1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



341 



Star thistle begins to bloom about 

 the first of July and continues till 

 frost, which usually comes between 

 October 1 and November 1. The yield 

 of nectar is slow but continuous; if 

 it is stopped by too long drought, it 

 will start yielding nectar again after 

 a rain. The plant has the faculty of 

 existing in arid soils for long peri- 

 ods of drought, and, when appar- 

 ently dried up, it will start to grow 

 and blossom after a rain. Some cat- 

 tle growers find that thistle hay can 

 be fed profitably when cut and dried 

 like other hay, if it is moistened just 

 before feeding. The dampening of 

 the fodder takes the sting out of its 

 leaves and blossoms. 



Star thistle honey is heavy- 

 bodied, white, almost as cloying in 

 its sweetness as orange, and has a 

 greenish yellow tinge, like olive oil. 

 It is considered by large buyers 

 equal in quality to any white honey 

 in the State, and with the price at 2 

 cents a pound more than light amber 

 honey of the alfalfa type, and still 

 rising, beemen in Northern Califor- 

 nia should worry. 



Chico, Calif. 



Practical Queen Rearing 



A Review by John Anderson, M. A. 



MR PELLETT set himself to 

 write a concise manual on 

 the art and practice of queen 

 rearing, and right well has he suc- 

 ceeded. He has done more than he 

 promised in the preface; he has 

 passed the grist through his own mill, 

 has added the distinctive Pellett 

 touch, and in the very limited space 

 at his disposal has clearly indicated 

 the principles underlying the various 

 methods. The book is not therefore 

 a catalogue of directions which must 

 be followed in every detail or not at 

 all. Each one can judge of the meth- 

 ods for himself and select those most 

 suitable to his particular condition. 



The illustrations are most helpful 

 and many are of high artistic value. 

 Securing that frontispiece of the 

 queen, drone and worker, must have 

 entailed much patient waiting before 

 the desired grouping was obtained. 



There are many little hints and de- 

 vices which make for greater dex- 

 terity, smoothness, and success, in 

 the various processes. When using 

 the Miller method I used to trim up 

 to the eggs according to instruction 

 in a British book, but I rarely suc- 

 ceeded in getting cells on the edges 

 of the comb. The writer of the book 

 had forgotten that bees in a hurry 

 select larvae and not eggs for queen- 

 making. Dr. Miller gives the neces- 

 sary hint on page 56. The horse- 

 hair spoon is a cute idea calculated 

 to neutralize much clumsiness on the 

 part of the operator. The grafting 

 house is another valuable suggestion, 

 and a great improvement on the 

 kitchen. If thought advisable, the 

 atmosphere in such a house could 

 readily be given that degree of hu- 

 midity which Signor Penna thinks so 

 .desirable. 



Opinions may vary as to some of 

 the theory on which certain prac- 

 tice is based. It is difficult, for ex- 

 ample, to believe that food and space 



during larval life make all the differ- 

 ence between a queen and a worker. 

 If so much royal jelly, and so much 

 cell space, develop in a worker pol- 

 len-combs or baskets of a certain 

 size and complexity, one would ex- 

 pect that the larger queen-cell with 

 unlimited royal jelly would produce 

 still better pollen-combs. But the 

 queen has no pollen-combs, no pol- 

 len-baskets, no wax glands, a smaller 

 brain, weaker jaws, less perfectly de- 

 veloped eyes ! If the queen were 

 uniformly better developed than the 

 worker we might be content with the 

 food and space theory, but it obvi- 

 ously cannot explain such differential 

 development. 



The attempt to practically elim- 

 inate the drone is perhaps not entire- 

 ly well advised. Although the drone 

 is unfitted for the more familiar du- 

 ties discharged by the worker, there 

 are certain ancillary activities, or 

 rather passivities, in which the drone 

 may not be a negligible quantity. At 

 night, when the important duty of 

 ripening the honey is being per- 

 formed, the burly drones must help 

 considerabl in keeping up the neces- 

 sary temperature. On moderately 

 cold days, when mating is impossible. 

 but nectar is being gathered, the 

 presence of the drones on the brood 

 may release an equivalent number of 

 workers. Some of us think that bees 

 are more contented, work better, and 

 are less likely to need queen exclud- 

 ers if a moderate quantity of drone- 

 comb be permitted. This drone-comb 

 should be placed at the sides in or- 

 der that drones may not appear too 

 early. 



Mr. Pellett accepts the general 

 view that the first virgin to emerge 

 is accountable for the destruction of 

 any other cells in the hive. This is 

 not invariably the case. One or more 

 cells may be destroyed before any 

 queen is due to emerge ; and I have 

 seen every cell destroyed by the 

 workers except the one which after- 

 wards emitted the chosen virgin. 



Are cells quite as delicate as some 

 would have us believe, and is the ori- 

 entation so very important as indi- 

 cated on page 78? A cell which I 

 carried on a motorcycle for four 

 miles yielded a nice queen just a 

 week later. I have seen naturally 

 built cells horizontally placed, and I 

 have been in the habit of placing 

 cells in nuclei almost horizontally 

 just under the quilt. This ensures 

 their being kept warm, and enables 

 one to see if the queen has emerged 

 without the necessity of disturbing 

 the combs. If cells must always be 

 point downward we shall have to re- 

 vise our practice. 



The analysis of introduction meth- 

 ods is most illuminating, and prob- 

 ably sound, both as to theory and 

 practice. It is a pity that Mr. Pellett 

 did not specifically mention the Sim- 

 mins method of direct introduction. 

 It is as simple as any, and usually 

 successful. Cheshire was delighted 

 with a method by which he could 

 have a queen laying in half a dozen 

 hives in a week. 



It is sometimes difficult to tell 

 without waste of time whether a vir- 

 gin is actually present in a hive, and 



it is frequently recommended that 

 one should place in the hive a comb 

 with eggs and young larvae to see 

 whether cells will be formed. Hewitt 

 is positive that the addition of any 

 but sealed brood will make the bees 

 ball the queen on her return from 

 mating. Dr. Miller seems to be com- 

 ing around to this view. (July Glean- 

 ings.) 



The suggestion that queens may 

 convey disease through heredity is 

 most interesting. The experience of 

 Poppleton with paralysis is particu- 

 larly apt, since Britain is being de- 

 pleted of bees by a disease something 

 very like what troubled Poppleton. It 

 is frequently stated that the queen 

 is immune from Isle of Wight disease, 

 and it is quite true that she almost 

 invariably survives to the last, and 

 seems not to die of the disease, but 

 from want of attendants. I have in 

 recent years repeatedly introduced 

 such a surviving queen to a fresh 

 stock, and the result has invariably 

 been that sooner or later her off- 

 spring developed Isle of Wight dis- 

 ease. Indeed, so far as I am aware, 

 this is the only artificial way of pro- 

 ducing the disease. 



The library of an intelligent bee- 

 keeper cannot be considered com- 

 plete without a copy of "Practical 

 Queen Rearing." 



COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, 

 Aberdeen, Scotland. 



(Mr. Anderson maintains the popu- 

 lar sentiment in favor of the useful- 

 ness of drones to keep the hive 

 warm. In view of Dr. Brunnich's 

 studies (September American Bee 

 Journal), which show the drone to 

 have a higher temperature than the 

 worker, we might agree to this "an- 

 cillary" usefulness, were it not that 

 drones have to be reared previously, 

 often at a time when warmth is at a 

 premium in the brood-combs ; were 

 it not also that whenever a return of 

 cool weather decreases the flow of 

 hone}- the drones are mercilessly de- 

 stroyed, whether full grown cr in 

 the cell; even when they may be 

 needed a few days later. In addition, 

 we must call the attention of Mr. An- 

 derson to the much greater heat of 

 the summer climate of the Mississip- 

 pi Valley, where the question, during 

 the swarming time, is not "how to 

 keep the hive warm," but how to 

 keep down the excessive heat. 



The Simmins direct introduction 

 method and all similar methods are 

 good to introduce queens that are 

 fresh from the hive. But for queens 

 that are fatigued from a long voyage, 

 there is very little success in any 

 method of direct introduction. We 

 have had proof of this in hundreds of 

 cases. — C. P. D.) 



The Seventh Annual Meeting of the 

 Iowa Beekeepers* Association will be 

 held at Des Moines, la., on Wednes- 

 day and Thursday, November 6 and 7. 

 The Mid-west Horticultural Show 

 occurs the same week. Every bee- 

 man should be present. Many promi- 

 nent beemen, specialists in various 

 lines of bee work, are to be present. 

 HAMLIN B. MILLER, 

 Secretary-Treasurer. 



Marshalltown, la. 



