JUNE 1. 101(5 



427 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



STRAY STRAWS M-„g„,m 



Charles E. Kinzie gives, pag-e 

 401, a kink worth noticing. He 

 keeps always in the first story of 

 extract ing-combs combs partly fill- 

 ed with honey in the center. If a 

 simple thing like that will prevent 

 tne forming of a brood-nest there 



thus saving the use of an excluder, it's well 



worth while. 



J. E. Jordan^ you say, p. 413, you graft 

 larvfe 24 hours old, and then say, " Cells 

 should hatch 12 days after grafting." Are 

 you not going by traditions rather than 

 your own observations? With best condi- 

 tions for queen-rearing should there be as 

 long a time as 16 days from the laying of 

 the egg to the emergence of the queen? 

 [See reply to another straw on this page. — 

 Ed.] 



That illustration, p. 376, showing that it 

 has not yet " all been done " in the way of 

 improved machinery, applies also to bee- 

 keeping. Advance has been made that seem- 

 ed impossible 25 years ago; some things 

 have happened that are hard to believe even 

 now, and the next 25 years may show even 

 greater advance. Young fellow, keep your 

 eyes open. Who knows but you may be the 

 one to stumble upon something valuable? 



Arthur C. Miller, p. 366, says bees 

 sometimes put honey in a cell that contains 

 an egg. That's a new one. I never saw 

 anything of the kind, so that proves he's 

 wrong. But my testimony is like that 

 brought in a case where three witnesses 

 swore to seeing a man commit a crime, and 

 he brought six witnesses to swear they did 

 not see him do it. Anyway, I'd like to 

 know if it's a common practice, and just 

 how we can prove it on 'em, 



J. E. Crane says, p. 359, that removing 

 brood is much more effective when first 

 preparations are made for swarming, and 

 the longer it goes the harder to stop them, 

 until sometimes they'll swarm with all their 

 brood taken away. Sounds strange, but it's 

 true. Once I kept thwarting and thwarting 

 a colony by taking away brood, but not 

 enough at first, and finally it swarmed, leav- 

 ing in the hive only foundation with just 

 one egg, and that in a queen-cell. 



Several of the interesting plans for pre- 

 vention of swarming given by R. F. Holter- 

 mann, p. 404, have as a chief factor an old 

 plan that every now and then bobs up as 

 something new. It was given years ago by 

 G. W. Demaree, Christ iansburg, Ky. (I 



wonder if lie's still alive), and is this: Put 

 all the brood in a second story over an 

 excluder, leaving the queen below with 

 drawn combs or foundation. That's all, I 

 think that Mr. Demaree gave but it's con- 

 sidered better to leave one brood below. 

 Unfortunately it cannot be worked with 

 section honey. 



H. H. Root, I'm glad your sharp eyes are 

 searching out things new and old in the 

 hive. That starting queen-cells from drone- 

 cells, apparently with drone brood in them, 

 with i)lenty of young worker larva? present, 

 I would have supposed impossible. I won- 

 der if you could have it repeated, and then 

 let the cells go on to a finish and find out 

 whether or not the drone larvae were ex- 

 changed for worker larvae. 



That colony chose drone-cells rather than 

 to use worker larvae away from the edge, 

 yet not two hours before reading your arti- 

 cle I saw in a normal colony a cell cup 

 built right in the center of the comb, appar- 

 ently upon the sealed surface of worker 

 brood. Perhaps it was because of continu- 

 ously cold weather, so the edges were too 

 cool. But why build cell cups at all at 

 such a time? 



Isn't there something a bit askew with 

 your figures where you gave larvae, and say 

 " From six to eight days from the time the 

 bees took hold of the work the cells are 

 capped over?" I've known cells sealed in 

 less than five days after the larva left the 

 egg, but does it ever happen in more than 

 five days? 



[Mr. Mell Pritchard has reared towards 

 20 thousand queens, and is a very close ob- 

 server besides. I have just shown him my 

 figures on page 403, and your comment. He 

 says that it takes 15 to 17 days from the 

 time the egg is laid for the queen fully to 

 develop and emerge from the cell. Dividing 

 up the shorter period, 15 days, he gives 3 

 days for the egg to hatch, 6 days for the 

 bees to feed the larva, and 6 days for the 

 cell to remain sealed. If the weather is un- 

 favorable, so that 17 days are required, the 

 periods are lengthened. According to Mr. 

 Pritchard, therefore, it is 5 days after the 

 larva is grafted before it is sealed, since the 

 average larva is about 24 hours old wlien 

 grafted. Apparently, therefore, the truth 

 lies between your statement and mine — tho 

 I'll have to admit that you are nearer to 

 it than I. However, this does not surprK>e 

 me, for you have been keeping bees toward 

 75 years and you ought to know better. — 

 H. H. Root.] 



