1386 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



tion on that score), then why should it not 

 be equally desirable to have two medium 

 queens that will give as much or more brood? 

 Or let us put the problem another way. It 

 is easier to rear two medium queens to do a 

 piece of work than one extra fine one to do 

 the same work. 



Again, if two queens can be made to do 

 service in a hive if one dies the colony is 

 not left in that hopeless or discouraged con- 

 dition of the one where there has originally 

 been only one queen. 



Mr. E. W. Alexander has been working 

 the two-queen system for years with the 

 greatest of success. His powerful colonies, 

 as seen in the photo elsewhere, show that 

 the two-queen method is one of the factors 

 contributing to such strength. But here is 

 something more on the subject.— Ed.] 



THE ALEXANDER PLAN OF BUILD- 

 ING UP WEAK COLONIES, AND 

 A MODIFICATION OF IT. 



Two Queens in a Hive as a Means of Pre- 

 venting Swarming. 



BY A. J. WRIGHT. 



I have used the Alexander plan of build- 

 ing up weak colonies in the spring for years, 

 with this modification: Instead of perforated 

 zinc I have used wire cloth as follows: Tack 

 the wire cloth on to a rim about two inches 

 deep and the size of the hive. Remove the 

 cover from a strong colony, and on top of 

 the hive place the rim, cloth side down. 

 This rim should have a f hole bored on the 

 side opposite the entrance of the lower hive, 

 and about three inches either way from the 

 side of the upper hive. On top of this rim 

 place the weak colony. This should first be 

 examined to make sure that it has a queen, 

 and also to remove dead bees; and be sure 

 there are no broken or leaky combs. Then 

 put on the cover, and close, with a plug or 

 slide, the | hole. In 48 hours a frame of 

 bees — no queen — may be taken from the 

 lower hive and placed above, next to the 

 bees, separated by only a card of honey. 

 Close down to two, three, or four frames, de- 

 pending on the number of bees, and fill the 

 space with dummies. In about a week re- 

 move the plug or slide, and no further care 

 is necessary except to supply room for brood 

 expansion to the upper colony; but if a colo- 

 ny is very weak it doesn't pay to fuss with 

 it except in case of a valuable queen. 



The above plan succeeds where any thing 

 can, and is not subject to the uncertainty of 

 perforated zinc. 



PLURALITY OF QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 



The subject of two or more laying queens 

 in one hive receives attention on page 473. 

 This much I have noticed, that at least two 

 laying queens of pui'e Italian blood will get 

 on peaceably together in the same hive, 

 throughout an entire season, and in this con- 

 dition no swarming will result. To what ex- 

 tent this might be carried I am unable to say. 



MATING QUEENS CONFINED WITH A THREAD. 



The experiment on page 470, with a virgin 

 queen attached to a thread, I tried about 

 seven years ago, but differing in this: I found 

 even a silk thread too heavy, and so used a 

 thread of spider silk obtained from a large 

 chocolate-colored spider, spotted and striped 

 with yellow, which frequents pasture fields 

 in autumn, and spins a strong web for the 

 capture of grasshoppers, large moths, and the 

 like. Several yards of strong silk may be 

 reeled from this spider direct with a wire- 

 reel. About six feet of this thread may then 

 be attached to a virgin queen of any race 

 (not easily frightened), and the queen given 

 a chance to fly. The thread being very light, 

 the queen will easily fly and remain a con- 

 siderable time in the air. I thought I had 

 made a great discovery when I succeeded in 

 getting a queen mated by this plan; but this^ 

 is one of the things 1 laid on the shelf as be-' 

 ing of no practical value, as mating can be 

 accomplished only at a time when the queen 

 would make her flight naturally; then, too, 

 queens do not go far afield for mating pur- 

 poses; and if the apiary is near other yards 

 or the forests you may be quite sure that 

 your yard will have a pretty good sprinkling 

 of drones from these sources. This experi- 

 ment of fishing for drones with a queen for 

 bait is, however, quite interesting. 



Bradford, N. Y. 



[We wish our correspondent would tell us 

 more about his two-queens-in-a-hive experi- 

 ment. Under what conditions did he succeed 

 in doing this? Did he use perforated zinc? 

 What was the I'elative age of the queens? 

 How many colonies did he try? 



The method of building up weak colonies 

 would be reliable in that there would be no 

 likelihood of either queen being destroyed, 

 and to that extent it may be better than the 

 Alexander plan. The captive-queen experi- 

 ment is also interesting. Yes, we should be 

 glad to hear from Mr. Wright further, for he 

 is an old experienced bee-keeper. — Ed.] 



FOUL BROOD. 



The Necessity of Disinfecting the Hives; 



Crushed Newspapers for Packing 3Ia- 



terial; Fastening Foundation. 



BY G. W. MARTIN. 



In the 1905 edition of the A B C of Bee 

 Culture I do not think you give Mr. McEvoy 

 a fair interpretation of his treatment of foul 

 brood. I have kept bees for over 30 years 

 in a small way, and have been annoyed by 

 foul brood often. It is a common visitor 

 here, as there are many old box hives here, 

 and their owners are not bee-men. When 

 one stand dies they just let it stay, and thus 

 spread the disease. ( Some people claim that 

 that is what cleaned the bumble-bees out of 

 this country. ) 



The starvation plan is all right, and so is 



