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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Bearing Queens. 



Query, No. 87.— I have deckled that every 

 colony that Is intended to be run for comb 

 honey next year muBt contain a queen of 

 the present year's rearini?. I desire good 

 queens so that my stock may not deteriorate. 

 In view of the foregoing, what plan can I 

 follow in order to produce the best results 

 for a series of years y— F. P. S. 



G.M. DoOLiTTLE says: " I cannot 

 conceive what line of argument could 

 bave been used to bave brought F. P. 

 S. to such a decision, for a queen two 

 or more years old is as good as any, as 

 a rule, in my apiary." 



Prof. A. J. Cook remarks as fol- 

 lows : " Rear, by the nucleus method, 

 queens from the best colonies ; suffer- 

 ing drones to be reared only from 

 superior colonies." 



W. Z. Hutchinson advises thus : 

 " Allow tlie bees to swarm naturally. 

 The old queens can be destroyed, and 

 young ones introduced in their places. 

 These young queens can be secured 

 by taking queen-cells from some col- 

 ony that has sent out a swarm, and 

 giving them to nuclei." 



James Heddon remarks : "There 

 are several methods ; a choice depend- 

 ing upon your environments, etc., and 

 a detailed description (the only one of 

 value) would require an essay." 



J. E. Pond, Jr., says : "To an- 

 swer this question would require more 

 space than is allowable. Consult any 

 good text book ; preferable. Alley's 

 ■ Bee- Keepers' Handy Book,' where 

 the whole process is given in plain, 

 simple language, that can easily be 

 understood by any one." 



Dr. G.L.TiNKERremarks: "Where 

 there is no choice of stock, kill the old 

 queen, and let the colony rear one. In 

 5 days look through the colony and 

 shake the bees from every comb, so 

 that the cells can be discovered, and 

 destroy those that are capped, as they 

 will contain the larvse that are too old 

 from which to rear good queens. Bees 

 do not cap over a cell containing a 

 good queen larva, as a rule, in less 

 than 6 days from the time the mother 

 queen is removed. Of course the col- 

 ony is to be well fed, if no honey is 

 coming in, until the cells are all 

 capped." 



G. W. Demaree says : " I think 

 that when your experience accumu- 

 lates, you will tind that your decision 

 is not well founded. Queens at two 

 years old produce the most steady, 

 smooth-working colonies ; but, in view 

 of your position, the cheapest way to 

 supersede your queens annually, is to 

 remove the ' present incumbent ' just 

 before the close of the white clover 

 harvest, and leave the colony to rear 

 a successor." 



Cause of Bee-Diarrhea. 



Query, No. 88. — Two colonies side by 

 side, exactly alike — as near as two peas can 

 be — as to stores, pollen, age of queens, man- 

 ner of preparation, etc., were prepared last 

 fall for winter, and left on the summer 

 stands. One died in the latter part of March 

 with bee-diarrhea, while the other is the best 

 colony in the apiary, never having shown 

 any signs of that disease. Why did one die 

 and the other live ? and what caused the 

 diarrhea with the one, when the other did 

 nothaveit?-G.M. 



Prof. A. J. Cook says : " Why does 

 one child have scarlet fever, diphthe- 

 ria, etc., and others not ?" 



G. M. DooLiTTLE replies : " I give 

 it up, for I cannot tell." 



W. Z. Hutchinson says : " There 

 certainly was a difference somewhere, 

 otherwise results would have been 

 similar." 



Dadant & Son remark : " The 

 care of bees is composed of minute 

 details. There are a thousand causes 

 for all that happens, but sometimes 

 the differences are so slight, that it is 

 very hard to detect the causes. Per- 

 haps one of the colonies was better 

 situated than the other — had more 

 sunshine or a few more bees, or more 

 honey above the cluster, and lost less 

 in consequence." 



J. E. Pond, Jr., replies: "It is 

 utterly impossible for a physician to 

 make a correct diagnosis, without 

 knowing all the facts in the case. So 

 with this question ; in order to give an 

 intelligent answer, it is required to 

 know just how the bees were prepared 

 for winter, etc., and even then it 

 would be hard to give more than a 

 theoretical answer, As the question 

 now stands, ho answer of value can 

 be given, as there are so many factors 

 that might form a part of the conun- 

 drum, that any answer would be per- 

 fect ' guess-work.' " 



Dr. C. C. Miller says : " This is 

 a very old conundrum ; I give it up." 



Dr. G. L. Tinker answers : "One 

 colony suffered more from the cold 

 than the other did. This may have 

 been because it had fewer bees, or be- 

 cause the one that survived had a 

 better quality of honey furnishing 

 more heat ; or, the one that died may 

 have been the strongest, but owing to 

 the manner of the preparation, it got 

 too warm, and so became restless. 

 There is only one method of ventila- 

 ting bees in winter confinement so as to 

 secure uniformity of result — that is, 

 free lower ventilation." 



James Heddon remarks : " This 

 enigma is just as difficult to account 

 for upon one theory as another. One 

 was as damp as the other; one was as 

 cold as the other ; one should have 

 hibernated as soon as the other ; one 

 was confined as long as the other. 

 The one that had the diarrhea, dis- 

 charged more pollen than the other; 

 consequently it must have eaten more 

 than the other, or have been less able 

 to contain it without voiding, as it is 

 now quite clear that bees do not nor- 

 mally void dry feces in the hive. Just 

 what the difference between these 

 colonies was, that caused one to eat 



more pollen than the other, I cannot 

 tell at this distance, if I could were 1 

 on the spot. A microscope and chem- 

 icals will show the diarrhetic excreta 

 to be pollen." 



G. W. Demaree says : " Before 

 answering your query, allow me to 

 state some facts. I live in a Middle 

 State, where the climate is neither 

 Southern nor Northern, but partakes 

 of the extremes of both. This state 

 of things furnishes me with the best 

 of facilities to study the cause of bee- 

 diarrhea. In my experience of 40 

 years, I have never seen a case of 

 diarrhea in its last stage, which means 

 the soiling of the combs and the bees 

 themselves ; but every excessively- 

 long, cold winter has showed the 

 trouble in its incipiency. Twice the 

 past winter some of my colonies, at 

 the close of a severe winter spell, 

 were distressed with dropsy of the 

 abdomen, which was relieved by an 

 open-air flight. Mr. Geo. B. Peters, 

 of Arkansas, a gentleman of learning 

 and close observation, says that with 

 an experience of 60 years, he has 

 never seen a case of bee-diarrhea. 

 Kow mark this, Mr. Peters lives in 

 the South, and therefore has never 

 seen a case of bee-diarrhea ; I live in 

 a Middle State— have seen the disease 

 in its incipiency often, and at times 

 have seen the bees distressed with it 

 for a short time, but I never saw a 

 fatal case. Less than 100 miles north 

 of my location, the disease sometimes 

 proves fatal, and from thence north, 

 its ravages become common. These 

 facts prove beyond question that ex- 

 posure, incident to long, cold winters, 

 is the first cause of the trouble. Now 

 for your query : Exposure to opposing 

 conditions is the first cause ; bees are 

 not exceptions to the general rule we 

 see exemplified everywhere — one per- 

 ishes and the other survives." 



Superseding ftueens. 



Query, No. 89.— Are bees prone to super- 

 sede a queen having a clipped wing, before 

 she attempts to lead a swarm ? The first 3 

 swarms that I have had this year, have been 

 from colonies having (jueens whose wings 

 were clipped, which reared young queens 

 before they attemjited to swarm, then killed 

 the old queens and were led by one of the 

 \-irgin queens.— J. M. 



Dr. G. L. Tinker answers : "The 

 only instance of this kind I have had, 

 was where the queen had become 

 old." 



Dr. C. C. Miller says : " I do not 

 believe that clipping wings has any 

 thing to do with it." 



Prof. A. J. Cook replies : " I do 

 not think so. Does J. M. know that 

 the old queens were not lost in a 

 previous attempt to swarm ? I think 

 that was most probably the case." 



Dadant & Son say : " This hap- 

 pens very often when bees wish to 

 swarm, if from any cause the queen 

 cannot or will not follow the swarm." 



J. E. Pond, Jr., remarks : " I have 

 not found that clipping queens' wings 

 had anything to do with superseding, 

 and I do not believe that it does have 

 any such effect." 



