1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



585 



pans can be folded at a time. I as well as other 

 readers of Gleanings should like to know of it. 



LEAKING QUEENS AFTER THE SUM.MER HONEY- 

 FLOW. 



Question. — I have some queens which I wish 

 to supersede with queens of my own raising 

 after the summer honey-flow, or in the interval 

 between the summer and fall flow of honey. 

 Can I raise thorn as late as August, and be sure 

 •of drones for their fertilization, without any 

 special provision for drones? In other words, 

 how late can I reasonably expect queens to be 

 fertilized in the ordinary drone season ? 



Answer. — In this locality drones are usually 

 ■driven out of the hives soon after the summer 

 honey-flow ceases ; and unless there should 

 happen to be some queenless colony in the 

 neighborhood which would keep their drones, 

 the queens reared at such season of the year 

 might prove to be drone-layers ; still, as a rule, 

 some colonv within mating distance of our 

 •queens is liable to hold or keep their drones so 

 that little risk is run in having queens prove 

 •drone-layers if reared in August. But I should 

 prefer to run no risk, nor would I wish ray 

 •queens to take their chances of mating inferior 

 drones, coming from a promiscuous source; and 

 for this reason I set frames of drone comb in 

 •one or two of my best colonies for drones about 

 the middle of the summer honey-flow; and as 

 soon as the flow is over this drone brood is 

 massed in a strong colony, which is now made 

 •queenless, when it will keep these selected 

 -drones as long as it is kept queenless. If fed 

 abundantly, this colony will rear fine queens 

 for you, but little if any inferior to those reared 

 in. the height of the honey-flow. This massing 

 ■of drone- brood from selected mothers, for fall- 

 rearing of queens, pays as well, according to 

 my way of thinking, as any thing any queen- 

 breeder can do. I firmly believe that, with 

 many other of our most practical bee-keepers, 

 more depends on the selection of the drones 

 than on the selection of the queen we breed 

 from; yet how few pay any attention to this 

 matter of the selection of drones ! The one great 

 hindrance to a rapid improvement of our stock 

 along the many lines we wish, lies in the fact 

 that at best we have only very imperfect con- 

 trol of the drones which our queens mate with. 

 Nearly every year some one writes me that they 

 are ready for the S^lOO I once offered for a sure 

 and simple way of mating an individual queen 

 to an individual drone, so that we could be as 

 positive regarding the matter as we were with 

 the most of our other domestic stock; but when 

 I come to write for particulars of the matter it 

 always turns out to be the same as in the past, 

 that some device has been employed like a 

 tent, barrel with glass in the top, etc., after 

 which the queen was put in the hive, and in 

 four or five days she was laying. Being told 

 that the queen flew from the hive after being 

 put in, and that she must have her wing clip- 



ped before she leaves the tent, etc., in order to 

 claim the offer, no one lays claim to it after 

 such precautions are taken, and I feel justified 

 in claiming that there has not been a single in- 

 stance where a queen has produced worker 

 brood and bees, except as she has flown out in 

 the open air to seek a partner, free to go where 

 she desired. I used to believe the controlling 

 of the mating of our queens was a possibility ; 

 but my faith is growing weaker every year. 



THE 1894 DOVETAILED CHAFF HIVE. 



It is not too early yet to be considering meth- 

 ods of wintering. If you expect to winter out- 

 doors, as the majority seem to do in this lati- 

 tude, it is about time you were considering 

 your double-walled hives, if you have not yet 

 laid in your supply. Our dovetailed chaff hive 

 has given good satisfaction, with one exception, 

 and that was the cover. The wet from the 

 rains had a fashion of creeping up the perpen- 

 dicular edges of the water-table, and soaking 

 the cushions. Accordingly, last winter we 

 made large telescope covers* — large enough 



DOVETAILED CHAFF HIVE. 



to telescope over the hive, water-table and all, 

 and 9 inches deep. This left room for a good - 

 sized chaff cushion to rest over the brood-nest, 

 and to extend over the water-table. All that 

 is necessary in preparing for winter is to put on 

 the cushion over the Hill device, and slip the 

 cover over the hive. The accompanying en- 

 graving will show the arrangement as we use 

 and recommend it. The water-table remains 

 the same as it was made several years ago. 



*Just tlie s;ime as ust-d on tlie winter case. 



