Sbi'TEMbkr, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U I> T U R K 



541 



tliere is another very eoiiiimiii belief, that 

 the worker larvae are fed for the tirst few 

 days on praetieally the same rieh nitrogen- 

 ous food as the queen larvae, a lighter or 

 coarser food being substituted the third or 

 fourth day. If this be true, it would seem 

 to remove all objections to the queenless 

 method of getting cells. If, however, it 's 

 one of the bits of knowledge that justify the 

 pojtular wonder whether all the things we 

 know are true, it 's a different matter. If 

 this common belief is based only on von 

 rianta's study of the chemical composition 

 of the food of bee larvae, it may, according 

 to Dr. Phillips, be quite incorrect, for he 

 (Dr. Phillips) holds that von Planta 's con- 

 clusions are not to be considered final until 

 verified by more modern methods of research 

 and analysis. But so long as we accept the 

 prevalent view that worker and queen larvae 

 are fed alike for two or three days, we would 

 seem justified in having faith in the quality 

 of queens reared under the queenless im 

 pulse, unless they have been actually 

 proved inferior. Even Mr. Pritchard, with 

 his long exj>erience, makes no mention of 

 having thus tested them out; he merely feels 

 justifietl in concluding that her qualities will 

 l)e deficient. 



Here wliere I am writing, outdoors right 

 among the bees, there is a little pile of 

 wreckage lying just to my left. It is the last 

 of Dr. Allen 's keg. The class in beekeeping 

 at Peabody College did so strenuously de- 

 sire to see some bees transferred, and to 

 take part in the job, that Mr. Allen came 

 to our rescue, Avaving us gallantly toward 

 his keg. "Do your worst," quoth he. We 

 ilid it. After the flow was practically all 

 over and gone, after the honey crop had 

 been gathered, we split the keg apart and 

 tut out the best of the brood to tie into 

 empty frames for the hive they were being 

 transferred to. Knowing we were violating 

 all authoritative instructions, I kept re- 

 minding the class that the proper time to 

 transfer bees was in the spring or at least 

 very early in the How, not in mid July with 

 the flow a thing of the past. But we had 

 not a bit of trouble. The bees were gentle 

 and there was no robbing. Of course we 

 liad drawn combs to give them, to augment 

 the Ijrood cut out and tied in, so they had 

 no foundation to draw as would be the case 

 with a beginner. When we looked in two 

 days later, the cut-out honey given them 

 above was all taken down, and, unless tin- 

 fall flow fails quite utterly, they will need 

 no more helji. 



Referring again to mv immediate sur- 

 roundings, just to my right are two small 

 piles of brick, with a little heap of ashes 

 Ivetween. Telltale evidence, is it not? What 

 merrry breakfasts they have been, cooked 

 out here in the early mornings while thf 

 rest of the world was asleep. I do feel sorry 

 for people who live forever in a set routin<'. 

 like squirrels in wire cages. Also for those 

 who think variety and change are to be se- 

 cured only by the spending of much money, 



and who, lacking thnt, are unhappy because 

 of the things they cannot do. Happy the 

 man who keeps bees for a sideline and finds 

 his recreation in gay and simple ways. Have 

 you never tossed some sliced bacon or tender 

 lamb chops into a basket, with a thermos 

 bottle of coffee, if you are a coffeeite, a loaf 

 of bread for toast, a bit of butter, an egg or 

 two, and some fruit, and run out to your 

 beeyard or some friendly hill and there 

 toasted and broiled and eaten over an open 

 fire, with day coming out of the east and 

 bees beginning to leave the hives? Just try it. 

 Most sideliners are veil devotees. But oc- 

 casionally we come across one whose ambi- 

 tion seems to be to. work quite unprotected, 

 often because some old beekeeper who never 

 opened his hives except to ' ' rob ' ' them 

 says he never wore anything for protection 

 — didn 't know anything about veils. Per- 

 sonally I have no such ambitions, nor do 

 I advise them. Better be sufficiently pro- 

 tected for any emergency. Most professional 

 beekeepers work occasionally without veils, 

 but beginners and sideline beekeepers will 

 <lo well to wear them. Of course, a quiet 

 little nucleus can be opened with far less 

 chance of a sting than a full, strong, zipping 

 colony, so anyone wanting to experiment 

 with his own steadiness should choose his 

 hive wisely. Going without gloves is differ- 

 ent. Stings on the hands and arms seem 

 less serious than those on the face or ears 

 or eyes. Besides, one acquires a certain 

 deftness with bare fingers that seems almost 

 unattainable with gloves. The answer to 

 that argument, tho, is that he'll work a little 

 more slowly and carefully, ungloved, and so 

 take longer to do his work. If I remember 

 aright, even Mr. Doolittle admitted that. 



[There probably is some misunderstanding 

 as to what is meant by "unprotected" cells. 

 Our understanding of this is a frame of 

 brood with queen-cell and adhering bees 

 but no wire cell-protector. If Mr. Hassinger 

 brushes all the 1)ees from his frames then 

 perhaps 50 per cent of the queen-cells would 

 lie destroyed. The bees which would nat 

 urally adhere to such a comb are nearly if 

 not quite as much protection to a queen-cell 

 as would be a spiral cell-protector. In your 

 discussion you failed to explain whether or 

 not you left the Vjees on the frame with the 

 queen-cell. 



In regard to the second point under dis 

 cussion, we believe, (even if we can not 

 bring proof) that there is a difference in the 

 (|ualiTy of the food fed to worker larvae and 

 that fed to queen larvae: ami we know that 

 there is a vast difference in the quantity of 

 food in the two cases. Day-old larvae in 

 worker-cells, especially next to the bottom 

 of. the combs, are usually so destitute of 

 food that, when grafting, it is difficult to 

 remove them without their being injured, 

 yet along the bottom-bars is the very place 

 where most of the natural queen-cells are 

 started,— Mel! Pritchard.] 



