576 



GLEAMlNliS IN BEE CULTURE. 



At^G. 1. 



and the bees are allowed to have their own 

 way in rearing a queen, the first hatching 

 queen will not be as good as those which would 

 hatch a little later. Bui our correspondent 

 must bear in mind that this has little to do 

 wiin the "survival of the fittest,"" lor this 

 means where nature is allowed to have its own 

 way; and in that case queens would be reared 

 on the swarming plan, in which case queens 

 are reared from the egg, or the larva is fed all 

 its life on royal jelly. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., July 16. 



[We have noticed particularly, during the 

 past summer, that frames of foundation would 

 be drawn out and filled with raw neciar first at 

 those ends next to the entrance, and that a little 

 further on this nectar would be gone. This 

 rather corroborates the facts presented by our 

 close-observing correspondent.] 



THAT OUTSIDE RO"W 



OF CELI>S IX A SECTIOX. 



A correspondent writes: "I have just taken 

 off ?M) lbs. of comb honey, snowy white, well 

 tilled, and nicely capped, save one row of cells 

 next the wood. Later on, many of these will 

 leak, which is worse than being travel-stained. 

 How would it do to lift the super, put an empty 

 super under, and let them btay on till the end 

 of the seairon ? or is it best to put the empty one 

 on top '?" 



I confess that I do not feel very fully posted 

 as to that outside row of cells. In the first 

 place, 1 don't know what is the reason that one 

 lot of sections has a row of unsealed cells next 

 the wood, while another lot has no cells unseal- 

 ed. J su>pect it may be that a colony must be 

 somewhat crowded for room before it will seal 

 the outside row. If that be the case, it is pos- 

 sible that it might cost more than it would be 

 worth, to force the bees, by crowding, to seal 

 the outside row. 



I am not certain just what you expect to gain 

 by leaving the super on till the end of the sea- 

 son. If you expect thus to get the outside row 

 of cells sealed. I am afraid you will be disap- 

 pointed. So long as there is abundance of room 

 in the second super, whether it be above or be- 

 low. I should expect the outside row to remain 

 unsealed. Even supposing that, by leaving the 

 super on till i he close of the season, the cells 

 would be ail sejilt^d. I think the remedy would 

 be \\ of^c than the disease, foi' I can not agree 

 with you that it is necessai'y to have leaking 

 cells, even thoufili they are not sealed. 



How, then, shall we manage these unsealed 

 cells? I must admit. 1 have plenty of them 

 every seiison. and yet I think it is a rare thing 

 to have tht^in leak. If the cells are empty it is 

 pretty certain that they will not leak. I think 

 mine are genei'ally empty. When it is time to 

 take off a .-uper. if the bees act for you as they 

 do forme they will (;mpty neai'ly all those un- 

 sealed ci'lls before! they leave the supi^r. Prob- 

 ably they do this on the sann^ piinciple that 

 they always act when afraid that eveiy thing 

 is to be taken fiom them; that is, they load up 

 all the hoiiey tlu-y can. so as to be ready for any 

 etnergeiicy. IJhick bees, when frighteui d. are 

 lik:'ly to tear holes in the ca[j|)ings. but Italians 

 selilom do. Thev taki^ lime lu look ai'oniid for 

 cells that are alri'ady unsealed, and lujid up 

 from them. 



Whethei' tliey would do this when not at all 

 frightened, as in the case of going dnwn 

 through a bee-escape. T do not know. Hut 

 mine always get a pretty good do-e of .-meke 

 before renujval. 



Even although honey should be left in the 

 unsealed cells, it is not necessary to have it 

 leak. It will not leak if thick enough: and if 

 the sections ai'e kept in a proper place the hon- 

 ey will become thicker instead of thinner: for I 

 think I am safe in saying that honey mtist 

 become thinner than it was before it left the 

 hive before it will leak. If I am not mistaken, 

 Mr. Doolittle depends almost entirely on the 

 ripening of the honey in these unsealed cells to 

 prevent leaking, laying great stress on keeping 

 the honey for some time in a building painted a 

 dark color so as to be heated by the sun. with 

 a good circulation of air so as to encourage 

 evaporation. Indeed, honey should be kept in 

 some such place in any c;ise. I never heard of 

 any honey being ripened too much by it, but I 

 have often known honey to be in bad condition 

 for want of evaporation or ripening. 



So I su-'ipect that you will always have a good 

 many unsealed cells in the row next the wood; 

 but you can prevent their leaking, either by 

 getting the bees to empty them or by evaporat- 

 ing them so they will not leak. You may ask 

 whether there is any surety that such cells will 

 not leak if kept in an improper place after they 

 are evaporated. No. there is no surety against 

 such a thing. Neither is there any surety 

 against the sealed c<>lls leaking. Put honey in 

 a cool, damp place, where the unsealed cells 

 will get to leaking, and it will require only a 

 little time for the hontiv in the sealed cells to 

 become thin and ooze through the cappings. 

 I feel pretty sure, thnt. in any case where you 

 have had the outside low of cells leak, if you 

 should leave it long enoush in the same place, 

 honey would weep through the cappings. 



ANTS IX HIVES. 



You also ask for a remedy against small black 

 ants in hives. Oh. yesi a liberal sprinkling of 

 borax or common salt. But as I read further, I 

 find you say you have tried this without effect. 

 Well, it seems to me it worked with me. for in 

 former years I had trouble galore with ants, 

 sometimes the little ones like yours, not more 

 than 1^ of an inch long, and also with the large 

 ones. I don't know that they troubled the bees 

 very much: but they did trouble nie. crawling 

 all over my hands and arms, and viciously bit- 

 ing me every time I opened the hive. Well, if 

 borax and salt are of no use. couldn't you make 

 your covers ant-proof, so that no ant can enter? 

 fori don"t think you will ever lind the ants 

 have an eniranee through the hive where the 

 iiees are; tliey get in between the cover and the 

 hive, and then stay only on top of the cloth. 



But ril tell you what has proved a perfect 

 remedy with me; and that is. flat boaid covers 

 without any sheet. You see in that case there 

 is nowhere for the ants to have a nest without 

 being I'iglit among th(> hees. and I don't think 

 you evei' found them nesting where the Ijees 

 had free range. At any rate. I have never 

 known ants in hives with flat board covers. 



Marenjio. III. ('. C. Miller. 



RAMBLE NO. 64. 

 IX Tin<; oHAXGE-GKovEs: orange - growers 



SUB.JEC'T TO THE Bt^UES A.S WELL 

 AS REE KEEPER.S. 



After my pleasant experiences in Ventura Co. 

 I riHurni'd again to San Bernardino Co.. noted 

 for being the largest county in the U. S.. and 

 also for being the banner fruit county of Cali- 

 fornia. Its acreage of oranges alone is fully 

 liO.OOO. and rapidly going up at that. It is also 

 great in honey; but as to which county can 

 bear the banner, the honey statistician has not 

 as yet told u.-. 



