1909 



GLEANINGS IN BP:E CULTURE 



675 



queen, and she commenced laying. I left the screen 

 on about twenty days, when all signs of laying work- 

 ers had disappeared. 

 Bradentown, Fla., Aug. 2. E. F. HURLEBAUS. 



ABSORBENT CUSHIONS. IF VENTILATED, DO NOT BECOME 

 WET BECAUSE OF THE MOISTURE FROM THE BEES. 



I have been reading witli much interest, some curi- 

 osity, and now and then amusement, on absorbent vs. 

 sealed covers. I heartily agree with J. E. Crane (page 

 •J25, April 15' in principle and results as he expresses 

 them. I hive always used porous absorbent covers, 

 and experimented with sealed covers. The latter have 

 seldom given good results. I do not claim that it 

 would be so for every one. I have double-walled chaff 

 hives with the telescope covers. These covers have a 

 -S-inch hole in the gable point with a small piece of 

 mosquito-net tacked over to prevent bother in summer 

 from robbing. That is the secret I claim. I fold up 

 old sacks or any old cloth— I prefer the sacks— and put 

 on three or four, or as I think sufficient, if the supply 

 holds good. I always put small sticks across the top 

 of frames. This winter I put a folded newspaper over 

 the center between some. It seemed to work as well, 

 and probably held some warmth. The moisture passed 

 around the edges. If you put a board or any thing 

 tight over your porous cover in cold weather you will 

 gel condensed moisture and have a wet covering. Oth- 

 erwise I have never found a wet cover except from 

 leakage. I think the small hole in the gable has some- 

 thing to do with keeping the covers dry by allowing 

 tlie moisture to pass out. WALTER GARABRANT. 



Chester. N. J., May 10. 



[Absorbents of any kind will be drier if there is ven- 

 tilation provided at the top. To that end the telescop- 

 ing cover should not come in contact with the tops of 

 the sections. There should be a space of at least one 

 inch, and ventilating holes under the gables. 



In our locality, at least, th-- sealed cover and warm 

 packing apparently give a -better result. We have a 

 curiosity to know to what extent you have tried a seal- 

 ed cover versus the absorbing plan side by side. In 

 our own experience w-e have wintered from 150 to 200 

 having absorbing cushions, and a like number with 

 sealed stores and cushions. We not only did this one 

 year but several years running. In most cases the 

 sealed cover and cushion had the advantage in a drier 

 and nicer cluster. In many cases the absorbing cush- 

 ions became wet and soggy, notwithstanding there 

 was plenty of air space under the tops of the cushions. 



In almost every case where the cover is not sealed 

 down so that there is chance for the moisture to escape 

 up through the crack between super cover and hive, 

 the packing will be wet along the latter part of win- 

 ter. It has occurred to us that some of those who 

 have tried the sealed cover and found it unsatisfacto- 

 ry have not actually had the covers sealed down to the 

 hive. This is very important. — ED.] 



MEDIL'M-SIZED COLONY WITH LAVING QUEEN STARTS 

 CELLS. 



On August 23 I examined one of my colonies and 

 found lots of young bees and sealed brood, but no 

 eggs, larva?, or queen. The queen formerly in the 

 hive was so small that the wire queen-excluder would 

 not prevent her from getting through, and so dark that 

 three different ones failed repeatedly to find her. She 

 had been very prolific, and the absence of larva; 

 proved that she had gone. The probabilities are that 

 she was lost on the 12th of the month, when some seal- 

 ed brood was taken Prom this colony to help a nucleus. 

 No queen-cells were found. Several wax-worms were 

 noticed. 



Aug. 28 I received a new queen and slipped the in- 

 troducing-cage on the bottom-board under the frames 

 and let the bees gnaw her out. 



Sept 1 I withdrew the empty cage without making 

 any disturbance, having attached a wire to it before 

 putting it in. 



Sept. 10 I opened the hive and found the queen per- 

 fectly at home. There were some patches of sealed 

 brood; but on the side of one new comb was a beauti- 

 ful unsealed queen-cell looking like a miniature vol- 

 cano with an open crater. At the lower edge of an 

 older comb were two more cells that were quite small, 

 and one of these was sealed over. Of course, I de- 

 stroyed all these and looked carefully for more cells. 

 Now, why should queen-cells have been started in this 

 hive that was not heavily populated with bees, and that 

 contained a young laying queen? My helper, a full- 

 blooded negro, offers the following suggestion: 



" Some er deni bees knowed dey queen was lost, and 

 didn't know there was a new one; so when dey come 

 across some aigs they didn't stop to ask no questions, 

 but just set about makin' one." 



Florence, Ala. H. A. Moody, 



[The fact that there were some patches of sealed 

 brood in the hive on Sept. IQ would seem to indicate 

 that there may have been eggs that you overlooked on 

 Aug. 23; that is, the old queen was still in the hive on 

 that date, and was gradually tapering off in her egg- 

 laying, and possibly at the time of your examination 

 had stopped altogether. In the meantime, while the 

 new queen was in the mails, this old one laid some 

 fresh eggs, and from these were reared the cells and 

 the brood. While the new queen could have laid the 

 eggs that supplied the cells and the sealed brood, it is 

 our opinion that they came from the old queen. We 

 never knew of a case where cells were started when a 

 liood youns queen was present. It very often happens 

 that, when a queen is introduced, if the bees have in 

 the mean time already started building cells, they will 

 keep on doing so and complete their work. The intro- 

 duced queen will usually destroy such cells, but she 

 does not always do so. The queen referred to acted 

 contrary to the general rule. When introducing we 

 always make it a rule, for that reason, to destroy any 

 cells that may be present at the time of caging.— Ed.] 



A GOOD QUEEN REARED UNDER ADVERSE CIRCUM- 

 STANCES. 



In the spring of 1908 I found my premium breeding- 

 queen with less than a teacupful of bees, and in bad 

 condition generally. As she was four years old I hard- 

 ly expected her to last through the season, but wanted 

 to raise a few more queens from her. April 2 I looked 

 into the hive, and, to my surprise, found a patch of 

 brood five cells wide, and about three inches long on 

 one side of one frame only. In this brood were one 

 queen-cell and ninedrone-cells, all sealed — not another 

 bit of brood in the entire hive. The old queen was sti 1 

 alive. April 23 I found a young fertile queen in the 

 hive, and a cluster of bees between two combs less 

 than three inches in diameter. I let them alone, think- 

 ing the queen would be " no good;" but they began to 

 build up until, at the end of the clover flow, they were 

 as strong in bees as most of the colonies in the yard, 

 but short of honey; however, when the fall flow came 

 on they filled the hive and stored as much surplus as 

 any colony. The queen proved to be purely mated, 

 and must have been mated to one of the drones raised 

 in the hive with her. 



I have raised many queens in the past, and know 

 how easy it is to get inferior queens under the best 

 conditions; but it seems easy for the bees to raise 

 good ones under very adverse conditions. The old 

 queen lived till some time in June; but I think she 

 laid no eggs after the first lot early in spring, as she 

 was shrunken to about the size of a young worker. 

 The only way I could recognize her was because she 

 had no wings. Have you ever seen any thing like 

 this in queen-rearing? 



Marion, N. Y. J. A. CRANE. 



[When you surmise that the young queen was fertil- 

 ized by one of the drones in the hive, we assume, of 

 course, that you mean that the act took place in the 

 air and not in the hive. 



Yes, cases are on record where young queens reared 

 in late winter will be fertilized by a stray drone in the 

 spring, and become the mother of a good colony; but 

 this does not disprove the rule that a good queen 

 should be reared in suitable weather under the best 

 conditions.— Ed.J 



BEE-KEEPING IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. 



Bee-keeping in Victoria is, in my estimation, very 

 similar to bee-keeping in America so far as diseases 

 go — that is, foul brood, paralysis, spring dwindling, 

 etc.; but so far as honey-flows are concerned you di;'- 

 fer very much. You seem to have some good honey- 

 flows, but they are very short, while over here we have 

 a flow lasting sometimes fourorfive months, and then 

 not averaging much more honey than your short flow. 



At this date the bees are just awaking. Whenever 

 the sun shines for a few hours the bees seem to enjoy 

 it very much. The coming season promises to be a 

 very good one in most parts of Victoria. Last season 

 promised very well; but through the drouth that we 

 had, and then the fearful heat-wave of January last 

 '110 degrees in the shade for seven days runningi put 

 all hopes of a good honey season out. However, I can 

 not complain with an average of 120 lbs. per hiv" 



Maryborough, Vic, Aus., Aug. 24. F. HOLLAND. 



