184 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE A 



1 ' ,.».. - . .I... ■ .! . Ill I " i . 1,, . F"-r-3 iii 



occupy five spaces between the combs on 

 cool mornings the middle of April. A colo- 

 ny strong enough to occupy only two spaces 

 at that time can, on this contraction plan, 

 be built up to good strong colonies in the 

 fall, and the three and four space tolonies 

 be brouglit up to where they will swarm or 

 store quite a surplus. The two-space colo- 

 ny should have a frame having three pounds 

 of honey given them besides their two combs 

 of brood ; the three-sj)ace colony five pounds, 

 and the four-space colony eight jjounds, 

 putting the frames of honey next to the 

 side of the hive furthest away from the en- 

 trance. Care should be used in this matter; 

 for if these weak colonies are given more 

 honey than they can protect from robbers, 

 harm is likely to result. 



" In your book. Management of Out- 

 apiaries, page 27, you speak of queen-cells 

 having larvae in them from one to four 

 days old. How do you recognize the age 

 of royal larvae *?" 



The same as with worker larvte up to 

 when they were three days old. All larvre, 

 so far as I can discover, are, to all intents 

 and purposes, alike for the first three days, 

 no matter whether they are swimming in 

 royal jelly or fed in worker cells. By not- 

 ing the time when a lan-a hatches from the 

 egg, and then looking morning and evening 

 till the fourth day, you can carry the size 

 in your mind sufficiently for all practical 

 l^urposes. 



" On the same page as above, you speak 

 of a comb having a ' ripe ' queen-cell on 

 it. By what do you recognize a ripe queen- 

 cell ?" 



When a queen-cell is ripe, or nearly so, 

 the bees gnaw the wax off till the cocoon 

 spun by the embryo queen shows at the 

 end of the cell. As long as the wax at the 

 end of the cell remains intact, the royal 

 occupant will be white and soft, the ejcs 

 not even having colored. Generally the 

 wings are being foi'med about the time the 

 wax is removed, and the development of the 

 wings is not accomplished until a few hours 

 before maturity. 



" What do you do where there ai\' two oi' 

 more such ripe cells on a comb?" 



If cells are scarce and valuable, where 

 there is more than one on the comb to be 

 given to a nucleus or qiieenless colony, the 

 surplus should be cut off and put in queen- 

 cell protectors for use where needed. If 

 they are not needed elsewhere the bees will 

 destroy all but the queen they wisli to keep. 



Continued on paye 224 



Letters from a Beekeeper's Wife 



The Farm, March 1, 1917. 

 Dear Sis: 



Rob is making out the order for new 

 beekeeping supplies for this year, and 

 while he does that I may as well write 

 to you. He has pulled his front lock 

 down over his eyes in the usual way when 

 he is disturbed. We have both been groan- 

 ing over the $300 that -we have to put 

 into supplies — ^we are buying 100 new 

 hives among other things, for you know 

 we expect to start another bee-yard this 

 spring. That town lot thai Rob's fat) or 

 bought years ago, when he thought the 

 village would de^-elop toward the west, 

 has never been worth anything, but Rob 

 thinks it will be a good location for bees 

 and it is convenient enough to our other 

 yards to make it feasible. Fortunately 

 our $300 worth of supplies does not have 

 to be paid for entirely in cash, for we 

 have a considerable quantity of beeswax 

 to turn in, to be made into foundation, 

 Rob will feel differently about this in- 

 vestment by fall, and is really quite ready 

 to spend the money now. 



Would you believe that beeswax would 

 make a more stable currency than gold? 

 It really has changed less in value in the 

 last fifty years than gold has, so I'm 

 thinking I had better write to Washington 

 and have our standard changed to bees- 

 wax. Think how nice beeswax coins would 

 be to carry about; and wouldn't they be 

 pretty witli a skep stamped on one side and 

 Her Majesty, The Queen, on the other, 

 symbols of royalty and industry ! A dol- 

 lar weighing over three pounds might be 

 a little awkward tlio ! Too bad the modest 

 bees could never know their gtreatness. 

 Surely no king whose head appears on 

 coins can trace his ancestry, as far back 

 as the honeybee. You know fossil bees 

 have been found, which indicate that they 

 were living in colonies when the cave man 

 was using stones to sling at his wife. I 

 wonder if Grandfather Cave Man was 

 stung when he stole the honey from the 

 wild bees of the forest to carry home to 

 his offspring. Of course he would have 

 to promise to ' bring the cliildlren some 

 sweets on his return from a hunting trip, 

 and of course the bees would have to 

 furnish them ! Doesn't it make you humble 

 to realize that these tiny insects in that 

 early age had learned how to live in com- 

 munities and to divide their labor, prob- 

 lems stiil unsolved satisfactorily for us? 



