638 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



for queen-cells; and you ask, "Why should 

 they start with drone-cells ? ' ' Let me in 

 turn ask, " Why should they start with work- 

 er-cells ?" for you seem to ignore my state- 

 ment that bees with a laying queen will start 

 queens in worker-cells supplied with jelly. 

 Not always; neither do I always succeed with 

 Doolittle cups. [You say, doctor, that " bees 

 with a laying queen will start a queen in a 

 worker-cell supplied with jelly." They do 

 not do that way down here in Medina — at 

 least I never observed it. I will assume that 

 the}^ may do so; but even then I should be 

 under the impression that it was only under 

 special conditions. — Ed.] 



The novfce may be a little muddled with 

 a brace of errors in that footnote, p. 606. 

 Second column, second paragraph, says "•pre- 

 pared drone-comb cells." That's mixing in 

 Jones and Fooshe. Alley uses worker-cells, 

 not drone-cells. At top of p. 607 is said, cells 

 may be put in any strong colony providing it 

 is stimulated, "if honey is coming in," mean- 

 ing "if honey is not coming in." [A bee- 

 keeper might understand what I meant. I 

 did not mean to say in the first instance drone- 

 comb cells. I meant to put in its place 

 " worker." In the next instance, the word 

 not should surely have been in. With these 

 corrections the novice will get my meaning a 

 little better.— Ed.] 



You speak, Mr. Editor, of getting cell-cups 

 accepted with the food of t lie ordinary worker- 

 cell, as if there was a difference between that 

 and royal jelly. Have you forgotten that, 

 during the first three days, workers and queens 

 are fed on the same kind of food, there being 

 a difference in quantity, and that the workers 

 are weaned at three days while the same food 

 is continued to the queens? So it's all the 

 same whether the food be taken from queen 

 larvse or young worker larvae, if the same 

 amount is taken. [Yes, I remember some- 

 thing to that effect; but why is it that Doo- 

 little and all the others recommend taking roy- 

 al jelly in preference to any other food ? Or 

 is it the fact that Doolittle and the others 

 have not yet discovered that the food of three- 

 day-old larvae is the same as that for the 

 larvse of queens? — Ed.] 



I weaken on the matter of the shape and 

 size of cells having something to do with bees 

 starting queen-cells. If you get a queen cell 

 started in an artificial cup, using only the food 

 of worker larvae, and giving only the same 

 amount as is found in a worker-cell, then that 

 helps to prove that the cell has much or all to 

 do with it. But the force of the argument is 

 weakened by the fact that in the same place 

 the bees will often start queen-cells on their 

 own account out of ordinary worker-cells. If 

 with the regular worker ration you get cells 

 started in every ease in the artificial cups, then 

 that's clear proof of the effect of the cell-cups. 

 [But is it the rule, doctor, that queen-cells 

 will be started in a colony having a normal 

 queen ? You will not forget that these Doo- 

 little cell-cups will not only be begun upon, 

 but actually finished, in such colonies. Those 

 having a supersedure queen will accept almost 



any thing; but I would not go quite so far as 

 to say that cups rationed with worker food 

 will, as a rule, be accepted where there is a 

 normal (not supersedure) queen, because we 

 do not know yet until we test the matter fur- 

 ther —Ed.] 



The strangenfss of the season continues — 

 bee- starving in June; white clover abundant, 

 but no storing till after the middle of July; 

 then very slow but steady storing till about 

 Aug. 10, when clover seemed to disappear 

 suddenly; but the slow steady storing kept 

 right on, and Aug. 17 finds piled in the house 

 about 25 finished sections per colony, with 

 nearly as much more on the hives, filled and 

 ready to seal, but the bees are slow about seal- 

 ing. The honey is of the very best, but I 

 don't know what it comes from. There's 

 some sweet clover and unlimited cucumbers, 

 but we haven't been in the habit of crediting 

 cucumbers with such nice honey. The greenish 

 pollen suggests red clover, but all the farmers 

 say there isn't a field of red clover in this 

 region — all winter-killed — only there's some 

 on the roadside. If this thing keeps up long 

 enough I'll report a good crop by Christmas. 

 [Some four or five years ago, if I remember 

 correctly, you had a season exactly like this. 

 Most localities are not quite so accommodating. 

 If clover does not yield by the middle of July, 

 usually no clover honey is expected. You re- 

 member I once advised you, doctor, to leave 

 your locality and go where there were bass- 

 woods. I will withdraw that advice. — Ed.] 



A surprise has met me. A dozen or so 

 supers were filled with sections, one side old- 

 style sections with plain separators, the other 

 side with plain sections and fences. In every 

 case where there was a difference, and I think 

 there was a difference in every case, in some 

 cases a marked difference, the difference was 

 in favor of the old style, the bees beginning 

 sooner and finishing sooner. I don't under- 

 stand it. I could understand it if there were 

 no difference, but why the bees should do 

 worse with freer communication is beyond 

 me. Is it pure prejudice on the part of the 

 bees? [This is indeed a surprise when most 

 of the reports have seemed to be the other 

 way. But in the interest of fairness and 

 truth, I desire that this item should be as 

 widely circulated as the items of the other 

 character. If there is any advantage in a 

 solid separator, such separator could be used 

 with the plain sections; but in that case it 

 will be a cleated separator. But plain sections 

 with the same filling are preferred by the buy- 

 ers. I take it that you yourself are partial to 

 tall sections, from what you say on page 601, 

 and that you are afraid that you will have to 

 adopt them. Is it the tallness or the general 

 appearance of the boxes, or what, that makes 

 you think that way ? — Ed.] 



Examination made by you, Mr. Editor, 

 showed that % of the cases of travel-stained 

 sections had the stain clear through the cap- 

 ping. I'm not prepared to dispute that all 

 the dark cappings of my sections are dark 

 clear through, but here's what I know. I 

 know that, when a super is left on long 



