1904 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



. 21 



Leota, Miss., Nov. S, 1U03. 

 Dear Sir: 



I begun last spring with 85 colonies 

 of bees, five weak and 80 strong. I 

 increased to 140 colonies. I bought 125 

 pounds medium brood foundation and 

 used the full sheets. I bought 20 

 queens — ^Italians and Carniolans. They 

 are beautiful bees but do not surpass 

 the hybrids as honey gatherers or 

 breeders. My honey record is phenom- 

 enal. A hybrid colony gathered 74 

 pounds extractetl in 17 days. My 85 

 colonies (spring count) gathered 24,- 

 000 pounds extracted honey and gave 

 me 253 pounds of wax. I have ship- 

 ped 22,000 pounds of honey and 253 

 pounds of wax. I have on hand 2,000 

 pounds of honey. 



Thes. Worthington. 



P. S. — Have kept an ficcurate ac- 

 count of everything in my apiary, and 

 can give any further data you may 

 need. T. W. 



Naples, N. Y., Nov. 5. 1903. 

 Dear Mr. Hill: My honey crop is 

 about disposed of. We had no real 

 fancy honey; received 13c. net for 

 white, 10c. for dark. I had over 6,000 

 pounds of comb, and about 1,500 ex- 

 tracted. 



Freidemann Greiner. 

 Greenville, :Miss., Dec. 7, 1903. 



Editor Bee-Keeper: 



I commenced the season of 1903 with 

 190 colonies; increased to 240. Ex- 

 tracted 16,200 pounds honey. Remov- 

 ed 400 pounds comb, and wax 180 

 pounds. 



April, May. .Tnne and July were not- 

 ed for their remarkable honey flow, 

 and until the 10th of August when 

 h'esA'y rains set in, followed in Septem- 

 ber with excessive' hvann weather 

 and drought until the 20th, from 

 thence until the close of October a 

 large honey flow from goldenrod, bone- 

 set and smart-weed enabled the bees 

 to store abundant honey for winter. 

 O. M. Blanton. 



AN AMATEUR'S QUESTIONS. 

 Olean, N. Y., Dec. 11, '08. 

 Editor American Ree-Keeper: 



Dear Sir: As an amateur in the bee 

 business I find myself confronted witk 

 a i>roblem that I am unable to solve. 

 In stating my case, and to make it 

 plain, it will be necessary to make a 

 few quotations, not in view of criti- 

 cism, but, on the other hand, in view 

 of gaining knowledge. I will begin 

 my tale of woe by saying that I am 

 contemplating the raising of a few 

 queens the coming season, using the 

 Alley queen nursery-cage plan. Note — 

 "The Honey Bee." pages 272-273 — 

 "The cages are covered with wire clotk 

 on each side and inserted in a frame, 

 etc., etc." "The frame is inserted in a 

 strong colony, not necessarily queen- 

 less since these young queens are 

 caged,'' etc., etc. I had my plans laid 

 as I thought ver.v nicely upon these 

 lines, and while searching for further 

 knowledge I stumbled onto the follow- 

 ing. Note — 35. American Bee-Keeper, 

 under heading "Introducing Virgi* 

 Queens." "The virgin to be introduced 

 is caged with thte reigning queen over 

 hatching brood, honey, etc. .Mr. 

 A. says the virgin will kill her old rival 

 invariably." 



In the first instance the (lueen is 

 hatched in the cage. In the 2nd, the 

 queen is hatched before caging, and 

 in neither instjince have we passed 

 the virgin point. 



Question No. 1. I do not want the 

 reigning queen of a colony killed. Note 

 —"The Honey Bee," page 265, para- 

 graph 518. "It is very important t9 

 have the queen well in or near the 

 brood or the bees might neglect it." 



Question No. 2. Is it necessary that 

 l)ees must have immediate access to 

 the cells after they are sealed (or in 

 other words 8 or 9 days old) up to 

 within a day or so of the hatching 

 point if the proper amount of heat can 

 be procured otherwise. 



Question No. 3. Do the liees perform 

 an.v functions relative to development 

 during the above stated period by hav- 

 ing immediate access that would not 

 be attained if the cell was in a cage 

 and the hive up to the proper tempera- 

 ture? 



Will some one more clearly define 

 these points? To the experienced bee- 

 keeper they will, no doubt, be wholly 



I 



