March, 1917 



(jLEANiNGS In bee CULTURE 



£ 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



a large amount of drone comb in the lower 

 story; but in spite of this handicap they 

 made me sixteen frames of honey. The 

 hatching brood placed above the excluder 

 as fast as the cells are vacated is replaced 

 with honey, and sealed over. This I put 

 away for winter stores. During a certain 

 part of the season the bees are very trouble- 

 some about building comb on the queen- 

 cells unless they are given a certain amount 

 of cell-building to do, so I make it a prac- 

 tice to fill up the additional space in the 

 upper story with empty frames containing 

 inch starters. 



NO JELLY USED IN GRAFTING. 



I use grafted cells; and, contrary to the 

 usual idea, I find that I get more cells ac- 

 cepted without royal jelly than I do with 

 it; and also, contrary to the text-books, I 

 find they are not inferior cells either. The 

 essence of success is in doing the work 

 quickly, otherwise the lan^ae becoming dry 

 are not accepted. By my system of giving 

 only a few cells at a time I overcome this 

 tendency and do away with the necessity of 

 tearing into cells and robbing them of their 



jelly. 



COLORED CELL CUPS TO TELL THE AGE. 



It may be interesting to know how I can 

 tell how soon to cage my cells when due to 

 hatch, as I do not want them taken away 

 from the bees at all. I graft my cells at- 

 tached to wooden cell cups similar to the 

 Root system, but I color the wooden cups 

 a different color for each day in the week. 

 The system of colors I use is as follows: 

 red, white, and blue (an easily remembered 

 combination) represent the first three days 

 in the week. Wednesday cups are black, 

 which, being no color at all, separates the 

 first three days from yellow, green, and 

 brown, representing the last three days of 

 the week. It does not follow that one needs 

 to graft cells on Sunday if he is opposed to 

 Sunday desecration; but a color scheme to 

 be a success must take cognizance of each 

 day of the week the same as a calendar 

 numbers each day consecutively. Having 

 my cells all colored I know at a glance that 

 a blue cell was grafted on Tuesday, and it 

 can be expected to hatch about Monday of 

 the following week after it is sealed. An 

 experienced eye can always tell from the ap- 

 pearance of the cell if it is just sealed or if 

 it is nearly ready to hatch. 



By using this system of grafting and col- 

 oring cells, I am also enabled to get along 

 with a few cell-cages. My cell-nursery-cage 

 system is also something different, as I do 



not like the idea of taking cells away from 

 the bees for an instant, so I made a couple 

 of hangers to fit an ordinary Hoffman 

 frame and tacked on each side of them a 

 strijj of Tinker zinc about three inches wide, 

 and at regular intervals I placed a partition 

 to which I also tacked the zinc. Over the 

 toi3 of this frame I nailed a thin piece of 

 maple in which I bored %-inch holes. This 

 made eight compartments in each frame in 

 which I place a cell each, a day or two be- 

 fore ready to hatch, and the bees are able 

 to go thru the zinc and cluster on the cells, 

 thereby keeping them warm and also fesd- 

 ing the young queen when she cuts her way 

 out. I do not know what would be the 

 effect of leaving these queens too long in 

 these cages; but the bees might tear cells 

 down if left too long, so I make it a 

 practice to go the first thing in the morning 

 and remove all hatched queens and intro- 

 duce them to nuclei. I have frequently left 

 young virgins in this nursery cage for sev- 

 eral hours without any bad effects, but 

 they are much easier to introduce if young. 

 Salem, Oregon. Frank M. Alley. 



One of the Old Veterans 



A. G. Lyman, of Morganton, N. C, one 

 of the oldest beekeepers in the state, has 

 taken Gleanings since it first started. Un- 

 til two or three years ago he had every copy 

 on file that was ever issued; but. unfortu- 

 nately, they were destroyed by fire. 



Mr. Lyman has about fifty colonies, and 

 cares for them himself, following strictly 

 modern methods. Even at his rii^e old age 

 he makes his own hives, which are as per- 

 fectly constructed as any hive on the mar- 

 ket. After a long experience in several 

 states he advocates a 12-frame hive, or a 

 10-frame at the very least. 



At the recent field meeting here conducted- 

 by Mr. Rea, Mr. Lyman was one of the 

 youngest and most enthusiastic men in at- 

 tendance. L. E. Webb. 



Morganton, N. C. 



With a Three-frame Nucleus 



On June 1 I started in beekeeping with a 

 three-frame nucleus in a 10-frame hive. 

 During the fore part of October I took off a 

 super with 26 beautifully built sections and 

 found the bi'ood - combs entirely full of 

 honey. J. W. McMillan. 



New York City. 



