ISO 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE Feebuast, 1917 



CAN THIS BE DONE? 



ONCE more 

 — "Can 

 t his b e 

 done?" Can 

 queens be suc- 

 cessfully reared 

 under cover and 

 the mating con- 

 trolled ? O u r 



answer to tliis question is the progressive 

 story of the experiment now being tried 

 in the largest gi-eenhouse in America, intro- 

 ducloi'y reference to which was made in 

 the January Gleanings. 



This second chapter in the stoiy of the 



First Steps Taken in the 'Big Queen- 



liearing Experiment Under Cover 



Chapter II. 



By the Editors 



High up in the greenhousi 



experiment 

 might properly 

 be entitled 

 "What the 

 Di'ones Didn't 

 Do and What 

 the Queen Quit 

 Doing." 



It was n 

 Nov. 20 last that a fairly strong oolony 

 of bees, including about 200 drones, was 

 installed in the giant glass building. This 

 colony was decidedly exceptional in that 

 it had any living drones whatever as late 

 as Nov. 20, and in the further fact that 

 it had an abnormal number of di-ones 

 lliruout the season of 1916. As late as 

 Xov. 1 the combs within the hive con- 

 tained many drones. The farmer from 

 whom the colony was secured had called the 

 attention of Mr. Mel T. Pritchavd, the 

 A. I. Root Co.'s expert queen-breeder, to 

 (lie prodigiousness of drones in this particu- 

 lar hive. It then occurred to Mr. Pritcliaid 

 that such a drone-encumbered colony, with 

 its drone-producing queen, was just the one 

 to try first in the experiment of under-co\er 

 queen-rearing and mating. 



The hive when shipped was provided with 

 two frames of drone comb, one frame of 

 worker comb (with a patch of brood as 

 large as a man's hand) and five frames of 

 stores, including some pollen. The comb 

 of brood was hung between the two drone- 

 combs, with the expectation that the queen 

 would have to ^el on to them to lav — if 



PBBEUABY, 1917 



sbe were to lay at all. This hive arrived 

 at its destination 24 hours after being ship- 

 ped and there were only a few dead bees 

 to be found on an-ival. The drones were 

 apparently in good condition at Medina 

 when shipped to the big greenhouse, altho, 

 of course, they may have been old and al- 

 most about to die at the time. 



At first the hive was placed for a day or 

 two at the extreme west end of the structure, 

 elevated only a little above the ground. At 

 that time the gi-eenhouse was filled with 

 matured tomato-vines, many ripe and ripen- 

 ing tomatoes being on the vines. (The 

 tomato-blossom has no attraction for bees.) 

 It was opened by the greenhouse company's 

 apiariau only to the extent of lifting the 

 cover and removing the screen. He made 

 no investigation of hive conditions at that 

 time. Ten days later, after the hive had 

 been elevated to the platform in the center 

 of the building, the first observation of con- 

 ditions within the experimental hive was 

 made. Eggs and unsealed worker brood 

 were found in the combs, but the queen 

 had laid in the worker-cells only. There 

 was no drone brood at that time. A week 

 later there were no drone eggs nor drone 

 luood to be found, and the worker brood 

 wa.s sealed. 



The greenhouse apiarian, a competent 

 and observant beeman, gave his testimony 

 that he had never seen a drone nor drone 

 egg within the big steel-and-glass structure. 

 What had become of the drones in the hive 

 shipped under Mr. Pritchard's directions, 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



he could not say. They had completely dis- 

 appeared without his having seen one of 

 them, altho he had watched for a drone — 

 dead or alive — all thru the big greenhouse 

 since the arrival of the experimental hive. 

 A few of the bees of this hive had flown 

 almost every day. 



On Jan. 6, one of the editore of Glean- 

 ings and Mr. Pritchard made a journey to 

 the scene of experiment to investigate con- 

 ditions. The experimental hive was opened 

 on its elevated platform by Mr. Pritchard, 

 and the greenhouse apiariau (the two being 

 shown at this work in the pictures at either 

 side of this page). This examination was 



