602 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



Gleanings, p. 441, Aug. No. ; at least, not in this 

 climate, when Italian bees or their hybrids are the 

 subjects of manipulation. My brown and black 

 bees, old colonies and new, that commenced work- 

 ing in the top sections early [in June have continvied 

 Iheir labors uninterruptedly, and are at present 

 iinishing the capping of the outside sections. No, 

 Mr. Editor, the comments on pp. 443, 443, appear to 

 embody about the right ideas " in a nutshell." Con- 

 ditions must receive their due consideration, in at- 

 tempting to apply radical rules in apiculture, as 

 in other pursuits, where the weather and animal 

 or insect nature are expected to co-operate. Dur- 

 ing the middle of sultry summer days 1 usually raise 

 the caps of my hives and let the air circulate around 

 the supers, but close them in the evening; exercis- 

 ing this precaution to prevent my bees being driven 

 from the sections by a "cold wave" during the 

 night, as they have been several times this season, 

 with the caps closed. In a locality exempt from 

 sudden extremes of temperature, such precautions 

 would be unnecessary; but in Maine I think they 

 are necessary. Kight here I feel like venturing the 

 assertion (although based on short experience), that 

 the sudden changes noted in foregoing are a great 

 drawback in working bees for comb honey, especial- 

 ly Italians of the orange-colored variety or their 

 hybrids; for when once driven from the surplus 

 boxes, they seem loth to return, except under ex- 

 tremely favorable conditions. How say others? 



Although not ready to report in full the result of 

 our bees' labor, it can be approximated as follows: 

 Nine colonies in spring. Increased from eight col- 

 onies — eleven natural swarms, and one by division. 

 Honey, at a safe estimate, 300 lbs. Two of the or- 

 iginal 9 were transferred and united, making our 

 present number 30 colonies. J. F. Latham. 



West Cumberland, Me., Sept. 6, 1883. 



NEW ZEAIiAND, 



AND THEIR NEW BEE JOURNAL. 



IP DO not often see letters from New Zealand in 

 ijl Gleanings; but now that Mr. Hopkins has 

 started a bee journal, you will have regular re- 

 ports on the position of the science in this part of 

 the world. Your big reports often astonish us; but 

 when we have emerged from our infancy we hope to 

 hold our own against the best of you. We have no 

 basswood, to be sure; but I am sure you can't beat 

 us in white clover, thistles, and such plants common 

 to all countries. In this part of New Zealand the 

 honey season may be said to open about the end of 

 August, with the weeping-willows, which abound 

 everywhere. Then in September the native bush 

 begins to flower, and honey comes in steadily till 

 the end of October, when white clover and almost 

 every plant that grows seems to be in flower; and 

 if the weather is not too dry, there is a great glut of 

 honey for a few weeks. With January comes the 

 thistle, that best of all the honey-plants, and con- 

 tinues yielding till the end of February, when a 

 prudent bee-keeper ought to consider the surplus 

 season at a close. 



I am but a beginner in the art. having had only 

 one year's experience. I have 80 colonies in Lang- 

 stroth hives; but my bees are all blacks, and I am 

 very desirous of having the apiary Italianized next 

 Beaaon. Mr. Adams, of Gisborne, tells me he is im- 



porting queens from several American breeders; 

 and if he is successful, I shall be able to get stocked 

 from his apiary. 



Though I have no doubt that this is as rich a hon- 

 ey-producing country as America, we are handicap- 

 ped in two ways; first, we have not the unlimited 

 market you have for honey; and second, we pay 

 three times the price for our supplies. This last 

 evil is gradually mending, I am glad to say; opposi- 

 tion is beginning to tell its inevitable tale. I have 

 great pleasure in the study of Gleanings and the 

 A. B. J., and hope to have a good yield next season 

 by following the instructions of your masters in the 

 art. George Stevenson. 



Poverty Bay, N. Z., August 10, 1883. 



Thank yon for yonr kind words, fiiend S. 

 We have received a copy of tue New Zealand 

 Bee Journal, and extend the right hand of 

 fellowship. No doubt it will be a great aid 

 to you in your country, which differs from 

 ours in so many ways. 



qiteii:]n.re:akiivg. 



about artificial drones. 



'-^ E are told, that " out of the abundance of the 

 heart the mouth speaketh." 1 don't want 

 to claim, Mr. Root, that 1 know all about 

 this queen business, but 1 do wish to intimate that I 

 am deeplyinterested in the business, and now about 

 drones from unfertilized queens. 



My experience, though limited, is, that the drones 

 are always of good size when the queen is per- 

 fect; most drone-laying queens are caused to be 

 such by having imperfect wings; and almost all the 

 queens with imperfect wings are under size, crook- 

 ed, or deformed in some way, and I think this ac- 

 counts for the drones being so small. 1 may not be 

 right in this; however, if 1 am not right, somebody 

 else is not right too; for if the drones are really less 

 when the queen is not fertilized, the fact partly gets 

 away with the theory, that the queen being fertiliz- 

 ed does not affect her drone progeny. Surely here 

 is quite an opening for. valuable discussion, and I 

 think we shall ;ind that a great many of us are part- 

 ly in the dark. 



While I am on the subject of small drones, I should 

 like to mention that I once bad a queen whose 

 progeny was very small; some of the workers were 

 very little larger than the large green "sweat" bees 

 that work so much on sumac and other small 

 flowers. I am pretty sure this queen was fertilized 

 by a drone from a fertile worker, as I had a hive full 

 of them at that time. 



inserting queen-cells. 



Some one has said, that it will do just as well to 

 lodge the cell between the top-bars of frames, in- 

 stead of inserting into the comb. This I have given 

 a thorough test, after depriving 35 hives of their 

 queens, and smoking, as usual, until I saw they had 

 missed their queen. I lodged the cells in between 

 the top-bars of frames, and out of the 35 there were 

 only six that did not destroy their cells, and begin 

 the construction of other cells. Now, an idea occurs 

 to me which, if it does not prove to be old and dis- 

 carded, that I intend to test another season. It is, 

 that the top-bar of the frames could be made of two 

 pieces of equal length, and disconnected in the cen- 

 ter about VA inches, but held together by means of 



