the can upright on a part of the stove where 

 a kettle of water would keep hot but would 

 not boil. The side heating loosens the cake 

 of honey and causes it to fall to the bottom 

 as the can is set upright. There is little dan- 

 ger of overheating so long as this cake of 

 candied honey is constantly pressing down 

 upon the bottom of the can. I find this a 

 rapid way to liquefy, and a safe one when 

 conducted properly. 



On page 1508 Mr. O. S. Rexford writes of 

 his experience in feeding winter stores. The 

 editor asks for the experience of others. Mr. 

 Rexford mentioned his experience in the fall 

 meeting of our Connecticut Association. In 

 consequence of that I experimented a little 

 this fall. I was obliged to feed some fifty 

 colonies for winter. In three cases I weigh- 

 ed the colony before and after the feeding, 

 allowing two weeks for the syrup to become 

 digested and stored in the combs. I found 

 that the weight of stores was in each case 

 from 15 to 20 per cent larger than the weight 

 of the dry sugar used. The three colonies 

 were simply fair selections from the fifty, 

 and can be considered typical cases. Exam- 

 ination of the brood-nests of several others 

 corroborated the result. 



I feel sure that there was something un- 

 usual or abnormal in the case cited by Mr. 

 Rexford. Allen Latham. 



Norwich, Ct. 



QUEENS reared BY SWARMING IMPULSE 

 TEND TO PERPETUATE EXCES- 

 SIVE SWARMING. 



I think Mr. Alexander's statements on 

 queen-rearing, Feb. 15, page 209, are well 

 worth consideration. I formerly used swarm- 

 cells altogether, with the result that every 

 colony would almost invariably prepare to 

 swarm, and some of the prime swarms would 



swarm again in four weeks. Within the last 

 few years I have reared my queens from col- 

 onies which do not swarm, and in colonies 

 free from the swarming impulse; and the re- 

 sult is more than satisfactory, reducingswarm- 

 ing to a fraction less than four per cent. This 

 conclusion might be questioned on the ground 

 that the last two seasons were so very poor 

 that colonies would not attempt to swarm 

 much, or that the queens were poor ones and 

 could not populate their hives sufficiently to 

 swarm; but these bees produced an average 

 of 62 pounds per colony in 1906, and about 

 the same in 1907. Furthermore, the queens 

 seem to keep their hives well populated 

 throughout the season. The majority of the 

 colonies which do prepare to swarm are those 

 containing queens reared under the swarm- 

 ing impulse. I keep some of these for test- 

 ing their prolificness and the honey-gather- 

 ing qualities of their bees, and comparing 

 them with queens reared on the supersedure 

 impulse. I find these results are about the 

 same. J. C. Atkinson. 



Beaumont, O. 



[Here is a statement on the other side of 

 the question. — Ed.] 



QUEENS FROM NATURAL-SWARM CELLS FOUND 



TO BE BETTER THAN ANY THAT 



WERE BOUGHT. 



I have read Mr. Alexander's article, Feb. 

 15, page 209, about using queens from natu- 

 ral-swarm cells. Now, Mr. Editor, I have 

 practiced that same thing for ten years, of 

 course selecting the best cells or virgins 

 from the best queens. I produce comb hon- 

 ey in ten-frame hives, and I use two hive- 

 bodies until the beginning of the honey-flow. 

 I find these natural-swarm-cell queens fill 

 two ten-frame bodies with brood as readily 

 as any queens I have been able to buy would 

 fill a single eight-frame hive (I have bought 

 queens from many queen- breeders, and have 

 never been able to get one that would give 

 me half the surplus the average swarm-cell 

 queens do). I think continued selection along 

 this line, instead of running a strain of bees 

 out, as per Mr. Alexander, would in time 

 give us the best it is possible to get by any 

 possible plan or line of breeding. 



Berthoud, Col. A. C. VanGalder. 



HOW TO TEST THE VALUE OF A QUEEN. 



Mr. Editor: — In your comment on the ar- 

 ticle by Wm. M. Whitney, p. 36, Jan. 1, you 

 ask how we can know a good queen the first 

 season. This is an easy matter with me. 

 It can be determined by putting a young 

 queen, when she first begins to lay, on a ten- 

 day test. Encourage her to lay by feeding 

 the colony one pint of feed at night for ten 

 days. Try this on six or more queens with 

 the same amount of bees, and see the differ- 

 ence in the amount of eggs laid. 



Little Rock, Ark. W. J. Littlefield. 



[The laying test under stimulative feeding 

 would determine only one thing, viz., her 

 prolificness. She might be never so good in 



