Sept. IH, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



597 



colony, preferably hybrids, as they are found to be the best 

 cell-builders. Thi.s colony is made quccnless and broodlcss, 

 the queen beinjf removed and used somewhere else, or placed 

 in a nucleus until wanted. Tlie brood is distributed amonff 

 other colonies in the apiary, or wherever it may be needed. 

 In two or three hours after this the queen-rearing colony is 

 ready for the j^'rafted cells. To wait until the next morninfj 

 would be waitinff too loiif,' a time, in Mr. Hy<le's opinion. 



Mr. Victor's method dilVers from both that of Mr. Hyde 

 and Mr. Aten. He considers that leavinj^- the colony over 

 night both queenless and broodless is too lonp a time. < )n 

 the other hand, he thinks that three or four hours is entirely 

 too short a time, as this period is only about sullicient for 

 the bees to find out that they are queenless. At this time 

 they are too much excited and confused to attend properly 

 to the grafted cells. He makes instead the colony queenless 

 one day, and about four o'clock the next afternoon removes 

 all brood. I/ate the same evening he gives the cells, pre- 

 pared much the same as by Mr. Hyde's method, and the bees 

 are kept closely concentrated for the entire night, giving 

 their attention to these cells. Out of 138 cells by this 

 method he had 13S accepted, distributing them among' differ- 

 ent cell building colonies at the rate of about .3.Scells toeach 

 one. For making cell-cups and grafting, he uses the Doo- 

 little plan, together with some features of the Alley plan 

 and some of his own. He has his own methods of manipu- 

 lation, by which he is enabled to gain one day's time over 

 the Alley plan. 



"Is the use of the queen-excluder an advantage, or to 

 the contrary, in honey-production ? " 



"No, not advantageous." 



" Does it pay to keep a colony on scales ? " 



" No, not from a financial standpoint." 



Under the head of General Business, at the close of the 

 meeting, Mr. H. H. Hyde addressed the Association on the 

 question of 



STAND.\RD l'.\CKAGKS FOR HONEY. 



He stated that heretofore no standard size had been 

 adopted by the bee-keepers, which had led to much con- 

 fusion and misunderstanding, especially between the pro- 

 ducer and the dealer. Mr. Hyde advocated the adoption of 

 standard-sized packages, so as to avoid this confusion in the 

 future. 



Heretofore, for extracted honey, cans with small screw 

 tops have been used, having respective capacities of 6,12, and 

 60 pounds. Under this arrangement they were crated so as 

 to make either 60-lb. or 120-Ib. cases or crates. The cans for 

 comb honey have been made with 4 inch screw-tops for the 

 6 and 12-pound sizes, with 8-inch screw-tops for the larger 

 sizes. 



Of late a new-style package, known as " the friction-top 

 can," has come into quite extensive use. This is better and 

 cheaper than the old style so long used. But there are ob- 

 jections to it in its varying weights and capacities, and also 

 the way in which it is cased. 



It is made in sizes — 2, 3, 5, 10, and 60 pounds — and put 

 up in cases or crates of different weights, the larger size 

 cases weighing but 80 pounds. This means mistakes in or- 

 dering, and general misunderstanding and confusion. 



On motion, the Association adopted as standard size 

 packages, the following : Cans of 3, 6, 12, and 60 pounds 

 capacity, each and all to be crated in cases either of 60 or 120 

 pounds ; the 3 and 6 pound cans to be crated in double tiers, 

 each case containing 60 pounds, while the 12 and 60 pound 

 cans are always to be crated in cases containing 120 pounds 

 each. This secures a uniform sized package, and a simple 

 method of putting honey on the market. 



Pres. Toepperwein was instructed to meet with a certain 

 can company and co-operate with them in the manufacture 

 and supply of this new standard package. Southwest Texas 

 alone will use, during the coming season, not less than 20 

 carloads of these cans, which will be filled with honej' for 

 strictly family use. 



The bee-keepers' exhibit this year was not as large and 

 complete as the previous year, but a grander exhibit than 

 ever before is being planned for readiness at the next meet- 

 ing. 



Mr. H. A. Mitchell had on exhibition the finest sections 

 of basswood honey that was ever exhibited at the Associa- 

 tion meetings, and his exhibit carried off the medal. 



A collection of honey-plants was shown by Louis H. 

 Scholl, and was found to be very instructive. A similar 

 collection of honey-plants of Central Texas was also shown 

 by the Department of Entomology, of the College. 



Louis H. Scholl, Sec. 



(The End.) 



^ Contributed Articles, l 



H'ww^'w*i'r»"wwwvr'wwvr'>i'^«-vf*r^"^<x 



Old Bees Not the Best for Queen-Rearing. 



BY G. M. IKJOI.ITTLE. 



A beekeeper in an adjoining State and myself have 

 been having a little correspondence regarding the giving 

 of a colony, which has been queenless six or seven weeks, 

 brood from which to rear a queen, I telling him that a first- 

 class queen can not be reared that way, even where only 

 eggs are given, as he seems to think that better queens can 

 be reared from '■ //le I'j^j^" than in any other way. One of 

 the claims I made was that field bees could not, from neces- 

 sity, make good nurse-bees. In his reply to my last letter, 

 he comes at me in this way : 



"If field-bees make poor nurses, how about a colon3' 

 that comes out of their winter quarters in the spring both 

 queenless and broodless, as is quite often the case ? If 

 given choice brood, will they be prepared to care for it to 

 the best advantage and rear a queen that is satisfactory ? 

 If so, why will not queenless bees do the same when of the 

 same age ? I have often seen it stated that we should give 

 brood to such colonies as are queenless when put out from 

 winter quarters. Or do you regard this, as you do the 

 other, as a makeshift, when nothing else can lie done ? I 

 should like to have your opinion in these matters given 

 through the American Bee Journal, as others are interested." 



In reply, I would say that there is quite a difference 

 between old field-bees and the bees which come out of win- 

 ter quarters as regards their making good nurse-bees. The 

 vitality, or the different parts of the anatomy of the bee 

 which perform different offices, become exhausted or 

 changed in accord with the amount of labor performed, not 

 in accord with the number of days which go by ; hence, a 

 bee which has seen five months of winter, where a colony 

 has wintered to the best advantage, may be no older in 

 reality than the same bee would be at from 10 to 20 days 

 old, were the date of the season June or July. 



It is a fact with which many are acquainted, that bees 

 which have been wintered over become good nurse-bees, 

 while many are as fully cognizant that a bee which has 

 been in the field as a field-worker for two weeks is almost 

 wholly incapacitated for such work ; and if forced to nurse 

 the larva;, does it as a " makeshift," as our correspondent 

 puts it. 



I have found that a colony losing its queen soon after 

 coming through the winter, will rear a very fair queen, 

 though I have never found them to be among the best ; but 

 in order to rear such a fair queen it seems necessary that 

 the nurse-bees should be feeding some larval bees before 

 they set about rearing a queen. I have often taken a col- 

 ony of queenless and broodless bees in the spring and built 

 them up in this way : 



As soon as possible after spring opens give them a 

 frame of eggs and larv;e, and in eight or ten days open the 

 hive and break out or cut off" all the queen-cells they maj' 

 have started, giving brood to them once a week if possible, 

 until plenty of young bees emerge from the first brood 

 given, when I give a frame of brood from my choicest col- 

 ony, and allow them to rear a queen from the same. In 

 this way I have succeeded in securing queens that would 

 prove of value, and saved a colony which otherwise would 

 have been lost. Had I allowed them to perfect a queen 

 from the brood first given, she would have been a make- 

 shift queen, and, in all probability, a drone-layer, as she 

 would have been perfected quite a little before there would 

 have been drones flying for her fecundation. I firmly hold 

 to this belief, the same coming from long experience and 

 deep study along the queen-rearing line, that good queens 

 can not be reared except where there are nurse-bees in the 

 hive, feeding larva; at the time they are required to rear 

 queens. 



To force any bee, which is not in the habit of preparing 

 chyle, to prepare immediately the same for a larva intended 

 for a queen is out of the ordinary course of Nature, and the 

 result can be only an apology for the better article, or a 

 •' makeshift," as our questioner puts it. And such colonies 

 as have been queenless six or seven weeks in midsummer 

 can have no chyle prepared, for it would be at least 30 to 33 

 days since the last larva in that hive had been sealed over, 



