1898 



GLE KNINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



549 



should, the sun will shine obliquely into the 

 hive, and the light thus striking the combs 

 will show you the queen much better than at 

 any other time. If before noon, sit or stand 

 with your face to the west; and if after noon, 

 face east so that the sun shall not shine in 

 your face, and so that you will be looking on 

 the side of the combs where the rays of the 

 sun strike. Always have a light box, the 

 same size as your hive, with you; and when 

 opening the hive, do it as carefully and with 

 as little smoke as possible ; for if you are 

 careless, and jar the hive much in opening, 

 the bees will " go for you;" while the queen 

 becomes excited and runs about, often ofT her 

 " ^gg"^^yi"S ground," into the corners of the 

 hive; and if you have to smoke the bees very 

 much, those of the hybrid and black variety 

 will often so " stampede " about the combs 

 and hive that our object will be thwarted at 

 the outset. 



Having opened the hive so carefully that 

 the bees hardly know they have been disturb- 

 ed, and as carefully removed the first frame 

 on the side of the hive next to you, look it 

 over for the queen, if there are bees enough 

 on it so she might be there. Having satisfied 

 yourself that the queen is not there, set the 

 frame on th^ fuii/ier sid^ of the box from you, 

 and take out the next from the hive, looking 

 it over and setting it in the box as you did the 

 first. You now have room so you can readily 

 look down into the hive; and on taking out 

 another frame, glance down the side of the 

 next one in the hive, when the queen will 

 often be seen in her attempt to run around to 

 the opposite or dark side of the comb, espe- 

 cially if she is a virgin or black or hybrid, for 

 such queens are usually very shy. If you do 

 not see her, immediately look on the opposite 

 side of the comb you hold in your hands, for 

 she will be on one of these dark sides if any- 

 where. In this way keep on till she is found, 

 or all the frames are in the box. Nineteen 

 times out of twenty I find the queen in going 

 through the hive like this, no matter what the 

 queen, and whether laying or otherwise; and, 

 if in the prolific part of the season, I do not 

 usually have to lift over two or three frames 

 to fiud her, if I keep in mind something of 

 her whereabouts, as given above. But should 

 the queen not be found I now commence 

 putting the combs back in the hive ; and 

 by pulling them in the box the way I told 

 you, I can look at the "dark sides" of the 

 combs as they come from the box, the same 

 as I did when taking from the hive, and it is 

 a very rare thing indeed that I fail entirely to 

 find a queen in looking over the combs, either 

 from the hive or from the box. If such a 

 thing as a failure should occur, the hive is 

 closed, and a trial is made some other day. 



To show something what may be done, 

 allow me to say that I went to the out apiary 

 a few days ago and caged queens to prevent 

 swarming, on the plan given in Gleanings a 

 short time ago, and I made a record of ten an 

 hour, with hives overflowing with bees, and 

 supers to take ofT and adjust again. 



But I will stop short here, lest the reader 

 will say of me as Yelverton did of the preacher. 



A tedious preacher had preached the assize 

 sermon before Lord Yelverton. He came 

 down, smiling, to his lordship after the ser- 

 vice, and, expecting congratulations on his 

 effort, asked, "'Well, my lord, how did you 

 like the sermon ? " 



"Oh! most wonderfully," replied Yelverton; 

 " it was like the peace of God — it surpassed 

 all understanding ; and, like his mercy, I 

 thought it was about to endure for ever." 



RESTRICTED EGG-LAYING CAPACITY, AND 



SWARMING. 



On page 466, June 15th issue, you publish 

 an article on prevention of swarming. About 

 ten years ago I tried the plan outlined, on a 

 limited scale with ten-frame L. hives to pro- 

 duce comb honey. I confined the queen with 

 zinc divisions on from two to five frames? 

 My intention was to exchange these frames 

 the queens were on with those from the other 

 part of the hive when most of the brood was 

 hatched. Every one of the colonies so treat- 

 ed swarmed within a week after being re- 

 stricted. All methods of confining or re- 

 stricting the queen have proved a failure with 

 me. The successful bee-keeper of the future, 

 who makes his living at producing comb 

 honey, must produce it under "normal con- 

 ditions," and he must and will be able to 

 prevent increase, and control swarming, and 

 this will be done without much extra labor. 

 If the bees don't work according to your the- 

 ory, reverse it. They are practical. 



Normal, 111. H. W. Funk. 



[When you restricted the queen in her egg- 

 laying capacity, that was where you made 

 your mistake. The plan I spoke of contem- 

 plates giving the queen all the room she can 

 occupy. Restricted brood-rearing, no matter 

 how large the hive, is quite liable to induce 

 swarming. — Ed.] 



A NEW WAY OF DETERMINING SPECIFIC GRAV- 

 ITIES OF HONEY ; ROYAL JELLY IN 

 WORKER CELLS. 



Dr. C. C. Miller: — To-day I was getting 

 royal jelly from a hive four da}'S queenless, 

 to feed to grafted larvse I found nearly 

 100 worker-cells half filled with royal jelly, 

 and small larvae [lyi days hatched) floating 

 on it. Is it workers thus reared that give us 

 fertile workers when hives become queenless? 



Lately I had a glass tumbler % full of white 

 honey. I filled it up with dark amber sun- 

 extracted honey. In a few hours the white 

 h -ney was floating serenely on top. Then I 

 filled my tumbler 34 full of white honey, and 

 poured two tablespoonfuls of dark amber on 

 top of it. Next morning the amber formed a 

 distinct stratum at the bottom. I suppose that, 

 as water weighs about 8 lbs. to the gallon, and 



