1920 



AMERICAN BEF. JOURNAL 



383 



keep as close to bee nature as possi- 

 ble. 



Vincennes, Ind. 



(The editor applauds with both 

 hands at these conclusions, for he 

 had also tried the queen nurserv. 

 years ago, and did not like it. We 

 always succeeded best when we kept 

 close to nature). 



have sonic one at the Illinois State 

 University especially in charge of 

 beekeeping, under the State Knto- 

 niologist. 



The meeting adjourned at 4:30 an' 

 the beekeepers present expressed the 

 wish that several such meetings be 

 held within the State each summer. 



ILLINOIS FIELD MEET 



The demonstration meeting of 

 September 10, at the home of A. L. 

 Kiidow, State Inspector, was attend- 

 ed by some SO people, the greater 

 number having come by automobile. 



The demonstration of both Ameri- 

 can and European foulbrood inter- 

 ested all present, for foulbrood ap- 

 pears to be the order of the day 

 throughout the United States. It is a 

 good thing for novices to become ac- 

 quainted with these diseases, as they 

 are little to be feared if one watches 

 for them and keeps them down. 



Professor Flint, of the University 

 of Illinois, gave an interesting talk 

 concerning the influence of beos 

 upon fruit bloom fertilizing. He ex- 

 plained how it was that apples and 

 other fruits drop, shortly after 

 bloom, when not fertilized. He stated 

 that only thoroughly fertilized fruit 

 grows to perfect form; that when the 

 seed remains unfertilized in one of 

 the carpels, or seed vessels of the 

 fruit, that side of the fruit is imper- 

 fect. This reminded us of the exhi- 

 bition of this matter in the American 

 Bee Journal, in December, 1912, 

 which shows conclusively that there 

 is such a thing as imperfectly fer- 

 tilized fruit. 



Mr. H. H. Parke, of the Illinois 

 Department of Agriculture, spoke 

 upon the general need of more edu- 

 cation on all matters of farm infor- 

 mation, the industry of beekeeping 

 being among those requiring greater 

 attention than it has already re- 

 ceived. In this connection, Mr. Kii- 

 dow stated that government bulle- 

 tins are often too scientific for the 

 ordinary farmer, and that there is 

 need of more elementary explana- 

 tions, with the use of as few scien- 

 tific terms as possible, through the 

 production of bulletins more adapted 

 to the common school education of 

 the average farmer. 



Attention was called to the _ fact 

 that the present foulbrood law is in- 

 adequate, more funds being needed 

 to attend to the wants of suffering 

 apiaries throughout the State during 

 the busy season. The appropriation 

 of a larger sum for the needs of 

 beekeeping is necessary, and Illinois 

 should be on a par with such States 

 as Wisconsin, Michigan and Minne- 

 sota in this matter. All those States 

 spend more for foulbrood prevention 

 and cure than Illinois. The present 

 Illinois law gives a per dierri of only 

 $4 to its inspectors, which is hardly 

 as much as is obtained by the least 

 skilled laborer at the present day. 

 The law, passed by the Legislature 

 in 1911, needs revising. This was 

 very plainly shown by the different 

 speakers on the subject. 



A resolution was passed as follow-:: 



Resolved, That it is advisable to 



MATING QUEENS UPSTAIRS 



Dear Mr. Pellett: On page 85 of 

 Practical Queen Rearing, you say to 

 put a hive-body of empty combs over 

 the excluder and body containing old 

 queen and frame of brood below. 

 Would a hive-body of foundation, 

 full sheets, do if no combs could be 

 had? Into the hive-body containing 

 the brood, placed on top of the two 

 lower bodies you say give a queen- 

 cell? Would not a queen properly 

 introduced work out instead of a 

 cell? If not, why not? 



Iowa. 



To your first question I would say 

 that I can see no reason why a hive- 

 body of full sheets of foundation 

 might not serve in case combs are 

 not available. To the second will 

 say that I have never tried introduc- 

 ing a queen to the upper story. If 

 laying queens are available there i? 

 no particular need of introducing 

 above, as the object of the method is 

 to keep the colony together until a 

 laying queen is available for the up- 

 per story before a division is made. 

 If the upper story is left in place for 

 too long a time after the second queen 

 begins to lay, one of the queens is 

 likely to disappear. While this meth- 

 od of mating a queen above the 

 brood-chamber has been quite suc- 

 cessful with me. many have written 

 that it has failed with them. On the 

 other hand, I have had numerous 

 letters from those who have succeed- 

 ed very well with it. Some write that 

 they succeed better with two hive- 

 bodies of combs between the lower 

 hive containing the old queen and 

 the one on top with a queen-cell. A 

 British Columbia beekeeper has re- 

 versed the method and places the old 

 queen above and leaves the queen- 

 cell in the lower story. He states that 



he seldom has a failure of the young 

 queen mating and beginning to lay 

 by this plan. In any case it is neces- 

 sary to success that there still be 

 sealed brood present when the young 

 queen is mated and ready to lay. 

 Otherwise she lis likely to be lost in 

 an attempt to pass through the queen 

 excluder and reach the brood-nest of 

 the old queen. 



FRANK C. PELLETT. 



YOUNG QUEENS 



By E. S. Miller 



I am glad to note what Mr. C. P. 

 Dadant says in the September num- 

 ber in regard to 2-year-old queens. 

 All my best colonies this season have 

 been headed by queens reared in 

 1918. In fact, queens reared from my 

 best stock usually do better the sec- 

 ond year. This has not been found 

 true of those purchased. Whether it 

 is due to injury in shipment or 

 whether commercial breeders do not 

 use the proper care in rearing good 

 stock, I do not know. Probably the 

 strain of bees has something to do 

 with it. Then, there are localities 

 where a protracted flow would tend 

 to shorten the term of a queen's use- 

 fulness. 



Mr. George B. Dickerson's report 

 of rearing two laying queens in one 

 hive reminds me that I have observed 

 this occurrence twice within the last 

 two months. The first was noticed 

 during a heavy honey flow in a strong 

 colony in a 10-frame hive with ex- 

 cluder and two full-depth supers. In 

 place of the old clipped queen pres- 

 ent two or thr»e weeks before, there 

 were now two young laying queens, 

 both on the same comb. In the sec- 

 ond case a two-frame nucleus had 

 been formed in a 12-frame hive with 

 a ripe queen-cell. Ten days later, as 

 the young queen seemed to be miss- 

 ing, a second nucleus was formed at 

 the opposite of the hive. In two 

 weeks both queens were found to be 

 laying. 



About mating queens from an up- 

 per story, I would suggest that the 

 following be tried, as it has been 



Hungarian beekeepers who are prisoners of war in Siberia 



