UK«) 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



631 



mune to bee-paralysis, and at one time suf- 

 fered the loss of $yOO by the introduction of 

 a strain of bees from a locality where this 

 immunity was not developed because it was 

 not needed. 



In a location where the main honey-flow 

 comes very early in the spring a strain of 

 bees which will furnish a strong force of 

 workers very early is absolutely necessary; 

 while in a place where the main flow comes 

 late in the season this same trait would be a 

 disadvantage; for, by the time the honey-flow 

 comes on, the queens will be exhausted, and, 

 consequently, the force of workers will be 

 smaller. In a location where the honey-flow 

 is prolonged, long-lived bees will command 

 a premium. In snort, to make a success the 

 bee-keeper has need to understand thorough- 

 ly both his location and his bees. 



Georgiana, Fla., Sept. 26. 



[We could accomplish much more in this 

 matter of developing desirable traits in our 

 bees if we could control the male parentage. 

 While something has been done, and can be 

 done yet under conditions as they exist, the 

 work is slow as compared with what can be 

 accomplished in the case of poultry and or- 

 dinary farm stock where a selected male can 

 be bred to a selected female. If some enter- 

 prising queen-breeder will locate on an 

 island, raise all of his drones from a choice 

 mother, and raise all his queens from anoth- 

 er select mother, he may accomplish results 

 that can not be secured in an ordinary inland 

 location. It would be necessary, doubtless, 

 for him to keep drone-traps on all other col- 

 onies, so that nothing but the drones of the 

 select queen would have the freedom of 

 the air. Who, among our queen-breeders, 

 will be the first to have the enterprise to lo- 

 cate on an island so he can truthfully say he 

 has queens mated to selected drones? 



Away back in the early '80's Mr. D. A. 

 Jones attacked this problem in earnest. He 

 located in Georgian Bay, Canada, several 

 bee-yards on as many different islands. One 

 he called Holy Land, another Cyprus, anoth- 

 er Carniola, and another Italy. But owing 

 to the coldness of the locality and the lack oi 

 natural forage he was obliged to give it up. 

 It was too expensive to keep a man on those 

 islands and support so many colonies on su- 

 gar syrup. — Ed.] 



ARE QUEEN -EXCLUDERS HONEY -EX- 

 CLUDERS? 



Some Proof Going to Show that They 

 are Not. 



BY W. F. COX. 



I read the article by Mr. Scholl, page 491, 

 August 15. Of course, every one admits that 

 all excluders interfere more or less with the 

 ventilation of the hive, and the bees in hot 

 climates like Texas will suffer more from the 

 heat than would bees in milder climates. It 

 is, therefore, just possible that the location 

 causes the difference of opinion in regard to 

 excluders. Possiblv Mr. Scholl has never 



tried the new wire excluders, which I con- 

 sider nuite an improvement on the old per- 

 foratea-zinc style. 



All authorities agree that the nectar as it 

 is gathered from the flowers is stored direct- 

 ly in the brood-chamber. For this reason 

 the excluders have no direct effect on the 

 honey-yield. Again, we are told that the 

 nurse bees are the ones that carry the honey 

 from the brood-chamber to the supers, and 

 this is done at night when there is plenty of 

 time. By morning the brood-nest is free, 

 and the field bees can go on all the next day 

 storing honey in the brood-chamber, to be 

 removed again the following night. Is it not 

 possible that the bees simply pass the honey 

 through the excluders to the bees above in 

 the supers just as the fielders on entering 

 the hive give their honey over to the nurse 

 bees? I may not be orthodox, but this looks 

 reasonable. 



As for results, I have given the matter ex- 

 tensive trials several times, and can see no 

 difference in the amount of honey gathered 

 whether I use the excluders or not. How- 

 ever, there is a difference in the quality of 

 the honey. To illustrate this point, we will 

 take, for example, two colonies of bees ex- 

 actly alike as regards the race, hives, brood, 

 honey, etc., and of equal strength. We will 

 put a story of empty combs over each hive, 

 but on brood-chamber No. 1 we first put an 

 excluder. As the honey-flow begins, both 

 colonies will commence storing in the super 

 at the same time, and continue at the same 

 rate. Other things being equal, there will 

 be no difference in the quantity gathered; 

 but the colony having the excluder will have 

 its surplus honey free from pollen and brood, 

 while the other, with no excluder, may have 

 brood and pollen all through the super. Of 

 course, it is possible to prevent some of this, 

 but it requires too much time and hard work 

 to be practical. 



I consider the excluder of vital importance 

 in the production of both extracted and chunk 

 honey, at least when full-depth frames are 

 used, and I have good reasons for believing 

 that they are just as important with some 

 other sizes of frames also. After having tried 

 to produce honey with and without exclud- 

 ers, my opinion is that I can not do without 

 them at any price. 



Mr. Scholl says there are other ways of 

 keeping the queen out of the super, but I 

 should like to ask him to tell how to do this 

 when the surplus crop is gathered from white 

 clover from the 20th of May to the 10th of 

 July. As a rule, the honey comes in so fast 

 during this period that we have no time to 

 go around and see where our queens are. 

 With the excluders we A'nou' just where they 

 are. 



One more reason why excluders should be 

 used is that they prevent the rearing of so 

 many drones. Full sheets of foundation 

 help to prevent this, but my bees are still 

 inclined to rear drones, especially during a 

 heavy flow. At such a time^ if there is any 

 drone comb in the hive I believe the queen 

 will find it and deposit eggs in it, even if it. 



