1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



UtS> 



"Yes," we said, "they are strung up on both 

 sides; and, what is more, the line of flight is con- 

 centrated at this joint hy an open passageway be- 

 tween the building and some tall evergreens." 



" Now," said he, " you watch some time when 

 the honey-flow is on, and you will see the bees 

 bumpinu; against those wires and dropping down 

 in aimless flight until they tumble on the 

 sidewalk and in the grass. During a dearth of 

 honey there will be very few flying bees, and one 

 that might accidentally hit a wire would escape 

 ot servation." 



It is very clear to us that our friend has struck 

 upon the true source of trouble. There has 

 been no honey-flow on since visiting Mr. Aspin- 

 wall, so we can not verity his statements; but the 

 very fact that there are no dead or struggling 

 bees to be seen except at the height of the honey- 

 flow, wou'd seem to support Mr. Aspinwall's 

 theory. We might remark that at our south yard, 

 where there are no telephone wires, we have never 

 noticed these sick and struggling bees. We 

 shall be glad to hear from others. 



would suppOFt in the middle a weight of from 50 

 to 75 lbs. 



NOT A BAD IDEA; A SCHEME FOR AVOIDING THE 

 LIFTING OF HIVES AND SUPERS. 



Our Mr. F. G. Marbach, of the machine-shop, 

 has been working on various forms of hive-lifters. 

 He finally inquired why a bee-keeper could not 

 have his hives arranged in nice peifect rows, and 

 at each end of a row set a post solidly into the 

 ground, siid post sticking up some six or eight 

 feet above the level of the ground. He would 

 then stretch a wire cable from the top of each 

 post, drawing it up taut, as the telephone people 

 do, with a rope and tackle. Next he would have 

 a block and pulley, supported by a grooved wheel 

 running on the wire or cable. 



There, now you see the idea. This tackle 

 could ride on the trolley wire, and be adjusted to 

 any hive, lift up the supers, and hold them fus- 

 pended, or move them to any one of the hives in 

 a ro-v, or carry them to the end of the row and 

 deposit them on a wheelbarrow. No matter how 

 rough or uneven the ground this arrangement 

 could handle the supers very easily. 



You may say that such a trolley line could not 

 hold up a load of filled supers. There you are 

 mistaken. The telephone men work on their 

 lead-covered cable lines supported by a basket or 

 platform which hangs by means of pulleys from 

 the cable that holds lead pipe. They then pull 

 themselves along in midair, supported only by 

 the wire that supports the cable. They are per- 

 fectly safe in doing this, because the tensile 

 strength of the wire is amply sufficient to hold 

 them. 



There are probably hundreds of our readers 

 who hive seen this feat performed, and there is 

 no reason why this same principle could not be 

 applied over a row of hives. The rows might be 

 a hundred feet long, and it is perfectly feasible to 

 to put in 35 or 40 hives to the row. Two or 

 three rows would take all that one could put in 

 one yard. These trolley lines can be easily put 

 up by any one who knows how to string fence 

 wire; but one would have to borrow or get a 

 heavy tackle of the telephone people to produce 

 the necessary tension of the cable or wire so it 



SI7.E OF LARVv* TO SELFCT FOR GRAFTING. 



The advice commonly given in regard to Jar- 

 v;e for grafting is to select the smallest ones in 

 order to be sure of getting the youngest ones. 

 There is a probability, however, that this rule is 

 not a safe one to follow, since larva? of exactly the 

 same age are not always of the same size. Our 

 Mr. Pritchard, who has charge of one of our 

 queen-rearing yards, has often noticed quite a va- 

 riation in the size of larva?, all of which are 

 practically of the same age. In a populous col- 

 ony he has insetted an empty comb, the cells of 

 which are cleaned and polished, but which as yet 

 contain no eggs. He catches the queen and 

 places her on this comb, and then finds at the 

 end of perhaps an hour that she has laid eggs in 

 cells covering an area as large as his hand. He 

 now carefully marks this area on the comb in or- 

 der to be able to observe the growth of the lar- 

 \x. In this way it is possible to watch lar\^ 

 that are of the same age. At the end of four or 

 five days, when the eggs have hatched and the 

 larvae have begun to grow, he finds that some are 

 much smaller than others, and he believes that it 

 is much the better plan in grafting to select those 

 that have the best start. This conforms to the 

 rules for the breeding of animals generally ; for 

 what breeder would not select the largest and fin- 

 est individuals possible ? 



Some may ask how it is possible in a large 

 queen-rearing yard to know whether certain lar- 

 va; owe their larger size to the fact that they are 

 more vigorous or better fed, or that they are old- 

 er ? This is an important point, for a beginner 

 might not be able to tell the diflterence. Mr. 

 Pritchard believes, however, that any larva not 

 yet curled up so that the two ends nearly meet is 

 suitable for grafting, and he therefore selects the 

 largest and finest-appearing larva? that are yet 

 comparatively straight in the bottoms of the 

 cells. Furthermore, whenever he is looking Over 

 the combs in the strong colony containing the 

 breeding queen, and finds a srrall patch of comb 

 in practically every cell of which eggs are just 

 beginning to hatch, he marks this carefully by 

 enclosing the space with large wire staples suih 

 as are used to fasten bottom- boards on hive-bod- 

 ies, etc. Small sticks will not do, for the bees 

 carry them away ; but these large wire staph s 

 answer the purpose admirably. Two days later, 

 when he is ready to graft, he takes up this comb 

 which he marked, and selects the finest of the 

 larva? between these staples. He is thus practi- 

 cally sure of obtaining what he wants. Late in 

 the year, or during cool weather, it is not al- 

 ways possible to find a patch of comb containing 

 larvae of the same age, but earlier' in the season 

 this plan can be utilized very easily. 



It would seem that the most vigorous larv* 

 should develop into the most vigorous queens. 

 At any rate, queen-breeders ought to leave no 

 stone unturned in the breeding of queens to de- 

 velop the best. The best stock should be used 

 to start with that can be obtained, the best larva- 

 chosen, and strong colonies should be made use 

 of to care for the uncapped queen-cells. A queen 

 that has been handicapped from the start can aoli 

 become the mother of strong and vigorous befes. 



