1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTTRE. 



19 



everywhere we pleased. I\Ir. C. P. Dadant told 

 me that they had no "secrets;" and although 1 

 believe I represented their most formidable ri- 

 val in a business way, he very freely and kindly 

 showed me all their kinks of the trade; and be- 

 fore I forget it I want to say they have got the 

 business down fo a fine art and a most perfect 

 system. Every operation or method seems to 

 have been wrought out by careful study, both 

 as to economy of time and labor — a condition 

 in which employes and employei's are intei'ested. 

 When we went into the shops the workmen 

 (a nice set of people they were) were turning 

 out foundation in full blast. They are paid so 

 much a day; and then, as an additional stimu- 

 lus, they are given a bonus on the amount of 

 foundation they turn out: that is, they work on 

 the co-operative plan. This is so arranged that 

 it is to the interest of the employes to turn out 

 not only qjiantity but qiialitij. Although the 

 men worked rapidly, yet there was painstaking 

 care exercised through it all. If there was a 

 doubt as to whether a sheet would be suitable, 

 it was east into the waste, to be remelted and 

 made anew; and 1 do not much wonder that 

 every inch of the Dadants' foundation is equal 

 to the sample sent out. I was surprised, how- 

 ever, to see that they should turn their mills by 

 hand power, when steam is so much more ex- 

 peditious. ]iut then, for all that they manage 

 to turn out SO tons a year. 



The rooms were crowded with bee-keepers, to 

 witness all the different operations. In one 

 corner I noticed quite a circle of people; and 

 peering over their shoulders I noticed that a 

 couple of Mr. C. P. Dadant's little girls were 

 what we call "papering " foundation: that is, 

 they were putting a sheet of paper between the 

 sheets of wax. I took out my Waterbury and 

 began to time them, for their hands moved so 

 rapidly it was a difficult matter to follow their 

 movements. If my memory serves me rightly, 

 they papered about forty sheets a minute; and 

 if a big crowd had not been looking on. they 

 might have averaged a sheet a second. These 

 two do not do this during the busy rush, but 

 they know how. 



After we had wandered all through the dif- 

 ferent apartments we were invited to the honey- 

 house, and there took lunch, after which quite 

 a number of us could not refrain from going out 

 and looking at those large Dadant hives. No 

 doubt for their locality, and for extracted hon- 

 ey, these big hives are decidedly an advantage, 

 and it would be hard to concludes otherwise, in 

 view of the tons of honey obtained. 



As it was beginning to be train time, the 

 teams were commencing to load, and oflf the 

 long train of conveyances started. It was my 

 pleasure to be of the party with C. P. Dadant. 

 Just before getting into the buggy, an old negro 

 brought the horses and hitched them in. I 

 could not help noting in particular the frank, 

 honest look on liis face. He seemed to know of 

 the different bee-keepers, and Mr. Dadant in- 

 troduced him to me as " John." He has been 

 with them a good many years, and is on(^ of 

 those faithful, trusty employes whom it is a 

 pleasure to have. After Dr. Miller and I got 

 into the buggy, the venerable Charles Dadant 

 (and it's a genuine pleasure to look into his 

 genial fac(») came forward and pressed us hard 

 to stay over: nothing would have furnished me 

 more enjoyment p(>rsonally; but as usual I had 

 to make time. 



He is indeed one of the veterans in tlu^ busi- 

 ness; and now at an advanced age (73) he 

 seems to retain all his bodily vigor and strength 

 of mind. We finally bade our old friend good- 

 by and started oflf for Keokuk, where we all 

 took our several ways. 



ftTJEEN-REARING. 



Dli. MILLER TELLS IIIS EXPElilENfE Wmi THE 

 DOOLITTLE AND ALLEY .METHODS. 



I tried Doolittle's artificial cups for (jueen- 

 cells last summer. I made perhaps ;.'00 of them. 



I tried to follow his instructions to the vei'v let- 

 ter; but after leaving them in the cai'e of the 

 bees for :.'4 hours my spirits wei'i> saddened to 

 find the bees had emptied every cup and clean- 

 ed it out bone dry. There were a few excep- 

 tions in which the grubs were kept a day or 

 two. but only two that continued to maturity. 

 Th<'se two were. I thought, the nicest 1 ever 

 saw — th(> cells so perfect, so easily detached, no 

 daubing in cutting them out, no extra comb 

 about the base, I'd like to know what the trou- 

 ble was. Possibly the very poor season had 

 something to do with my failures. 



With tlae x\l ley plan t had less troubk': but 

 even with that there were more failures than 

 in former years. A great advantage of the 

 Alley or Doolittle plan over that of simply tak- 

 ing away a queen and letting the bees have all 

 the brood to start queen - cells, is that you 

 know something about, and have some control 

 over, th(> grubs used. With several frames 

 from which to select, the bees )/if/;/ use lai'vje 

 too old to nuake good queens. Still. I must say 

 that my own experience in this respect hardly 

 corresponds with the impressions I had gained 

 from reading. As a general rule, where a queen 

 has been taken away and the bees left to their 

 own devices, no queen has hatched until 12 

 days aftei- the queen's removal — in some cases 



II days after, and in rare cases 10 days after. I 

 don't like, however, to run the risk of these 

 rare cases, and there is another factor which 

 enters into the problem. Suppose a queen 

 hatches 12 days after the old queen's removal; 

 are we sure that the bees started the queen- 

 cell just 4 days after the egg was laid — in other 

 words, just as soon as the queen was removed '? 

 You see, they may not have discovered their 

 queenlessness for some little time. At any rate, 

 if they have brood in all stages you don't know 

 what they're using. 



With the Doolittle cups you may know to the 

 hour just how old your grubs are, i-f you get 

 the bees to respect them. With the Alley plan 

 you can also know to the hour the age of the 

 grubs given. Suppose at noon, on Monday, you 

 give to your best queen a brood-comb without 

 eggs or brood where you think she will lay in it. 

 On Friday, at noon, take away that comb and 

 you know to a certainty that there is nothing 

 in it older than four days from the laying of the 

 egg. Take some of it and use it for starting 

 cells on the Alley plan, and you may look for 

 queens to hatch In 12 days. What chance can 

 there be for failure ? 



Well, by that plan I have raised some of the 

 finest queens, and also a few of the very 

 poorest. Suppose that the bees start cells as 

 soon as the material is given them, and that all 

 are of the same age, I should expect very few 

 poor queens. But queenless bees do not always 

 start all the cells into queen-cells as soon as 

 given. Some of the grubs are likely to be con- 

 tinued as workers for two, thi'ee, or four days. 

 Then, having got their queen-cells fairly under 

 headway, they conclude they want to start 

 some more: and if they have nothing but grubs 

 four days old — or seven days from the laying of 

 the egg— these will be used. So they may use 

 grubs so old that there is not time to feed them 

 up into good queens. 



A remedy in this case lies in destroying all 

 grubs that are not started as queens within 24 

 hours, perhaps giving younger brood in their 

 places. 



