4:2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 1 



down at the ground, he was surprised to see 

 a small cluster of bees clinging to a weed. 

 As he puts it he exclaimed, "I thought I 

 knew something about bees, but mine are 

 either going crazy or I am a bigger ignoramus 

 than even Dr. Miller, who, once a week at 

 least, says, 'I don't know.' Here is a damp 

 day at the beginning of September; there is 

 not a blossom in sight, as every thing is dried 

 up on account of our long summer drouth, 

 and yet you fools are swarming. If you are 

 not crazy, I must be." 



He secured a hi\'e and three combs, cut 

 the weeds loose, and hived the swarm. The 

 bees were very drow'sy, so he felt sure they 

 must have been hangmg for several hours; 

 in fact, they had scarcely enough energy to 

 crawl dow^n among the combs. This swarm 

 decided to stay put. 



Wondering if any of his dark-colored re- 

 serve queens had turned foolish he went 

 through the nuclei only to find that all of 

 them were at home. 



Why did these young Italian queens swarm? 

 They were bought as untested queens from 

 a very reliable breeder, so there can not be 

 any doubt as to their having been properly 

 mated. 



Victoria, B. C, Canada. 



[In our opinion, Mr. Todd has only par- 

 tially struck at the real cause for the prema- 

 ture dying-off of the queens. 1 he year in 

 which these queens were reared was possi- 

 bly, as Mr. Todd says, unfavorable for secur- 

 ing good strong vigorous stock. This might 

 account for all the trouble; but we should be 

 inclined to believe that the original parent- 

 age was not strong or vigorous. Possibly 

 and probably a large part of the queens that 

 died came directly or indirectly from one 

 mother. 



In our queen-rearing operations we have 

 to be very careful in the selection of our 

 breeders. Occasionally we will find one 

 supposedly good breeder; but her stock lacks 

 vitality. Sometimes a breeder will be so 

 poor that her own queens will die off even 

 before they are mated. The remedy in your 

 case is to do just what you have done — im- 

 port entirely new stock from some strong 

 vigorous queen-mother having a reputation 

 for raising good strong queens. 



Referring to that queen that swarmed 

 out so many times, carrying with her a little 

 bunch of bees, we should be inclined to think 

 that she was a virgin rather below normal 

 size. The fact that she passed the perforat- 

 ed metal on her last escapade would strong- 

 ly support that theory. When going out 

 with her little bunches of bees she probably 

 was simply going on her mating-tinps. 



If, on the other hand, she were a laying 

 queen, and was inclined to swarm out on suc- 

 cessive days, we would put her and her bees 

 down cellar and keep her there for four or 

 five days until she got over her foolishness. 

 Before putting her out again we would clip 

 her wings on one side. Occasionally a queen 

 or a colony, we do not know exactly which, 

 gets the fever of swarming out day after day. 

 The only way to cure them is to shut them 



up, keeping them down cellar where it is 

 cool, causing them to start building comb 

 and rearing a little brood. If there were a 

 comb containing plenty of pollen they may 

 be fed a little while in the cellar with a thin 

 syrup. This will start them to make prepa- 

 rations to keep house in good orthodox 

 fashion. It has been recommended to give 

 these swarming out colonies a frame of un- 

 sealed brood; but such procedure fails too 

 often to make it reliable. — Ed.] 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR BE- 

 GINNERS. 



The Conditions Under which Bees Build 

 Straight Worker Combs from Starters. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



Although we use and recommend full 

 sheets of foundation in wired frames, it may 

 be well to consider how and when one can 

 get along with starters only in brood-frames, 

 as some may not want to use full sheets. 



Bees build two sizes of cells in their comb- 

 building. The larger size run about four to 

 the inch, and are used for rearing drones and 

 sometimes for storing honey. The smaller 

 cells run about five to the inch, and are used 

 for rearing workers and for storage. The 

 bee-keeper should strive to get all-worker 

 combs built; for, in spite of all t'le care that 

 can be taken, more than enough drone comb 

 usually appears. Of course, in case of an 

 extra-fine colony that one desires to breed 

 from, a solid drone comb can be given in or- 

 der that there may be plenty of drones of 

 this desirable stock in the yard. 



It is a fact that bees under certain condi- 

 tions build almost all worker comb; and it is 

 also true that, under other conditions, a great 

 deal of undesirable drone comb is built. For 

 instance, a new medium-sized swarm, placed 

 in a hive of a size that may be filled with 

 combs and brood in about 23 days or less, 

 ought to build worker comb mainly, although 

 some of the last combs built may contain a 

 few drone-cells. The secret seems to be in 

 having just the right number of workers and 

 just the right amount of honey coming in, so 

 that the bees will draw out the combs no 

 faster than the queen can occupy them with 

 brood. As long as this condition lasts we 

 should expect the bees to build worker 

 combs. From this we see that, in order to 

 get good results in comb-building from a 

 natural swarm, this swarm should be of just 

 the right size, and there should be a honey- 

 flow of, say, three or four pounds a day. 



We will suppose a large swarm is hived 

 during a period when honey is coming in 

 freely. At this time there is too much honey 

 cominwin for the best results incomb-building 

 in the brood-nest, if the whole force of work- 

 ers is compelled to do all their work in the 

 brood-nest. The remedy is to put most of the 

 workers at work in the supers. Most begin- 

 ners fail in doing this; but the principle is to 

 make the surplus receptacles more inviting to 



