AUGUST 15. 191(5 



713 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



STRAY STRAWS I M-'-g"-'" 



Allen Latham^ in speaking of 

 rearing queens, p. 593, you men- 

 tion " the employment of a full 

 colony of bees for some days " as 

 a matter of expense. " In this 

 locality " it isn't a matter of any 

 expense at all, for during the busy 

 season there are always colonies doomed ^to 

 ten days' queenlessness to keep them from 

 swarming. 



P. C. Chadwick, I accept your correc- 

 tion, p. 587. It wouldn't do at all to set out 

 capping^ as a free-for-all lunch in any foul- 

 broody locality. But the bees can clean 

 them up without any such exposure, by the 

 plan given by H. H. Melntyre, p. 596, or 

 something similar. But I can't agree that 

 the worst feature is the danger of starting- 

 robbing. I'd rather have robbing started 

 than foul brood; and anyway it wouldn't 

 start robbing " in this locality." [We are 

 glad to get your indorsement of the Me- 

 lntyre treatment of cappings. It seems to 

 us that the plan is excellent. — Ed.] 



The doctrine is advanced, p. 517, that 

 when it is uncertain whether a virgin is 

 present, the thing to do before risking a 

 laying queen is to give a frame of brood to 

 .see whether cells will be started. I've prac- 

 ticed tliat no little, and have also practiced 

 giving young brood to a nucleus having a 

 virgin, so as to hurry up her laying. But 

 some New England beekeepers objected that 

 that was a pretty sure way of losing the 

 virgin, and I'm afraid they are right. At 

 any rate I found that more virgins disap- 

 peared a year or two ago in nuclei to wliich 

 I gave brood than in those I let alone. I 

 wonder how others have found it. [It is 

 our practice to give young brood in colonies 

 that we suspect to be either queenless or 

 having only a virgin. Rather than keep the 

 colony queenless longer, we desire to intro- 

 duce a laying queen. But it would be quite 

 useless to attempt it unless we knew posi- 

 tively that the colony was without a virgin, 

 which fact is determined by the building of 

 cells. We would rather lose the virgin 

 than to start laying workers. — Ed.] 



If you do a good job of looking for 

 cells and cell-cutting, and have your queens' 

 wings all clipped, and do it regularly once 

 every week or ten days, you will be absolute 

 master of the swarming problem so far as 

 comb-honey production is concerned." says 

 W. A. Latshaw, p. 608. I can imagine with 

 what eagerness some beginner will say, 

 "That's just what I want. How easily I 



can prevent swarming!" And then the 

 bitter disappointment when he finds his bees 

 swarming out, possibly the next day after 

 he has carefully cut out every queen-cell. 

 It is within the range of possibilities that 

 Mr. Latshaw has a strain of bees that can 

 be kept from swarming by cell-cutting; but 

 the average beginner — indeed, I think the 

 average veteran — has no such bees. For a 

 great many years I have practiced cell-cut- 

 ting, and I don't think I could be induced 

 to give it up. I have tried to encourage 

 every tendency toward a non-swarming race 

 of bees. Each year I have a good many 

 colonies tliat go thru the whole season with- 

 out swarming that would be practically cer- 

 tain to swarm if I didn't kill cells. But 

 I'm sorry to say that I have a much larger 

 number that, without any other treatment, 

 will go straight on to swarming, in spite of 

 all the cell-cutting I may do. So long as 

 I find upon each round nothing beyond eggs 

 or very young lai'V'fe, I keep on cutting cells. 

 But if I find cells sealed, or nearly readv to 

 seal, I know that cutting them out will do 

 no good, and that if I trust to cutting out 

 such cells such a colony will be practically 

 certain to swarm, possibly inside of a week, 

 possibly the next day, with only eggs in 

 .cells. Cutting cells delays swarming, in 

 some cases prevents it, but cannot be relied 

 on in the majority of cases. [We quite 

 agree with you, doctor. We kept swarming 

 fairly well under control this season, but 

 the boys were instructed to cut out the cells 

 when they were just started, and to keep on 

 cutting them out every seven days. They 

 were further told that if the cells got well 

 under way, honey conditions fair, and 

 weather hot, the swarming would probably 

 take place in spite of the cutting. Like 

 yourself we cut out the cells anyway, gave 

 lots of room and bottom ventilation. 



The great trouble is, beekeepers let the 

 season and the bees get ahead of them. In 

 bee culture there are certain things that 

 must be done at a certain time. Mr. W. A.. 

 Latshaw probably had conditions that were 

 favorable, and very possibly and probably 

 he cut out the cells when they were very 

 young. But if he has since had a season 

 like this one he will probably come to the 

 conclusion as did one of our outyard men 

 who came in one day very much disgusted, 

 saying cell-cutting was " no good, as the 

 bees go on swarming just the same." 

 Further investigation showed that cells were 

 pretty well advanced, and swarming well 

 under way. — -Ed.] 



