Aug. 9, 1906 



689 



American Itee Journal 



Conducted by Morley Pettit, Villa Nova, Oat. 



Systematic Requeening- 



J. L. Iiyer, in the June Canadian 

 Bee Journal, is agitated over the same 

 question that has troubled me the last 

 few years — the matter of replacing 

 failing queens : 



After clipping queens and generally over- 

 hauling all colonies, I find by actual count 

 that out of 270 odd colonies just 34 are either 

 queenless or had drone-layers. Of these 34 I 

 happen to know that 32 gave good service 

 last season. Of the remaining 2, one was poor 

 last season, and the other was bought from a 

 dealer last September. This spring she was a 

 drone-layer. Last spring my loss by the 

 same causes was about 10 percent. Of course, 

 it should be borne in mind that I have had 

 practically no swarming during the past two 

 seasons. 



It certainly appears quite plausible to as- 

 sume that if those 34 colonies had young 

 queens at their head this spring, they would 

 be a much better-paying proposition than is 

 the case in their present condition. 



Each spring I find every queen, and 

 note on the back of the hive her age. 

 If her wings are entire she is marked 

 " one year," as having gone througti 

 at least a part of the previous seasOD. 

 As a rule, she goes through that second 

 season and does well, but when she 



comes to the following spring to be 

 marked "2 years," she may do well 

 that third season or she may not. I 

 believe the wisest plan is to replace her 

 as soon as possible with a home-grown 

 queen reared in a good nucleus from a 

 cell that has been capped in a colony 

 preparing to swarm. 



My system involves a weekly inspec- 

 tion of every brood-chamber. Occa- 

 sionally I find nice capped cells. Here 

 is the time to make nuclei— one for 

 every cell. No doubt it would pay to 

 rear queens earlier scientifically, but it 

 means more work and attention when 

 one is busy with out-yards. These 

 nuclei, in a good flow, will look after 

 themselves, and the queen, when fer- 

 tilized, is ready to be used where 

 needed. Occasionally also we find a 

 failing queen — catch a glimpse of her 

 as she goes around the corner of a 

 comb, follow her around and kill her. 

 Immediately a nucleus with a laying 

 queen is united with this colony. 



Short Honey Crop— Swarming 



The honey crop with me is almost a total 

 failure. One time I did not think we would 

 have enough for our own use, but on looking 



among the bees I find that 6ome of them will 

 have 20 or 25 pounds of honey in their supers. 



1 do not know what the quality will be like- 

 as a rule, small quantity, poor honey. We 

 have no basswood here, so when the clover is 

 done the season is over with us. 



I am at a loss to know what to do when a 

 swarm comes off (about one-third of mine 

 have swarmed out of 150). I have been 

 either doubling them up or returning them to 

 the parent hive. I wish you would be kind 

 enough to let me know what you would do in 

 a like case. 



It is rain, rain, here nearly every day. Just 

 now we had a heavy rain ; same yesterday, 

 and so it has been all summer, with the ex- 

 ception of a few days. 



I was talking with Mr. Byer yesterday ; he 

 is in the same way— no honey of any conse- 

 quence. My bees were never in better shape 

 than they were last spring, and they are very 

 strong now, sending off large swarms. 



We had a violent hail-storm about the be- 

 ginning of clover blossom. I think I am safe 

 in putting the loss of my bees into " bushels," 

 as they had bees hanging out on two-thirds or 

 more of the hives; that cleaned them up for 



2 weeks. J. F. D. 

 York Co., Ont. 



In the first place, it is not necessary 

 to have natural swarms. But if you 

 do not care to adopt some non-swarm- 

 ing method you would better hive the 

 swarm on the old stand, setting the 

 parent hive to one side. Give the 

 supers to the swarm. In a week re- 

 move it to the other side of the swarm 

 to weaken it by loss of flying bees that 

 will go to the swarm. This will likely 

 prevent after-swarming. 



In a couple of weeks more the parent 

 hive will likely have a young queen 

 laying nicely. Now hunt out and kill 

 the old queen in the swarm, and unite 

 by setting the parent hive on the 

 swarm — super style. The next week, 

 when the bees have become thoroughly 

 acquainted, get the best combs of 

 brood, honey and pollen into the brood- 

 chamber with the queen, and the work 

 is done. 



The •' Old Reliable " as seen through New and Unreliabi 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Masculine Pronouns Only for Drones. 



Let me inquire why sauce for goose should 

 not be sauce for gander. Won't let me use 

 masculine pronouns anent the gentle bee 

 ibave tried it often), but, lo, in Morley 



Pettit's column, page 524, " bee knocked 



off his feet by the field-gang." Canadian bees 

 must be less persistently feminine than ours. 

 — [Guess that's ■■ one on us," unless it was a 

 " loafer " drone that was " knocked off his 

 feet:" And that was not the meaning, of 

 course. — Editor.] 



Odor of Wild Grape Bloom. 



Yes, Sister Wilson, the odor of the grape in 

 bloom i6 one of the most subtile, delicate, 

 penetrating, and, to those that like it. one of 



the most delightful of perfumes. Many ad- 

 mire it and can not find out where it comes 

 from. Nice to have wire fence covered with 

 grapes. Horses can see the fence then before 

 they run into it and wound themselves. But 

 the wild grape on the young trees of your 

 forestry plot is a destroying nuisance. Page 

 524. 



Seeing Queens at Swarmino-Time. 



Scholl quotes the Texas beginner who wants 

 to see the queen when he hives the bees, but 

 does not mention the somewhat singular fact 

 that thus trauspires. Very few brethren 

 have hived as many swarms as I have (not 

 sure that any one has), and in my experience 

 I find I rather rarely see a fertile queen while 

 hiving. Sometimes I take pains to try to see 



one — and almost never see one then. Virgin 

 queens are quite frequently seen; they keep 

 such an everlasting tearing around. Page 

 525. 



Big Texas Bee County. 



So one county of Texas has 17,500 colonies 

 of bees. Ohio, with the same in each county, 

 should have 1,400,000. Page 525. 



Taste of Golden Willow Honey. 



Thanks to Doolittle for the information 

 that the honey of the golden willow is not 

 bitter, but a nice article. I credit my early 

 spring honey to pussy willow (poplars help- 

 ing before they died off so), and it is too bit- 

 ter for human eating. Probably excellent, 

 very excellent, as a bee6' spring medicine. 

 Page 526 



Cause of Foul Brood — Size of Bee's Egg 

 —Proper Disinfectant for Tools 

 and Hands. 

 I believe it has been claimed that Bacillus 

 alvei is not the cause of foul brood. Rather 

 rank claim -but I guess we should be driven 

 to embrace it heartily if the Cheshire doctrine 

 that honey can not carry the infection was 

 about to be forced upon us. That is, if 

 JBacillu. aluei is practically never in the honey 

 then somethio^ else which Is in Iht koney is 

 the infecting cause. But Cheshire's facts 

 would better be respected — saw 5 bacilli swim- 

 ing lazily along an ovarian tube, and i-ounted 

 9 in a half -developed egg, A virulence that 

 causes larva- to die very young seems be6t 

 accounted for by the theory of infected eggs. 

 But 3 days is a great length of time in I he 



