GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Can it be possible that, like the ants, the 

 bees have their soldiers Avhich have nothing 

 to do with the rearing of brood? 



J. H. J. Hamelberg. 



Soest, Holland, Aug. 21, 1915. 



Dr. Miller replies: 



There is no such thing as classes among 

 the workers of a colony, and at the same 

 time they are divided into distinct classes. 

 That is, each worker in the course of its life 

 has the same duties to perform as every 

 other worker, so that no worker is in a dif- 

 ferent class for life from any other worker. 

 But the work of a worker is by no means the 

 same each day of its life. When a week old 

 its occupation is not the same as when a 

 month old. So it is not in the same class 

 when a month old as when a week old, and 

 in that respect workers may be said to be 

 in different classes according to age and 

 occupation. 



The two classes into which workers are 

 commonly divided are nurses and fielders, a 

 worker being a nurse until something like 

 16 days old, when it changes into the other 

 class and becomes a fielder. Of course this 

 varies according to circumstances. At the 

 close of winter the nurses are many weeks 

 old; and if there are no older workers in the 

 hive to do field work a worker may become 

 a fielder at five days old. 



The abdomen of a bee may vary greatly in 

 size, the parts telescoping into each other. 

 Take a bee that has been confined in winter 

 four or five months, and its abdomen will be 

 three times as large as that of a bee that 

 has died of starvation. A nurse bee stays 

 mostly in the hive so that it is not important 

 that it should be of light weight. It fills up 

 with honey and pollen so as to prepare food 

 for the babies, and its abdomen is well dis- 

 tended. When it turns to field work, it gets 

 down to flying trim, with no excess weight. 

 Perhaps that may account for the slender- 

 ness of the bees you have seen. C. C. M. 



Simplex Wiring-device. 



My wiring-board is a few inches wider and 

 longer than the frame to be wired. It is 

 fastened to a base at an angle for conven- 

 ience in working. Stationary blocks or 

 clamps are fastened in the right position as 

 shown in the illustration, for holding the 

 frames square, and in position while wiring. 

 An oval-shaped movable clamp at the upper 

 edge of the board turns down on the bottom- 

 bar, and holds the frame in place. The 

 whole board should be screwed or clamped 

 to the thing so as to be perfectly rigid. 



The spool of wire runs on a rod projecting 

 out from the board. The wire as it leaves 

 the spool is threaded thru several staples 

 driven in the board so that when it is slack 

 it will not unwind or kink. The wire after 

 it leaves the staple runs thru hole No. 1, 

 then across thru No. 2, around the lower left- 

 hand roller, back to hole No. 3 and 4, around 

 the roller at the right end of the board, then 

 thru holes 5 and 6, around the upper left- 



hand roller, and finally back to holes 7 and 

 8. At this last hole it is fastened with a 

 nail. 



The wire is easily tightened with the right 

 hand on the spool, twisting the spool to the 

 right, thus taking up the slack. The wire is 

 first tightened while still on the rollers, then 

 the spool is turned to the right after the 

 wire has been slipped first from the upper 

 left-hand roller, then the right-hand roller, 

 and finally the lower left-hand roller. When 

 the wire is at the right tension it is wrapped 

 around a previously driven nail, the nail 

 driven in and the wire cut. 



The three rollers are of such diameter, and 

 placed in such a position with reference to 

 the holes in the end-bars that the wire passes 

 around them in a direct line with the holes. 

 The rollers are supposed to be only about 

 an inch from the frame. 



With this wiring device the frame is held 

 rigidly, absolutely square. The wire is easily 

 drawn to any tension desired, and cut only 

 as used, so that there is no waste and no 

 odds and ends. I think this is the easiest 

 and best plan that has yet been devised. It 

 makes wiring pleasant as well as profitable. 



Oklahoma City, Okla. N. S. Gladish. 



Honey Method of Introducing Simpler than 

 Any Other. 



During all of 1915 one of my colonies had 

 a heap of dead bees before the hive continu- 

 ally. The symptoms resembled bee paraly- 

 sis. I had a young queen ready to introduce; 

 but when 1 looked for the old queen I found 

 comb after' comb solid with brood which 

 showed that the queen was doing her part 

 well, and I hadn't the heart to kill her. 



This queen was still on the job July 15, 

 1916; and, strange to say, none of last sea- 

 son 's trouble has been seen about that colo- 

 ny this season. However, the colony second 

 in line from the one mentioned has had the 

 same affliction ever since the opening of this 

 season. There were positively no robbers, 

 but there yet appeared to be a continual 

 fight, the result being a heap of dead bees 

 before the hive daily. Seeing no prospect of 

 improvement I decided to requeen, which I 

 did on July 15, pinching the old queen's 

 head, then sousing the bees between the 

 frames in the hive with honey-water, also 

 giving the new queen a generous baptism, 

 and running her down between the wettest 

 frames. The whole operation (having every- 



