MARCH 15, 1914 



213 



Hornor had just before stated tliat he had 

 fed two barrels of block sugar, giving each 

 colony 15 to 20 pounds, and had two barrels 

 yet to feed ! 



The evening session was even more inter- 

 esting. Mr. Miller gave a talk on " The Dol- 

 lar and Cent Side of Beekeeping," and it 

 was very evident that liis training as a 

 i)anker had certainly qualitied him to figure 

 things down to one-half of one per cent, 

 and then multiply. As usual in bee " talks," 

 many most interesting and instructive topics 

 were brought in and discussed, and many 

 side-lights were thrown upon matters only 

 indirectly related to dollars and cents. Mr. 

 Miller stated, in reply to a question, that he 

 liad at one time a considerable number of 

 colonies of yellow Italians, but that he "was 

 glad to be rid of them — they are the worst 

 of sneak thieves." 



This remark caused a roar of laugliter, as 

 Mr. Miller had unwittingly trodden upon 

 Mr. Steele's toes. Mr. Steele retorted by say- 

 ing his yellow bees are not that kind. They 

 are very gentle, and he never has any rob- 

 bing. Mr. Miller said, " Put some highly 

 colored feed in your dark-Italian hives, and 



in a day or so you will find it all in the 

 yellow hives! " 



Good-humored tilts like this made things 

 interesting tliroughout the meeting, and 

 Mr. Steele was subjected to considerable 

 " joshing," which he met with characteristic 

 humor and energy. 



It is not possible, in a brief account like 

 this, to do justice to the paper by Dr. Phil- 

 lips, on " Two Essentials in Honey Pro- 

 duction." Suffice to say he threw new light 

 upon well-known methods by explaining the 

 bearing and relation of various scientific 

 principles. The ground was thoroughly 

 covered and fully discussed. 



Mr. C. H. Root, of Red Bank, was re- 

 elected President, and Mr. E. G. Carr, of 

 New Egypt, was also re elected Secretary- 

 Treasurer. 



There was a rather small display of hon- 

 ey and wax, for which prizes were awarded. 

 The " newest useful invention " presented 

 was adjudged to be the tube bee-escape for 

 transferring and treating foul brood with- 

 out shaking. This also received a prize. 

 Many new members were enrolled. 



Hoboken, N. J. 



BEES MOVED EGGS FROM ANOTHER HIVE AND REARED A GOOD 



QUEEN 



BY W. L. MILLER 



I notice that Dr. Miller, in his Stray 

 Straws, Jan. 15, doubts whether bees ever 

 actually move eggs from one hive to another. 

 I had an experience last summer that has 

 absolutely convinced me that bees actually 

 do steal eggs and move them to their own 

 hive in time of need. 



Last June I hived a swarm that had issued 

 from No. 3. In hiving I saw that they had 

 a very fine-looking queen which, of course, 

 went in with the rest. 



About a week later I had occasion to 

 look in this hive to see if every thing was 

 all right. I found about five completed 

 combs nearly full of honey, and some pollen, 

 but no eggs nor brood. All the combs were 

 carefully looked over for the queen, but she 

 was nowhere to be found; so, thinking that 

 I had possibly missed her, I went on, hop- 

 ing all might be well by the next time I 

 came around. 



Exactly a week later I again could find 

 no eggs nor bi'ood ; and after shaking all 

 the bees through a queen-excluding zinc, 

 and finding no queen, I sent for one. A few 

 days afterward, on again looking in, I found 

 a lone egg. A diligent search was at once 

 made for more, and two more were found, 

 one in the same comb and one in another. 



No queen could be found. It was not the 

 work of a laying worker, as I had been 

 troubled with them befo4'e and could see 

 that it was none of their work. 



This was something I had never before 

 encountered, and the developments were 

 noted with jealous care. Queen-cells were 

 built over all three. They were sealed. The 

 day before they were due to hatch I acci- 

 dentally destroyed one of the cells. The 

 next day I found the two cells hatched and 

 two large vigorous virgins on the combd. 

 A few days later one was found dead in 

 front of the hive. The other was in the 

 hive, and mated. Five days later this queen 

 began laying and kept at it all summer. I 

 still have her to-da3^ and she is just as good 

 as any I have ever bought. 



This incident has made me a stanch sup- 

 porter of the theory that bees do move eggs 

 from one colony to another. I should also 

 like to say that the Miller plan of introduc- 

 ing queens by the smoke method is by far 

 the best way to introduce queens. I tried 

 it for the first time on the very day that I 

 received the issue of Gleanings containing 

 it, and have used it every time since, and 

 liave yet to fail the first time. 



Stephenson County, 111. 



