1904 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



loo 



LATER. 



Since the foregoing was written 

 tlie Vermont stock lias prepared to 

 swarm. A dozen fine queen cells 

 were completed and all the premon- 

 itory symptoms were present, when I 

 forced the swafm and saved a few of 

 the cells which later produced fine 

 queens. At the time I forced the 

 swarm there was a goodly amount 

 of worker brood but not a single cell 

 of drone brood in any stage could I 

 find. The drone cells were all nice- 

 ly polished but contained no eggs. 



I made a very careful inspection of 

 the bees as they passed into the hive 

 and I found just three drones. These 

 may have come from some other stock 

 but I could not tell. 



Here was a big thrifty colony all 

 ready to divide itself l>ut failing to 

 produce any males. 



The reason therefor I do not even 

 hazard a guess at. If the workers 

 controlled the production of males 

 then surely they should have been 

 present. The desire for them seems 

 to have been present because drone 

 cells were made ready for the queen. 



The ordinary need of them was 

 there in the coming of the young 

 queens. 



To all appearance the queen was 

 normal, laid regularly and well, was 

 large and strong and had. during the 

 previous season, produced drones in 

 ordinary numbers. The queen's age 

 may have something to do with it, 

 but usually in a failing queen we get 

 an excess of drones or drones to the 

 exclusion of all others. 



If the queen will deign to live 

 a while longer I will study her and 

 her colony most carefully. 



To a limited extent this case sup- 

 ports my belief that aside from the 

 ijueen's dependence on the workers 

 for her food she lives and acts accord- 

 ng to her own instincts and will (if 

 we may use that term in connection 

 with bees). 



Providence, R. I.. July 11. 1904. 



HIVE VENTILATION. 



By W. W. McNeul. 



The Rural Bee-Keeper for .July 

 homes to hand in a new and especially 

 llesigned oo-ser. The new journal is 



credit to its publishers. 



PERHAPS it will not be amiss to 

 have a little talk just now upon 

 the subject of hive ventilation. 

 Good honej- fiows,good hives and good 

 strong swarms are all very necessary 

 to success, but the advantage there- 

 of will be rendered futile by poor ven- 

 tilation. 



The heat generated by a colons' of 

 bees when storing honey rapidly of- 

 ten becomes intensely annoying and 

 forces the wax-workers to seek the 

 open air in large clusters on the front 

 of the hive. While they are there 

 their owner is losing good money on 

 them just as surely as night follows 

 the day. And that is not all; it is 

 provocative of swarming, which 

 causes an outlay of money for hives 

 and fixtures that eclipses the profits 

 that should accrue to the keeping of 

 bees. But however necessary good 

 ventilation may be, provision for it 

 should always be made at the bot- 

 tom of the hive and not at the top. 

 Bees are very much indisposed to 

 store honey close to where light and 

 air enter the hive and foe that rea- 

 son all openings that admit air direct- 

 ly into the hive should be at the bot- 

 tom. It would be better were hives 

 so made that the greater part of the 

 front end of the brood chamber could 

 be thrown open during the flush of 

 the honey season. This would enable 

 the liive bees to stay in the supers 

 and work at the very time they should 

 be there. 



If for any reason it is deemed ad- 

 visable to give ventilation above the 

 brood chamber, or above a queen ex- 

 cluding honey-board. the supers should 

 then be made double-walled. By allow- 

 ing, say. one-half inch space between 

 the inner and outer wall an entrance 

 may be cut through the outer wall in 

 the middle or upper half of the super, 

 thus permitting of fairly good venti- 

 lation without the evils arising from 

 a direct entrance into the super. But 

 the main source of ventilation should 

 come from below and there should be 

 enough of it to insure against such a 

 disaster as the clustering of bees on 



