GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



755 



nor for the mention of my name in 

 connection, but that the proof-reader 

 has to bear the blame. The doctor, 

 therefore, is entirely exonerated, he 

 having simply paraphrased what I had 

 said and what the editor had said I had 

 said. The doctor's fault is, I think, 

 that he should have realized that a par- 

 aphrase of a paraphrase stands a small 

 chance of doing reasonable justice to 

 the original. Even so I am not averse 

 to following him through the refine- 

 ments of his discussion. 



He first attacks an expression found 

 in the assumed quotation; viz., For 

 queens are likely to be superseded at 

 any time, for any cause, without the 

 knowledge of the apiarist. Concern- 

 ing this expression he asks whether it 

 is not slightly overdrawn. Well, per- 

 haps it would be misleading if readers 

 had little or no knowledge of the hab- 

 its of bees. But I always feel a strong 

 hesitancy about entering into details 

 of which my readers have as much 

 knowledge as myself. Who of my 

 readers would think that sentence was 

 to be understood as intimating that 

 bees were likely to supersede their 

 queens in winter? or who but Dr. Mil- 

 ler that they were as likely to do it in 

 May as in August.' Were I to say 

 that in this locality it is likely to rain 

 in January, who would suppose thai 

 I meant to affirm that it was as likely 

 to rain then as in April? But, after 

 all, that was not my language at all; 

 what I actually did say was simply 

 this: Queens are superseded; accidents 

 happen to them, sometimes. Is not 

 that harmless enough? 



Again, how is it possible for the doctor to un- 

 derstand from "page 19" that I meant to affirm 

 that " the new queen, after she gets to laying, is 

 likely to go off with a swarm"? In our former 

 controversies Dr. Miller had sometimes to resort 

 to the assertion that I was unfair. I have no in- 

 clination to retaliate in kind; but, rather, I feel 

 as Job may be supposed to have felt after his ad- 

 versary had written a book, if the old version of 

 him is correct; for did he not exclaim. Oh! that 

 mine adversary had written a book? If I am mis- 

 represented I only ask a fair hearing — then let the 

 record declare judgment. But, to return to the 

 point: Does not every bee-keeper of any experi- 

 ence know that a colony, even if of only fair 

 strength, having young queens emerging during 

 the swarming season, either on account of super- 

 sedure or for some other reason, will generally 

 cast a swarm? and do they not know that the 

 swarm is always led by a virgin, not a laying 

 queen? The first swarm 1 had last season was led 

 by a virgin queen, and it was not a solitary in- 

 stance. 



Further on he asserts that I practically say, 

 don't clip, but put a queen-trap on each hive, etc. 

 How could the doctor make that assertion? Per- 

 haps the editor is partly to blame, for the quota- 

 tion in Gleanings does not at all bring out the 

 points in my argument in favor of the trap. It 

 might have been an advantage to the doctor had 



WAYNE PAVILION, OR SUN PALACE, WHERE THE NATIONAL BSE-KEEPERs' CONVENTION WILL MEET, OCT. 13, 14, 15, 1908. 



he had before him the article from which the quo- 

 tation was taken. I should have been glad to 

 furnish him with a copy if only that he might have 

 correctly stated the restrictions which I would 

 place upon the use of the trap. What I do say 

 is, don't clip; let the bees swarm naturally when 

 there can be an efficient attendant; but when such 

 attendant can not be had to care for the swarms, 

 then use traps to be visited every three or four 

 days, for traps will prevent all absconding, while 

 clipping will by no means do that. Clipping a 

 queen prevents her from leading off a swarm; but 

 when she is lost or killed, as she is likely to be 

 soon if not cared for, it is but a question of a few 

 days when a young queen will emerge, and in all 

 probability undertake to escape with a swarm. 



The trap, of which the doctor makes so much, 

 is not even mentioned in the quotation on " page 

 19," but the doctor is after the trap, and asks 

 whether it would not be natural for some readers, 

 at least, to put on traps in the spring, leaving 

 them thinking that thus the matter was settled 

 for the year, thus destroying the unmated queen, 

 and, through that, the apiary? No doubt, no 

 doubt. I have known of cases of bee-keepers 

 clipping unmated queens. 



As a result of his neglect to secure and read 

 my article from which the extract on page 19 is 

 taken, the doctor falls into the error of appearing 

 to attempt the riding of two horses at the same 



time, by criticising my method of managing 

 swarming without clipping, on account of the 

 necessity of sorting out queens from united 

 swarms, on the one hand, and, on the other, crit- 

 icising what he supposes, apparently, to be my 

 advice and practice in regard to the use of the 

 trap, as though I used at the same time both the 

 free-flying-queen system and the queen-confining- 

 trap system on the same colonies. 



The doctor seems at a loss to understand why 

 a queen in a trap through which a swarm has just 

 passed should be more effective in recalling the 

 swarm, or, in other words, in putting them on 

 their good behavior, than a queen hopping about 

 on the grass, and asks for a reason. The reason 

 seems plain; a queen hopping about on the grass 

 has no abiding-place. Generally for some time 

 there are few or no bees with her, and the bees 

 are not inclined to look for her in the grass; but 

 when they fail to find her in the air they natural- 

 ly seek her at the hive, where they last knew her 

 to be; and as she is there with a retinue, the 

 swarm, if in the air, is soon notified, and returns 

 more promptly than they would if she were not 

 so found. In other words, they discover their 

 queen more quickly, and so have less time and 

 opportunity to unite with other swarms. But I 

 may not understand on just what point the in- 

 formation is sought. It may be with reference 

 to the matter of swarms uniting and entering 



other hives than their own. In answer 

 to that I should say that, in addition to 

 the above, I make no claim of advan- 

 tage for the trap in that respect over the 

 clipped-queen system. But remember, 

 it is not traps against natural swarming 

 with an attendant, but traps against 

 clipped queens in cases where there can 

 be no attendant. I can't be sure; but 

 I rather guess that, if the doctor were 

 taken suddenly ill, or called to a dis- 

 tant wedding or funeral, in the height 

 of the swarming season, with no possi- 

 bility of obtaining any one to look after 

 his bees, he might, possibly, remember 

 traps with a certain longing; or would 

 he prefer to trust to clipped queens? 



In a nutshell, when there is an at- 

 tendant the doctor prefers clipped 

 queens during swarming. I prefer the 

 queens undipped on account of the 

 more rapid settling of the swarms and 

 the increased freedom from uniting and 

 from the entering of strange hives. 

 When an attendant is wanting I prefer 

 tiaps, because in such a case they are 

 the best security against the loss of 

 bees, but they should have attention 

 twice a week. In such a case the doc- 

 tor prefers — ? 



Lapeer, Mich. 



[As Mr. Taylor intimates. Dr. Mil- 

 ler was not responsible for the quota- 

 tion-marks inclosing his first paragraph 

 on page 556, May 1st issue. Owing to 

 a_'idifliculty with eyesight, as explained 

 editorially on page 6»3, last issue, we 

 did not discover the presence of the 

 aforesaid marks. When Mr. Taylor 

 sent in his article he very naturally in- 

 ferred that the doctor was misquoting him, and 

 very properly called him to account. When we 

 explained the matter to Mr. Taylor, he exoner- 

 ated him and substituted other paragraphs. — Ed.] 



WOOD SPLINTS PROPERLY APPLIED 

 SUPERIOR TO WIRE. 



Hovv' to Prepare and How to Apply. 



BV B. F. AVERILL. 



I note Dr. Miller's article in April 1st Glean- 

 ings; and as I find wood splints, properly applied, 

 to be superior to wire, I will submit my plans. 

 I am not asserting that any of the ideas advanced 

 are better than those hitherto given, but they may 

 be found more practicable by some operators. 

 If the plan of using splints is coming into more 

 general use, the best possible methods of applica- 

 tion should be put forward at as early a time this 

 season as possible in order to give bee-keepers a 

 chance to test them. 



My plan of using the splints incorporates them 

 with the frames as well as with the foundation; 

 and thereby I secure a more substantial comb 

 than if incorporated only with the foundation. 



The first essential part of the plan is to have 

 top and bottom bars grooved in the center to re- 

 ceive the ends of the splints. A saw-kerf xV gauge 



