1253 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



and to have the (•(^loiiies iu such strong pros- 

 perons t-ondition that no attempt will be 

 made to annoy or drive the drones oft". All 

 breeders know how nearly impossible it is to 

 get (jneens in weak nuclei to lay in drone 

 i*oml)s. 



Another important thing is that Mr. Yates 

 has to put a new comb into his little hive in 

 order to get eggs or l)rood for eell-starting, 

 and he has to do this four days ))efore he 

 starts cells: but if he starts a batch of cells 

 each day he will have to do a lot of calculat- 

 ing to have things just right. 



i am much interested m testing queens for 

 gentleness and proliticnes.s. as well as for 

 longevity, and the bees for gathering honey 

 and l)uilding comb : and 1 do not suppose 

 that even Mr. Yates will claim that much can 

 l)e done along these lines with a nucleus. As 

 to the wear and tear on (pieens in large 

 hives, I think the poorly nourished and fed 

 queens in the little hives are almost or quite 

 as short-lived as are the (jueens in large 

 hives: and especiall,y is this true in poor sea- 

 sons. Another thing he forgets is that the 

 use of imported (jueens in large numbers in- 

 sures plenty of pure drones, and, conse- 

 quently, more yoiing (}ueens mate success- 

 fully and in a shorter length of time. This, 

 I ani sure, effects a considerable saving in 

 tima and money. 



Another thing is, I have found that there 

 is. anil not without reason either, a feeling of 

 confidence among most bee-men in' the breed- 

 er who uses only imported stock: yet still 

 another thing, he says home-bred stock is 

 just as good: biit I say not — at least in this 

 locality: for iu two or three generations the 

 home-bred stock begins to show i"ed bands, 

 while the direct progeny of imported queens 

 does not. Again. I know from a good many 

 tests that colonies headed by ilaughters of 

 best imported mothers get more honey than 

 those three or four generations removed; and 

 I also know they are gentler. However, Mr. 

 Yates should kiaow that, with the Chamljers 

 cell-starting hive, he can use any kind of 

 liees, and take his four days to fix up for get- 

 ting a few larva\ If he wishes to keep his 

 breeder in a toy hive he can just as well use 

 one kind of bees as another; but personally 

 I prefer to keep mine in hives large enough 

 to test thoroughly their proliticness. honey- 

 gathering, comb-building, and docile quali- 

 ties, as well as length of life. 



I do not attempt to dictate to any one con- 

 cerning the kind of stock he shall use, nor 

 the style of hive: Init if Mr. Yates imagines 

 that 1 have not tried a little hive, and found 

 it wanting, in my practice at least, he is very 

 much mistaken. Imported ((ueens by the 

 dozen are not very high, and certainly most 

 l)reeders worthy of the name feel a pride in 

 owning and using such queens — at least I do, 

 and consider that I have been well repaid for 

 all the money I ever spent for imported 

 (jueens, and that is quite a nice little sum. 

 At any rate, I expect to test my queens in 

 large hives for all the qualities mentioned, 

 and I fully l)elieve that I shall get larger re- 

 sults than he who keeps his (jueens cramped 



up and poorly fed and nurtured in a little 

 toy hive. Aside from all this I know that, in 

 a poor season, queens in weak nuclei suffer 

 from want of the proper number of young 

 l^ees to feed and comb them — that is, unless 

 they are fed daily, and their larvic are sel- 

 dom found floating in the rich food, as are 

 the larvjv of strong colonies, all of which has 

 an important l)earing on the (jualities of the 

 resulting queens. I never saw a colony too 

 strong to .suit me, either for di'one-getting or 

 for cell-!)uilding: and I fully believe it as im- 

 portant to rear and keep drones in powerful 

 t'olonies as it is to rear queens in such colo- 

 nies. 



In conclusion I wish to mention a warning 

 in connection with the use of the Chambers 

 cell-building hive. Don't allow any cells to 

 hatch in the hive: for, just as sure as you do, 

 the young (jueen will work through the zinc 

 and supersede the old one below. Some of 

 the wise ones will tell you that they can't go 

 through zin(^ of the Dr. Tinker kind: but try 

 it and you will l)e wiser — and sadtler too. 



Vigo, Texas. 



[A distinction should be drawn l)etween 

 the very small miniature baby nuclei and 

 those of larger size like the twin boxes using 

 frames one-third Langstroth size. But ev^eu 

 these shoulil not be used for any purpose 

 other than mating queens. For cell-build- 

 ing we use and recommend the strongest 

 colonies we can get, stimulated by feeding to 

 a high pitch of prosperity. For testing, a 

 fi;ll colony should be used also, as a good 

 queen would hardly show her capacity in a 

 nucleus. — Ed.] 



AYLARSJWQRKlNAINaii 



7^cJ J 832 



APIARY 



GM. 



\D00tlTTLE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



(LOSING WOKDS; FUKTHER SUGGESTIONS TO 

 THE PLANS GIVEN IN THE PKECEDING 

 CHAPTERS. 

 Conclxded from last issue. 

 Ami I wish to speak a little more about 

 using "bait" sections in the first super put 

 on at time of "shook" swarming. I prefer 

 to use at least twelve of these, so that the 

 bees will immediately enter the sections with 

 their loads of honey that the (jueen will 

 oblige them to remove from the combs they 

 are shaken on, so that she may have room 

 for her eggs. FaUinci here, at the start, 

 ivouJd cause a failure in the whole, for this 

 honey must be removed if the queen is to 

 keep right on with her proliticness; and by 

 having a place for the immediate storing of 

 this honey in the tirst super above the hon- 

 ey-filled brood-nest, the bees not only carry 

 this honey out of the (jueen's way, but they 



