042 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



This plan leaves several thiiijjs not quite posi- 

 tive. How about the honej' they had in their sacs 

 to coTumence with? A four-pound swarm maij 

 have over a ijound of honey. At other times they 

 have only a very few ounces. This swarm evident- 

 ly had a small supply, as they weighed seven 

 ounces more after the first cutting' was made than 

 they did the morning- after hiving. At any rate, 

 the honey they had in their sacs at the close of the 

 experiment offsets what they had to begin with; 

 and I nuike an allowance in the separate trials for 

 the change in the weight of the bees. Did they 

 have any wax already secreted? I think not. The 

 evidence is that they did better the second trial 

 than they did the first. I nuike no attempt to csti- 

 nuite the daily mortality. The usual loss of a col- 

 ony for 13 days, according- to the authorities, 

 should be about one-fourth of the origiiuil weig-ht; 

 but the fact that this colony weighed the same at 

 the close that it did in the beginning shows that 

 the mortality was not a pound of bees, nor any 

 thing like it. Perhaps mortality does not become 

 heavy until there is brood to feed. Some ^oney 

 gathered at morn is eaten and dissipated before 

 night, and so escapes the scale, while the wax pro- 

 duct of it remains. To balance this on the other 

 hand, all these pounds and ounces are pounds and 

 ounces of rather raw nectar, not of ripe honey. As 

 to the amount of honey used as food at night, a 

 colony rearing brood rapidly uses seven ounces per 

 night; an active colony not rearing- much brood, 

 from one to three ounces; a colony in a quiescent 

 state, only a fraction of an ounce. During- this 

 experiment there was an average loss by night of 

 4 ounces. 1 have assumed that one-half of this 

 was waste caused by vitality and muscular action, 

 and one half the chemical waste of elaborating 

 wax. 



FIRST TRIAL. 



First day's gathering of honey and ixjlleii, (i oz, ; 

 2d, 13 oz.; ;jd, 8 oz.; 4th, 16 oz; total, 43 oz. Subtract 

 from this— Honey and pollen cut out. 111 oz. Four 

 days' food, 8 oz.; increase of honey in sacs, 7 oz.; 

 total for subtraction, 34 oz. 



Remainder, or amount spent in secreting wax, 

 n oz. Weight of wax, 3 oz. 10 dr. Honey spent in 

 making 1 oz. of wax, 3'^ oz., nearly. 



SECOND TIU.VL. 



First day's gathering of honey and pollen, 0; 2d, 

 13 oz.; 3d, 11 oz.; 4th, 35 oz.; total, 48 oz. Add also 

 6 oz. decrease of the amount in their honey-sacs. 

 Corrected total, 54 oz. * 



Subtract from this— Honey and pollen cut out, 

 35 oz.; 4 days' food, 8 oz. Total for subtraction, 

 43 oz. Remainder, or amount spent in secreting 

 ■wax, 11 oz. 



Weight of wax, 4 oz. Honey spent in making- 

 1 oz. of wax, 2?4 oz. 



THIRD TRIAL. 



First day's gathering of honey and pollen, 5 oz.; 

 2d, 5 oz.; 3d, 33 oz.; 4th, 16 oz.; total, 48 oz. Add 

 also 1 oz. decrease of the amount in their honey- 

 sacs. Corrected total, 4!) (jz. 



Subtract from this— Honey ai|d pollen cut out, 

 33 oz.; four days' food, 8 oz. Total for subtraction, 

 41 oz. 



Remainder, or amount used in secreting wax, 

 8oz. 



Weight of wax, 3I4 oz. Honey spent in making 

 1 oz. of wax, 3'i oz., nearly. 



Jt will be soea that the uverftgg of Ijjc three 



trials gives very nearly the ratio of three to one. 

 Perhaps a less mincing- summary would hit the 

 average reiuler more forcibly. Here are bees that 

 made almost ten ounces nf wax. Tlic btiohs say 

 tliitt tlic]! inunl have had over twelve paumh of Itoncy 

 tr. ill it ivith, while in fact then were allowed to hep 

 jiint Hirer pmuidi and a qimrt'sr. Quite a disurep- 

 ancj , is it not? 



It does not follow that we are going to produce 

 big ci-()i»s of wax at a profit right away. There is 

 another dilliculty to sui-moiint. 1 have twice run 

 a good colony the whole season lor wax, and sol 

 have a right to know. After 10 or 15 days of wax- 

 secreting, bees seem unable to secrete much more; 

 and how to get the ne\v supply of j-oiing bees 

 promptly, without stopi)ing the waxsecietiou of the 

 first set, is the problem. E. E. Hastv. 



Richards, ()., July 6, 1886. 



Frk'iid Hasty, tlie facts yo'.t sive us are 

 tisLoiiistiiii,!^', to nie iit It-ast ; ut any rat(% 

 your experiiiiciit is t;ertaiiily a very valuable 

 one. Jt appears to be all right, but perhaps 

 there may be sonietliiug you have overlook- 

 ed in it, after all. 1 am very glad indeed to 

 be aljle to submit it to the keen intelligence 

 of the. readers of Gleanings. How is it, 

 friends? h;is Hasty made any big mistake in 

 this matter? You say you ran a good colony 

 the whole season for wax ; wliy do you not 

 tell fis right here liow much wax you got? 

 I have for some time felt that there must be 

 a mistake about the ~0 lbs. of lioney for one 

 of wax, l)ecause of the quantity of wax sin- 

 gle colonies have sometimes furnished. 

 Now, then, who will tell us how we sliall go 

 to work to ])roduce wax at a protitV Can we 

 do it by feeding sugar? I have noticed tlie 

 lavish way in which bees sometimes seem to 

 kick aiound their scales of wax. It has. 

 however, been, as a general thing, after I 

 had been feeding them and got them a little 

 out of their tiatural and normal condition. 



DESCRIPTION OF BEES, QUALITY OF 

 QUEENS, ETC. 



b'RlEND DOOLITTLE'S EXPERIENCE IN TESTING 

 TME DlEl-'ERENT RACES. 



HAVE bcL-n besieged of late by some parties in 

 Pennsylvania to write an article tor Glean- 

 ings on the qualities of ditferent races of bees, 

 color of (juecns, and the quality of queens 

 reared by natural swarming as compared with 

 those raised "artiQcially," as it is termed. 1 wrote 

 the parties that, as I was a queen-breeder, I did not 

 think friend Root would care for my views on 

 these sulijects for Gleanings, for it might look as 

 if I had an " ax to grind; " but this does not pacify; 

 an article they must have, so I have consented to 

 try a rather diflicult task, for I know that few if 

 any will agree with me on all the points. However, 

 I shall try to give an impartial article, telling just 

 what 1 believe to be the truth. First, then, we 

 have the 



QUALITIES OF THE DIFFERENT RACES. 



The black, or German boc, probably all are famil- 

 iar with. All the really good qualities I know of 

 them is their readiness to enter the sections and 

 build comb, and smooth white capping, of the honey 

 in the same. Their poor qualities, /is I find them, 

 is their inclijuiliou to rob, and A\illingness to be 



