FEBRUARY 1, 1914 



87 



US witli the necessary navigable waters, so I 

 shall have to use the means of traveling at 

 my command, and be satisfied. 



* * * 



FIGHTING AMONG BEES OF THE SAME COLONY. 



A. C. Miller is, in my opinion, quite a 

 keen observer. I say this in all sincerity. 

 In just the same spirit, I can not help ex- 

 pressing the opinion that he sometimes 

 makes claims to tilings as being facts when 

 common practice seems to say there is noth- 

 ing in his contentions. Writing in the 

 American Bee Journal on the theme of 

 queen introduction, odor, etc., he says that, 

 when some colonies have combs with adher- 

 ing bees taken from them, if these combs 

 with tlie bees adhering are stood outside the 

 hive for ten minutes or so, against trees, 

 buildings, etc., when returned to the hive 

 again there will be violent fighting among 

 the lot united again, so that a quarter or 

 more of the colony will be destroyed. Now, 

 1 don't pretend to be much of an observer ; 

 but I don't believe this can be possible and 

 not be noticed by men handling hundreds of 

 colonies for years. In some old systems we 

 used to have of finding queens in populous 

 colonies for purposes of dividing for mak- 

 ing increase, etc., often have we had the 

 combs separated for much longer than ten 

 minutes, and never once can I recall seeing 

 a " scrap " such as Mr. Miller refers to. Of 

 course, friend Miller says " some " colonies, 

 so perliaps he has something out of the 

 ordinary. But at present I am inclined to 

 think he has stated very emphatically some- 

 thing that will be hard to prove to be correct 

 in actual practice. 



* * * 



BROOD-REARING IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER. 



" Only young queens, thirty daysj or 

 younger, will lay during the months of Sep- 

 tember and October in the Northern States," 

 p. 777, Nov. 1. Isn't that putting it a little 

 strong? Any way, if it is true of the North- 

 ern States, it is not the case in Ontario, 

 still further north. At the Cashel yard I 

 had 16 colonies in single-walled hives — in- 

 crease made in July, all queens being of 

 that month's rearing. They were left very 

 late — too late, in fact, before being trans- 

 ferred to double-walled hives. October 

 29 they were lifted into the winter hives, 

 each comb handled singly. Fourteen of the 

 colonies had brood hatching in two frames, 

 while two had three frames each. Of course 

 the frames were not filled with brood, as the 

 colonies had been fed heavily for winter. 

 A few of the colonies had too much space 

 with no honey, to suit me; and when brood 

 was hatched they were given some more 

 winter stores. In no case did I observe un- 



sealed larvEe; but as I handled the frames 

 rather rapidly I may have overlooked any 

 if it was present. But the comparatively 

 large amount of hatching brood was prhna 

 facie evidence that these queens had been 

 laying all through the first week of October, 

 and they were at least three months old. 



BEES GETTING INTO THE TVRONG HIVES. 



That bees in an apiary mix up a great 

 deal is a well-known fact; but it is only 

 when unusual conditions prevail that I have 

 a chance to see how much mixing is really 

 done, and to get an idea of how any disease 

 that might be carried by bees would soon 

 spread all through an entire apiary. At the 

 Cashel apiary the bees are nearly all Car- 

 niolan and their crosses, only a very few 

 pure Italians being in the yard. In the 

 row furthest west, which contains about 25 

 colonies, there is one hive of pure golden 

 Italians, the workers being about as solid 

 yellow as any I have ever seen. It is need- 

 less to say these bees are very conspicuous 

 when mixed with other colonies of dark bees, 

 and I was much surprised during the 

 past season to see how these goldens have 

 mixed up with their neighbors. For at least 

 30 feet on each side of the hive they come 

 from, golden bees may be found in all colo- 

 nies ; and while some are present in the row 

 back of the one they are in, not nearly as 

 many show up as in the hives in the same 

 row. On one side of this hive its neighbor 

 iiive is exactly tlie same in color, and I 

 should judge that about one quarter of the 

 inmates are golden. On the opposite side 

 of the hive the next neighbor is of a differ- 

 ent color, and very few goldens are mixed 

 with them. Still further away on the same 

 side as the different-colored hive, the next 

 one is of the same color as the one with 

 golden bees, and in this hive the yellow 

 fellows show up very plentifully. This 

 would seem to show that the young bees are 

 attracted by the same-colored hive, as they 

 certainly have not gone into the dark hives 

 near them to any great extent. The colony 

 of goldens does not seem to have so many 

 dark bees, so they have not gained any by 

 their indiscriminate mixing with their neigh- 

 bors, and it looks as though they are not as 

 •good home-finders as the dark bees. I re- 

 member G. B. Howe telling me that there 

 was always a much greater loss in mating 

 among Italians than with the darker races ; 

 and from my experience of the past few 

 years I am ready to endorse that idea, as I 

 continually find a much greater loss among 

 Italians in cases of supersedure, etc., than 

 is the case with the Carniolans and other 

 dark bees. 



