154 



in \ iew of gasoline shi >i I a ■-■ e 

 ami above-mentioned uses foi the 

 exhaust ? 



4. Running water and floors that 

 can be washed down with host li 



.m, ,i pi ii. .ii. i\ ater pressui e 



system is a g 1 investment in view 



oi using ii in dwelling as well. 



5. That the building should be 

 bee-tight goes without saying, and if 

 you build twice as large ax you think 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



you will need it may be large enough 

 rlonej production lias become an 

 established business comparable in 

 permanency and profits with any 

 other branch of agriculture. Perhaps 

 no other branch requires so small 

 an outlay of capital for the same re- 

 turn. The best of practical equip- 

 ment is not expensive, and the best 

 is Hum phi guild 



US 



BeeJobrnm, 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY Al 



First Nafl Bank Bldg., Hamilton, 111. 



Entered as second-class matter al the 

 Hamilton. Illinois, Posloffice. 



I Dadant, Editor. 

 Dr. C. C Miller, Usociati 

 Frank C. Pellett, Staff Correspondent 



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THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Laying of Queens — 

 Nurse Bees 



Comments bj ( < Miller 

 In April American Bee Journal, 

 page 130, M. F. Perry says he differs 

 with me as to the number of lues re- 

 quired for a certain thing, 1 having 

 inclined to the opinion that a pound 

 might answer, and Mr. Perrj sug- 

 gesting 2 or 3 pounds. To be sure, 

 the types make him say "less than 

 2 pounds, or, better, 3 pounds," but 

 I'm pretty sure the printer OI 



one elsi dropped out a "Nol 



that "not less than 2 pounds" was 



meant. 



There is a pretty wide difference 

 of opinion when one asks 2 or 3 

 times as many bees as the othei and 

 i, ,,ia\ not be out of place to inquire 

 whether we are both talking about 

 the same thing. To go back to the 

 in page 28, January num- 

 ber, ] a isked, " Vssuming that 1 



pound of newly-hatched bees 

 and a strong, vig " to a 



quei nless colony with a large force 

 . would the pound of 

 nurse bi 'Ugh to nurse all the 



brood she could produce, say until 

 the in i aled?" 



1 replied : "1 don't know enough 



I'm inclined. 



however, to the opinion thai all the 



brood 'i'" i " ' '"'I' 1 '"'"" 



.luce up to the time of the sealing of 

 the first of it would be properly fed 

 if a pound of newly-hatched bees 

 were added. At that it might be hard 

 to prove that some of the fielders 

 did not turn in and help on the feed- 

 ing." 



Mr. Perry says: "A pound of bees, 

 supposed to contain 5000 bees, say 

 one-fourth remain in the hive as 

 nurse-bees, that would allow a good 

 queen to do only one-fourth of her 

 duty." According to that it would 

 take Four times as many bees, or four 

 pounds, to allow her to do her full 

 duty, that would make us still far- 

 ther apart. 



But how do you know, Friend Per- 

 ry, that "one-fourth remain in the 

 hive as nursi bees ?" Isn't the num- 

 ber that remain a very varying quan- 

 tity? In the early spring 1 suspect 

 that less than half the bees go afield 

 I don't know what proportion stays 

 In the hive on a hot day in a big 

 How; I wish I did. But have you any 

 pi that it is as large as one- 

 fourth ? 



You say, "A queen worth keeping 

 will fill a comb with eggs in a day." 

 If she keeps that Up she will keep 21 



i null Filled.' I ■ . had h ime i >c< i llent 

 but I don't know that I've 

 had one that kept 21 comb 



filled. Have you? 



May 



You say, "It will be 21 days before 



more nurses can emerge." and are 

 evidently talking about feeding for 

 21 days. I don't know that it makes 

 verj much difference, but I wasn't 

 talking about 21 days' feeding, only 

 8 il.n i, for if you will look again you 

 will see that the question specified 



"until the lirst of it be sealed." 



You say, "Some bees are lost every 

 day," evidently talking about bees of 

 all ages, but please note that both 

 in the question and the answer 

 "newly-hatched lues" are specified. A 

 new 1\ -hatched bee is supposed to 

 have before it about six weeks of life, 

 so that none of the pound should die 



within 8 days, Or even in 21. 



Your conclusion is that not less 

 than 2 or 3 pounds "is sufficient to 

 build up a colony readily in the cool 

 weather of spring." But the ques- 

 tion was not how many bees will 

 build up a colony, but how many can 

 feed the product of the queen in 8 

 days. And I don't see that the cool 

 weather has anything to do with it, 

 for although the weather makes a 

 difference about the number of bees 

 that fly out, cannot a nurse-bee feed 

 just as many babies in a cool day as 

 in a hot one ? 



If I understand you correctly, you 

 think not less than 2 or 3 pounds of 

 nurse-bees should be added to "a 

 queenless colony with a large force 

 of field bees," in order "to build up a 

 colony readily in the cool weather of 

 spring." Even upon that point I'm 

 afraid we would hardly agree. "A 

 large force of field bees" is rather 

 indefinite, but T would hardly think 

 of it as being less than 25,000. Now, 

 would you think me unreasonable if 

 I should say that there was no need 

 to add a single bee to a field force of 

 25,000 in order to build up readily in 

 the cool weather of spring. At any 

 rate, that's just what I do believe. 

 Please remember that when a colony 

 conies out of winter quarters there 

 are no young bees, yet the colony 

 builds up all right. You may say that 

 many of the lues are practical!} 

 young, having merely existed through 

 main weeks without doing any work. 

 Well. then. I'll give von a ( ase whei e 

 all the bees were field bees, in the 

 fullest sense of the word. One yeai . 

 a good many years ago, I moved a 

 colony to a new location and set on 

 i| i. mil an empty hive to which the 

 held bees returned, and to these I 

 gave a queen. I cannot give details 



as to the building up, but I know that 

 thai colony, starting with nothing 



