J60 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



I gave the bees a cell as soon as the old 

 queen was removed. Out of the entire lot, 

 less than one-third became laying queens. 

 After this exj^eriment I again selected 100 

 colonies and gave the bees a cell three days 

 after the old queen was removed, cutting 

 out all the first cells started by the bees. 

 Out of this lot about half became laying 

 queens. Once more I selected 100 colonies, 

 but gave the cells eight days after the queens 

 had been removed, cutting out all cells 

 started by the bees as before. Out of this 

 lot fully 75 became laying queens. In each 

 test the queens hatched in over 95 per cent 

 of the cells given, showing that the loss 

 came after the queens emerged. 



After the bees once find out the loss of 

 their queen, they start preparations to rear 

 another. These preparations are hardly 

 started within 48 hours when the young 

 queen hatches if the cell was given at the 

 same time the old queen was removed, thus 



causing an abnormal condition, bringing 

 about the destruction of the virgin by the 

 workers. When the cells built by the bees 

 at the time tlie old queen was removed are 

 left until they are nearly ready to hatch 

 and then destroyed, and the new cell given, 

 every thing is normal and the virgin (|ueen 

 is accepted at once. Every apiarist knows 

 that the loss of virgins when mating from 

 parent colonies that have swarmed is not 

 very large. 



Being an extracted-honey producer as 

 well as a queen-breeder I will say tliat, 

 judging from the experience I have had in 

 this section, the pure Italian stock is the 

 best, and I have made a gain in the average 

 colony by breeding from this stock. These 

 bees are more resistant to disease, and ijen- 

 tler to handle. No mistake can be made by 

 breeding from the best Italian stock obtain- 

 able, and '' staying with it." 



Xordhoff, Cal. 



SOME INSTANCES OF STRIKING VARIATIONS IN QUEENS REARED 

 UNDER LIKE CIRCUMSTANCES 



BY J. 15. CASE 



An article on queen-rearing, to be of 

 value, must not be the mere opinion of the 

 writer, but must be based on the experience 

 of one or more persons. Some important 

 inventions, methods, and plans have come 

 through a mere hint that, ])erhaps, the giver 

 did not profit by. So, while I may have 

 nothing new, yet it is possible that some one 

 may get a hint that may set some train of 

 thought in motion that may result in some- 

 thing valuable. 



When Gleanings was a quarterly I had 

 two or three stands of bees in New Jersey. 

 As they increased I found that some colonies 

 gave much better results than others, al- 

 though, so far as I could see, all had an 

 equal chance. I had a buckwheat location ; 

 but my management resulted in pure Itat^ 

 ians giving more honey than blacks or hy- 

 brids. 



In 1881 I paid an extra price for the 

 colony that had made the most honey the 

 previous year in a yard of some 60 Italian 

 colonies. This colony was very strong, and 

 the bees evidently knew that the queen was 

 failing, as they built five cells and swarmed 

 when apple-blossoms were open, the old 

 queen being lost. As I was desirous of 

 getting as many queens from the stock as 

 possible I formed nuclei by breaking the 

 colony up, and succeeded in getting five 

 purely mated queens. The rest of the season 

 was very poor, and these nuclei went into 



quarters weak in bees but with plenty of 

 stores from buckwheat. They were packed 

 in thin nucleus hives inside my large hives 

 on four combs of nearly solid sealed stores 

 with chaff all around. All wintered well; 

 and as soon as they became crowded they 

 were ]ilaced in large hives with chaff on 

 both sides of the brood-nest. Combs were 

 added as they became crowded: and when 

 the weather got warm the brood was spread, 

 and combs of honey with cappings broken 

 were inserted, and those queens laid^some." 

 There were in Long Idea hives. 



About the middle of June, No. 1 swarm- 

 ed. The colony had 17 combs, with brood 

 in 15 to the amount of 1100 square inches, 

 actual measure. They were hived on eight 

 of the best-filled combs of brood, and gave 

 80 lbs. of section honey from clover and 45 

 from buckwheat. The old colony gave 50 

 lbs. buckwheat lioney in sections. The other 

 four did not swarm. No. 2 gave 140 lbs. 

 (had 1000 square inches of brood) ; No. 3 

 gave 125 lbs.; No. 4, 110 lbs.; No. 5 gave 

 the average of the whole yard — about 97 

 lbs. Here were five queens reared under 

 apparently the same conditions, and, so far 

 as I could see, given the same chance, yet 

 . one gave a swarm and nearly doubled the 

 honey that the other one gave. No. 1 gave 

 excellent daughters. 



I moved to Florida in 1885 on account of 

 my health. In 1890 1 liad a nice little apiai-y 



