June, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HEADS OF GRAIN^T DP ol Qi rDIFFERENT FIELDS 



stealing Eggs and In the Feb. number of 

 Natural Selection. Gleanings Allen Latham 

 criticises the conclusion 

 of W. C. Davis (see the January issue) that 

 a queenless colony stole an egg from which 

 to rear a queen. His surmises seem more be- 

 lievable to me than Mr. Davis' explanation. 

 Furthermore, the logic of his claim is good 

 — that if an instinct were observed in any 

 one case it would probably be common or 

 universal. But what I wish to call attention 

 to is the peculiar nature of that hypotheti- 

 cal instinct, for I can think of no other 

 similar case. 



Here is an instinct which would be very 

 valuable to the race, and hence one that 

 would seem liable to be developed by nat- 

 ural selection should it ever appear. On the 

 other hand, its preservation by natural se- 

 lection would be exceedingly difficult. In a 

 way it is unique, for if a colony should steal 

 an egg it would not be saving its own family 

 but the future family of another queen. Let 

 us suppose, for instance, that it was a colony 

 of blacks that did the stealing, and that 

 the stolen egg was that of an Italian queen. 

 Altho the household (the colony) would go 

 on, the family (the blacks themselves) 

 would be replaced by yellows, and any in- 

 herited quality of the blacks, such as the 

 egg-stealing instinct, would die with them. 



The only conceivable way in which the 

 prolongation of the life of the colony might 

 enhance the chances of passing on a sporadic 

 instinct, like the egg-stealing, would be the 

 possible longer life, in an active colony as 

 compared with a dying one, of the drones 

 and the consequent increased chance of 

 their mating and handing it down. 



Absolutely the only way for that instinct 

 to get a foothood would be for it to be be- 

 queathed to a number of queen-daughters 

 (as in the case of a "Mendelian dominant") 

 which should settle in a restricted locality. 

 In that case, when an egg was stolen it 

 would be likely to be one bearing the in- 

 stinct. If such a strain were built up, it 

 would have a decided advantage over ordin- 

 ary ones in that a queenless colony would 

 not, as at present, be doomed. Such a for- 

 tunate strain might spread and, thru nat- 

 ural selection, supplant the old type. 



I should not have said that this instinct 

 was unique — there is (or rather, could be) 

 one other of the same type, the instinct of 

 a queenless colony to join a queen-right one. 



Bethlehem, Pa. Eobert W. Hall. 



30 ^ ctj: 



Increase or In Gleanings for August, 



Honey— Which? 1920, page 489, E. J. Ladd 

 gives an instance of one 

 man who increased from 40 colonies to 75. 

 These 7.5 colonies averaged 325 pounds of 

 extracted honey each. We often have good 



figures like this from various sections of 

 our country, but let us study Mr. Ladd's 

 article a little. Would he have secured an 

 average of 609 pounds for the 40 colonies, 

 and would his profits all around have been 

 one-half as much had he made no increase? 

 We think not. 



Had the original 40 colonies been run for 

 honey alone, they probably would not have 

 made more than a full-depth super of honey 

 extra or about 385 pounds average for 40 

 colonies, as against an average of 325 

 pounds for 75 colonies, plus the value of the 

 35 colonies increase. 



A long gradual honey flow is more suited 

 to making increase, while a big short honey 

 flow is better for honey production. We 

 have many instances of those who pro- 

 duced a much greater surplus, more in- 

 stances of an equal surplus, but by far the 

 most instances of a reduced surplus after 

 making increase. One should not increase 

 beyond the amount of bees he can handle 

 well; but, if increase is needed, it is econ- 

 omy to make some increase, even at a sacri- 

 fice of honey. In this connection J. J. 

 Wilder says: "Any beekeeper will find it 

 best to split up his very strongest colonies, 

 make two of each, run both right on thru 

 the season for honey, and at the end of the 

 season he has about doubled the amount 

 that he would have obtained from the sin- 

 gle colony, besides having the increase. The 

 beekeeper who says his bees never get too 

 strong perhaps has only one great honey 

 flow, and it is only a few days in duration. 

 Such being the case, he is right, of course, 

 but such localities are rare." 



Point Caswell, N. C. C. E. Corbett. 



30^«J= 



Smoking Eef erring to Morley Pettit's ar- 

 Crushed tide on "Colony Control" in 

 Bees. the April number of Gleanings an- 



other thing always making bees 

 want to sting is the crushing of bees when 

 a careless beekeeper is at work. Just one 

 bee accidentally crushed will cause most of 

 the other bees in the hive to elevate the ab- 

 domen, arching so as to show a bit of white 

 petticoat between the segments near the 

 tip. This is accompanied by a sullen buzz- 

 ing and the darting forth, here and there, 

 of bees on the war path. And if one of 

 these darters gets a chance at the beekeeper 

 she stings as tho she meant it. Moral: 

 Don 't crush any bees when opening the hive 

 and removing combs. If a bee should be 

 crushed in spite of you, try holding the 

 nozzle of the smoker close to the contamin- 

 ated area of glove or hive and giving a few 

 strong puffs of smoke to neutralize the odor. 

 Ventura, Calif. Flora Mclntyre. 



