AUGUST 15, 1913 



581 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



How doth the little busy bee 

 Delight to bark and bite, 



Making honey all the day 

 To eat it up at night 1 



Trouble from Mating- nuclei Swarming Out 



I want to know how to keep my nuclei from 

 swarming out and leaving their hive. They will 

 leave honey, young larva?, eggs, and hatching bees, 

 and swarm out. My honey crop is almost an entire 

 failure this year. 



Jellico, Tenn., July 14. Cued Walker. 



[We could answer you a little more satisfactorily 

 if we knew what size or kind of nuclei you are us- 

 ing. If you are using the small Pratt baby nuclei 

 you wilt have considerable difficulty about their 

 swarming out in spite of any thing you can do. If, 

 however, you use the larger size, the twin-mating 

 nuclei, you will have comparatively little trouble 

 providing you put enough bees in each side. The lit- 

 tle combs should be well covered with bees ; and in 

 order to make this start it is better to get the bees 

 from some outside location. Shake them into a large 

 box ; then dip them up by dipperfuls and pour them 

 into the boxes. If you keep these bees strong enough 

 and the queen long enough so that they can keep the 

 frames filled with brood there will be very little 

 swarming out. At certain times, however, we advise 

 the use of perforated zinc with which the nuclei are 

 supplied. Queens must not be kept longer than 

 enough to lay eggs in the frames, or there will be 

 danger of the bees swarming out. 



If, on the other hand, you are using the larger 

 nuclei, employing standard frames, there should be 

 no trouble about their swarming out. In any case, 

 you will, of course, recognize the importance of keep- 

 ing nuclei supplied with food. If they do not have 

 honey or stores in their combs they should be fed of 

 course. — Ed.] 



Why the Queens Died in the Cages 



Five queens were bought of a New Jersey breeder 

 and mailed about 20 miles on July 4. On the 5th at 

 9 o'clock the queens were killed in five colonies to 

 make room for the new stock, and one queen-cage 

 placed in each just below the top-bar with the combs 

 squeezed against the cage to hold it in place with the 

 wire-cloth side down and the thin cardboard removed 

 from the candy end. At 3 o'clock p. M. on the 7th 

 an examination showed the queen and all the bees 

 dead in four of the cages, and the fifth apparently 

 all right except that the candy had not been eaten 

 out. A hole was punched in the candy, and the 

 queen released and accepted. The candy was hardly 

 touched in the four cages. No bees were dead in the 

 fifth cage. The queen candy seemed a little dry, but 

 not enough to make it seem impossible for the bees 

 to use it without difficulty. The breeder says all 

 were treated alike. Have you any clue to the trou- 

 ble? E. G. Carr, Bee Inspector. 



New Egypt, N. J., July 8. 



[There are two causes that might account for the 

 death of the queens. One is the kind of wire cloth 

 used on the cages, and the other the condition of the 

 candy. Referring to the first mentioned, bees are 

 sometimes poisoned by the paint used on the cloth. 

 If it is green we have known of instances where the 

 queens have died. But usually they will arrive in 

 rather bad condition. It is hard to explain why the 

 bees should arrive in fair order, and then die after 

 they were introduced. Taking every thing into con- 

 sideration, it is our opinion that the real cause was 

 the condition of the candy — that is to say, it was too 

 dry. It was moist enough to get the bees through to 

 their destination, but the bees and queens were prob- 

 ably in a weakened condition at the time they were 

 introduced. The drj-ness of the candy did not enable 



them to survive long. The condition of the candy 

 may be explained by saying that four of the cages 

 had poor candy while the one cage had candy that 

 was a little more moist. The great problem of" send- 

 ing queens by mail is getting the candy just right 



not too sticky or moist, and not too dry on the other 

 hand. You state that the candy seemed a little dry, 

 but you think not enough to make it impossible for 

 the bees to appropriate it. Our opinion is that, if 

 you will take these cages where the bees died and 

 put some fresh bees in them, you will find that they 

 will not live more than 24 or 48 hours at the most. 

 If you will put a like number of bees in the other 

 cage where the queen did not die we tliink you will 

 find a difference in results. — Ed.] 



Can we get Alfalfa Growers to Cut their Alfalfa 

 Later? 



How am I to persuade the people of this section 

 to cut their alfalfa at the right stage 1 They cut it, 

 to my notion, before it goes to bloom. There is a 

 fine future at this place, providing I can get them to 

 cut it at the right stage. I never in all of my life 

 saw the like of wild bees on the mountain sides. 

 This is what they call Round Valley, containing 

 about 10,000 acres; and as I am only a beginner I 

 should like advice on the subject. 



Covelo, Cal., July 5. p. p. Turneb. 



[We suggest that you correspond with Dr. A. J. 

 Cook, Horticultural Commissioner, Sacramento, Cal. 

 He might be able to advise you on this matter. We 

 might say, however, that there has been a tendency 

 on the part of alfalfa-growers to cut their alfalfa 

 just about or a little before it comes into bloom. 

 Some of them have asserted that it makes a little 

 letter quality of hay. On the other hand, we have 

 lieard that statement contradicted by those who claim 

 to know; but this is, nevertheless, the fact, that the 

 alfalfa-growers are a little behind on their schedule 

 anyhow in cutting their hay, and in most cases they 

 are not able to cut it until it is well into bloom. 



Generally speaking it would be pretty hard for a 

 beekeeper to convince an alfalfa-grower that it would 

 be to his advantage to cut his hay a little later in 

 order to accommodate him, the beekeeper. It looks too 

 much like a case of an ax to grind. If, however, 

 you can get hold of some literature that would show 

 that this early cutting is a mistake it will help ma- 

 terially. — Ed.] 



Experiences with Bees in a City Apiary 



Owing to the comparatively mild winter of 1912 

 the bees of my suburban apiary came through un- 

 usually strong, with no loss, and as pollen was car- 

 ried in as early as March 12, colonies were soon 

 filled to overflowing with bees. Heretofore I had run 

 exclusively for extracted honey ; and in order to give 

 more room it has been my custom, in adding another 

 story, to put in two frames of brood and fill out with 

 empty combs This spring, however, I had an ex- 

 ceptionally strong colony almost filling two stories ; 

 and as it was necessary to add a third one I decid- 

 ed to deviate from my usual custom in giving more 

 storage room. I accordingly prepared a third story 

 and placed it between the other two. 



What I most wanted to avoid (swarming) turnel 

 out just the other way. I reasoned that the queen 

 now had plenty of room for laying ; also that 

 there was sufficient room for storage; but it seems 

 that the bees in that upper story, having been re- 

 moved from their companions by having a full-depth 

 super placed beneath them concluded they were 

 queenle&s. They promptly started a fine batch of 

 queen-cells before I was aware what they were up to, 

 and cast a monster swarm. While they were clus- 

 tered I cut out every queen-cell and shook the bees 

 from every comb, and then returned the bees to their 



