548 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



of waste and broken bricks; these were broken 

 up, leaving, of course, the smaller pieces on 

 the top. 



" Along the end of the orchard a space was 

 thus covered about 7 ft. wide ; and down one 

 side a path varying — owing to the irregularity 

 of the hedge — from 4 ft. to ft. wide. 



"The whole was well rolled, and then, to 

 prevent the weeds from growing through, this 

 was sprinkled with boiling tar; and on the 

 top of all was placed a layer of sand, and an 

 edging of tiles round to prevent the pieces 

 working out. 



" The hives have stood, as depicted, on this 

 path for a year now, and I have every reason 

 to be well pleased with the result. During 

 the past season hardly any weeds have had 

 sufficient hardihood to penetrate the path, 

 though, of course, some twitch grew in from 

 the hedge-bottom at the rear edge. A further 

 dressing of boiling tar and sand will, I hope, 

 prevent this in future. Water drains rapidly 

 away, and there is always cleanliness and or- 

 der throughout; while any tool, small or 

 large, accidentally dropped, is set-n and re- 

 covered at once. As regards the hives them- 

 selves, they are of all shapes and patterns 

 outside, but the frames and inside parts are 

 interchangeable of course. There were at one 

 time two styles of frames — broad-shouldered 

 and metal-ended; the former are now, howev- 

 er, eliminated." — British Bee Journal. 



^^ ^^ ^?> 9^ . 



ANSWERS TO 



SEASONABLE 



QUESTIONS 



I 1^ ,d^.<^^ ^^?^oi^i^^ ^ ^ ^ .^ J 



QUEENS — HOW TO FIND. 



OuestioJi. — will 3'ou please tell me how I 

 may know for a certainty whether a colony 

 has a queen, and also how to find the queen if 

 the colony has one? I hunted a colony all 

 over to find the queen, and, finding none, con- 

 cluded they were queenless ; therefore I sent 

 for a queen for them from a distance ; and 

 when I tried to introduce her, according to di- 

 rections accompanying the shipping-cage, the 

 bees killed her. Upon looking into the hive 

 later on I found brood, so I presume they had 

 a queen all the time. 



Ansiver. — When settled warm weather comes 

 in the spring, it is necessary, for the person 

 who would be successful in bee-keeping, to 

 know that each colony contains a prolific 

 queen ; for if a colony has no queen, or the 

 queen in any colony should be old and failing, 

 that colony could not be gotten in proper con- 

 dition to take advantage of the honey-harvest. 

 As the queen is mother of all the bees in a col- 

 ony, she must be able to lay rapidly, so as to 

 be able to increase the population of the hive ; 

 and if such a one is not in the hive she should 

 be superseded by a better queen. As hinted 

 at above, it often happens that the queen of 

 the former season dies of old age during the 

 winter or early spring, and in that case it is 

 absolutely necessary that the apiarist know it, 



else the colony will perish, for the old bees die 

 off rapidly after they commence laboring in 

 the spring, for old age is brought upon the 

 bees sooner or later, according to the labor 

 they perform. There is no other way of know- 

 ing to a certainty what is going on inside, than 

 by opening the hive and inspecting all the 

 frames. To know if there is a queen in the 

 hive, inspect the combs ; and if no eggs or 

 small larvae are found in the bottom of any of 

 the cells during April, Ma}', June, July, Au- 

 gust, or September, you can reasonably expect 

 that such a colony is queenless, unless it be 

 for from fifteen to twenty days after swarm- 

 ing ; while if the eggs are few and scattered 

 about, with vacant cells intervening, ai.d with- 

 out regularity, the queen is not as prolific as 

 she should be. 



To be absolutely sure that a colony is queen- 

 less (and you should be thus sure before you 

 try to introduce a queen to it), take a frame of 

 comb having eggs and some larvae in it, and 

 put it into the center of the supposed queen- 

 less colony, leaving it undisturbed for three 

 days. If queenle-s, que^n-cells will be formed 

 over some of the little larvae ; and if no such 

 cells are started, you can rest assured that 

 they have something they are cheiishing as a 

 queen, which makes it unsafe to try to intro- 

 duce another imtil such a "thing" is dispos- 

 ed of, for the new queen will surely be killed 

 if introduction is tried. 



To the accus omed eye of the practical api- 

 arist, prolific queens are easily found, espe- 

 cially if the bees are of the Italian race ; but a 

 virgin queen, or an apology for a queen, is 

 often ver}' hard to find, even by an expert. 

 To find a prolific queen, look for her between 

 the hours of 9 a. m. and 3 p. m , on one of the 

 two outside comV)s of the brood-nest; for it is 

 my belief, after 25 j-ears of practical observa- 

 tion, that most queens have a certain route 

 (there are a few exceptions), which they go 

 over every 24 hours, the queen being near the 

 center of the brood-nest at midnight, when 

 the temperature at the outside of the cluster 

 of bees is coolest, and from there travels in 

 her egg-laying toward the outside of the clus- 

 ter till noon, when she commences to return, 

 reaching the center again at midnight. The 

 next day she does the same thing again, only 

 going in an opposite direction, or toward the 

 opposite side of the hive, which brings her on 

 one of the two outside combs of brood, be- 

 tween the hours above mentioned. 



Very early in the morning 0%^ late at night 

 I rarely find a queen on eillier of the outside 

 combs of brood, but midway between them 

 and the center of the brood-nest, while at 

 from 11a. m. to 2 p. M. I find a queen on one 

 of the outside combs of brood, nine times out 

 of ten, providing the brood-nest is in a normal 

 condition. If an empty comb is inserted any- 

 where in the brood-nest, the queen will be 

 quite likely to be found on this comb 24 hours 

 later; but in such a case the brood-nest would 

 not be in a normal condition. 



To find any queen, the best time to look is 

 from 11 A. M. to 1 p. M., as at that time the 

 most bees will be in the field and out of the 

 way; and if your hives face south, as they 



