434 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



i 



TJG. 



Instead of drumming out the bees, taking away 

 the queen, keeping them shut up 10 or 12 hours, and 

 then giving them eggs, I prefer taking away their 

 queen and unsealed brood, and then giving them a 

 comb of eggs, the oldest of which are just begin- 

 ning to hatch, cutting a few holes to give the bees 

 better opportunities to build cells. I doubt not but 

 that friend A. rears good queens by his method; but 

 there is too much " fussing" about it, and I don't 

 wonder that he can not atford to rear queens for 

 SI. 00. It would bo less work to rear queens under 

 the " swarming impulse " than it would with the 

 Alley method; and queens reared under the swarm- 

 ing impulse are usually considered good enough for 

 anybody. 



Friend A. has his cells built in rows. Now, this is 

 convenient, I admit; but with me it would "cost 

 more than it comes to." I do not destroy more than 

 a dozen cells, by cutting them open when built close 

 together, in rearing 500 queens. Are those dozen 

 cells worth all the " fuss and bother"? I put the 

 frame of comb upon which the cells are built into 

 the lamp nursery, let the young queens hatch out 

 when they get ready, and then introduce them to 

 nuclei. By examining the nursery every hour or 

 two during the day, and holding the cells up to the 

 lamp light, about 9 o'clock p.m., and putting each 

 cell that shows signs of hatching, in a cage by itself, 

 not more than another dozen of cells are lost in 

 rearing 500 queens. Perhaps friend A. would con- 

 sider tin's too much "fussing;" but no more, I fancy, 

 than his plan of cutting out cells and putting them 

 into a queen nursery in the center of a colony of 

 bees. His advice to feed when forage is scarce is 

 good. 



He condemns lamp nurseries in unmeasured 

 terms, calls them artificial devices, and adds that, 

 " When one digresses from the paths of nature, in 

 this business, the more unsuccessful will he be." 

 How would this method of reasoning apply to friend 

 Alley's method of queen-rearing? What one step in 

 his method is not artificial? Do not infer that I think 

 his method will produce inferior queens; for, as I 

 have said before, I think it loHl pi-oduce (;oo(? queens; 

 but t© argue that some method is inferior because 

 artificial, when the methods advocated are also arti- 

 ficial, is, to say the least, inconsistent. My lamp 

 nursery contains four pailfuls of water; is kept in 

 a close room on the north side of the shop, and I can 

 control the heat so that it does not vary 5". The 

 heat inside a bee-hive varies much more than this, 

 as I have learned by placing a thermometer in the 

 hive. 



I agree with friend A., that virgin queens can be 

 introduced to both nuclei and full colonies, as I in- 

 troduce hundreds of them every season ; but to leave 

 the bees queenless three days before introducing the 

 queens is unnecessary and unwise, unless no honey 

 Is coming in, and then it would be advisable to feed; 

 and then, as when honey is coming in, virgin queens 

 can be introduced at the same time that the laying 

 queens are removed; at least that is my experience, 

 and the three days' time gained more than compen- 

 sate for the occasional queens that will be killed. 



Friend A.'s assertions, that his queens are " rear- 

 ed in full colonies, and none are ever queenless," is mis- 

 leading, to say the least; for the colonies are queen- 

 less while building queen-cells. I like his plan of 

 allowing the same bees to build only one lot of cells, 

 and then shaking them down in front of a hive con- 

 taining the combs from which the bees have just 



been removed for cell-building, and then giving 

 them the queen from this same colony. 



The queen progeny of some queens, so says friend 

 A., is much more liable to be lost when upon their 

 " wedding trip " than that of others. This is some- 

 thing I have never noticed; but if such is the case I 

 can readily see its importance. He places great im- 

 portance upon leaving none but the best of drones 

 in the apiary. With this I heartily agree. I also 

 agree with the following: " An inferior queeu, in 

 gnawing through, leaves a little ragged hole, instead 

 of cutting a large clean cap." Friend A. says that 

 queens of medium size are generally best; that color 

 or size has no effect on their fertility; that an ex- 

 perienced breeder can judge of thequality of queens 

 before they hatch; that cells having a blunt point 

 and thin walls generally contain poor queens; that 

 queens that delay long in becoming fertile will not 

 prove of first quality, to all of which I agree. Friend 

 A. considers the Syrians the best for cell-building, 

 and the Italians the poorest, and I shall not dispute 

 him. I also agree with him in thinking that queens 

 should be reared from the eg:g. Friend A. gives 

 some excellent hints in regard to the care required 

 in handling queen-cells; in fact, it is the best advice 

 upon this subject that I have ever seen. Several of 

 "us breeders" have noticed that queens taken 

 from full colonies do not bear transportation so 

 well as those taken from nuclei, and that queeps 

 that have been caged a day or two also go safer; 

 well, friend A. has tried caging the queens from full 

 colonies in his nursery a few days before shipping, 

 and has found it an advantage. 



He thinks tested queens should be tested for the 

 qualities instead of the " stripes " of their progeny. 

 Here, again, we agree; butwhenhe condemns " dol- 

 lar queens " in such severe terms, we do not agree; 

 but I have not the space here to go into any argu- 

 ment upon the subject; besides, I have time and 

 again given my views upon this subject. He says, 

 "Clear honpy can not be safely fed, no matter how 

 much precaution is taken, and should not be used, 

 even though the honej' costs nothing, and sugar fif- 

 teen cents a pound." He gives this advice because 

 honey incites to robbing, more than does sugar. 

 Perhaps, with his small nuclei, each one of which 

 contains a handful of bees, this advice is all right; 

 but I have several times fed diluted honey iu the 

 open air, and I have yet to have a nucleus hive 

 robbed. 



Under the heading of "Who should keep bees?" 

 friend A. says: " People who are incapacitated from 

 hard labor; men well advanced in years; clergymen; 

 doctors, lawyers, and ladies;" he also says, "The 

 business can also be well adapted as an auxiliar}' to 

 some other light employment." As a comment up^ 

 on the above, read E. E. Hasty's article, " Popular 

 Misapprehensions in regard to Bee Culture," p. 3V0, 

 July No. 



In many of friend A.'s operations, tobacco smoke 

 is used. I do not know that any harm results from 

 its use; but I do know that I have never used it, 

 nor had any occasion to use it. 



FRIEND alley's PART OF THE BOOK 



occupies a little more than two-thirds of the volume, 

 the remainder of which is occupied by essays by 

 Geo. W. House and Silas M. Locke. Of course, with 

 my limited experience in the production of comb 

 honey, it is presumptuous in me to criticise Mr. 

 House's essay; but I will venture to say that, were I 

 obliged to follow the method laid down by Mr. H., 

 my experience would remain riuht where it is. Friend 



