February, 1909. 



American ^Bae Journal 



have this, but not so with the bee-way 

 supers. To supply this to those supers, 

 use a separator which has holes ^-inch 

 in diameter bored through them so that 

 the hole comes in the center of the sec- 

 tion. This will supply, to a limited ex- 

 tent, the desired communication. 



Now to produce a strain of bees which 

 lack the tendency to swarm ; here we 

 must deal with the queen, as she is the 

 origin of the future colony. We can do 

 this by continued efforts at queen-rear- 

 ing. In the fall of each year I grade all 

 my colonies. The colony which ranks 

 first in honey-production, lesser desire 

 to swarm, and gentleness, is chosen for 

 the origin of the queens. The colonies 

 ranking next I use to rear a limited 

 number of drones, according to the num- 

 ber of colonies in the apiary. 



About 8 or 9 weeks before the main 

 honey-flow in the spring, I start queen 

 and drone rearing. If it is necessary 

 the colonies are stimulated with combs 

 of sealed honey. 



My queens are reared in strong colo- 

 nies above excluders, from select larvae. 

 When the cells are sealed they are placed 

 in a nursery cage similar to that used by 

 the A. I. Root Co. When the virgins are 

 about ready to hatch, I go through the 

 apiary, giving combs of sealed honey 

 wherever needed, and placing the queen 

 above the excluder. Upon the virgins 

 hatching they are allowed to run in at 

 the entrances of the hives. This is 

 about 5 weeks before the honey-flow. 



About a week before the flow starts 

 I go through the apiary, adding supers, 

 removing the brood from the brood- 

 chamber to the supers, and replacing 

 with foundation or empty, dry combs, 

 according as the colony is to produce 

 comb or extracted honey. The old 

 queens are removed, being killed or used 

 for increase. 



Now each colony has a young queen 

 that will be less likely to swarm than an 

 older one. .-Ml colonies are strong, hav- 

 ing the old queen, and, for nearly 3 

 weeks, 2 queens to build them up. They 

 have plenty of room, and are ready for 

 the honey-flow. Those colonies which 

 are going to produce comb honey have 

 a brood-chamber of foundation, an ex- 

 tracting-super of brood, with a section 

 super between it and the hive proper. 

 The colonies producing extracted honey 

 have 2 supers of brood. 



When the honey-flow starts, those 

 colonies which produce comb honey, 

 having been compelled to pass through 

 the section super by the super of brood 

 above, readily enter it and start work 

 upon that super being removed. This is 

 done by placing a bee-escape between 

 the 2 supers when the brood is found 

 sealed. Then the hatching bees go be- 

 low and empty the super. 



From 54 colonies run for comb honey 

 I removed an average of 150 pounds of 

 fancy comb honey. There were no 

 swarms, and the season was very poor. 



I have practised this system only the 

 last season, and therefore I am not sure 

 of it. But from all my experimental 

 apiaries, good results were obtained. 



These are the chief advantages of this 

 method : We have very strong colonies 

 with young queens. Each colony has 

 been requeened from select stock with- 

 out a day lost of the laying queen. We 



have a chance to test our origin. Then, 

 at an opportune time, we have 2 queens 

 laying. Also, I have a theory that a 

 young virgin queen will lend to the colo- 

 ny part of that vigor. 



Now in conclusion let me say that this 

 method is still in the experimental stage. 

 Last season it proved a success in my 

 experimental apiaries, but still it isn't 

 a sure success until it has been tried 

 under various circumstances. If you 

 will give this lots of thought you will 

 readily see many reasons, which I have 

 not mentioned, why it should become, 

 under the right management, a success. 



Redlands, Calif. 



Something About Bumble- 

 Bees 



On page 55, "New York" asks, "What 

 becomes of bumble-bees when cold 

 weather comes on?" We have had sev- 

 eral responses to this question, the fol- 

 lowing being from Dr. Mahin, of Ind- 

 iana, who has this to say about 



What Becomes of Bumble-Bees in the 

 Fall? 



I think I can answer the question sat- 

 isfactorily, as I have had some oppor- 

 tunity to observe the habits and natural 

 history of that interesting and useful 

 member of the insect world. Some years 

 ago I had a nest of bumble-bees under 

 observation a whole season. In my back 

 lot, among the apple-trees, I discovered 

 a large queen or mother bumble-bee 

 making her nest in a bunch of dead 

 grass. I got a box that had been used 

 for 'a cap on an old box-hive, having a 

 hole in one side of it, and this I placed 

 over the nest for its protection, and 

 carefully observed the development of 

 the infant colony. The mother-bee gath- 

 ered a ball of pollen-mixed honey, the 

 ball being about the size of a large 

 hazel-nut, and laid an egg in it. That 

 done, she proceeded to form another 

 ball, and so on until she had quite a clus- 

 ter. When the eggs hatched the larvae 

 fed on the pollen and honey until they 

 were fully developed as larvae, when they 

 spun their cocoons and in due time 

 emerged as full-grown bumble-bees. 



But these bumble-bees were workers. 

 They were not much more than half the 

 size of their mother, and were, like the 

 worker-bees in our hives, imperfectly 

 developed and barren females. As soon 

 as they were old enough they began to 

 make balls of honey and pollen, and then 

 the population of the colony increased 

 more rapidly, and the mother-bee proba- 

 bly ceased entirely to gather pollen and 

 honey, leaving that work to her chil- 

 dren. 



Later in the season larger balls were 

 made, and the eggs laid in these de- 

 veloped into perfect females, or queens, 

 and into drones about the size of the 

 queens — a little longer perhaps, a little 

 more slender, and somewhat lighter in 

 color. But a practised eye will readily 

 distinguish them. Like the drones of the 

 honey-bee, they are stingless. 



As with the honey-bees, the mating of 

 the queens and drones takes place away 

 from the nest. I used to see drones sit- 

 ting on the outside of my bumble-bee 

 hive watching for the young queens to 



come out, and as soon as a queen would 

 come out and take wing a drone would 

 give chase. But I could never witness 

 the mating. 



The drone bumble-bee is not helpless 

 like his cousin of the bee-hive, for he 

 can help himself to the nectar of the 

 flowers as easily as his sisters do. As 

 the cold weather comes on, and the frost 

 kills the latest and hardiest of the flow- 

 ers, the drones and workers of the nest 

 perish, nearly but not quite all dying 

 away from the nest. The perfect and 

 fecundated females seek the most se- 

 cluded and protected places they can 

 find, and hibernate until the warm sun- 

 shine of the spring awakes them from 

 their winter's nap, and at the same time 

 brings out the earliest flowers to furnish 

 them sustenance. Of course, very many 

 of the fecundated females perish during 

 the winter. (Rev.) M. Mahin, D.D. 



New Castle, Ind. 



Mr. Isaac F. Tillinghast, of Factory- 

 ville, Pa., kindly sent us a clipping taken 

 from Colman's Rural World, of Feb- 

 ruary 12, 1908, which tells how and 

 where the bumble-bees pass the winter. 

 It reads as follows : 



Bumble-Bees in Winter. 



The following bit of natural history 

 written by Col. Isaac W. Brown, the fa- 

 mous "bird and bee man," appeared in a 

 recent number of the Bible Record : 



I have been very much interested this 

 summer in noting that at all the Chau- 

 tauqua schools great interest in nature 

 study has been manifest. Many lectur- 

 ers have given the stinged insects much 

 credit for the work they do in making 

 life better and easier for the human 

 race. The lecturers easily proved that 

 the bumble-bee was that friend, but did 

 not have time to speak of the home life 

 "of that bee. 



I write this little story therefore, witn 

 the thought that many people beginning 

 to realize that creature's vast importance 

 in the economy of nature (the thoughts 

 of God) will desire to have his presence 

 and aid. Many a colony of bumble-bees 

 has been burned in its home by people 

 who had no idea they were destroying 

 their friends. There are not one-tenth 

 as many bumble-bees in the agricultural 

 districts as there were in boyhood days. 

 More is the pity, for 25 years from now 

 colonies of bumble-bees will be valued at 

 from $25 to $50 each in agricultural dis- 

 tricts. 



The female bumble lives from 2 to 5 

 years, and has her stinger to pro- 

 tect her in fighting life's battles. The 

 male has no stinger, because he has no 

 battles to fight. He is born in June, 

 lives a luxurious life among the flow- 

 ers until frost time. He is then "mar- 

 ried," and always goes from his wedding 

 trip to his grave. His widow goes into 

 a dormant condition, usually one or 2 

 inches below the family home, and so 

 remains until the following spring. The 

 usual number of female bees so hiber- 

 nating in a home is about 10 to 17. Her 

 hope is that she may have sufficient 

 strength in the spring to reach the little 

 cups of stored honey above her head, 

 and feasting thereon for 2 or 3 days, go 

 out into the world and make a new 

 home for herself and her children to be. 



The time will come when those homes 



