1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



995 



colony, g-ive them to one from which the 

 queen has been removed for about twelve 

 hours. After five days remove them to a 

 queenless colony and reintroduce the queen. 



Mr. Alley does not take much stock in 

 queens reared under the supersedure im- 

 pulse, nor, in fact, in a colony that is 

 queen-ripfht. His views in this respect con- 

 llict with those of memy queen-breeders, 

 and, incidentally, with the writer's. 



Juds"!"? from the photo at the bej^lnning- 

 of his book, Mr. Alle}^ has now reached the 

 ag^e of the "sear and j^ellow leaf." He 

 can recollect the time when a halo of mys- 

 tery surrounded the bee-hive, and the pur- 

 suit was shrouded in ignorance and super- 

 stition — when each hive was said to have a 

 "king-." and bees carried "wax" on their 

 feet. He has seen the time when abscond- 

 ing swarms were called home with the din- 

 ner-bell, and when colonies were draped in 

 mourning at their master's death. He has 

 watched the industr}' in all its stages of 

 growth, and himself played no mean part 

 in contributing to its present development. 

 Mr. Doolittle, I think, once, said that he 

 looked upon his own book as his offspring — 

 his child; and it is possible that Mr. Alley 

 entertains the same parental feeling toward 

 his queen-rearing system, and well he may; 

 for did it not take the best of his thought 

 to formulate such a plan — a plan which, al- 

 though objectionable on account of its intri- 

 cacies, is irreproachable so far as the qual- 

 ity of queens reared by it is concerned? 



Mr. Alley, it will be seen, is no amateur. 

 His knowledge of thing's apicultural is not 

 of mushroom growth, but of that healthy 

 state of development which only years of 

 experience and close application can give. 

 Among the world's bee-keepers he stands 

 forth a veteran of the veterans. 



Space forbids my commenting further on 

 this work. "Improved Oueen-rearing " is 

 a book of 55 pages, and deals with the sub- 

 ject purported in the title from the time the 

 ^i!^^ is deposited to the time the queen is 

 fertilized and laying.- The author describes 

 the formation of miniature nuclei; different 

 methods of introducing fertile and unfertile 

 queens; the use and abuse of tobacco; shows 

 the picture of a pipe from which the fumes 

 of the " vile stuff " are exhaled instead of 

 inhaled; illustrates queen-cells good and 

 bad, and gives a summary of his complete 

 outfit at the end. We think this work 

 should have a place in the library of every 

 bee-keeper. 



Medina, Ohio. 



[For some time back I have been trying- 

 to find time to read and review Mr. Alley's 

 latest book on improved queen-rearing. As 

 Mr. Alley is one of the veterans, and has 

 spent more than an average lifetime in 

 studying and rearing queens, I felt that 

 this book deserved a careful review. As 

 the time did not come to me, I turned the 

 book over to our head apiarist, Mr. G, W. 

 Phillips — a man who is well versed in bee 

 literature, and who has spent a number of 



3'ears in rearing- queens, not only in Ja- 

 maica, but for us here at Medina. — Ed.] 



FORCED SWARMING. 



How to Proceed in Such a Way as to Prevent Sub. 



sequent Natural Swarming ; wliy Starters are 



Preferable to Drawn Combs. 



A Valuable Article. 



BY J. E. CHAMBERS. 



I see Mr. W. K. Morrison has sounded 

 his note of warning respecting forced swarms 

 and starters (see Gleanings, March ]5). 

 I wish to state that Mr. Morrison is alto- 

 gether wrong about such swarms ever be- 

 coming weak. Evidently he has made the 

 sad mistake of supposing- that it is useless 

 to make the second drive. In my practice 

 I should never make the first drive if I did 

 not intend to follow it with a second, and 

 that in a short time. The reason is obvious: 

 The honey- flow waits for no man, and the 

 colony must be kept strong-. No one should 

 think of increase by this plan; for, while it 

 is possible to make some increase during- 

 the time of brushing, there are other and 

 much better wa3's of doing- it. 



In this article I wish to g-ive some of the 

 different plans — all modifications of the 

 original methods set forth by Mr. Stachel- 

 hausen a g-ood manj' years ago. I i-nyself 

 have used all of these plans with consider- 

 able success. As a matter of fact, depriv- 

 ing a colony of all its brood stops the swarm- 

 ing- impulse temporarily at least. I have 

 endeavored to find out which of the com- 

 binations would most effectuall}' destroy the 

 desire to work up again to a condition of 

 swarming-, and results are given in this ar- 

 ticle. 



In regard to the other statement made, 

 viz , that bees on starters build too much 

 drone comb, I can see how, with a deep hive, 

 such might be possible. My hive is of the 

 six-inch depth, and seven-eighths of the 

 combs built are worker size of cell. 



The following is a plan I have practiced 

 for a long time: Place two colonies side by 

 side; give each two shallow hive-bodies for 

 development. A few days before you think 

 they are going to swarm, place a case of 

 sections between the hive- bodies on one of 

 the colonies, and on the other place a shal- 

 low hive with large starters. In a few days 

 the latter will have started to draw the 

 foundation. Now place the upper stor}^ 

 with the partly drawn frames of foundation, 

 with all the bees in it, in the middle of the 

 ground occupied by the two colonies; re- 

 move the old hives to new locations; put the 

 section-case with its bees on the new hive, 

 and give them either of the queens belong- 

 ing to the old colonies. It may be neces- 

 sary under some conditions to give the 

 queen in a cage, thoug-h I have never done 

 so. This gives a very powerful force of field 

 bees, and room must be given in proportion. 



