604 



knowiner more of the conditions, we could not in- 

 dicate which is the probable one. If all the brood 

 die.s and continues to die when it reaches a certain 

 stage, .vou would do well to send samples of it to 

 Dr. E. F. Phillips. liureau of Entomology. Wash- 

 ington. D. C. to determine whether disease is pres- 

 ent. There is still a fifth condition that might be 

 responsible for the trouble, namely, a weakness on 

 the part of the queen. This is hardly probable. If 

 the bees are blacks or hybrids, examine the combs 

 carefully to discover whether there are any galler- 

 ies of a moth-worm. 



In view of the fact that at this time of year there 

 are likely to be chilly or cold nights, and too few 

 bees to hover the brood, we would favor the belief 

 that the brood had been chilled. This seems more 

 probable than any of the causes mentioned. If you 

 had been examining the hive, and the brood had 

 been exposed on a raw chilly day, you would need 

 to look no further for your trouble.— Ed.] 



WillOueen-cells over an Excluder Induce Swarming? 



T^*^'l,?>>^^ ■''"^- •'^"^- !''• this question is raised, and 

 Ur. Miller IS of opinion that, if the upper story is 

 sufhciently removed from the bees to cause a feel- 

 ing of queenlessness. it will be too remote to cause 

 swai-ming below. In many cases cells above an ex- 

 cluder seem to do no harm, and are common enough 

 when brood is rai,sed into an extracting-super. As 

 a general thing I think the bees tear down these 

 cells belore they hatch. If they do hatch, it occa- 

 sionally causes trouble. 



This summer I reared a stick of Doolittle cells in 

 the super of a strong Italian colony, placing the 

 cells between two frames of unsealed brood. A 

 very light heney-tlow was going on: in fact, the su- 

 pers had ju.st been put back after the first extract- 

 ing, and they had only a few pounds of honey in 

 them. At the proper time I removed the cells-"but 

 It appears that the bees, having their hand in. had 

 a so started several cells of their own on the frames 

 ot brood. I did not know this until later, however 

 and these cells hatched. My first intimation of 

 any thing abnormal was on seeing the colony 

 .swarm. It had shown no swarming inclination 

 during the clover How, and I was proportionately 

 astonished. I hived the swarm, however, and 

 looked through the old hive, thinking that I could 

 find some good queen-cells which would be useful 

 just then. To my surprise, however, I found noth- 

 ing more than three cups, each with an egg in it. 

 1 then examined the super, and discovered the 

 hitherto unsuspected cells, and also a fine young 

 virgin, just hatched. 1 removed the excluder, al- 

 lowing her to mate. 



Now, it seems clear that this colony had no in- 

 tention of swarming until forced, as it were, bv the 

 hatching of the cell above the excluder. Then 

 they must have hastily constructed cups, in which 

 wt'^Y?*^" deposited eggs and the swarm went off. 

 Why they did not do away with the virgin is one 

 oi the mysteries of bee nature: but it is clear that 

 they never would have swarmed but for the hatch- 

 ing cell. Ill future I intend to see that no cells are 

 allowed to hatch in the super. 



Stouffville, ont. F. l. Pollock. 



Did the Bees Steal the Eggs from Another Hive ' 



rpa^hlfn JS th'^.sPJ'i.if of 1910, when the bees had 

 reached the point oi breeding rapidly, and long be- 



han^Tn^yf fh"""""'"^ "f ''^'•'^^'"«- ^ ^o»nd a swarm 

 ^^\ii^ ?u ^^^ grape-arbor. The cluster was small- 

 er than the average. As I was much surpri.sed 

 1 looked over the colonies to see where it could 

 !?,^o„^ "f ^'■"'" ^° ^^'''-v in the season, and finally 

 eiamln'.HnnTl""^ f*"] ""'^ ^ ^'"^^^ ^^''- "ees. On 

 an HrA^'l °", ^ '°""f' ^ ^^^^ amount of brood, but 

 not a c?n nV* "e^'-'y all in worker-cells. There was 

 fnp/ tf,i " ^'orKer brood in the hive, and I exam- 

 Queen fron^Jho' ^'^'■«'f"''y- After removing the 

 hu^^ (™ " }!^^ s«arm. the bees returned to this 

 wa\ th^^t''i\'; ^^ remarkable thing about this hive 

 TnH « ft,L ^'■^.f'^''* '-^ recently hatched queen-cell, 

 fomiH .^ ""'' " ^'■'^'' *"''■ I" hiving the swarm I 

 w^rJl.i young/iueen, but there were no young 



m due t m*".";, V'^'y '^■^'■f ^'^"^ ^^'"'••^^>- combs, and 

 were old .U.L'^VS^" ''^^?" ^^^*"^- ^^ the bees 

 caniPoniVit '^I' }^^ previous fall, the colony be- 

 bu? ft hm, ''*''''', V^,^°'"^ ^^^ ^o""^ bees emerged: 

 but It bunt up well during the sea.son. I purposely 



ta^? ^f*"*^"^ '^° ^^'P- ^« I ^^'shed to see if t^ie queen 

 w as of any use. Some time last fall, however, they 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



evidently superseded the queen, as this spring a 

 new one was on duty, and I am keeping this queen 

 to -see if she will be of any value to me the coming 

 season. 



Now. where did the egg come from that produced 

 the queen reared in that cell ? Did the old queen, 

 by a mighty exercise of will power, lay a single 

 worker egg where it was so badly needed to save 

 the colony ? or did the workers purloin an egg or 

 larva from some other colony? Did the bees by 

 their intense desire transform a drone larva into a 

 queen-bee ? 



Port Orange, Fla., Aug. 2. J. B. Case. 



[There are two ways to account for the presence 

 of this queen-cell, ft sometimes happens that a 

 good laying queen will begin to tail. This is shown 

 by an increase of drone brood and a decrease of 

 worker brood. The relative disproportion contin- 

 ues to increase until there is almost no worker 

 brood but a great predominance of drone brood. It 

 is possible in this particular case, that, just before 

 the queen failed entirely to produce worker eggs, 

 the bees took one of those eggs and reared around 

 it a supersedure cell. Ordinarily we may say, how- 

 ever, that bees would not allow such a condition to 

 go from bad to worse for so long a period. The pre- 

 sumption is that they start supersedure cells about 

 the time the drone-cells begin to show up promi- 

 nently. We would, therefore, be inclined to favor 

 the opinion that in this particular case the bees 

 stole an egg from another hive.— Ed.] 



Honey-pumps Attached to Power Honey-extractors. 



I am interested in centrifugal pumps to raise the 

 honey from the extractor to the tank. Are they a 

 success for that purpose? 



Modesto, Cal. D. J. Geabill. 



[We are using a centrifugal pump for pumping 

 honey in our honey-bottling department, and are 

 very much pleased with its working. Of course' 

 you will need an electric motor or a small gasoline- 

 engine to drive the pump. The pumps we use are 

 the centrifugal type with a one-inch outlet. Power 

 extractors are now being equipped with centrifu- 

 gal pumps. K. F. Holtermann, of Brantford, Onta- 

 rio, has a twelve-trame automatic extractor with a 

 centrifugal pump, the whole operated by a gaso- 

 line-engine. The advantage of this arrangement is 

 that the honey is pumped out of the extractor just 

 as fast as it accumulates in the bottom of the ma- 

 chine, and then can be delivered to any height de- 

 sired, or into any can. It is then not necessary to 

 put the extractor up on some high bench so that 

 the honey will run down into some can. In fact, 

 the machine can be jjlaced on the floor, on a level 

 with the rest of the work, and the honey can then 

 be elevated by means of the pump to a tank in an 

 upper story of the building if desired. 



We predict that the hone.v-pump has come to 

 stay. There is no rea.son why it will not handle 

 honey just as well as it will handle oil or any other 

 in-oduct in a liquid form or semi-liquid condition.- 

 Ed.] 



Smoking Bees at the Entrance Does Not Pay. 



I agree with Mr. Chapman in all that he has said, 

 p. 435. July 15. During my 14 years' experience In 

 bee-keeping I have found that smoking bees at the 

 entrance is a mistake except iu the very rare case 

 of the hive getting a severe jar, by accident or oth- 

 erwise, when, in some cases, the bees pour out from 

 the entrance, and, if not sent bank by getting smoke 

 in their eyes, they will make their anger felt un- 

 mistakably. 



In handling bees in my apiarle.s, which I run for 

 profit and not for amusement, I always have a 

 smoKer ready, but rarely use it. 



I think the advice to a young bee-keeper, to be- 

 gin manipulations with two puffs of smoke at the 

 entrance, is the worst counsel that can be given. 



The answer to the question, " Does it pay at any 

 time?" should be "No," as the cases requiring It 

 should be very few, and may be considered a negli- 

 gible quantity. C. Noel Eddowes, 

 Apiarist at Government Farm School, Jamaica. 



Halfway Tree, Jamaica, B. W. I. 



[If a beginner uses no smoke in opening a hive 

 he may come to grief. A good deal depends on the 

 time of day and the bees. We would advise the be- 

 ginner to use a little smoke when opening hives 

 under all conditions: then experience will tell him 

 when he can use it sparingly or not at all. — Ed.] 



