1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



amount of labor required, and the great liabili- 

 ty of overlooking one or more cells. If any are 

 left they might as well all be left. The same 

 objections apply to this method of preventing 

 second swarms. I once received a communica- 

 tion from a man who had a new method of pre- 

 venting after-swarming. He had the highest 

 opinion of its practicability and value. He 

 said it would be worth $.50.00 a year in eveiy 

 apiary of any size. I agreed to help him test it 

 more thoroughly before he made it public, and 

 then he revealed to me the great secret. What 

 do you suppose it was? Simply cutting out all 

 queen-cells but one as soon as a colony swarm- 

 ed. Considerable correspondence, though, failed 

 to convince him that it was not something en- 

 tirely new and valuable, and very likely he 

 will be highly indignant at me for revealing it 

 now. 'T. A. Green. 



Dayton, III., June 11. 



[Friend G., your man's valuable secret is 

 right in line with the principal part of the 

 great secrets offered for a sum of money.] 



THE DADANTS ON PREVENTING INCREASE. 



WHEN TO CUT OUT QUEEN-CEI-LS, ETC. 



What do the Dadants mean when they say 

 (Question 18(5), "To prevent increase, return 

 swarms 48 hours after swarming ? " also, " cut- 

 ting out queen-cells does no good ? " For many 

 years I have cut out the queen-cells (if the 

 queen was not removed), and immediately re- 

 turned swarms. Of course, this was likely to 

 have to be repeated. Swarming is now on; 

 and if their too indefinite reply involves some- 

 thing valuable, I should b<^ grateful for imme- 

 diate information on the subject. 



Excelsior. Minn., June 10. J. W. Mukiiay. 



[We sent the above to the Dadants, who re- 

 ply:] 



Friend Boot;— Replying to the inquiry of J. 

 W. Murray, we will say that we have repeated- 

 ly found that the cutting of the queen-cells 

 when the colony is preparing to swarm has 

 very little effect on them, for the reason that 

 they start new ones, and, if crossed in their 

 purpose, will even swarm with only eggs or 

 young larvae in the queen-cells newly built. 



If we return the swarm 48 hours after swarm- 

 ing, the queen-cells have been destroyed by the 

 young queen, and the bees get rid of her or of 

 the old one when the swarm is returned, the 

 swarming fever being usually over by that 

 time. If the young queen is not yet hatched 

 when the swarm is returned, the old queen usu- 

 ally goes about the wo)-k of destroying all 

 queen-cells herself. We do not know but that 

 it would be safest to destroy all queen-cells be- 

 fore returning the swarm: but this should be 

 attended to only a few hours before the return- 

 ing of the swarm or it will be done to no ()ur- 

 pose, as tlie bees have eggs and larvie at hand 

 from which they can I'aise new queens without 

 end. 



Our aim has always been to take the shortest 

 way of arriving at our purpose, and we will re- 

 peat that we have found out two things: 1. 

 Destroying the queen-cells to prevent swarm- 

 ing will avail nothing unless the season pi'oves 

 also unfavorable to the swarming-fever, as the 

 bees at once rebuild new ones in the place of 

 those that we have destroyed; 3. After the col- 

 ony has swarmed it is sufficient to return the 

 swarm after two days, to insure the destruction 

 of the cells or of the young hatched queen or of 

 the old queen, at the bees" choice, except, per- 



haps, in isolated cases which are exceptions to 

 the rule. 



The objection which we have to the method 

 mentioned by Mr. Murray, of destroying the 

 queen-cells and returning the swarm at once, 

 is, that the swarming-fever is not over then, 

 and it often happens that the bees simply begin 

 the work over at once by rebuilding new queen- 

 cells, as we infer was the case with Mr. Mur- 

 ray, since he says, " Of course, this was likely 

 to have to be repeated." If he will try keeping 

 the swarm 48 hours, he will find much less need 

 of repeating the operation, and will not need to 

 remove the queen-cells, since it is always or 

 nearly always done by the queen. If he has 

 ascertained that the bees have a young queen 

 already hatched, he can either destroy her or 

 the old queen before returning the swarm. 



Another objection that we have to destroying 

 the queen-cells in any case is the difficulty of 

 making sure of having found every one of them. 

 As a matter of course, with a great deal of at- 

 tention a bee-keeper can make sure of that; 

 but it is hardly necessary to tell the reader, 

 that dui'ing the swarming season a bee-keeper 

 has his hands full, even if he does not run a 

 farm aiid a bee-supply shop besides. 



The words '• swarming-fever " which we have 

 used in the above are well known to practical 

 bee-keepers. This terra has been used by the 

 old masters, and vei'y fitly describes the condi- 

 tion of the bees when they make preparations 

 for swarming. These remarks are not intended 

 for old bee-keepei's like yourself, friend Root, 

 but for the many beginners who read these 

 pages. When the bees have the swarming- 

 fever, they have no rest till they succeed. We 

 have divided a colony into three ai'tificial 

 swarms while they were making preparations 

 for swarming, and each of these swarms sent 

 forth another swarm. It is this excitement 

 whicli makes all attempts at prevention so fu- 

 tile on the part of the liee-keeper. unless the 

 weath(M' becomes unfavorable. But wlien the 

 colony has swarmed, this excitement promptly 

 goes down unless they are still crowded and ill 

 at ease, and for that reason the returning of the 

 swarm is more likely to be successful, especial- 

 ly if the apiarist takes pains to give more room, 

 rnore ventilation, and more shade, at this time. 

 This rule is not infallible, but it is the best we 

 have ever found in these circumstances. 



Hamilton, 111., June 30. Dadant & Son. 



MORE CYCLOPEAN BEES. 



MIIJJPEDS, ETC. 



Mr. G. A. Cussy, of Hilbert, Wis., sends me 

 six one-eyed worker-bees. He rightly says, 

 "They seem to me to be curiosities. Are such 

 common? What is the cause? Please answer 

 in Gleanings." 



These bees are entirely like the ones received 

 a few days since from N. Staininger, of Tipton, 

 Iowa, and of which I wrote as follows in the 

 A. B. J.: "A Cyclopean bee. That does not 

 mean a giant bee. nor even one that is extra 

 large, but one with only one eye. The bee is in 

 nowise peculiar, except in the one eye and the 

 absence of ocelli, or simple eyes." These bees 

 received to-day are like that one. They have 

 one very hairy eye, exactly in front, and high 

 up on the head. Back of the eye is the vertex, 

 or upper part of the epicranium, which is about 

 as wide as the eye, and also very hairy. The 

 bees are well marked Italians, and I can see no 

 deformity except the one named. They are 

 curious monstrosities, and I should like to know 

 whether all are from one hive, and whethiM- 

 they are good honey - gatherers. I prestime 



