282 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



amazed, and exclaims, "When you sa}- 

 that large colonies are more inclined to 

 swarm than small ones I wondered (sic) 

 what kind of bees or locality you have. 

 Your experience is almost diametrically 

 opposed to that of the great majority of 

 the whole bee-fraternity. Why, I sup- 

 posed it was almost an axiom that large 

 colonies are less inclined to swarm than 

 atmall ones. What does the Dadants' ex- 

 perience mean all these years on this 

 point.?" Well, well! I always supposed 

 large colonies were more liable to swarm 

 than small ones; and I have been in the 

 habit of providing against swarming on 

 that theory by putting queen-traps on 

 the large ones some time before I do on 

 the small ones. And strange to say, re- 

 sults have always justified that course. 

 Not only have the large ones always 

 swarmed earliest but always a very much 

 larger per cent, of them have swarmed. 

 I can't guess how the Dadants' experience 

 helps the editor's theory, for I have never 

 understood that their small colonies 

 swarmed more than their large ones. 



BEES DO NOT CARRY THEIR QEEEN WHEN 

 THEY SWARM. 



G. Gross (Gleanings, 626) relates how 

 he found one of his swarms with a clip- 

 ped queen 200 yards from his apiary ; and 

 concludes, "there is but one explanation 

 of it — the bees carried her." The only 

 prime swarm I remember having lost in 

 many years went to the woods with a 

 clipped queen; and the bees didn't carry 

 her. Bees don't carry queens under such 

 circumstances; but queens are very strong 

 on the wing. The moral is, be sure in 

 clipping queens to clip the wings suffi- 

 ciently. 



INSTRUCTION THAT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE 

 MISUNDERSTOOD BY A NOVICE. 



"Illinois," who is evidently very much 

 of a novice, writes that he put the divi- 

 sion board in "the middle of the frames" 

 and asks whether that is the right place. 

 Dr. Miller replies in the American Bee 

 Journal, page 438: "Put in all the frames, 

 crowd them all close to one side, then put 



the dunmiy close up ' against the last 

 frame." With such frames as the doctor 

 uses that advice would no doubt be suffi- 

 cient, even for one as wanting in experi- 

 ence as "Illinois" is, but with the com- 

 mon hanging frame used by most of the 

 beginners who read the doctor's replies, 

 one can imagine what a deplorable mess 

 would be made in carrying out these in- 

 structions. 



Upon the same page there is apparent- 

 ly an unfortunate jumble, either of the 

 questions or of the answers, but that is 

 not entirely clear, as one of the questions 

 is evaded. Will the doctor please straight- 

 en out these things ? 



WHAT KIND OF COI^ONIES OUGHT TO BE 

 COMPARED IN DISCUSSING CONTRAC- 

 TION OF THE BROOD-NEST ? 



In Gleanings, 630, the editor returns to 

 the subject of contraction; but I do not 

 see that he anywhere answers the ques- 

 tion I a.sk in the Review, 243, as to what 

 sort of colonies he is comparing those 

 much lauded two-story colonies with. 



IS IT FAIR TO THE WORKER ? 



A queen is said to be a perfect female, 

 and a worker an undeveloped female, 

 says Dr. Miller (Gleanings, 573), who 

 then asks: "Is that fair to the worker, for 

 parts fully developed in her are left un- 

 developed in the queen?" It strike* me 

 as entirely fair. The fact that she is well 

 developed in some characteristics having 

 no relation to sex surely cannot help her 

 out as a female. 



'TWAS THE WORK OF A WORKER. 



Upon the same page the doctor tells 

 how, in an upper story, shut ofT from the 

 brood chamber by an excluder, but hav- 

 ing had brood and eggs in it eight days 

 before, he found "three queen-cell cups 

 containing eggs. ' ' I have confidence that 

 I can give correct answers to the four 

 questions he asks touching the matter. 

 My answers are: i. Bees do not keep eggs 

 eight days, nor any other extra time, 

 without hatching if they are able to keep 

 the eggs warm. 2. Bees do not carry eggs 

 from the lower story nor any other place 



