452 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JvsE 15. 



space below: or. in its absence, the condensa- 

 tion is found in the corners of the hive nearest 

 the entrance. 



In the case of Mr. Dadant, I should not wish 

 to judge the matter merely with the use of 

 oilcloth, for I believe there is a vast difference 

 between the impervious surface of an oilcloth 

 and a planed board, though it may be covered 

 with propolis; furthermore, an oilcloth over 

 such a mammoth hive as the Dadants use, 

 where the brood-nest in winter contracts to less 

 than half of the space, invites rather than 

 averts condensation. , 



Bees wintered in a cellar, with surrounding 

 equal temperature, and no di'afts, need no pack- 

 ing over the covers: the temperature is equally 

 maintained above and below. In the com- 

 munications of W. W. Larrabee and Miss Cyula 

 Linswik I find testimony for sealed covers. I 

 have been in the apiary of the formei-, and have 

 seen the large cushions of sawdust and chaff 

 that lap away over the brood-chamber, and of 

 many inches in depth, when placed over a 

 swarm, the escape of air and moisture is so very 

 moderate that it is practically a sealed cover; 

 so is also that woolen comforter and additional 

 packing used by the beautiful name spoken of. 



Mr. Doolittle said, some time ago, that he 

 made his packing solid by tramping it into 

 place. I don't remember as to the size of his 

 feet, but the body above them is no light 

 weight; and whatever was tramped would 

 necessarily have the consistency and effect of a 

 board. Mr. Manum uses several bushels of 

 poplar shavings over his bees. In all cases in 

 favor of absorbents we find the same care and 

 thoroughness of having plenty of it, well pack- 

 ed down. 



The whole matter can therefore be summed 

 up thus: The point is, to keep an equal temper- 

 ature (ibove and below the cover. The heat 

 above tends to prevent condensation; the heat 

 below carries off what little there is. Our dif- 

 ference of opinion will be mainly as to which is 

 the more convenient — a board or a heavy cush- 

 ion. Give the board to the Rambler. 



[You have stated the case exactly, and 

 summed it all up in a nutshell.] 



DRONES AND ftTJEENS. 



THE TWO-MILE THEORY, ETC. 



I notice, in friend Doolittle's article, p. 371, 

 he mentions (and, if I remember rightly, it is the 

 accepted theory) that queens do not lay drone 

 eggs till the second season of their existence. 

 Now, I have had experience in two cases that is 

 decidedly to the contrary. Of course, your 

 A B C, or some other authority, may suggest 

 exceptions to the rule; but if so, I do not 

 remember; however, I will give my observa- 

 tions in one case. Last season, some time in 

 May, I wrote to a Mr. Taylor, of Ozan, Ark., to 

 know if he could furnish me a tested breeding- 

 queen, anc} received the answer that he had 

 none, but would have in two weeks, or by the 

 time my order might reach him. I ordered and 

 got my queen, I should say by return mail, or 

 about the first of June. I introduced her to a 

 colony of about one poiuid of bees. She proved 

 to be very prolific and soon had several frames 

 full of brood. Now, witii this very same theory 

 in view. I put cages in all my other colonies (no 

 other Italians in ten miles of my apiary, mind), 

 put a full frame of drone comb in the center of 

 the above colony, and had drones duly hatched, 

 and raised a dozen and a half of queens, every 

 one purely mated, and have as good queens 

 from this in-and-in breeding as I ever saw. 



Now, it is for Mr. Taylor to inform us if this 

 queen was six months or less old when she pro- 

 duced drones, as I can furnish plenty of wit- 

 nesses as to the truth of the above statement. 



DRONES AS CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



Friend D. is also of the opinion that drones 

 have a certain place to congregate, and that 

 the queens meet them there. Now. as to their 

 congregating inclinations, I read some writing 

 on this subject. I don't know how long ago, and 

 accepted the theory as fact, as I had noticed them 

 so congregated, and they do every season in one 

 mile of my place; but do queens very often meet 

 them there? Observation again says, " Rarely;" 

 for instance, those queens above mentioned, 

 that I reared in August and September, with 

 " free and unlimited Coinage " of drones in one 

 mile on either side of me. Now, I don't want to 

 compare my observations with those of Mr. D.; 

 but sometimes the "small fry," as you some- 

 times call us fellows, see some little kink that 

 has escaped the more busy eyes of the big guns. 

 The fact is, my connection with the bee-busi- 

 ness, though for years, has been more of the ex- 

 perimental than otherwise. J. H. Makklet. 



Carbondale. Kan., May 13. 



OLD BEES AND COMB -BUILDING. 



FACTS FROM OBSERVATION. 



On page 326 friend Doolittle takes up my 

 theory, that the old bees do the housework and 

 the young ones go to the field, and gives us some 

 good arguments to prove that I am wrong. 

 Perhaps my suggestions were a little amiss, and 

 maybe he is a little amiss too. I don't think 

 the young bees do all the housework— they may 

 do a part of it. But we do know that bees that 

 have passed the winter, act as nurse bees until 

 they get young ones hatched in the spring, and 

 those bees of mine last summer nursed their 

 young and built combs until they were at least 

 96 days old. You will see by my report last 

 year, Oct. 1st Gi>eanings, page 761, that I ex- 

 amined them Sept. 10th. They were then 90 

 days old; and as I had taken all of their brood 

 from them Aug. 24, it would be 21 days after 

 Aug. 24 before they could hatch a bee, or until 

 the 14th of September— 96 days in all. I said in 

 my report that I was not sure but they would 

 pass the winter if allowed to hatch the crop of 

 brood that was then coming on. Well. I did let 

 them alone after that. I let them hatch all 

 the brood they could. The middle of October I 

 packed my home yard for winter. This colony 

 had on a second story above the honey-board. 

 I filled that upper story with straw, and did 

 not open the hive. This spring, April loth, I 

 looked over the yard to see if all had honey to 

 live on. When I came to this hive I saw a few 

 bees going into the hive. I supposed they were 

 other bees taking out what honey they had left. 

 I opened the hive, and, to my surprise, the col- 

 ony was alive and in fair condition, and is yet. 

 May 30. Of course, I don't believe that any of 

 the bees that are there now, except the queen, 

 were put in there last June. But wliat bees 

 they raised logo into winter must have hatched 

 after the 14th of September. They are now a 

 fair colony, and have had no help except being 

 furnished with plenty of honey, and wintered 

 on their summer stand. 



CONGREGATING DRONES. 



I read Mr. Doolittle's article on page 372, 

 about drones congregating in certain places, 

 and the queens going there to mate. My opin- 

 ion is, he is right. I believe in his theory, ex- 

 actly. I will give a little bit of my experience 



