90 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



May 



or eight sections, will not sag so as to allow of 

 propolis being "scjuirted" arovuid the sections. I 

 know very many of them do, but that is because 

 they are not made so the four sections just fit the 

 frame, and they are not properly keyed up, also. 

 But Bro. A. is very much mistaken in thinking 

 that it is Doolittle wlio is advocating any such 

 thing; neither <lo I believe that consumers will 

 pay any more for the same (piality of honey stored 

 in very white sections tlian they will for the same 

 <iuality of honey stored in "seconds," as they are 

 (railed, the writer in Thk Amekican Bee-keeper 

 to the contrary notwithstanding. If I did I should 

 not be using "seconds" for sections all these years, 

 as I have been. What I believe is, that after the 

 sections are filled with a nice white comb of honey, 

 the sections are rarely looked at, either by the pro- 

 ducer or the consumer; but it is the beautiful 

 <'omb honey that is looked at ever afterward, and 

 it is for this reason that Doolittle has been advo- 

 cating taking off the honey wliile the combs are 

 snow white, all these years, rather than "white 

 sections," as Bro. A. imputes to me. I don't guess 

 at the matter; 1 know that snow white combs will 

 sell both in the New York and Boston markets at 

 from two to three cents a pound above those left 

 on the hives until they are colored, each having 

 the same quality of honey, and an experience as to 

 the selling price of the two, during the past 

 fifteen years, is the reason of that "know." 



THE APRIL BEE-KEEPER. 



Emphasizing the Good Things in the 

 Last Number. 



IIV <;. M. I)(K)I.1TTI,E. 



ALLOW me, in hflialf of the readers 

 (if TlIK A.MKHIC.W Kkk-kkki'ek, 

 to tliank ••Swartliiuore" for tlie 

 further light he throws on liis phiii of 

 working his bees for non-swarminff. 

 Sorry he could not heed the request, 

 that he write over his own name rather 

 than a iium deplume, \\x\t liis articles 

 are very readable, in any (nent. 



RK.MOVING THK OI.l) gi'KKX. 



"■Swarthmore" tells us that the reason 

 he removes the old queen, after she* lias 

 been conlint^d behind the queen (excluder 

 for eight or ten days, is because '-should 

 she be allowed to run at lar«;e again on 

 the combs of that hive the bees would 

 soon prepare to swarni : w;hen. if a 

 yoiiiiji- (|ueen or a cell is introduced 

 instead there will be little danger of a 

 swarm froui that colonv at all that 



year." The giving of a young queen to 

 any colony, if done in the right time, so 

 as not to interfere with th.e honey crop 

 through the cutting off of the egg 

 supply, just when those eggs are to give 

 bees which will come on the stage of 

 action right in the harvest, is something 

 that brings activity to any colony, when 

 this young queen begins to lay, as is 

 given, hence is a good thing ; but, as far 

 as my observation goes — and my experi- 

 ments have been conducted for more 

 than twenty years along this line — such 

 young queen produces no more activity 

 in a colony than does the allowing of 

 their own queen to run at large, after 

 she has been caged the same length of 

 time that may elapse before the young 

 queen commences to lay. And my ex- 

 periments also convince me that 

 swarming does not hinge on the age of 

 the queen, but rather on the break that 

 is made in the normal condition of the 

 colony, through a certain period oc- 

 curring, during which no eggs are laid, 

 when the queen is confined from the 

 combs ; then following a period when 

 there are no larvie to feed, and later 

 on. when tluM'o are lu) young bees 

 emerging from the cells. This break, 

 through tlie confining of the queen, 

 throws the colony out of its normal con- 

 dition along the line of eggs, larvitt and 

 emerging bees, and from this comes no 

 swarm; if this break is made about ten 

 to fifteen days before the main honey 

 harvest begins. By doing this work 

 early in May, or from six weeks to two 

 months before the harvest, bees in this 

 locality will swarm just as much with a 

 young queen as with any other, and 

 with any fairly prolific queen, under 

 these conditions, colonies are sure to 

 swarm, if tlie season is favorable, lint 

 by making the break at the right time, 

 and allowing it to cover a period of from 

 ten to twenty days, all disposition to 

 swarm is overcome, no matter how old 

 or how yo\ing the queen they have may 

 be, after the break has occurred. Hy 

 giving a virgin queen or a rjueen-ceH, 



