GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



more later, or the next day, when, most 

 likely, she will be found very readily. 



The puzzle has been to know where the 

 queen was that she could not be found. Of 

 course, if the bees were unduly stirred up 

 and running, she might be on the side or 

 bottom of the hive; but in many cases where 

 the bees have remained in perfect quietude 

 the queen has remained invisible. The only 

 guess I could make was that she was hidden; 

 but where? Sometimes she is hidden under 

 the bees, the queen being close to the comb; 

 but a light touch of the fingers upon any 

 such mass of bees easily discovers whether 

 she is there or not. 



The only guess left then was that she was 

 hidden in a cell; but it was only a guess, 

 and I never had any proof that it was the 

 right guess. Mr. Brearly now furnishes what 

 seems to be quite satisfactory proof. To be 

 sure, this was a virgin queen, but why should 

 not a laying queen act the same way? 



What was that queen doing in the cell? 

 She might possibly be merely hiding because 

 frightened: but a queen as young as she was 

 is not easily frightened, and is generally 

 very easily found, altho when a few days 

 older she is more shy than a laying queen. 

 It is more likely she was resting, and, in the 

 case of the longer stay, very possibly sleep- 

 ing. A queen sleeps as well as other folks, 

 doesn't she? She remained in the cell 15 

 minutes. It would be interesting to know 

 how much longer she would have remained 

 if she had not been disturbed. 



What was she doing the day before, when 

 she went thru the motions of laying, but of 

 coiirse without laying? I don't know; pos- 

 sibly, as happens in other cases with the very 

 young, going thru motions that can mean 

 nothing, but pre-glimpsing what they will 

 do later on. 



Mr. Brearley 's observations with regard to 

 pollen is a bit puzzling. Bees were working 

 on capeweed, and half of them were carry- 

 ing loads of pollen obtained from some other 

 flower. We are not told anything about the 

 number of bees working on capeweed, nor 

 whether it was yielding honey largely. If 

 there was something of a dearth, then it was 

 not so strange that the bees should get 

 honey from one soiirce and pollen from an- 

 other on the same trip. If a considerable 

 proportion of the bees were working on 

 capeweed, and that plant was yielding well, 

 then it was a remarkable thing that they 

 should get pollen from another source. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



Can a Bee Candy be Made that will be Suit- 

 able both for a Moist and a Dry Climate? 



I am situated on a promontory 84 feet 

 above the Atlantic where the humidity at 

 times is excessive; and, tho an amateur in 

 bee culture, I think I have discovered some- 

 thing that may interest you. 



Last fall I put away in an expensive and 

 well-considered apiary 11 stands of bees; and 

 as three of them did not appear to have such 



abundance of honey needed to carry them 

 thru the long and severe winter here as rec- 

 ommended in the books, I purchased a num- 

 ber of pies of "bee candy" and placed one 

 in each of the three lightest hives, setting 

 each pie on one end of the frames in each 

 hive. 



In the spring it was found that only these 

 three hives had perished; and on opening 

 them it was found that most of the combs 

 in the middle of the frames were crushed 

 and apparently melted, and all the bees 

 dead, and I could not understand it. 



Today is an exceedingly humid day, and 

 I find that the pies of ' ' bee candy ' ' left 

 over have melted into very thin syrup, and 

 dissolved the pie-crust, so that the liquid, 

 almost as thin as water, has all run out, so 

 I am satisfied that that is what killed my 

 bees. 



Would it not be possible to make a candy 

 that will not dissolve in the extremest hu- 

 midity by testing it during manufacture? 



Gloucester, Mass. Anson Mills. 



[The conditions referred to so far as hu- 

 midity is concerned are rather extraordinary. 

 It would be very difficult to make a bee 

 candy that would stand this kind of condi- 

 tion, and yet one which would not be too 

 hard and dry in an ordinary climate. It is 

 difficult to make a candy that would be 

 moist in a hot dry climate and not be too 

 soft for your conditions. In fact, we may 

 say it is impossible to meet both conditions 

 in one candy. 



We doubt very much, whether, with the 

 amount of moisture that you have, any 

 candy could be made that would hold its 

 consistency unless the ordinary bee-cage 

 candy is used, and even that should be put 

 in a metal or porcelain dish, right side up, 

 and not upside down. Our belief is that you 

 had better rely upon sugar syrup made thick 

 or combs of sealed stores. — Ed.] 



Clipping the Queen's Wing without Picking 

 Her Up. 



With some, clipping queens seems to be a 

 job that causes some nervousness. I have a 

 plan which I have never seen described. I 

 find the queen, and, with the comb flat upon 

 my knees, I take a small pair of spring 

 tweezers, such as jewelers use, and catch her 

 by one wing, and pull just hard enough to 

 hold her without lifting her off from the 

 comb, and with a pair of scissors in my right 

 hand I snip off the wing which I am holding. 

 By this method one doesn't get nervous, or 

 at least I don 't, because it isn 't necessary to 

 handle the queen, and she doesn 't get scent- 

 ed from one's fingers. I have clipped about 

 75 queens this summer, and haven 't lost one, 

 which is pretty fair for a beginner. 

 SHE FAINTED AWAY. 



I had a curious time with one queen, how- 

 ever. Just as I cut her wing off she fell 

 over on her side, just as tho she had fainted, 

 and lay there quivering. The worker bees 

 rushed up to her and began to i:ose her over. 



