Aug. 15, 1911 



497 



to be white 

 and plastic, 

 and enough 

 to fill the cell 

 more than 

 the depth of 

 a wooden cell 

 cup. I have 

 often had 

 hatched cells 

 which mea- 

 sured IX in. 

 in depth, but 

 I have never 

 created a 

 monstrosity, 

 nor could 1 

 ever see that 

 queens thus 

 raised were 

 any better 

 than those 

 raised from 

 natural built 

 swa r m i n g - 

 cells; but I 

 do claim to 

 be able to 

 raise uni- 

 formly good 



queens by this method when it would oth- 

 erwise be impossible to do it. 



If I am not mistaken, regrafting in one 

 way or another has been practiced by others. 

 The idea was first suggested to me by Mr. 

 John Nippert, formerly of Pha^nix, Arizona. 

 The details as given there I Morked out my- 

 self. 



The quantities, proportions, estimates, 

 etc., as I have given them here, are not in- 

 tended by the writer to be inflexible, but 

 rather to be subject to local and weather 

 conditions, also to the judgment and experi- 

 ence of the bee-keeper. 



i.os Angeles, Cal. 



HOW THE AGE OF QUEENS AFFECTS SWARM- 

 ING. 



Year-old Queens Swarm Much Less than the 



Two-year-olds; a New Form of Nucleus for 



Queen-rearing. 



BY S. D. HOUSE. 



During the last week of June and the 

 first two weeks of July we went through the 

 busiest part of our work for the season, and 

 with this vast amount of work demanding 

 our attention I took time to make some ob- 

 servations for future use. 



The early part of the season opened with 

 bright prospects. Bees wintered well and 

 built uj) fast. During fruit-bloom the ma- 

 jority of the colonies needed extra room, 

 which was given by adding brood comb. 

 June 1st the clover was blooming finely. I 

 don't think I ever saw a finer stand of clo- 

 ver in this section, and the weather condi- 

 tions seemed perfect for a good secretion of 

 nectar; but, alas! there was but little or no 



Fig. 3.— A comb from which the third queen has just mated. 



secretion, the bees barely making a living. 

 During this dearth of honey the bees gath- 

 ered an unusual amount of pollen, which 

 occupied a considerable part of their combs; 

 and, with the very light flow of honey, egg- 

 laying was checked. These conditions pro- 

 duced a desire on the jiart of the bees to su- 

 persede their queens, and at the same time 

 to swarm. Usually the swarm would is- 

 sue with the old queen about the time the 

 young queen commenced cutting herself 

 free from the cell. The old queen, being 

 clipped, was picked up and caged, and the 

 swarm returned to the hive, the hive mean- 

 while having been opened and all queen- 

 cells destroyed with the exception of one if 

 the stock was pure Italian. If not, I de- 

 stroyed all cells and gave a pure Italian 

 cell. The sw-arming impulse among these 

 colonies was so great that the bees would is- 

 sue with the last and only virgin queen in 

 the hive. Often, while the virgin was at- 

 tempting her mating- flight, the swarm 

 would issue with her. Sometimes the bees 

 would come out and the young queens re- 

 fuse to leave the hive, so that there would 

 be attempts at swarming several days in 

 succession. I found that the excessive heat 

 and insufficient ventilation were the prin- 

 cipal causes of this persistent swarming. 

 The raising of the hives upon four one-inch 

 corner blocks put a stop to the trouble. 



At my home apiary, about 20 per cent of 

 the colonies swarmed, and I noted this fact 

 — that about 95 per cent of those colonies 

 were led by a queen that was coming tw^o 

 years old. The 80 per cent that did not at- 

 tempt to swarm had queens reared last sea- 

 son, or the early part of this season. These 

 colonies on July 12 had from 60 to 90 pounds 

 of comb honey, while the 20 per cent that 



