130 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



was located in a real honey country 

 I might have to modify my opinions 

 and practices. 



In the case of two cells of nearly 

 the same age, by which I mean as far 

 as I can judge by the appearance of 

 the "tips" where the bees have re- 

 moved the surplus wax, leaving the 

 fibrous cocoon showing, indicating 

 that those cells are about ready to 

 hatch, on the emerging of the first 

 queen the other is usually destroyed. 

 Where one ripe cell is left and one 

 with a very young grub the bees us- 

 ually let the latter mature until the 

 first matured queen is mated and lay- 

 ing. 



I am frank to confess that the 

 whole thing is largely a rule of 

 thumb and not an exact science, as 

 it ought to be. But "second swarms" 

 are so unusual with me, and as 

 queens lost in mating are not unus- 

 ual, I adopted a plan which I thought 

 would safeguard the colony. If we 

 could always control or forecast con- 

 ditions we might be able to work 

 more exactly. To the same condi- 

 tions bees always react in the same 

 way. When it seems otherwise we 

 may rest assured we have failed to 

 correctly analyze the conditions. 



As to queens inheriting swarming 

 impulse through being reared in a 

 swarming colony, I am pleased that 

 Doctor Miller and I are agreed that 

 it is not so. As for the heredity of 

 the swarm impulse in Carniolans, let 

 me say it this waj', doctor, and see 

 if you do not agree: The Carniolans 

 inherit a super-sensitiveness to heat 

 and humidity, or more correctly, in- 

 herit a system adapted to the atmos- 

 pheric conditions of high altitudes, 

 and when we subject them to our 

 conditions they react by swarming. 

 ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



I ofifer most humble apologies for 

 having held the foregoing in my 

 hands for the past si.x months. My 

 health has been such that the thought 

 of writing a very few words has 

 seemed burdensome. 



I must confess it had not occurred 

 to me that locality had anything 

 to do with the rules and regulations 

 of bees as to their treatment of 

 queen cells, but of course it may 

 have. Certainly, in this locality, if 

 more than one mature queen cell 

 were present I should expect one of 

 two things to happen, either the first 

 virgin emerging would destroy the 

 ofhers, or else these latter would be 

 protected by the workers and the 

 oldest virgin would issue with ' a 

 swarm. And I cannot help wonder- 

 ing. Brother Miller, if lighter honey- 

 flows should make your bees act dif- 

 ferently, why light flows here would 

 not have the same effecc, foi this lo- 

 cality is by no means a stranger to 

 light flows, even if honey does some- 

 times come in a flood. 



You say that where there are two 

 cells of nearly the same age the sec- 

 ond is usually destroyed upon the 

 emerging of the first virgin. Here I 

 think it is always destroyed unless a 

 swarm issues. If a very young grub 

 be in one cell, it may be destroyed in 

 its tender youth, or if may be allowed 



to reach maturity, but not to con- 

 tinue longer. 



As to Carniolans inheriting a super- 

 sensitiveness that under certain con- 

 ditions leads to swarming, I'm not 

 learned enough to know. Anyhow, in 

 the long run, that amounts to the 

 same thing as saying that Carniolans 

 inherit something that accounts for 

 their swarming more than others; so 

 there can hardly be any quarrel be- 

 tween us on that point. 



C. C. MILLER. 



Professor Werner Dies 



We have just received word of the 

 death of Prof. H.R.Werner, of Ames, 

 Iowa, on February 13, with pneumo- 

 nia following influenza. Mr. Wer- 

 ner was a young man of promise and 

 a careful student of some of the diffi- 

 cult problems relating to the honey- 

 bee. In the 1917 report of the State 

 Apiarist of Iowa appeared a paper 

 by Mr. Werner, "The Mechanism 

 Which Determines Sex in the Honey- 

 bee," which attracted more than pass- 

 ing notice. 



Mr. Werner obtained his B. S. and 

 M. Ph. degrees at Franklin and Mar- 

 shall College, and his M. S. degree at 

 Princeton University. He leaves a 

 small son of about one year of age, 

 a daughter of three, together with a 

 wife, to whom we extend our sincere 

 sympathy. 



The Introduction of the Pound 

 Package 



By F. W. Osier 



JUDGING by the number of queries 

 in our journals it would seem 

 that the proper manipulation of 

 the pound package is somewhat of a 

 stumbling block to the average be- 

 ginner, yet when a few underlying 

 principles of apiculture are under- 

 stood the operation becomes one of 

 the simplest. First, it must be under- 

 stood that the unit in apiculture is 

 one complete hive with a queen. This 

 organized colony will care for its 

 queen, raise brood, gather stores and 

 fight to the death in the defense of 

 its home. The individual bee loses its 

 individuality in the colony. If it be 

 hurt, sick or worn out, it is promptly 

 discarded. Even the queen Is super- 

 seded when her days of usefulness 

 are ended; a new queen takes her 

 place and the work of the colony con- 

 tinues with the one end in view, 

 namely, the propagation of the spe- 

 cies. 



A pound package is a number of 

 bees, sometimes taken from several 

 colonies who have lost their home 

 and queen, find themselves confined 

 in a receptacle foreign to their nat- 

 ural conditions — nothing more than a 

 disorganized mass of bees only too 

 anxious to find a home after their 

 strange experience. 



The beginner in apiculture is at a 

 loss to know how to organize or 

 unify this force of bees. If the queen 

 is in a separate cage he fears she will 

 be balled, and if he opens the pound 

 package the bees themselves might 



fly away or he himself be badly stung 

 by the angry (?) bees. 



The matter is really very simple, 

 and a careful perusal of the following 

 directions should clear away most of 

 the trouble. Be sure to have the hive 

 prepared before the expected arrival 

 of the bees. If you are starting your 

 first hive with foundation, put in full 

 sheets on well wired frames (starters 

 are poor economy, to say the least, 

 and buying second-hand drawn comb 

 should always be discouraged, as the 

 danger of disease is too great). Three 

 frames are enough for a pound pack- 

 age. Before introducing the bees mix 

 up a solution of equal parts granu- 

 lated sugar and water. Paint this on 

 the side and top of the wire package 

 until the bees are well fed. If the 

 queen is in a separate cage, fasten the 

 cage in between the top bars of the 

 frames after removing the card cov- 

 ering the candy which fills the en- 

 trance to the cage. The frames should 

 be pushed to one side with a division 

 board following the third frame, the 

 balance of the hive empty. Close the 

 entrance to this empty space with a 

 block of wood and stufif the remain- 

 der of the entrance tightly with 

 grass; take a 5-pound honey pail and 

 punch eight or ten holes in the cover; 

 fill with a syrup made of equal parts 

 of sugar and water ; invert this over 

 two 1-inch blocks of wood and place 

 in the space not occupied with 

 frames. This will give the bees a 

 little food and help them to draw 

 out their comb. Now take the pound 

 package and cut the side out of it and 

 shake the bees in the hive; if one or 

 two fly out, it does not matter. Put 

 on the cover and do not touch for at 

 least three days. 



If you examine the entrance to the 

 hive next day you will find that the 

 bees have made an entrance through 

 the part stuffed with grass and are 

 perhaps wandering aimlessly around 

 on the alighting board, or may be 

 taking short circular flights around 

 the hive. They are simply getting ac- 

 quainted with the new locality and 

 should be left alone. After three days 

 remove the queen cage. If the queen 

 is still in the hive she may be re- 

 leased by removing the wire screen 

 and letting her run out on top of the 

 frames. Close the hive again for 

 three more days, then examine the 

 frames and if eggs and brood are 

 found you may rest assured that 

 everything is all right. No more 

 frames should be added for at least 

 thirty days, and then only one or 

 two. These are placed to the outside 

 of the three original frames and the 

 bees will occupy them when needed. 

 The splitting of brood should not be 

 attempted by beginners, as a sudden 

 change in the weather might mean a 

 bad setback to the colony by the bees 

 being unable to cover split brood. 



Beginners usually injure a colony 

 by persistent examinations. This 

 should be avoided. Once a week is 

 plenty to examine a colony, and a 

 great deal can be learned by studying 

 the activity at the entrance, without 

 lifting the cover or disturbing the 

 bees at all. 

 Canada. 



