1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURK 



927 



SECTIONS AT SlO A THOUSAND — A CORREC- 

 TION. 



On page 713 you made some statements 

 on the section question that I could not see 

 through at all; but being a little fellow I 

 held my peace in expectation that the Straw 

 gentleman, or some other big fellow, would 

 speak. As there was nothing said about it 

 in the Sept. 1st issue, however, I will ac- 

 cept your invitation and "wade in." 



You said that, with honey bringing 10 cts. 

 per lb. net, the bee-keeper will not lose 

 money if he pays SlO. 00 per 1000 for sections. 

 Now, ]000 sections, 4'4 X4,'4 Xl?^, weigh a 

 little over 60 lbs. At 10 cts. per lb. they will 

 return the bee-keeper just a little over ?6 00. 

 If he uses plain sections they will weigh 

 less, and consequently return him less; and 

 this does not take account of foundation at 

 55 to 60 cts. per lb., and of which he will 

 use close to 2 lbs. in 1000 sections, however 

 small he makes his starters, and he gets 

 back only 10 cts. per lb. for it; so it seems 

 to me as though, with a little freight added 

 to the cost, the bee-keeper is dangerously 

 near losing mone3' on his sections now. 

 Why can not sections be made of wood fiber 

 or paper? F. H. Clarkk. 



Coleman, Mich., Sept. 9. 



[You are right, friend C. ; but my broth- 

 er-in-law, Mr. Calvert, who is so very ac- 

 curate in figures, gave me the statement, 

 and I accepted it as law and gospel truth. 

 Of course, I should have figured it for my- 

 self. We shall have to consider, perhaps, 

 that S5.00 per 1000, our present price, is as 

 high as bee-keepers can go and not lose 

 monej'. Comb honey that retails, we will 

 say, at 15 cts. in the grocerj' will not net 

 the producer much more than 10 cts. if we 

 take out freight, commission, leakage, break- 

 age, and, I am sorry to say, rascality once 

 in a while. But it is a good joke on Dr. 

 Miller that he did not notice it. I usually 

 think that any statement I make, that is 

 not subsequently called in question by the 

 sage of Marengo, must be correct, for his 

 eagle eye is almost sure to see an error, es- 

 pecially in figures. — Ed.] 



QUEENS STUNG IN A BALL. 



Referring again to the matter of queens 

 being stung in a ball, I still say that I very 

 much doubt the phj'sical possibility of such 

 an act ever taking place in a swarm of bees 

 left to their own disposition. But if there 

 is an}' thing that will provoke bees to sting 

 a queen it is to turn a blast of hot smoke on 

 them when they have for some reason balled 

 a queen. Likelihood or appearances of 

 truth that speak of a case or question of 

 fact which results from superior evidence 

 or preponderance of argument on one side, 

 incline the mind to receive it as the truth, 

 but leave some room for doubt. It therefore 

 falls short of moral certaint}', and produces 

 what is called opinion. I'm of the same 

 opinion still, that queens are never stung 

 while in a ball, but are starved and suflFo- 

 cated to death. 



A few days ago I had a swarm issue, 

 and the queen was immediately balled. 

 This took place near the next hive. I at 

 once picked them up and liberated the 

 queen from the bees, receiving two stings 

 on the fingers. Had I thrown a blast of 

 hot smoke on them, there is a possibility 

 that the queen would have been destroyed. 



But it is the downright hard thoughts 

 that have the courage to grasp the key of 

 facts, and unlock the vaults and bring to 

 light the long-hidden, long-forgotten vol- 

 umes of science. Let them come forth, that 

 we may alleat from the tree of knowledge. 



Matanzas, Cuba. C. E. Woodward. 



[Perhaps my views do not differ greatly 

 from yours in the matter. I only stated 

 that I had seen evidence enough to convince 

 me that queens are stung in the ball, for I 

 have seen the stings in their bodies after 

 the ball has been picked to pieces. Since 

 that time others have reported seeing the 

 same thing. I am of the opinion that the 

 average process of balling results in stifling 

 or suffocating more than in stinging. I am 

 also of the opinion that bees will sting 

 queens sometimes in a ball, even when the 

 same is not molested by a bee-keeper. But 

 I may be mistaken. — Ed.] 



INTRODUCING virgins; AGE OF AT TIME 

 OF FERTILIZATION. 



The matter on page 756, pertaining to in- 

 troducing one or more virgins, is very help- 

 ful; but there are some difficulties in the 

 way which to me seem insurmountable. 

 Your new method saves from two to three 

 days over what we are accustomed to use, 

 which is an important item. From j'our 

 account it seems easy to turn oft" good queens 

 rapidly. In my experience I have never 

 known young queens to take their flight 

 under four or five days after being intro- 

 duced, and three, four, or five days more be- 

 fore they begin to la}' — in all, ten to twelve 

 days. I have heretofore supposed that a 

 virgin queen must not be kept over eight or 

 ten days or she would never take her 

 flight, and often not over five days. Now, 

 if I have been wrong all these years you 

 will do me, and probably others equally in 

 error, a favor by setting us right. 



W. S. Blaisdell. 



Victoria, Fla., Sept. 7. 



[It is usual to figure, in queen-rearing 

 practice, on about ten days for a young 

 hatched virgin to begin laying. They often 

 lay in less time ; but a nine or ten day 

 limit is the rule. It is now known that 

 virgin queens are often confined in the 

 cells until the bees are ready to release 

 them. Some just-hatched virgins are much 

 older in point of development and maturity 

 than others. One ready to hatch may be 

 confined in her cell, and fed regularly by 

 the workers for several days. Such queens 

 will sometimes fly immediately on emerg- 

 ing from the cell. How soon one such may 

 take a wedding-flight after hatching I do 



