1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



651 



seen in his yard, and it is here that one can com- 

 mand a full view of the city of Chattanooga, or take 

 a telescope and look Into seven States; and hei-e 

 with the naked eye you can see the Tennessee Riv- 

 er as it winds around the city of Chattanooga to 

 the foot of the mountain, then back, making what 

 is called the "Moccasin Bend." 



The climate here is g-ood. The summers ai'e 

 warm, but we do not have the extremely hot weath- 

 er that you have in the North. It is not often that 

 the mercury is above !H1° or below zero. 



Some may think this is rather tlattering for the 

 State of Tennessee; but let me say, that this land is 

 not always blooming- in honey; forthis summer has 

 been a poor one for those keeping- bees as well as 

 for the farmers; for it commenced to raid on the 

 14th day of May, and there were only seven days 

 from that time until the 11th of July but that it 

 rained. But so much rain is not a common thing- 

 lierc, as it is generally dry through June and July. 



Pikeville, Tenn., July 24, 1S80. E. C. Kepner. 



NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



No. 80. 



NON-USE OF FOUNDATION. 



TjFOU say, friend Boot, that you do not quite 

 Mm "catch on" in regard to there being- no dif- 

 ^^ ference whether comb or extracted is raised, 

 ■^ w'hen allowing swarms to build their own 

 combs in the brood-nest; but you begin to 

 suspect that bees will store more honey when al- 

 lowed to indulge in their passion for comb-build- 

 ing. 



The point is this: If more honey will be secured 

 by allowing the bees to build combs in the brood- 

 chamber, it makes no ditference in what form the 

 honey is taken in the super. I do not think the 

 first sentence of my little item on i)age 56:5 is verj- 

 clear. I meant to say that T had worked new 

 swarms for extracted honey, and that I considered 

 the advantage gained by allowing them to build 

 their brood-combs was as great as in working for 

 comb honey; that really I could see no difference. 



I do think that bees work with greater zest when 

 building comb. This zest could be secured by al- 

 lowing- tlie bees to build combs in the supers in- 

 stead of the brood-nest; in fact, this has been sug- 

 gested by some of my correspondents. This coinse 

 would defeat the main object of withholding 

 combs or fdu. from the brood-nest; viz., that of 

 getting the honey in the supers, and the brood- 

 chamber full of brood. T know Mr. Jones says he 

 is convinced that combs are an advantage in the 

 raising of extracted honey. I agree with Mr. 

 Jones, and I think he will agree with me in think- 

 ing that the combs should be in a mper, with a 

 queen-e.\cluder between them and the brood- 

 nest, and the latter free from eomlis or fdn., ex- 

 cept enough for starters. 



Some of those who have been trying this plan of 

 allowing new swarms to build their own combs in 

 the brood-chamber have been troubled by getting 

 too much drone-comb. I think the trouble can be 

 traced to one of three things; viz., too large brood- 

 chamber, too old a queen, or in not putting on the 

 supers at the time i>f hii'ino- Have the brood- 

 chamber of a capacity not larger than fi\e or six L. 

 frames; put starters of fdn. about 'j inch wide in 



the frames (they can be put in with a Pfirker fdn. 

 fastener), put on a queen-excluding honey-board, 

 then a super, either for comb or extracted honey, 

 and have the frames or sections in the super filled 

 with fdn.; or, better still, combs. I take the case 

 of sections from the old hive at the time of swarm- 

 ing, and put it on the new hive, and in 20 minutes 

 the bees are back at work again— working 

 with new energy too— in the very sections that 

 they so eagerly deserted a few minutes before. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 

 Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich., July 26, 1880. 



INVERTING VERSUS ALTERNATING 

 OP HIVES. 



THE EFFECT OF INVERTING QUEEN-CELLS AT DIF- 

 FERENT AGES. 



■JIP re we not getting somewhat over-enthusiastic 

 ^M^ on inverting, and prematurely claiming for 

 jj^ it what, in exceptional cases, appeared very 

 ■'^■^ favorable; but, upon applying it practically, 

 would give a greater number of failures? 

 And are we not losing sight of other arrangements 

 that give us the same results with less labor? For 

 instance, it is claimed by some that inverting a 

 hive or its combs would destroy the queen-cells, 

 and consequently prevent swarming. As I have 

 experimented considei-ably on that subject, T will 

 give the result of my observation. 



About 1.5 years ago a friend purchased nearly all 

 the bees in this county, something over 100 colonies. 

 These I transferred for him into movable- comb 

 hives. Some of these colonies had queen -cells 

 in various stages of development; but as the 

 colonics were to be supplied ere long with 

 Italian queens, no special attention was paid 

 to their pos-ition in the new hive; and as most of 

 the combs fitted best into the frames in an inverted 

 position many were so placed in the hive. Upon 

 examination, shortly after, it was discovered that 

 some of the queen-larva? were dead, and nearly 

 dried up in the cells, whilst some matured, point of 

 cell upward, as though its position had never been 

 changed. This gave me cause for investigation; 

 and since that time I have conducted numerous ex- 

 periments; and since the subject of inversion has 

 been agitated, these experiments have been quite 

 extensive, and I have arrived at the following con- 

 clusion: 



During the entire sixteen days required to ma- 

 ture a queen from the time the egg is laid, there is 

 but a single day when the queen-larvre of some of 

 the cells may be destroyed by inverting them. The 

 egg remains unchanged until the fourth day, when 

 the egg hatches and the larvse feed for five days. 

 During this time it is curled up in the cell, some- 

 what like a ring, and no inverting will destroy it 

 during that time. But now comes the critical time. 

 The bees begin to cap the cell, the larva straight- 

 ens up lengthwise of the cell and spins her cocoon, 

 occupying one day. If the queen-cell was built in a 

 horizontal position as they frequently are, no in- 

 version will destroy the embryo queen; but if, on 

 the contrary, the queen cell is in a vertical position, 

 and is inverted during the day that she assumes a 

 straightened-out shape, and spinning her cocoon, 

 and is left in this inverted position for 12 hours, the 

 embryo (jueen dies; but after a (|ueeii has spun her 

 cocoon tlie cell nniy be placed In any ixisition with- 



