480 



GIvKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



531 



is not known to the profession. But we do 

 know Ibis : That some say that a large num- 

 ber of drones unnecessarily incites swarming ; 

 and why should it not ? 



I do not know that it is profitable to trap 

 the drones just for the sake of killing them ; 

 but I would consider it a good practice to see 

 that all combs in the yard are exclusively 

 worker. Sometimes foundation stretches in 

 drawing out, and the cells are made oblong 

 near the top-bar. All such combs should be 

 used for extracting purposes, if used at all. 

 Rather than let them get into the brood-nest I 

 would melt out such combs, put in foundation 

 again, and wire so it would not sag. — Ed ] 



WHY BEES DO NOT START DOOI.ITTLE 

 OUEEN-CUPS. 

 In raising queens per Doolittle plan, is it 

 usual or not to have the colony refuse to start 

 the cells unless they are first started by a 

 queenless colony or by being made queenless 

 themselves? I have prepared a colony accord- 

 ing to directions ; but every time the bees re- 

 moved larvae they also removed larvae and 

 royal jelly when given that way ; also when 

 transferred — baby, cradle, and all. The queen 

 is a so-called hybrid, and was raised in 18i^9. 

 I tried them a number of times, and finally 

 made them queenless, and induced them to 

 start about 40 per cent of cells given ; then I 

 returned the queen to the lower story, and 

 they are finishing up those cells nicely, but 

 will not accept any new ones. I am at a loss 

 to know how to proceed unless I use queen- 

 less colony right along for cell-starlers, and 

 this appears to be too much trouble ; besides, 

 it makes a lot of dissatisfied bees which have 

 to be returned and renewed frequently or they 

 will not build well. W. R. L. Dwyer. 



[As you say nothing about feeding, I take 

 it that you have omitted a very important es- 

 sential in the matter of cell-starting. A nor- 

 mal colony with a queen out of the honey sea- 

 will do nothing in the way of starting cells 

 unless they are stimulated by feeding a little 

 syrup daily. The best colony to start cells is 

 one 1 aving a queen that it is trying to super- 

 sede ; and even this should be fed a little 

 daily. We sometimes find it advisable, under 

 some circumstances, to use queenless colonies 

 for starting cells ; but even then we always 

 advise that stimulative feeding, if no honey is 

 coming, should always be practiced. Of 

 course, during the honey-flow or during the 

 swarming-time such feeding is entirely unnec- 

 essary. — Ed] 



DAMPENING SECTIONS. 



Your way of dampening secti'ms is too slow 

 for me. A much better way is to take an old 

 tin can, hang it up, punch a small hole in the 

 bottom, and take about 40 sections in your 

 hands at once, and let the small stream run 

 across the groove, and the work is complete. 



Benson, VV. Va. Abbott Clemens. 



[I do not remember just what method we 

 have given for dampening sections ; but it is 

 our rule to pick up thirty or forty, as you 

 speak of, and hold them in the left hand, edges 



up. We then take a tin cup filled with water, 

 and pour a small stream right over the V cuts, 

 drawing the cup along slowly as the stream 

 runs down. This is very quickly done, and is 

 quite effective. Another way is to lay the 

 sections down flatwise on a table, V^ grooves 

 up ; then with an ordinary sash-brush, dipped 

 in water, paint along the V grooves. Your 

 tin can filled with water would work nicely; 

 but a tin cup does not require any special rig- 

 ging, and is practically just as good. — Ed.] 



H.J., Kan. — Referring to what is said in 

 the ABC book in regard to artificial swarm- 

 ing, I would state that nearly all the old bees 

 will go back to the old stand ; but as a ruJe 

 enough bees will stay with the brood in the 

 nucleus to take care of it. It is now our prac- 

 tice to put the most of the bees with the nu- 

 cleus on the new stand, because we assume 

 that a large portion of them will go back. 

 By proceeding thus we get an almost equal 

 division of bees. But the nucleus on an old 

 stand will have few j'oung bees and nearly all 

 old bees. The one on the new stand will have 

 mostly young bees and brood. Yes, yi u can 

 introduce a queen to either nucleus. We very 

 often introduce the queen at the time of mak- 

 ing the division ; but, of course, it is very 

 necessary to make sure that the queen is not 

 introduced to the nucleus that has the queen. 



R. F. IF., Ont., Can. — So you desire to 

 change Quinby closed-end frames with hooks 

 to Hoffman— or, rather, you want to know if 

 I would recommend it. If your bees are on 

 Quinby frames, and the propolis is very bad, 

 1 would advise you to keep them on such 

 frames and not change to the Hoffman. 1 still 

 admire the Quinby frame, and on many ac- 

 counts like it better than any thing else I have 

 ever seen ; but, like every thing else, it has 

 its objections. When I can;e home s-ome ten 

 years ago I was enthused with self-spacing 

 frames. I should have recommended the 

 adoption of the Quinby instead of the Hoff- 

 man ; but the former could not be used in the 

 ordinary hives that had formerly had Lang- 

 stroth hanging frames, and it seemed to me, 

 all things being considered, that the Hoffman 

 would be the best one to adopt, because it was 

 partly closed-end and because it could be used 

 in the standard Langstroth hives that v\ere 

 and are used almost universally throughout 

 the United States. But if the Quinby frame 

 could have been used just as easily in such 

 hives, you may be sure I should have recom- 

 mended to our firm the adoption of those 

 frames. No, sir ; to any one who has bees on 

 Quinby frames, and who would contemplate 

 changing them into the Hoffman, I would 

 say, '• Don't do it." Other things being equal, 

 I should prefer the Quinby ; but, unfortunate- 

 ly, other things are not equal — that is to say, 

 they can not be used in standard hives. 



