546 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



From Different Fields. 



CAGIXG VIRGIN QUEENS. 



^r'fS?^ ID you ever try keeping virgin queens caged 

 JP|[Jj )J until they were 4 or 5 days old, and then suc- 



cced in introducing them? If so, in what way, 



and with what success? I have tried something 

 over two dozen, and lost only one. Two of them 

 were laying in three days after introducing. They 

 were put in the hive in the old cell. 



W. S. C AUTHEN. 



Pleasant Hill, S. C, July 28, 1881. 



We have introduced virgin queens when a 

 day or two old, but it was a long job. We 

 lost a much larger per cent than you men- 

 tion, and some ol: them did not lay until 

 they were ten days old. It was a very diffi- 

 cult thing to get the bees to accept them, 

 and, altogether, we decided it did not pay. 

 Introducing in queen-cells has often been 

 suggested and tried, but I am inclined to 

 think it makes little difference how the 

 queen comes into the hive, if her scent, age, 

 etc., are acceptable to the bees. 



A STRING OF QUERIES IN REGARD TO PKEPAKING 

 BEES FOR WINTER, ETC. 



I like Gleanings very much, and have been much 

 benefited by its contents from time to time. I like 

 this comparison of ideas. I wish you to reply to the 

 following:— 



Much is said about making passages through combs 

 for winter, to aid the comfort and prosperity of the 

 bees; also to let them have time, undisturbed, suf- 

 ficient to allow the pets to icar iip thoroughly be- 

 fore cold weather closes in. Now, is this passageway 

 and waxing necessary in cellar wintering, where no 

 frost enters the hive? I can not see that it is. 



The winter passages in the combs are not 

 as necessary for wintering in cellars, I pre- 

 sume, but it is without doubt an advantage 

 to the queen. 



Again: If the iva.cnuj is necessary, why leave an 

 open space over brood-frames for upward ventila- 

 tion, as some argue necessary to best good of bees? 



The waxing up is simply allowing bees to 

 do as they usually do, and is all right with- 

 out any particular precaution, unless with 

 artificial or small late swarms that have not 

 had pasturage sufficient to allow them to 

 get into winter trim properly. I think this 

 waxing up important, even if the bees do 

 have a vacant space above the frames, for 

 it makes quite a protection against cold 

 drafts of air right through the cluster. 



Do you consider any covering over brood-frames 

 better in this latitude (i. e., duck or enamel cloth), 

 than the honej^-board ? 



I am not sure that any covering is better 

 than honey-boards for winter; but the en- 

 ameled sheets are vastly more convenient 

 for summer use, especially where hives are 

 to be opened often, as in queen-rearing. 



I winter in my cellar, and wish to be able to add a 

 little warmth occasionally. Will a kerosene-oil stove 

 be suitable? "We never have used the stove, and I 

 am not certain about any odor arising. 



I do not think I would risk a kerosene-oil 

 stove, on account of danger of its injuring 

 the purity and sweetness of the air. 



In ventilating a cellar by pipes, one long, reaching 

 to the bottom, and the other a short pipe, is it not as 

 well to place both on the same side of the cellar? 



I would have the pipes at opposite sides, 

 to have the ventilation more equal through- 

 out the whole room. 



Will bees winter as quietly in a cellar with a small 

 amount of vegetables as without? 



I do not think a few vegetables would 

 make any sensible difference. 



Can a nucleus, size of '/4 a medium colony, readily 

 winter in cellar, if a sulHcient amount of haney 

 is stored? 



A nucleus will winter almost as well as a 

 full colony, if every thing is well in proper 

 proportion, well waxed up, etc. 



Are the bees sensible of the approach of any one 

 while in the cellar, unless the hive is touched? 



I do not think the bees are disturbed un- 

 less the hive is touched, but the drafts of 

 air, caused by moving about in their depos- 

 itory, might arouse them from their winter's 

 nap. I think it is L. C. Root who advises 

 having the hives supported entirely from 

 the ground, and but a few on a bench or 

 platform, that in moving one hive you need 

 not disturb many others. 



I have queried whether they were so sensitive or 

 not, as to be moved by the disturbance in the at- 

 mosphere, caused by a person's walking; also if 

 tbey were accustomed to hear any noise made. 



My impressions are, they do not hear quickly, if at 

 all, but are extremely sensitive to touch and smell. 

 Are they not also dull in sight, especially so unless 

 the object is directly in front? 



These are what I am desirous of knowing. If not 

 too much trouble, please reply in Nov. No. 



W. Wakefield. 



St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 5, 1881. 



I think you are right, in the main, in re- 

 gard to their sense of touch, smell, and 

 sight. . 



HOUSEHOLD QUEENS, AND BEE-HIVE QUEENS, ETC. 



I have felt (after having Gleanings for almost 

 thiee years) on reading the last two numbers of your 

 paper, a sort of inspiration to write a letter for the 

 ABC column, or else it is a craving desire to see my 

 name in print, as I am now 41 years old, and never 

 even wrote a paragraph for a paper, and I am an old 

 bachcliir at that. My name is Butler, and while read- 

 ing the August No. I could not but mentally wish 

 that my name was Thomas, or had his mishap, if it 

 would only bring me a wife as it did him, provided 

 "she" was a lover of the bees, and there was a 

 prospect of her loving me just a little. Noav, friend 

 Root, 1 am obliged to confess my letter begins to 

 look as though I were trying to do (what I have of- 

 ten thought some of my ABC brothers were doing) 

 a little cheap advertising. However this may be, if, 

 among your lady readers, any of them should read 

 this 



And now, teacher, please answer a new scholar a 

 few questions. J have a queen two years old, a 

 choice one that has for two years i-aised nothing but 

 distinctly marked three-banded worker bees, but 

 whose bees now look like poor hj-brids. I have 

 raised almost all my queens from her for the past 



