212 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Causes of Stiort-Liyeil Queens. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY J. F. MICHAEL. 



The reason why so many queens placed 

 upon the market find an early death, is 

 chiefly from two causes. One is, the 

 larvEe used to rear queens is not of the 

 right age. The demand for cheap 

 queens has been so great that many 

 have been induced to go into the busi- 

 ness and rear queens by any method, the 

 cheaper the better in order to supply the 

 demand. 



The bees when preparing to swarm 

 will construct queen-cells, and the queen 

 will deposit eggs in them. This larvae 

 receives royal food from the very begin- 

 ing. Should the larvtB be three days old 

 when transferred to the queen-cell, 

 three days this larva^ has been fed 

 worker-bee food instead of royal food. 

 If a queenless colony is given larvae in 

 all stages, a queen some times hatches in 

 ten days, showing clearly that larvte too 

 old has been used. The larvae should be 

 used as soon as the naked eye can dis- 

 cern it in the bottom of the cell. 



The other reason is, queens reared out 

 of season. If queens are reared before 

 the swarming season is on, the colony 

 caring for the larval queens must, by 

 some means, be placed in a normal con- 

 dition. The colony must have plenty of 

 sealed brood, bees emerging from the 

 cells, and old bees which carry honey 

 from the fields. A few old, worn-out bees 

 will not rear good queens under the most 

 favorable circumstances. 



There are other things which tend to 

 lengthening out the life of queens. The 

 class of queen-breeders who look only at 

 the easiest way to take in the dimes, 

 will sooner or later find their occupa- 

 tion gone; while the careful breeder, 

 who cares for his patrons, will find his 

 prospects brightening. 



German, Ohio. 



Best FouiMon for Dse In Sections. 



lies tilts of Experiments at the Michigan Apiary. 

 BY R. L. TAYLOR, APIARIST. 



(Continued from page 213.) 

 My next resource was mechanical in- 

 struments for fine work in measuring 

 and weighing. I knew there were such 

 instrumeats at our agricultural college, 

 and in speaking of the matter with Mr. 

 E. R. Root he informed me that his 



house possessed a micrometer, and gen- 

 erously put it at my service. To the 

 septa of the foundations I added one 

 from natural comb which I designated 

 by the letter " I." I at once gave Mr. 

 Root a set, and measurements of them 

 were taken by C. C. Washburn, of his 

 establishment, who is skilled in such 

 work. These measurements appear 

 further on. 



To procure samples of comb for the 

 purpose of the weighing test, I took two 

 sets of sections of the several varieties 

 and extracted the honey as thoroughly 

 as possible, then after filling the cells 

 with water, I plunged them in a large 

 vessel of water where they remained 24 

 hours, when they were further washed 

 and then thoroughly dried. To get 

 pieces of exactly the same size I shaved 

 off the comb from both sides to bring all 

 to an equal thickness, about one-half 

 inch. To accomplish this, I began by 

 cutting away the section-box within a 

 little less than a fourth of an inch of the 

 septum, making the opposite sides per- 

 fectly straight and parallel ; then using 

 these sides as guides, with a long, 

 straight, sharp knife all portions of the 

 comb jutting out were shaved off, leav- 

 ing a perfectly flat surface of comb. 



As guides ifor shaving off the other 

 side, two straight pieces of wood of even 

 thickness — about half an inch — were 

 nailed to a smooth, flat board, and after 

 cutting away the other edges of the sec- 

 tion-box sufficiently, it was laid on the 

 flat side of the comb between these and 

 fixed firmly with wedges, when the 

 superfluous comb was shaved away as 

 before. After this process was com- 

 pleted, a circular piece to be used for 

 the purposes of the experiment was cut 

 from each with a rim of tin a little more 

 than 2}i inches in diameter, used after 

 the manner of a cake-cutter, thus leaving 

 in each case the septum with a portion 

 of the cells upon each side. 



The first set I thus prepared came 

 short of perfection to such an extent as 

 to be unsatisfactory, so I made use of 

 the other set only. These were taken 

 to the college, and after having them 

 weighed I cut each sample in two, giv- 

 ing one part to Dr. Beal of the college 

 for measurement, reserving the others 

 and afterwards sending them to Mr. E. 

 R. Root, to secure another set of meas- 

 urements from Mr. Washburn, so as to 

 get them from two capable persons, of 

 the same comb as nearly as practicable. 

 As it turned out, Mr. Washburn was 

 ill when these reached him, and a sub- 

 stitute was found in Mr. Hnbbell. As 

 will appear in the summary, he took a 



