736 



Gl.KANINGS IN BEE CULTUUE 



two rolouies were hopelessly queenless ; the others 

 were dequeened in the early afternoon, and the new 

 queens were run in at dusk. All details were car- 

 ried out strictly according to directions by Miller. 

 So particular was the operator that his watch was 

 placed on the hives he was manipulatins. Method 

 was this: The hive was dequeened; and in a few 

 hours, or as soon as the Ijees had settled down, a few 

 P'lflfs of cool smoke were forced into the hive, which 

 was then closed for 1.5 or 20 seconds (Miller's in- 

 structions). The new queen had heen removed from 

 the mailins-cage, and placed in a Miller introducing- 

 cagre, which cage was easily pushed into the entrance, 

 and the queen readily entered. The hive was then 

 closed for twenty minutes, and the entrance partially 

 opened. The first two hopelessly queenless ones ac- 

 cepted their queens and workers. From the next 

 two, the workers began carrying out the attendants 

 of the queen in 20 or 30 minutes. This was con- 

 trary to reports made by Miller, and we concluded 

 something had been overlooked. 



The next lot was treated the same way, but after 

 smoking and closing the hive a good rapping was 

 given it. In each and every case the bees roared 

 and were certainly much distressed. So much for 

 instructions. It made no material difference, as 

 workers and queens were lugged out before morning, 

 so that, out of the entire lot, we saved but two. Up 

 to now these two- colonies have not yet destroyed the 

 queens or workers. Can you blame us lor being 

 dubious, or are we wrong in our manipulations ? 



Queens we are ordering to-day will be introduced 

 by the caged-comb method. This is the only method 

 with which we have been successful this season. Cages 

 used were about 4x5, placed on an old comb, the 

 new queen and some workers in the cage. In some 

 instances the queen has laid, although caged, and in 

 no instance have we had any losses to report by this 

 method. 



Portland, Ore.. Aug. 10. E. J. L.\dd. 



This was referred to Mr. Miller, who replies: 



Did you ever notice that the strange, ;he weird, 

 the uncanny, always happens to the novice? Your 

 Ijrofessional queen-men succeed in thousands of eases, 

 while Mr. Ladd's novice fails in his few. 



From Mr. Ladd's letter I judge the novice has 

 missed much by striving to be over-particular. I 

 have carefuly studied his two letters, and I think 

 the trouble probably is due to too much smoke, for 

 one thing. 



His statement of " colonies queenless for weeks " 

 means very poor beekeeping. From what he says of 

 balled queens, destroyed virgins, etc., I would diag- 

 nose it as too much meddling. I have been through 

 all those experiences, and they were due to my 

 interference. I do not have such trouble nowadays 

 because I am too busy. 



As to acceptance of the queen and the non-destruc- 

 tion of cells, if they had been left undisturbed they 

 would have been destroyed later, usually just before 

 the young queen begins to color. 



As to loss of queen when introducing a few hours 

 after dequeening, a novice rarely, except by accident, 

 gets out a queen without a lot of disturbance, and 

 the colony does not settle down in a few hours. They 

 may be quieter; but my advice as given (to novices) 

 is, wait about twelve hours or over night. 



I have instructed many persons in bee culture, 

 and the proportion who have the facility to see and 

 grasp the essentials is exceedingly small. Only to- 

 day I was in a yard in a bad turmoil over a severe 

 case O'f robbing. The owner and another experienced 

 man and three beginners were there, and I had a 

 splendid demonstration of how one man fails to see, 

 when shown, conditions glaringly patent to othei-s. 

 It was a yard of thirty or more full colonies and 

 many nuclei, and was about the liveliest bee-spot I 

 over got into. It was chaos, and (laim'erous. Be- 



fore I finished, (juiet reigned; every colony was suc- 

 cessfully defending itself, and I had no difficulty in 

 running a queen into a queenless colony recently 

 badly robbed; and knowing and showing, without 

 opening, that ((ueen was accepted. 



There is very much too much overhauling of bees; 

 and bad matters, as in the above yard, are often 

 made worse thereby, and it is quite unnecessary. I 

 was shown two colonies said to be hopelessly queen- 

 less (had been examined half an hour before), aTid 

 one of them had been stripped of every scrap of food, 

 all larva' sucked dry and pulled out, and even sealed 

 cells torn open, and the young jjartially consumed. 

 I looked at the entrances for a few moments, and 

 then knew one had a fertile queen, and fe't sure of 

 the other as soon as I looked at the tops of the 

 frames, and then I showed them the queens. 



Any one tan do the same if he will study the be- 

 havior of the bee ; and then we shall have less freak 

 happenings. I will write this experience ■ p for you 

 soon, as it is too valuable to be lost. 



I suggest to Mr. Ladd that he have his i-ovice do 

 less overhauling, and try less smoke — just as little as 

 will make them roar, and postpone his introduction 

 of queens to the next day after dequeening. He was 

 working with blacks and hybrids; and even the 

 expert does not find such queens any too readily ; and 

 I suspect that the novice, though never so enthu- 

 siastic, " started something." 



Providence, R. I., Aug. 30. Arthur C. Miller. 



Tin Spout for Trapping Robbers in the Hive 

 They are Robbing. 



On page 648, Aug. 15, I notice the plan for stop- 

 ping robbing and disposing of robbers. Last fall 

 (1913) I discovered that the bees were robbing a 

 weak colony. I went to the shop, cut a thin boai'd 

 just right to fit over the entrance, bored a %-inch 

 hole through it close to one edge, ran a tin spout 

 through the hole, % inch in diameter at one end 

 and Vi at the other. I pushed the spout in at the 

 entrance (the deep side of the bottom-board was up), 

 shoved the board up snug against the entrance, and 

 tacked it fast. The field bees and robbers fairly 

 tumbled over one another to get through the spout. 

 In a short time not a robber was to be seen in the 

 camp. I left them there until the robbers united 

 with the colony, then turned them loose. It left that 

 colony too strong to be robbed. 



St. Joseph, Mo., Aug. 21. S. A. Mat.SOX. 



A Suggestion for Avoiding Confusion in 

 Apiarian Terms 



In regard to Dr. Miller's " Straw " on page 447, 

 .Tune 15, on Smith's and Jones' honey, I have a 

 suggestion to make that I think will work well if 

 made a rule. The number of pounds of honey should 

 have the letters x or c added to indicate whether it 

 is extracted or comb honey; «. g., Smith gets 50c 

 pounds of honey per colony, and Jones gets 60x 

 ])ounds per colony. In reading these statements the 

 letter indicating the kind of honey is not read; it 

 is seen, and conveys the information without its be- 

 ing spoken unless you are reading aloud for anoth- 

 er's benefit. 



In writing of foul Iirood also confusion usually 

 exists because the reader does not know what vari- 

 ety of foul brood is being discussed. It seems to me 

 that it would be well to adopt as a rule that the 

 initial indicating the kind of foul brood be placed 

 before the word : Smith has lost half his bees with 

 E. foul brood. Jones has a few cases of A. foul 

 brood in his apiary. 



(Rev.) Al.sox W. Stker.s, 



Noiiks;\.-k. Wash., .June 24. 



