758 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



would be worse than useless, yet there 

 Is an exact time when supers should be 

 put on, and this time, as a rule, is rather 

 short, for if put on before the colony is 

 in a condition to commence work on 

 them it will take considerable heat from 

 the bees to warm up this extra space, 

 and at this time all of the warmth that 

 the colony can generate is needed to 

 carry on brood-rearing advantageously. 

 Often, too, the bees will tear down or 

 gnaw holes in the comb-foundation star- 

 ters if they are not in a condition to go 

 to work building the starters out into 

 full depth combs. 



The starters, also, if allowed to remain 

 too long unused, become hard and 

 brittle, and are not so acceptable or so 

 easily worked by the bees. 



On the other hand, if we wait too long 

 there are other conditions equally objec- 

 tionable For, should the bees be gath- 

 ering nectar quite freely, and have no 

 room to store it above, they will com- 

 mence storing it in brood-combs : soon 

 every available cell is filled with honey, 

 and the queen has no empty cells in 

 which to deposit eggs, thus brood-rearing 

 is curtailed, the hive becomes crowded, 

 and the bees become possessed with a 

 desire to swarm when it is very difficult 

 to induce them to enter the supers, for 

 where bees once commence storing their 

 sweets, there they will persist in contin- 

 uing their work, and when they have 

 once got the idea of swarming in their 

 little heads, they seem to think of noth- 

 ing else, and will enter the supers very 

 reluctantly if at all, and if they carry 

 into effect their desire to swarm our 

 best chances for a full crop of honey 

 are past. 



Thus we see that the time for putting 

 on the supers is generally very short, 

 and should be improved while it lasts. 

 Therefore, each individual'should study 

 this subject for himself. Acquaint your- 

 self with the condition of your colonies 

 by making frequent examinations ; note 

 which are the strongest and give them 

 supers first, for a few of the strongest 

 may be in a condition to commence stor- 

 ing surplus while weaker ones may not 

 get ready at all, for a colony that is not 

 populous should not be expected to store 

 comb honey, and can usually be worked 

 to better advantage by running them 

 for extracted honey. 



Post yourself on the flora of your lo- 

 cality, that you may know just where to 

 expect the greatest yield of sweets from 

 field and forest, and you will soon be 

 able to master the problem. Here in 

 our locality the time varies according to 

 the earliness of the season, from the 



latter part of May to the first week or 

 ten days in June. 



Where white clover is plentiful we 

 may note when the bees first commence 

 work on the bloom and consider that 

 the time is at hand, for in a short time, 

 if everything is favorable, we may ex- 

 pect strong colonies to be storing consid- 

 erable quantities of the sweet nectar. 



Bluft'ton, Mo. 



CXTZZZ XX«XXX«XXXXXXXgXXXXXXTXTXltX1 



Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper witn business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Called "Lucky" -A Friendly Feeling-. 



Tlie bees are '' hustling." I lost 4 colonies 

 out of 11, and people call me "lucky.'' 



I enjoy the visits of the Bee Journal 

 very much. There is such a friendly feel- 

 ing among the bee-papers, that the influence 

 is worth the cost of the paper. My students 

 enjoyed " Wung Lung's Experience," as 

 they did the biograpliy of Mr. A. I. Root — a 

 rival editor. Surely, the devil finds poor 

 picking among such men. 



F. F. Main, B. S. 



Newton Falls, O., May 23, 1893. 



Age When Virgin Q,ueens Mate. 



1 have read the article on page 461, on 

 the age when virgin queens mate. J. A. 

 refers to Mr. Wilder Graham's saying that 

 a quedb must mate within 21 days, or she 

 never mates. 1 say the same. Of course 

 there are exceptions to all rules, so there 

 might be one out of a hundred tliat mates 

 after she is 21 days old. I had one last 

 spring to mate when she was about tliat 

 age, but tliat was the only one in 22 years' 

 experience — tliat is, I mean to lay worker 

 eggs. J. A.'s queens must have been rather 

 slim and poor, and got througli the ex- 

 cluder and mated some time in the winter, 

 or else they must have been some new kind 

 of bees — may be they were Funics ! 



My experience in queen-rearing is, that 

 a young queen will usually mate in from .5 

 to 7 or 8 days after hatching, if the weather 

 is favorable, and usually lays eggs on the 

 nth; and if the weather should be so cold 

 tliat she could not get out in about 21 days, 

 she would be a drone-egg layer, and I con- 

 sider h«r worthless. 1 want my queens 



