1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1589 



CAUCASIANS VS. ITALIANS FOR TOWN AND 

 CITY LOTS. 



I have had to move into town just adjoin- 

 ing a railroad station, and am afraitl to move 

 my bees int j tovvu. They are of u,cros> type 

 of Cyprians, S^-rians. ami Italians all mixed 

 up. They ai"e of a rather excitable tempera- 

 ment, but great honey-gatherers. 1 can 

 have an enc-losure 30 feet back from the 

 track, with a wall 14 feet high around it 

 large enough to keep perhaps 50 colonies. I 

 could even plant trees to make the l)ees Hy 

 high. Thej'^ are leather-colored Italians, 

 quiet enough to be handled safely in such a 

 situation. I have had no experience with 

 this class of bees except having seen an apia- 

 ry of them just once, and I thought then that 

 they might answer for keeping in town. 

 How are the (juieter strains of this class of 

 bees as honey-gatherers'.' 



If you think the Italians would not answer, 

 how would Caucasians do? But first please 

 let me know if the Caucasians are as bad 

 breeders when thei'e is no nectar coming in 

 as the Carniolans are. Carniolans are alto- 

 gether too much bent on brood-rearing, even 

 when there is no How of nectar, for my liking, 

 consuming all their stores raising In'ood. 



Gait, Ontario. W. D. Haukis. 



[I do not think you need be afraid to move 

 your bees into town if you put them in the 

 back yard inclosed by a high wall. While 

 Cyprians, of course, are not so gentle as Ital- 

 ians, yet even these bees, with the proper 

 management, could be put right down into 

 town. But as a matter of precaution I would 

 advise gentler bees. Some strains of leather- 

 colored Italians are very muck gentler, and 

 practically the equal of Caucasians. The 

 Caucasians are gentle, but in some respects 

 they are not nearly as desirable as Italians. 

 The Carniolans, as you say, are too much 

 bent on brood-rearing out of season. The 

 Caucasians, so far as I know, are not bad in 

 this respect. 



You should also be very careful not to let 

 robbing get started; and when opening the 

 hives use smoke, taking the precaution to 

 blow a little into the entrances, and enough 

 over the top of the frames to make sure they 

 do not rise up and sting. Avoid opening the 

 hives in cool weather or after a rain in warm 

 weather. If any neighbor is canning fruit, 

 request her to keep the doors shut or to use 

 screens. It would be advisable to sweeten 

 her up with a section or two of honey, to 

 keep her from getting sour on your bees. 

 Prevention in a case of this kind is a great 

 deal better than cure. — Ed.] 



MOKE PROOF THAT BEES TRANSFER EGGS OR 



LARV^; QUEEN-CELLS IN QUEENLESS 



COLONIES AT FIRST CONTAINED 



NO EGGS OR LARV.E. 



On page 934 Mr. Stachelhausen states that 

 it is not probaljle that bees move eggs or lar- 

 vaj. Now, while he has been handling bees 

 a great many more years than I have, yet I 

 think he has overlooked one fact; and that is, 

 if you make a hive queenless the bees must 



move either eggs or larva? in order to raise 

 another ([ueen. While I was reading July 

 loth Gleanings i made one of my hives 

 queenless Tue next day they had "started 

 some 12 or 1(5 (}ueen-cells. ami I took great 

 care in watching the cells, and in not one cell 

 started was there an egg: but after the third 

 day there was the small larva. Now. 1 know 

 positively that there was not a queen in the 

 hive, Ijecause I hail taken her out and put 

 her in another hive; also four of the cells 

 were started next to and between the comb 

 and frame in one end where there never was 

 a cell, and where the queen never hail laid. 

 These four cells were the largest of any, and 

 I destroyed all but those, and one of them 

 has hatched. Now, the bees must have mov- 

 ed the eggs or larva^ to have gotten them in 

 these ceils. Last Friday 1 took the (jueen 

 out of a hive and put her in another one. 

 The hive she was in had combs just built, 

 therefore white and new, and a great many 

 eggs just laid in them. I put the cage, with 

 the queen you sent me, in the hive, and to- 

 day when i looked in the hive they had start- 

 ed six queen-cells; 'and by holding up to the 

 light I could see very plamly that there were 

 no eggs in the cells. Now, if the bees can 

 not move the eggs how are they going to get 

 the eggs in the cell? 



In some of the former issues you speak 

 of queen-raisers taking the eggs out with a 

 spoon and transferring toother cells. Now, 

 I am positive that the bees transferred eggs 

 or larvjc in my hives, because 1 hail just read 

 Mr. Stachelhausen's article when 1 made my 

 hive queenless, therefore thought that was a 

 good time to test it and see if he was right, 

 and found the facts just as I have written 

 them. D. LaBekge. 



St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 10. 



concrete slabs for hive-bottoms. 



Concrete blocks are made in our town. I 

 can get slabs made 16X32X3 in., with edges 

 raised to allow a bee-space imder the cc^mbs 

 for about 20 cts. each. What would be the 

 objection to using these slabs for bottoms? 

 I should like to hear from people with expe- 

 rience. H. C. Ahlers. 



West Bend, Wis. 



[Concrete slabs would be all right for hive- 

 stands, but rather too cold for bottom- boards. 

 I should expect colonies wintered outdoors, 

 placed on such slabs in this locality, even if 

 in double-walled hives, to die before spi'ing. 

 -Ed.] 



the alexander method of building up 



WEAK colonies A GRAND SUCCESS 

 EVERY TIME. 



I can not overestimate the value of your 

 paper, as one article alone saved me forty 

 times the price of subscription — namely, the 

 Alexander method of treating weak colonies 

 in spring by putting them over strong ones. 

 I consider this to be a grand success. As I 

 succeeded in every case, I can not see how 

 any bee-keeper can get along without a good 

 bee-paper. D. Donaldson. 



Innisville, Ont. 



