932 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



est Danzenbaker hives made me one ton of 

 comb honey, and the ones in the 8 frame Dove- 

 tailed hive and 4% section made a third less. 

 And when it comes to the sales I get more for 

 the 4X5 sections, and I have no work in clean- 

 ing them, which I have to do with the 4.% sec- 

 tions. I ship them as I take them from the 

 supers. Mr. Ochsner says the American peo- 

 ple will naturally buy something new. If that 

 be so I always want something new, because I 

 make honey to sell ; and any thing that sells 

 the best and for the most money is what I 

 want out of the bee-business ( I guess he is not 

 an American is why he prefers the old supers 

 with 4% sections, as he calls them). 



I should like to have him ship some of his 

 4% sections to some of our eastern markets, 

 such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 

 Richmond, and Washington, especially the 

 latter, and put them beside my 4x5 sections, 

 and see how he would get left. I have just 

 received sales for some from there at 16 cts. 

 per section wholesale, and others are selling 

 at from 10 to 13 cts. 



He says, again, American people like to be 

 humbugged. Perhaps that is why he uses 4% 

 sections with tin separators, as I know I should 

 be humbugged if I used them. He hits Amer- 

 ican people so hard that I can't think him an 

 American. 



I see in your footnote on page 681 you say 

 the square sections would do as well as 4X5 

 sections under same conditions. What are 

 those conditions? I have a lot of 8-frame 

 hives with Hoffman frames with supers for 4% 

 sections for sale cheap, because I know of no 

 condition where I can use them to make it pay 

 me as well as the 4x5 section. 



Hamilton, N. C. 



[By "same conditions" I mean the same 

 style of section (either beeway or no-beeway, 

 same kind of separator or fence, the same kind 

 of foundation, and the same honey -flow. The 

 absence of any one of these conditions would 

 render the comparison unfair. There seems 

 to be more feeling (or ill feeling, rather) de- 

 veloped over this matter than is necessary. 

 The opponents on either side should let the 

 other fellow have his own preference. — Ed.] 



POINTERS ON QUEEN-REARING. 



Sealed Brood vs. Unsealed Brood to Coax Cell- 

 building; Making the Cell-cup Bottoms; 

 Giving Nuclei Water. 



BY W. H. PRIDGEN. 



There has been a hive in use at Creek all 

 this season, divided into three divisions, the 

 division-boards having openings 3x8 inches 

 in the center, with zinc tacked over them. 

 Instead of using it as you do, I use it as an 

 upper story, and have had cups accepted in 

 the center apartment while there were cells in 

 the others, as described, so far as cells are 

 concerned, in Jan. 15th Gleanings by Mr. 

 Doolittle. As soon as I read his article it 

 occurred to me that it might be better thus 

 arranged, and would remove the possibility of 



losing so many cells by an accidental virgin 

 queen. 



I wish you would ask Mr. Wardell to make 

 some cups with bottoms the right shape to 

 receive cocoons, and transfer the larva; with 

 the cocoons, selecting that which is too small 

 to transfer otherwise ; give them to bees 

 shaken from combs of brood, having a queen 

 six hours previous, and then 24 hours later 

 give them to his cell-builders, and note the 

 difference, if any, and write me his conclu- 

 sions. He could also transfer some the same 

 size now used, and leave off the giving of 

 them to queenless bees for 24 hours, and see 

 whether they are accepted as well. The plan 

 suggested mutilates the combs worse, but 

 would save the cells destroyed to succor the 

 royal jelly a la Doolittle. Possibly he has 

 noticed the illustrations sufficiently to be able 

 to make the stick used in transferring cocoons. 



One is liable to succeed best in the way he 

 wants to do a thing, and that may account in 

 a measure for my success in transferring 

 cocoons ; but I should like to have him try it 

 if he has not, as many have reported success 

 by this plan who failed in transferring larvse 

 only. One man who succeeded by transfer- 

 ring cocoons expressed doubt as to Mr. Doo- 

 little's rearing his queens as he advised others 

 to do. 



I now give just hatched queens instead of 

 cells to my nuclei, often during a flow the 

 same day the laying queen is removed, and 

 seldom have one rejected. It not only saves 

 several days' time, as the cells often fail to show 

 up a queen at the appointed time, but there is 

 nothing about the work that I enjoy more 

 than distributing fine young queens, and being 

 able to reject the faulty ones without having 

 to lose any time over them in the nuclei. 



I am of the opinion that, if Mr. Wardell 

 will separate a little two combs of sealed and 

 hatching brood, and also two of unsealed 

 brood, as well as make examinations where 

 they are naturally spaced, he will find more 

 bees clustered on the combs of sealed and 

 hatching brood. I do not find that they have 

 a preference for building cells naturally, on 

 combs of unsealed brood, or near it, and in 

 all probability the cells get more attention 

 where the brood needs none in the matter of 

 feeding. 



I supply one comb of water placed at one 

 side of the hive when the bees are screened in, 

 and there is pollen in the combs, and a comb 

 oae-fourth full of lumps of starch, sugar, and 

 water mixed, when there is but little or no 

 pollen. Enough water to cover the starch is 

 sufficient, and then stir thoroughly and add as 

 much sugar as will dissolve. I got this idea 

 by noticing how eagerly, the bees work on 

 starch thrown out about the laundry during a 

 scarcity of pollen. Neither do I want to 

 make the impression that I condemn the prac- 

 tice of placing combs of unsealed brood near 

 the cells while being built, but simply called 

 attention to the fact that more bees cluster on 

 combs of sealed than unsealed brood ; and I 

 am not sure but that sealed and hatching 

 brood next to the cells is just as good. 



Creek, N. C, Aug. 7. 



