242 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 15 



onies, as I did not wish to divide the first 

 two, as that would spoil the test that I was 

 making for swarming. That season, like 

 the first, I had no swarms. All colonies 

 vere given empty combs in the center of 

 the brood-nest. All this time the entrances 

 were only |^ by 4 inches, and old bee-keep- 

 ■ers all around told me that the colonies 

 would swarm for lack of ventilation. How- 

 •ever, they were fooled; for, although I tried 

 different strains of bees, such as Caucasians, 

 Banats, blacks, hybrids, goldens, and leath- 

 er-colored Italians, the result was always 

 the same— no swarming. 



The third year I had 23 colonies to experi- 

 ment with. I put them in three, five, ten, 

 twelve, twenty, and twenty-four frame 

 hives, always putting empty combs in the 

 brood-nest, as before, and, again, there was 

 no swarming. I have continued this pro- 

 cess for five years, always with the same re- 

 sults. 



Mr. Alexander says that swarm-cells in- 

 tensify the tendency to swarm. Yes, and 

 superseding-cells intensify superseding, and 

 cells used from a good honey-queen inten- 

 sify the gathering of honey. As I have had 

 no swarms I have reared no queens from 

 swarm-cells, all of my queens coming from 

 colonies that have had no desire to swarm, 

 so that, to keep up the colony life, the bees 

 had to supersede their queens. Nature pro- 

 vides an evolution in bee-life by supersedure, 

 hence there is no need of swarming. I do 

 not think non-swarming is contrary to na- 

 ture, for I believe what Mr. E. L. Pratt once 

 said when he stated that swarming is 

 not increase. During three years of queen- 

 rearing from supersedure-cells, and using 

 drones from such queens, I have noticed 

 quite a difference as to how old the queens 

 are before the bees think of getting rid of 

 them. Last season I was not able to keep 

 a single queen that was over a year old ex- 

 cept by close watching to cut out all queen- 

 ■ceils. 



Some may suggest that these were all 

 w^eak colonies, so that, of course, they did 

 not swarm; but I should like to ask what 

 "Constitutes a weak colony. When eight to 

 tweh^e frames of brood are on the go all the 

 time, and when one queen in particular in 

 a 24-frame hive-body keeps 18 combs in con- 

 stant use for brood-rearing, I do not regard 

 such as weak colonies. 



I use no eggs for queen-rearing except 

 from five-banded golden Italian queens less 

 tha n a year old. I pay ten dollars for breed- 

 ers. 



In early spring I take especial pains to 

 confine all colonies to only the number of 

 combs that they will cover from top to bot- 

 tom. I use division-boards on one or both 

 sides of the cluster, and remove the rest of 

 the combs to the honey-house. When in- 

 serting empty combs in the center I expand 

 the cluster until the hive is full. One comb 

 the first week seems to be a plenty, after 

 the queen commences to lay. After brood- 

 rear ing is well started I find two combs a 

 wee k is enough for the average queen. Of 



course, conditions vary in this respect. I 

 had one queen last summer that used four 

 combs a week. When the hive is full of 

 brood and honey I remove one outside comb 

 on each side of the hive to make a place for 

 the empty ones in the center, and I either 

 extract these or use them for forming nuclei. 

 Combs that have been extracted are used in 

 this way just like those that are empty. 



All my hives are triple-walled. I think 

 this feature has more to do with the preven- 

 tion of swarming than the spreading of the 

 cluster; for by the latter plan a larger colony 

 is secured, that, in time, has no more room; 

 hence I see no reason why bees manipulat- 

 ed in this way might not finally swarm just 

 the same, if they were not in a hive kept 

 cool by the three walls. 



Akin, N. Y. 



TOADS A REAL PEST IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



BY JUAN CHRISTBNSEN. 



I have had a curious experience with bees. 

 I may say that I am an amateur with no 

 experience, but I am getting it. About a 

 year ago I bought two swarms in frame 

 hives, and I brought them to this place (600 

 miles) by rail, and set them on stands about 

 afoot above the ground, at a place calied 

 Beltran, where I was at the time. I now 

 can go there only occasionally for a day or 

 two. About the middle of November I left 

 them doing well, as I thought. Arriving 

 there at midnight on December 31 I was up 

 on NevF Year's day at 5 : 30 a.m. and had a 

 look at one of the hives and found not a bee 

 out. As the climate is warm and dry I had 

 raised the hive about an inch above the 

 base-board, as recommended somewhere, in 

 order to ventilate well. I peered under the 

 hive and saw some dark objects. Thereup- 

 on I lifted off the hive and found 12 fat 

 toads which had gobbled up most of the 

 bc-es. Notwithstanding I am half a Theoso- 

 phist I lynched those toads. From this hive 

 I have taken sixty sections this season, but 

 there are too few bees to gather more honey 

 now. 



Next I went to the other hive and found 

 seven toads comfortably lodged inside the 

 hive, and most of the bees inside the toads. 

 I found the queens in both hives, but no 

 eggs nor brood. I placed the hives on high- 

 er stands. 



The bees are hybrids of some sort. Later 

 in the day I found them so demoralized 

 that they were being robbed by a tiny yel- 

 low bee about the size of a mosquito. 



I do not know where the bees get the hon- 

 ey, but they seem to be able to find it. I 

 have noticed them on algarroba, mistol, 

 aguaribay, jarilla, chafiar, alfalfa, and on 

 weeds the names of which I do not know. 



I would like to get Italian queens, but I 

 suppose I am too far off from anywhere to 

 get them by mail. They would take a 

 month to come from North America. 



Santiago del Estero, Argentina, S. A. 



