J8b6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



19 



uniting. Tiie ABC \uu\ev this head, page 

 271, gives the inecise method of doubling up, 

 or uniting, that we used in the apiary this 

 fall. As to the rest of your questions, I will 

 leave it to father, for it takes an old head to 

 answer questions, though of themselves 

 seemingly simple. Ernest. 



Many thanks, my good friend, for your kind 

 words. I am glad, also, to know that you 

 like the A B C book because it is so very 



glain, and goes into minute details so much, 

 ome have objected to it on this account ; 

 but it seems you want still further details. — 

 In regard to the use of smoker and bee-hat, 

 use them if you fmd them a convenience, 

 and I presume you will get along better with 

 both, from what you say. In uniting, take 

 the frames with the most brood and stores ; 

 and if there are still more containing honey, 

 and the weather is warm, you can put these 

 additional ones in the upper story. I do not 

 think it matters very much whether you al- 

 ternate a frame, or simply place the two 

 colonies side by side. The most important 

 thing is to be sure tlie bees do not get to 

 quarreling ; and if they do, you must make 

 them behave by using smoke freely until 

 they do behave. You can kill the poorest 

 queen yourself ; or if there is no difference, 

 and you have no choice, let the bees do it. — 

 I would set the chaff hive where the strong- 

 est of the old ones stood, and take the other 

 hive entirely away, so the bees will not go 

 into it and die when they fly again. — An old 

 bee - keeper will tell by looking the colony 

 over, and lifting the hive, whether they have 

 stores enough ; but until you have learned 

 by experience, I think it an excellant plan 

 to weigh them. You can weigh the combs 

 one at a time with a pair of ten-cent spring 

 balances, or you can weigh the whole hive, 

 subtracting the weight of the empty hive 

 and combs. You need not brush the bees 

 away from the combs in order to weigh it. 

 They weigh so little they need not be count- 

 ed.— Neitlier snails nor hardly any thing 

 else will harm the bees if the" colony is a 

 strong one.— We give the preference to the 

 wheat packing, for the reasons you mention. 

 Fine shavings, prepared just right, will prob- 

 ably answer nearly or quite as well ; but 

 all things considered, we have preferred the 

 chaff. Ilad you given your new swarm a 

 frame of brood, as we so emphatically advise 

 in the A B C, I think you would not have 

 lost them. — We do not practice clipping 

 queens' wings now. 



AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM AN 

 ABC SCHOLAR. 



QUEEN CELLS BUILT IN A HIVE WITH A LAVING 

 QUEEN. 



'ILL yovi listeu to an A B C scholar a short 

 time while he reports his experience with 

 bees? In the spring of 1881 my father had 

 two swarms of hybrids in L. hives. I be- 

 came interested in them, and sent for an 

 ABC book. I increased them to five colonies, but 

 they were so cross I concluded that I must have 

 Italians. I sent to you for five " dollar " queens. 

 They came all right in Pcet cag-CB. I caged the old 

 queens and fastened the new ones on the combs, as 



directed. The next day I looked them over, and 

 found that they were all out, but I found something 

 else which almo8t made me feel weak — every 

 swarm had started queen-cells. Well, thought I, 

 they are all dead; just my luck, exactly. 1 am glad 

 I saved the old queens. I can put them back. 

 There is some consolation in that. I put one of the 

 queens among the bees, when one of them grabbed 

 her by the wing and tried to sting. I caged her im- 

 mediately, closed the hive, and sat down, complete- 

 ly "stumped." I didn't know what to do. Perhaps 

 you can imagine how I felt. I can't describe it. I 

 saw bees and queens all that night. The next day 

 I thought I would try to give to another hive the 

 old queen. I opened the hive, lifted out a frame, 

 and right on the center was the new queen. She 

 seemed, to my astonished eyes, to be about four 

 times as large as the one I had inti'oduced. She 

 had commenced laying. I went to the other hives, 

 and found the same condition of things. I looked 

 in the ABC book, but I failed to find any mention 

 of bees starting cells with a queen in the hive. On 

 page 192 I found it said, that " it is a sure indication 

 of queenlessness to find a nucleus building queen- 

 cells." Well, thought T, this is not a nucleus; per- 

 haps that makes the difference. All the queens 

 proved to bo purely mated and very prolific. 



I have worked away from home since then until 

 this summer, when, being at home again, and finding 

 three swarms alive (one, by the way, contains 

 one of those dollar queens, as lively and prolific as 

 ever), and having lost none of my interest in bees I 

 thought I would raise some queens and make nu- 

 clei of the old dollar queen's swarm, and build them 

 up and so get more bees and experience. 1 have 

 the experience; and unless I have some more un- 

 expected trouble 1 think I shall get the bees. I fol- 

 lowed the directions, and a couple of days before 

 the cells were to hatch I divided up the old swarm, 

 putting two frames of brood, covered with bees, 

 into each nucleus. The next day I found that they 

 had all started queen-cells, and concluded that the 

 old queen must have got lost in some way. 1 in- 

 serted cells in each, and they waxed them all in; 

 but they did not hatch. In five or six days they all 

 had cells of their own building capped over, except 

 one, and that one contained eggs and larva?, so the 

 old queen was all right after all. The only reason I 

 can suggest for the cells not hatching is, that the 

 next two nights after I inserted them were frosty, 

 and they might have been chilled. Now, here are 

 some questions: Why did the nucleus containing 

 the old queen start cells, and why did they accept 

 the cell I gave them, and wax it in nicely? Is the 

 rule I have quoted from the ABC book incorrect, 

 or do my bees act differently from every one's else? 



A LITTLE STORY WITH A MORAL TO IT. 



I am taking Gleanings, with one of my neigh- 

 bors. I think it is " splendid," as the girls say. 

 The criticisms from some of the friends make me 

 think of what I saw in a village last spring. A man 

 was fixing the sidewalk in front of his house. In a 

 short time there were several men around him, 

 telling him how to do it. He kept right on, and fixed 

 it to suit himself. I guess that is the best way. 



Rockwell's Mills, N. Y. Elmer D. Cornell. 



Friend C, it is very singular indeed that 

 all live of your colonies built queen-cells 

 while they had a queen, although it is not 

 very unusual for a colony to persist in build- 

 ing queen-cells when a new queen has just 



