790 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 16, 



Now, If Mr. Poppleton will tell me where to begin counting 

 the 5 or 10 minutes I have tost in the operation, I will grant 

 that he is right. 



I hinted very strongly, in a previous article, that there 

 was a besl time to do all our work, and I find that time to be 

 when nothing else is pressing, but it is too often the case with 

 most men that there Is ahvdus something pressing, and the 

 queen-cell cutting must be delayed until the swarm Is dis- 

 posed of, or until next day, and altho grandfather managed 

 thus, it is no excuse for you and me, in this progressive age. 

 You may say It Is Impracticable to disturb the bees while 

 swarming. How do you know it Is? Every bee ready to go out 

 with the swarm will go, and not one bee more by being dis- 

 turbed at that time; and when you begin to takeout the 

 frames, the swarming part of the colony will take wing imme- 

 diately, and they are in reality helpt instead of hindered; as 

 the majority of the old colony are afield, the combs are almost 

 bare, and queen-cells are found at a glance; whereas, when 

 you have to use smoke, the center combs, where you expect to 

 find the best queen-cells, will be so thickly covered with bees 

 that It will require about 15 minutes to make safe work of it. 



The greater portion of my queens are dipt In order to 

 facilitate my work should the whole apiary take the " swarm- 

 ing fever," as we know they do some years without any appar- 

 ent cause for It. 



I always have a cage at hand, and while handling the 

 frames, keep an eye on the entrance for the queen, but she 

 often comes out In time for me to cage her before opening the 

 hive. 



We often cause ourselves unnecessary work by not doing 

 our work early enough, and here Is where I commenced to 

 lighten my labor, and tho not being able to do half of a man's 

 labor, I can do more In the apiary than I could 20 years ago, 

 and am still learning. 



I hope the younger readers will take a hint from the 

 above. If the older ones do not ; and I would like to add my 

 mite, from time to time, to the many good things we find in 

 tho Indispensable "Old Rellalble." 



Correction. — Please allow me to say that on page 594, 

 third sentence should read, " And as only crowded colonies 

 need ventilation, etc.," instead of, "And as only covered colo- 

 nies, etc." An error of the " typo." 



Ventura Co., Calif. 



Advantages and Disadvantages of the Pres- 

 ence of Drones in the Hive. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



The following questions appeared In the " Question-Box " 

 some time ago, but requiring more space to reply to them than 

 is there allowed, we give our answer In this article: 



1. Do you think the advantages gained from the elimination oC 

 drones to be as great as is generally claimed, or are they overeslima- 

 ted? 



2. Are there not In your opinion counter-balancing advantages de- 

 rivable from ihelr presence In the hive in numbers more approaching 

 to what Nature proporDlons them, and which we may have possibly 

 overlookt '/ 



.'i Given an equal number of colonies, with queens of one age, and 

 all of equal strength, one set with combs of their own building, and 

 hence no restraint as to drone-rearliig. and the other set with only 

 worker-comhs, and hence Incapacitated from rearing drones, what. In 

 your estimation, would be the difference, approximately. In amoant 

 or surplus honey harvested ?— S. A. D. 



Answer, — Instead of believing that the advantages gained 

 om the elimination of drones have been over-estimated, we, 

 D the contrary, believe that they are overlookt by the major- 

 ity of bee-keepers. 



The writer of the query thinks that Nature has provided 

 the drones for a certain purpose. Yes, indeed, it has, and the 

 great number of drones in a hive, In natural circumstances. Is 

 another evidence of the correctness of the theory of natural 

 selection, or of the " survival of the fittest," as it has aptly 

 been called by the leading men of science, and by Darwin In 

 particular. In a state of nature the bees do not exist In very 

 great numbers In any one place, and when hives are several 

 miles apart. It becomes necessary that a great number of 

 drones be hatch t In each colony. In order that asufiiclent num- 

 ber of them be found In tho fields to render tho queen's bridal 

 flight successful. In other words, there must be enough drones 

 reared In each hive to make it almost an absolute certainty 

 that tho queen of this hive, or of any other, for several miles, 

 be sure to find one in the few minutes, or hours, at the uu)st, 

 that she spends in the air. Upon her life, tho life of thecolony 

 depends, as there are often no other means loft for tho contin- 

 uance of reproduction. All bee-keepers of experience know 



what little chance there Is for a colony whose queen Is lost In her 

 wedding flight, if young brood is not given it by the attentive 

 owner. 



But, under domestication, the conditions are changed ;the 

 colonies being congregated together in large numbers, It is 

 quite evident that the drones of one or two hives will serve the 

 same purpose that they would have served if those two hives 

 were the only ones within the bees' range. It is therefore use- 

 less to rear such a number of drones. In all the hives. 



The tjuerist desires to know what would be, approximate- 

 ly, the difference iu amount of surplus honey harvested, if col- 

 onies are incapacitated from rearing drones. Before answer- 

 ing that question we would like to enquire what advantage 

 the writer has found In the rearing of drones. They do not 

 work, they eat honey, in the hive, never out on the blossoms, 

 and their rearing decreases the number of workers reared. 

 Are not these facts sufficient to incite the bee-keepers to pre- 

 vent their production in numbers limited only by natural pro- 

 ficiency ? Is it necessary to theorize on the profit, and the ap- 

 proximate amount of honey saved by their suppression? If 

 we had to compute it we would place this amount at a very 

 high figure. 



In a square inch of comb about 55 workers may be reared, 

 while the same space will furnish room for only 30 drones, 

 both sides of the comb being taken as a matter of course. 

 Thus in a square foot of comb, where 5,000 drones could be 

 hatcht, you may rear nearly 8,000 workers. In round num- 

 bers. It looks reasonable that the same amount of feed will 

 rear either brood, since It occupies same space. And when they 

 have been hatcht, you have a small swarm of workers. Instead 

 of a heap of useless, bothersome gormands that do nothing but 

 loaf, but are sure to come home to eat. So if you have allowed 

 your colony to rear them at a great expense you soon become 

 convinced that they are in the way, and that they daily de- 

 crease your profits, and you perhaps go to work and provide a 

 drone-trap— a nuisance — to try to get rid of them ! Better not 

 rear them at all ! If you have taken pains to make sure of a, 

 sufficient number in one or two of your best colonies, why go 

 upon some imaginary Idea to permit their production in every 

 hive? If you try ever so hard, to get rid of the drone-comb, 

 you will still find more drones than you want when summer 

 comes. But you will do well, and will find It pays, if you, at 

 least, get rid of the biggest patches of drone-combs in all your 

 hives but the breeders, as mentioned before. 



What good did any one ever claim the drones do ? 

 " They kept the brood warm," some one says. But before 

 they keep the brood warm, they have to be first kept warm, 

 and they only hatch In the warm season, when there is but lit- 

 tle danger of the brood getting cold, and when night comes, 

 do not all the bees return to the hive and keep It warm ? and 

 is it not true that during the time when the drones are plenty, 

 the bees are rather too warm In the hive ? Is not this the time 

 when they cluster on the outside, because It Is too warm In- 

 side ? And you want the drones to keep them warm ? Better 

 have the drones reared for winter, then ! 



It seems to us that the advantages from removing the 

 drone-combs and replacing them with worker-combs are suffi- 

 ciently apparent to make the matter a question of very serious 

 consideration among practical bee-keepers, and unless some 

 better arguments are brought to bear to convince us of our 

 error, we will continue to advise our friends to remove the 

 drone-combs, and do it ourselves, whenever opportunity offers. 

 We are only sorry that we did not do it more carefully In former 

 years. Hancock Co., 111. 



ytt: 

 Preparing and Marketing Honey. 



BY A. C. SANFOKD. 



In my travels around the State I see the one-pound sec- 

 tion universally adopted, and also those nice 12-pound or 2-1- 

 pound cases ; and bee-keepers are learning to grade honey 

 and put it up nicely, but In some places it is yet sent to the 

 grocer In the bee-hive super, gum and all, which ought never 

 to be done, because such doings help to keep prices of honey 

 lower. 



Now we will look into the extracted or clear honey trade. 

 Uow do wo find It ? Well, the present season being a very 

 poor one for honey hero, I lookt for some in the eastern part 

 of the State that lulght be good enough and in suitable pack- 

 ages for family use. Tho situation is like this : It is put up 

 In such promiscuous packages that I wouldn't know what to 

 olTcr my customers. There seems to be a good deal put up iu 

 largo kegs, holding 50 to SOO pounds. Now I suppose these 

 packages are all right for bakers' and confectioners' use, but 

 will not do for the grocer or for the family trade, because they 

 are much too large, and honey Is hard to handle when once 



