1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1029 



but bees will yield as much money as any 

 outdoor pursuit, and a great deal more than 

 the poultry business on the average. Ordi- 

 narily I would not recommend bee-keeping 

 as an exclusive business; but it works in 

 very nicely with some profession, for the 

 reason that it affords recreation for mind 

 and body after mental work has been per- 

 formed.— Ed.] 



GIVING FRAMES OF HONEY TO COLONIES 



THAT ARE ALMOST READY TO WORK IN 



THE SUPERS. 



Suppose I have a few weak colonies of 

 bees that are not strong enough to work in 

 the super; but they have three or four 

 heavy frames of honey; how would it do to 

 take a part of their frames of honey from 

 them and put the honey in a colony of bees 

 that is about ready to go into the super? As 

 some bees will not work in the super until 

 they have filled the brood-frames with brood 

 and honey, these fat combs of honey would 

 undoubtedly hurry them along, and one 

 week sooner in a good honey-flow means 

 money to the bee-keeper. 



Velpen, Ind. W. T. Davison. 



[The plan you speak of would be feasible 

 in the case of both colonies under considera- 

 tion; but the manipulation might not in all 

 cases work out as expected. It might in- 

 duce swarming to the colony to give so much 

 sealed stores at once.— Ed.] 



THE PLAYSPELLS OF YOUNG BEES. 



Will you please tell me what the trouble 

 is when bees constantly come out of the 

 hive, as if they were about to swarm, and 

 then go back in? They also act as if they 

 were fighting, and very angry. How do 

 you proceed to change a swarm from one 

 hive to another? How do you divide a 

 swarm, and detect and get hold of the 

 queen, etc. ? What is the best way to pro- 

 tect them from severe winter weather? I 

 have five colonies, and I find some of the 

 hives are molested by the moth-miller. How 

 shall I proceed to exterminate them, and to 

 protect the bees from this pest in the fu- 

 ture? H. S. SCHOFIELD. 



West Olive, Mich., Sept. 4. 



[It is very evident that your bees have 

 been having playspells. Young bees will 

 often deport themselves in the air in front 

 of the entrance very much as if they were 

 swarming. At other times it will look as if 

 robbing were going on. The condition is 

 perfectly normal ; and if it is a playspell you 

 will find in half an hour or so that the mer- 

 ry hum of the bees will have stopped. Your 

 other question involves such extended an- 

 swers that you are referred to our A B C of 

 Bee Culture, or any other standard text- 

 book on bees.— Ed.] 



pure Italian drones, or, in other words, if 

 meeting the drones does not change the 

 breed of drones, then if I start with pure 

 Italian queens it does not matter how many 

 black drones I have or how many mismated 

 queens; or if the 16th generation of bees in 

 the past was Italian, then the drones from 

 these queens that mated with black drones 

 every time would be pure Italians. Of 

 course the workers would be blacks. 

 Velpen, Ind. W. T. Davison. 



[This was referred to D". E. F. Phillips, 

 of the Department of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, D. C, who replies:] 



According to the theory of parthenogen- 

 esis, which is now very well established, 

 drones are of the same race as the queen 

 which lays the eggs; therefore, if an Italian 

 queen is mated to a black drone all the 

 drones from this queen are pure Italians. 

 If from this queen a second queen is reared 

 she will be half Italian and half black. Ac- 

 cording to this theory, then, the drones from 

 the second queen will be half Italian and 

 half black, and not, as you suppose, pure 

 Italian. For the third generation the queen 

 would be one-fourth Italian and three- 

 fourths black, and her drones would be a 

 blend of these two races in the same pro- 

 portions. E. F. Phillips, 

 Acting in Charge of Apiculture. 



NEW hive- tool. 

 I send you a model of the hive-tool used 

 here. It is the most complete thing I have 

 seen. It is made from a big file. The end 



is pounded down and formed into the ham- 

 mer and claw. The scraper end should be 

 sharp. The little plug is put there to pro- 

 tect the thumb when prying supers apart. 

 The tool will stop when pushed up to the 

 plug. Bee-keepers here never think of tak- 

 ing any other tool to the bee-yard than this. 

 Longmont, Colo. C. F. Wilson. 



GOOD demand for BULK COMB HONEY; 



HIVE-TOOL ATTACHED BY A RUBBER 



BAND INSTEAD OF A STRING. 



This year the local demand for bulk comb 

 honey is better than usual; in fact, the sup- 

 ply is not sufficient for the demand for first- 

 class comb and extracted honey. 



PARTHENOGENESIS EXPLAINED. 



If the drones from a pure Italian queen 

 that has been mated to a black drone are 



// inches long 



I see Mr. Fowls has what he calls the 

 best hive-tool ever invented, p. 590. Here 



