2o8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



strong colony, just in the humor to raise them. 

 Here, then, at the time of putting up the queen on 

 top, we put our eggs in one of the frames below. I 

 like Alley's plan of cutting up the comb with eggs 

 into strips, and with a match killing the egg or larva 

 in each alternate cell, only I use the match before 

 cutting into strips, leaving every Uiird cell in the 

 row untouched. Suppose I had given the empty 

 comb to my best queen June 1, and And no eggs on 

 the 2d, but find some on the 3d. These may have 

 been laid on the 2d, after I had looked, and I work 

 on that basis. On the 5th, therefore. I give them to 

 the queenless colony already mentioned, marking 

 on the frames containing them, 17th, this being the 

 date on which the firtt queen mat/ hatch out, for I 

 have found that queen-cells may hatch out in fifteen 

 days from the laying of the egg, if in a very strong 

 colony at the swarming season. Of course, my rec- 

 ord-book and memorandum of work to be done keep 

 me posted as to the time of taking away queen- 

 cells, and on the 16th these frames with queen-cells 

 are taken away, atid the hive with the queen put 

 down In its place. The hive containing the frames 

 with queen-cells may be put in some new location, 

 and will make an excellent nucleus to raise queens, 

 as the bees will stay wherever they are put. If to 

 be used to start a new colony, it is put on a stand of 

 its own, and built up; but if intended to be used 

 only to raise queens temporarily, and then be bro- 

 ken up, it is put on top of some established colony. 

 All but one of the cells can, of course, be cut out 

 as needed. As a precaution against raising some 

 poor queeos, it is well to examine the above about 

 the 7th or 8th of June, and destroy all eggs and 

 grubs not already started into queen cells, because 

 the bees often let grubs remain till some days old, 

 and then start them, and thus raise worthless 

 queens. In the case above we may look for queens 

 to be hatched possibly the 17th, or as late as the Slst 

 or 22d. Thus I believe the best of queens may be 

 raised by the honey-producer without in any way 

 interfering with his crop. 



You ask me, on page 231, what I do with the " two 

 or three frames of comb contained elsewhere." 

 They may be used for nuclei, as you suggest, or they 

 may be used again, in the same way they have been, 

 with some later-swarming colony, or used for ex- 

 tracting-combs. 



As to the empty space you ask about in the lower 

 hive, it seems they (niyht to build comb there, and at 

 first I filled the space full of dummies; but later I 

 have left the space empty, giving the bees free ac- 

 cess to it, and in not one case in twenty is there any 

 comb built, and then none to amount to any thing. 

 I don't know why. I feared pollen in the surplus 

 with so few brood-combs, but have found no trouble, 

 even if only one brood-comb is left. The brood- 

 combs, however, get quite a surplus of pollen. 



You ask, " Will they work in a super without their 

 queen, and so many of the brood-combs gone?" I 

 am loth to believe they will work just as well, and 

 yet I have not discovered any difference. In spite 

 of that, there may be a difference, and I wish some 

 one with more time and ability would settle the mat- 

 ter experimentally. 



Many thanks for moving in the matter ot figures 

 appended to signatures. How I would like to see 

 just one numbtr of Gleanings with every signa- 

 ture thus embellished! C. C. Miller, 172—341. 



Marengo, 111., April 3. 1884. 



I agree with you, friend M.,that we might 



ailord to pay a very big price indeed for 

 queens, if we could be sure to get all of 

 them as good as the best we have now ; but 

 I do not believe it can be done. But there 

 is certainly no one tiling of more import 

 than to be able to get good queens in every 

 hive in a good-sized apiary, liaising each 

 year from the colony containing our best, I 

 presume will be our best plan ; that is, care- 

 fully note which colony gives the largest 

 honey-crop, and get the eggs for queen-rear- 

 ing from this colony. Your plan of keeping 

 a- colony from swarming by moving it 

 frequently, is certainly very ingenious. The 

 idea of saving all the returning bees when 

 the colony is moved away was one we work- 

 ed on some years ago. "The illustration of 

 our Siinplicity hive, with the nucleus on a 

 shelf supported by a gr;tpevine-treliis,showS' 

 it. The only drawback we found was, that 

 when queens were allowed to take their 

 wedding-llight from this location, they were 

 sometimes attracted by the humming of the 

 large colony below, and got into the wrong 

 place. I presume your idea in keeping egg- 

 producing colonies thus weak is, that you 

 may be able to take eggs any time, without 

 any inconvenience. I do not really like 

 your plan of cutting combs so much, al- 

 though it has some advantages. Why not 

 put a whole frame of comb in the middle of 

 this colony, and when the queen has raised 

 just a few eggs, remove it and put another 

 in, and so on y I presume your objection 

 would be, that it robs ihem of their freshly 

 gathered i)ollen, for this is almost always 

 put around eggs just laid ; and if the combs 

 are left a little too long, it may draw on the 

 eggs and bi'ood more than the colony could 

 well stand. Your present article, taken in 

 connection with the one befoie it, which you 

 have alluded to, makes your plan of work- 

 ing quite a system, friend M. 



"THE LANGSTBOTH CLUB." 



^ej^-iJlDITOU GLEANINGS:— Every thing relating to 

 J^i Iluber's works is of great interest, and should 

 — be staled with the utmost accuracy. I there- 

 fore read Mr. Viallon's communication with great 

 care; but unless he has the book itself, or has actu- 

 ally hartdled it, so as to hnoiv that whereof he af- 

 firms, I should doubt the statement that the " Nou- 

 velks Observations" were published in 17f»2. The 

 best authorities thitt I can find give 1792 as the c^ate 

 of the publication of " Leitres a Ch. Bonnet." It is, 

 of course, proper to say that the edition of 1796 in- 

 cluded the letters published in 1792, and that most of 

 the book consists of letters to his friend Bonnet. 

 But it was in 1790 that the book first took the title of 

 "Nouvelles Observations," etc., and this is the edi- 

 tion which Mr. Benton is now translating. Judging 

 by the translation which appears in Gleanings, 

 this edition differs slightly from that of 1814, which 

 is, I believe, the standard. Mr. Benton ought by all 

 means to give up the 1796 edition, and take that of 

 1814; and as I have two copies of the text, one is 

 very much ai his service. 



I am informed that there is a supplementary vol- 

 ume, which has been published within one or two 

 decades. I do not happen to have it; but I expect, 



