890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



things from No. 1, as it had gone into winter 

 quarters in splendid condition with plenty of bees 

 and "millions of honey in the house." No. 2 

 had done only moderately, but had laid in lots 

 of stores. No. 3 had plenty of bees — far more 

 than No. 2 — but had stored very little sugar. 



To my surprise, No. 2, the weakest last sum- 

 mer, began to build up first. The best hive of 

 last year followed slowly behind, while No. 3 

 seemed to stand absolutely still. On account of 

 the weather I hesitated to examine; but in the 

 middle of May I overhauled and found No. 1 

 almost solid with stores; No. 2 in fair condition, 

 provided clover bloomed by June 1st as usual, 

 while No. 3 had nothing over a day or two's 

 food on hand. To avoid killing the grass on 

 my lawn I had made stands of inch dowel rods 

 passed through scantling set on edge — good 

 stands by the way and inexpensive, but not suit- 

 ed for the Alexander feeders I had on hand. But 

 something had to be done quickly, so I tilted up 

 the front of the hive until it was about two 

 inches higher than the rear, and shoved in a 

 wedge between the bottom and the stand. Then 

 from an old can I improvised a runway for the 

 feed to start it through the entrance. Each night 

 I poured about a pint of warm feed, consisting 

 of equal parts of sugar and water, on to the bot- 

 tom of the hive, and in the morning it was all 

 gone. 



White clover bloomed June 17, being about 

 three weeks late; but the bees paid but little heed 

 to it. But dandelions had bloomed as never be- 

 fore; and while my neighbors were lamenting 

 and wrestling with the pest on their lawns I was 

 content, for my No. 2 hive was fast gaining 

 ground. The bees were hanging out at night, 

 so I added a second body, put three full frames 

 above, replacing below with empty ones. 



July 4 my best hive got busy all of a sudden — 

 there was something doing. No. 1 was gaining 

 strength, and even No. 3 was making headway. 

 I put supers on the first and third, though I ex- 

 pected nothing from the latter; but as I was to 

 move at the end of the month I wanted to see 

 what I could do. I was still running in compe- 

 tition with my friend, and desired to be on top. 



Then the swarming fever developed ; in fact, 

 in that locality swarming seemed to be a mania. 

 1 was busy winding up my business affairs and 

 packing furniture preparatory to a long western 

 journey, and every minute was precious. Two 

 more of my friends had followed my example 

 into the bee-world; and since they were at busi- 

 ness all day their wives were natuially upset 

 when a swarm set off for the top of the nearest 

 high tree. I got so I hated to hear the ring of 

 the telephone-b»ll between the hours of ten and 

 six. My own queen-cells were kept cut out, and 

 my queens' wings were all clipped ; but my 

 neighbors were less careful. I have already said 

 I never wanted to see a swarm of bees; but the 

 honor has been thrust upon me. My son en- 

 joyed the first one or two he went after, just for 

 the fun of it; but it soon grew monotonous. 

 Sometimes he would be on one side of the vil- 

 lage, sweating over one swarm, and before he 

 got back I would be, perhaps, thirty feet above 

 ground, hanging on the stem of a slim tree that 

 I suspected was never meant to sustain the weight 

 of a man six fret in height. However, I always 



responded when a woman's nervous voice came 

 over the phone, "O Mr. Todd! our bees are 

 swarming, and are settling right at the top of the 

 tree at the back of the yard, just south of the 

 chicken-house. What shall I do about it .? " 

 But there was no joy in the task. I always felt 

 like the man who complained of being bothered 

 with cold feet in bed, but the feet were not his. 



Even my best hive cut loose one day. Some- 

 where I had read, or thought I had read, that 

 queen-cells are always on the edge of the combs, 

 and that it is not necessary to dig out all the 

 frames in order to get at queen-cells with the 

 Danzenbaker and similar hives. So once I just 

 tilted back the hives and cut out the cells in 

 sight ; but on this occasion two had been started 

 on the face of a comb, and of course I had 

 missed them. My neighbors' bee troubles got too 

 many for me. However, when the shout went 

 up that my bees were swarming I did not hurry 

 any, but proceeded to the hive, cut out the 

 queen-cells, and waited for the return of the fu- 

 gitives. Next day hive No. 1 played the same 

 trick and got the same treatment. 



What did I do with the queens.? Nothing, 

 for the very good reason that I never saw them. 

 Theoretically they ought to have been hopping 

 about on the grass in front of the hive; but, al- 

 though I searched long and carefully, I never 

 found them. They must have got back all right, 

 because these same hives swarmed later in great 

 shape. July 17 I sold out, and agreed to deliver 

 to my successor, who lived eleven miles away. I 

 was to get all sealed honey above the lower 

 brood-chainber. I took from hive No. 2 45 lbs. 

 of chunk honey ; from No. 1, 11 finished sec- 

 tions; from No. 3, only one section. 



.Mcdford, Oregon. 



ACE O' I ARV.Z UoF.D BY BEES IN 

 S . Pv X ING OLELX-CELLS. 



Do the Ecco ..ver Use Larvi-2 that are Too 

 Old when Younger Larvte May be Had? 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



When a colony is made queenless, either by 

 accident or design, the bees proceed to rear a 

 queen, more likely several cjueens, from material 

 already at hand. If a larva more than three days 

 old is chosen, an inferior queen will be the re- 

 sult. Some have held that the bees, in their ea- 

 gerness to supply the place of the missing queen, 

 will select larv?e more than three days old. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips made measurement of lan'je 

 selected by queenless bees for queen-rearing, and 

 by his courtesy I am permitted to give the re- 

 sults herewith: 



SIZE OF LARV/E CHOSEN FOR yUHKN-REARING. 



.A colony of Caucasian bees was made queenless at II .■4. M. 



On the second day at 2 p.m there were eight queen-cells started. 



Their contents were as follows: 



Empty 2 



Larva one-half size of worker-cell (2 days ) . . . 4 



Laiva one-third size of worker-cell (2 days) 1 



Larva filled worker-cell (4 days - ) 1 



-All these queen-cells were destroyed, and the colony examined 



again the following day at 2 p.m. 



Empty 3 



Larva one-third width of worker-cell (2 days) .... 2 



Larva nearly tilled worker-cell (4 days) 2 



Larva somewhat extended in cell <5 days) I 



