Vol. XTI. 



APR. 15, IS88. 



No. 8. 



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PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY BY 



A. 1. ROOT, MEDINA. OHIO 



10 or more,75ets. each. Single num- \ 

 ber, 5 cts. Additions to clubs may be > 

 made at club rates. Above are all to 

 be sent to one postoffice. 



r Clubs to different postofHces, not less 

 I than 90 cts. each. Sent postpaid, in the 

 J U. S. and Canadas. To all other coun- 

 j tries of the Universal Postal Union, 18 

 cts. per year extra. To all eountriea 

 L NOT of the U. P. U., 42 cts. per year extra. 



GIVING A LAYING QUEEN TO PAR 



ENT COLONY IMMEDIATELY 



AFTER S"W ARMING. 



FKIENI) DOOfjlTTLE DOES NOT ADVISE IT. 



J^\ EFORE me lies a card whicb reads as follows : 

 |2jB ■' Is the plan of giving each colony a laying 

 ^^ queen, immediately after swarming, a good 

 ■*^ one? If not, why not? Please answer 

 through Gleanings." As I do not consider 

 the plan a good one, I will try to give my reasons 

 for so thinking, as requested. For years we have 

 been told that no colony should go without a laying 

 queen for a single day, if it were possible to give 

 them one; and plans of introducing queens which 

 required that the hive should be queenless a few 

 days previous, have been severely criticised. We 

 have also been told, for years, that the bee-keeper 

 who wished to secure the best results from bis bees 

 should have a laying queen ready to give to each 

 old colony as soon as they swarmed, as the time 

 lost to them, by rearing a queen, is equivalent to a 

 swarm of bees. Being eager to know for myself all 

 the plans which would give the best results, I have 

 experimented largely; and the truth of the state- 

 ment, that the time lost to the bees in rearing a 

 queen in natural swarming was equivalent to a 

 swarm of bees, is the first reason that the plan has 

 not been a success with me. If it were bees I were 

 after, the case would be different. With us white 

 clover yields enough honey to keep the bees breed- 

 ing nicely, and prepares them so that they mainly 

 swarm from June 30th to July 1st. Our honey-har- 

 vest is principally from basswood, which blooms 

 from July 10th to 16th. 



Now, all who are familiar with natural swarming 

 know that the boes are comparatively few in num- 

 bers in the spring, and increase by the rapidly in- 

 creasing brood produced by the queen, which, in 

 due time, hatch into bees, until a swarm is the re- 

 sult. By giving a laying queen to a colony imme- 

 diately after it has cast a swarm, we bring about 

 the same result (swarming) as before, or we place 

 the bees in the same condition. The only differ- 

 ence is, that, having plenty of brood, they build up 

 quicker, and are prepared to swarm in a shorter 

 time. As this second swarming, brought about by 

 giving a laying queen, comes right in our basswood- 

 honey harvest, it cuts off the surplus honey; for it 

 is well known that bees having the swarming fe- 

 ver do little or no work in the section boxes; and, if 

 allowed to swarm, the object we have sought after 

 (section honey) is beyond our reach. Having given 

 rny experience on this point, let us see how the 

 same colony would work had we not given the bees 

 a laying queen. 



Eight days after the swarm has issued, the first 

 young queen will have emerged from her cell, as a 

 rule, when the apiarist should remove all the other 

 queen-cells from the hive, so that second swarming 

 is entirely prevented. In ten days more our young 

 queen is ready to lay, which is about the time bass- 

 wood begins to yield honey largely. During this 

 period, between the time the swarm issued and the 

 young queen commences to lay, the bees, not hav- 

 ing any brood to nurse for the last half of the time, 

 consume but little honey; hence, as fast as the 

 young bees emerge from the cells, they are filled 

 with honey; for bees not having a laying queen or 

 unsealed brood seldom build comb in the sections. 



