1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



603 



copulatory org"ans of the drone are, after a 

 short time, ejected. Is he sure of this? 

 Some time in the "SO's Thomas G. Newman, 

 in the A>nericafi Bee Journal, made the 

 statement that thej' are mostly absorbed. 

 Mj" own observations confirm this. If Mr. 

 Phillips will rear a queen this season in a 

 single-comb hive, vpith glass sides, and, 

 after she is mated, go once in tvpo or three 

 hours he will see that the drone attachment 

 will slowlj' diminish in size, apparently 

 drawing in until, bj' the second morning, it 

 will disappear. Hknry Jones. 



Brant, Mich., May 10. 



[This is the third report we have had of 

 this kind, and I believe we may now con- 

 clude that a queen, before she begins actual 

 laying, may meet a drone more than once. 

 Our correspondent makes the point that 

 "copulation does not always impregnate;" 

 and when he saj's there is proof of this in 

 all domestic animals, he is stating a well- 

 known fact. It may be questioned, however, 

 whether the queen, after she once begins 

 laying, meets a drone the second time. 

 Editor Hutchinson suggests that it is possi- 

 ble because of the fact that queen-breeders 

 have had reports of pure tested queens that 

 they have sent out turning hybrid. But I 

 account for this experience, which is quite 

 common among all queen-breeders, by the 

 fact that a daughter inadvertently, or at 

 least unknown to the owner, supplants her 

 mother. She has the same markings, and 

 is supposed to be the same queen; but she 

 has met a hybrid or black drone. Her own- 

 er naturally supposes that she is one and 

 the same queen — that she "never was pure 

 in the first place," and that he "now has 

 proof of it," when in actual fact he is en- 

 tirelj' mistaken. Cases of this kind are so 

 easily possible that I should prefer to ac- 

 cept this theory to the other one, which 

 seems so improbable. — Ed.] 



HOW TO GET THE LARGEST INCREASE BY 

 DIVIDING. 



I have six colonies of Italian bees, fairly 

 strong. I wish to increase so as to secure 

 as many colonies as possible by fall. How 

 mary frames to a nucleus would give the 

 best results? Would it be preferable to buy 

 and introduce queens, or give each nucleus 

 eggs and brood, and allow it to raise its 

 own queen? Forage in my locality consists 

 chiefly of flowers and fruit blooms, white 

 and sweet clover. I am willing to feed if 

 better results can thereby be secured. 



My bees are pure Italians, or supposed 

 to be; yet one colony is, and always has 

 been, so cross as to make handling it very 

 difficult and unpleasant. Would removing 

 the queen from this colony, and introducing 

 one from a colony more well-disposed, cor- 

 rect in time this objec':ionable feature? 



Chicago, 111. E. W. P. 



[I would not have the nucleus less than 

 two-frame, and generally three-frame would 

 be better. If you wish to make a large in- 



crease in the shortest time possible, buy 

 queens in dczen lots. If economy is a con- 

 sideration, then raise your own queens. 

 Give to each nucleus, as fast as it is form- 

 ed, a ripe queen cell, or, better still, a 

 young virgin in an introducing-cage. If 

 you raise your own queens, start a batch of 

 cells; and when the virgins hatch, or about 

 the time they hatch, form the nuclei by di- 

 viding each colony up into two and three 

 frame nuclei. The two-frame should have 

 more brood, and the three-frame may be 

 given the same quantity of brood in three 

 combs. The entrances of all these nuclei 

 formed should be closed for three days with 

 wire cloth; but be careful to avoid smother- 

 ing the bees. If the bees are shut in three 

 days they will be likely to stay in the loca- 

 tion when released. The cells or virgins 

 may be given at the time of forming the 

 nuclei. The nucleus left on the old stand 

 need not, of course, be confined. 



The colony having the cross bees should 

 have the queen killed and another one in 

 her place. — Ed.] 



A SPECIAL HIVE-VENTILATOR. 



I have seen in the American Bee Journal, 

 as well as in Dr. Miller's book, that the 

 beekeeping world is in need of a better 

 ventilator for the front of hives when han- 

 dling or moving, and I send you a sketch of 

 the one I made a year ago, and find I could 

 not get along without it, and wish to offer 

 it to the public through you in return for 

 the good I receive from Gleanings and the 

 American Bee Journal. 



ALLAN'S VENTILATOR. 



Take two pieces of wood 7 inches long, % 

 thick, one inch wide at the wide end; run 

 to a point or wedge at the other (No. 1). 



Take another piece of wood ^sX?,s by 12 

 for an eight frame Dovetail hive (No. 2); 





-^^^r^ 





now a piece of wire screen 7'sX12. Take 

 a piece of tin 7;sX12, and fold in ^s of the 

 one side, as shown in the sketch (No. 4). 



Now we are ready to nail. First nail 

 No. 2 on to one edge of the wire cloth. Next 

 No. 2 on No. 1 ; then put No. 4 on the bottom^ 

 and pinch down the fold so as to hold the 

 screen in place, and nail from below. If 

 the above does not prove to be all right after 

 its introduction as a ventilator when han- 

 dling hives, I will give up. Try one and let 

 me hear from you. W. L. Allan. 



Monterey, Mex. 



[You do not say liow you use the ventila- 



