272 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



from Mieliigiin, with veiy pretty liffht honey 

 Ijoards. Init after using them a month or 

 two. our boys declare they never wish to see 

 another wooden lioney board. Put your 

 .sun>his boxes into the l)road frames, and 

 when you wish to cover the brood frames, 

 use a sheet of enameled cloth as we have 

 described in tlie A B C. 



UNUSUAI^ KITTLING <^F DRONES, AND HOW TO 

 PREVENT IT. 



T have a question to ask. I have been a bee-keep- 

 er for some 12 years, and saw this week a freak of 

 the bees that I think unusual. I made up a new 

 colony from a very stronjr stock, by shaking- the 

 bees "from the eombs and allowing- but few to ad- 

 here thereto; allowed them to remain 36 hours and 

 then inserted a (jueen cell. The queen emerg-ed in 

 a few hours after: but what seems strang-e to me is 

 the fact, that the bees, although they had an abund- 

 ance of stores, commenced and continued to kill 

 their drones until the hive is now entirely without 

 the necessarj' male population. Of course the tlow 

 of honey ceased with this new colony, as the bees 

 were too young to go to the tields; but what ap- 

 pears so strange to me is that a colony of young 

 hatching bees with an unfertile queen should des- 

 troy all their drones. Why is it? I was careful to 

 see that the old queen remained in the hive I took 

 the brood combs from. W. J. Sherriff. 



Pittsburgh, Pa., July 12th, 1878. 



I can not account for the case you men- 

 tion, farther than by saying, that the 

 promptings of instinct seem sometimes to 

 be at fault ; as, for instance, in starting a 

 queen cell over a drone larva, paying hom- 

 age to a fertile worker, and the like ; and I 

 should class yours in the same list. Had 

 you used both old bees and young, I do not 

 think the drones would have been killed. 

 Those who wish to resei've drones for late 

 queen rearing, should I'emember to make 

 and keep queenless, a few stocks, which 

 have the drones in great abundance. 



ABSCONDING WITH A CAGED QUEEN, AND WITH EGGS 

 IN THE HIVE. 



I had one swarm that tried to go to the woods 

 while the queen was caged in the hive. I introduced 

 a nice Italian queen to another hive all right, 

 and she went to the woods next day, leaving a hive 

 full of new comb, some sealed honej% and a lot of 

 eggs she had laid. Now, "how is that for high?" 

 Can you explain it? J. F. Meyer. 



Wyandotte, Kan., June 25th, 1878. 



Both cases mentioned are quite unusual 

 ones. A swarm will sometimes come out 

 when the queen is caged, but they will come 

 back. as soon as they discover her absence. 

 I have known bees to abscond in several in- 

 st'inces, where the queen had stocked the 

 hive with eggs only, but scarcely, if ever, 

 after the eggs had hatched into minute 

 larvae. The bees seem to have nothing to 

 busy themselves about, with eggs alone.'but 

 with unsealed larvae there is always work 

 to do, and bees, like every body else, must 

 be kept busy, to be kept out of mischief. 



without any improvement, nearly all being too long. 

 and there was no fit in covers. I often wish that E 

 was nearer you so that I could avoid the high 

 freight charges. L. G. Rucher. 



Patrick Court House, Va., June 24th, 1878. 



The same difficulty is met, my friend, al! 

 over our land, and 1 presume all over the 

 world, for that matter. I think you can 

 get accurate work in this way : give your 

 carpenter a single jiiece, and tell him yoit 

 want so many, just like it, made of seasoned 

 lumber. Tell him, unless they are just like 

 it in every respect, tliey will be of no value, 

 and have a clear understanding that you 

 are not to piij^ for them if they do not come 

 up to the mark. Before you pay for them, 

 examine them in every respect. When one 

 piece is finished, give him another, and so 

 on, clear through. This plan will likely 

 cost, but it Avill insure good work. Whein 

 the hives are put together, examine the 

 first one most critically, in every way in 

 Avhich it is to be used, and do not have a 

 quantity put up, until you are sure all is cor- 

 rect. 



Can you throw any light on the following occur- 

 rence? Toward the end of June, my bees commenc- 

 ed to swarm. We successfully hived them, 8 in 

 number, and most of the swarms had made a good 

 deal of comb, when, one by one, they left for the 

 woods. I only had 14 stocks, and as this happened 

 last year in exactly the same way, it is rather dis- 

 couraging, to say the least of it. * What can I do to 

 prevent it? My hives were the common box hive. I 

 am getting by degrees the movable frame hive, and 

 hope, when I use them altogether, to prevent 

 swarming. One thing I don't understand in Glean- 

 ings; you say, "Place a piece of brood comb in th<' 

 new hive, and the swarm wll rai-ely leave." Where- 

 do you get the brood comb? and how do you place it 

 in the hive? Fred. Penfold. 



Kichmond, Ind., July 'Jth, 1878, 



If your bees had a fertile queen, and the 

 hives contained plenty of unsealed brood, 

 when they deserted, I should ascribe it to 

 what seems to be a kind of swarming mania 

 that sometimes possesses bees durinsr a 

 rainy season like the ju-esent one. Who 

 ever uses box hives must expect to have a 

 host of such and similar troubles. A frame 

 of unsealed brood may be taken from any 

 hive in the apiary, and you can hang it in 

 the new hive in any way you choose, only so 

 that the frames near it are all properly 

 spaced, that you may not have crooked 

 combs. One great advantage in making 

 swarms artiticially is that it almost, if not 

 entirely, prevents this swarming mania, 

 such as has been repoited this season fi-om 

 almost every quarter. 



T received "Queen Bess" and her escort all right, 

 and do not wonder at it, she was so snugly ensconc- 

 ed in her little safe, and so amply provided with 

 food to last 2 or 3 weeks. A. CAtiL. 



Bryant, 111., June 30th, 1878. 



HIVE MAKING. 



I am not a mechanic, but have to rely on others to 

 make my hives. In the spring of 1877, I bought of 

 .you a sample hive and employed the best workman 

 in the village, but his work was not correct: some 

 piecis were too short, and others too long. After 

 furni-ihiiig the material, 1 have to pay more than 

 you charge. This spring I had another lot made up 



REPLY TO GEO. O. CHURCHII/L IN JULY NO. 



Bees in this section of Mass. will store about 25 

 lbs. of surplus hone.v, when run for surplus alone. 

 Some few swarms will give .50 lbs. ; occasionally one 

 will give 75 or SO lbs. The most I ever obtained in a 

 single season from one stock, was lO^J lbs.; and that 

 but once in 15 years. As a rule here, the hive that 

 casts a swarm I don't e.vpect any surplus from; but, 

 when one swarms earl.v and the harvest is continu- 

 oufj, I sometimes get from 10 to 25 lbs, from the 

 original stock, while the new swarm, unless it casts 

 a maiden swarm, will double it. Last year, I madt^ 

 artificial sw.tnns a^ early as the 15th of May; then, 

 both stocks gave atiout 25 lbs. But, in keeping a 

 lot of bees, one will always have some with the 

 queen out of condition when the flowers are in con- 

 dition. Queens will var.v so about their time of 

 laying too, that the hive with a late laying queen 

 gives— <;i; while an early laying queen gives tho 

 prfitits. W. O. Sweet. 



West Manstteld, Mass. 



