1878. 



GLEAXmGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



323 



croi>, as the broad frames. True, you can 

 ])ick out a single section, and put an empty 

 one in its place, but when putting them on 

 and removing, you are obliged to handle 

 them all singly. The separators are not to 

 hold them to their places, but to insure nice, 

 regular combs. It will not pay to omit 

 them, in any case. 



If you wish to put frames iu the top storj' for sur- 

 plushoney, and not use tlie section boxes, would 

 you use tlie broad :i inch frame or the brood frame, 

 and put 2 inches from center to center? 



You can use the broad frames for holding 

 a thick comb for extracting, but I rather 

 p refer the brood combs, for the metal cor- 

 ners are easier for handling, and the comb 

 can afterwards be cut down, if they should 

 be Avanted for other purposes. However, if 

 extracted honey comes into favor again, I 

 shall have some" drone combs built in these 

 broad frames, and strengthened witli wires, 

 and keep them for extracting and nothing 

 else. It will save more than half the labor 

 of itnca])i)ing, and will be a saving to the 

 bees besides." 



Can I fasten fdn. in frames where there is no 

 groove or comb guide? 



See price list, to learn how to fasten fdn. 



Ts white a suitable color to paint hives? If not, 

 what is the best color? J. F. Edwards. 



Sebree Citj-, Ky., Sept. 10, 1ST8. 



In hive making I advise white paint, and tell 

 why. Please excuse me, but A 13 C scholars 

 should "read their books.'' I don't care, 

 but these old fellows will give it to us in the 

 '•Growlery,"' if we have so much repetition. 



-^cy*9 * »* 



PERSISTENT BUILBIN^ OF QUEEN 



CEIiLS, ETC. 



MERE is an episode in the bee line. Your 

 queen, as I stated in mj' former letter, was 

 , killed some weeks ago upon the failure of the 



honey supply, and a new queen was reared. I com- 

 menced feeding amply, I thought, but upon opening 

 the hive a couple of daj'S ago, I found that breeding 

 had been carried on so rapidly, that there was aot 

 an ounce of honey in the hive. The new queen was 

 all right, but behold! there were two sealed queen 

 cells, and the old cell from which the present queen 

 was reared contained a largo worm, undoubtedly 

 from an c<;cg which the bees had carried there. It 

 would seem that some of the bees, fearing that the 

 new queen would be slain as the old one had been 

 (because of the dearth of honey), were determined 

 to be prepared for such a calamity. Such a provi- 

 sion, made in view of a possible emergency, would 

 seem to indicate the presence of reasoii rather than 

 instinct. After giving the swarm sealed honey, I 

 cut out the queen cells, one of which I caged and 

 placed under a setting heji. N. H. Suplee. 



Philadelphia, Aug. 21, 1S7S. 



I think you give the bees more credit than 

 is their due, my friend. Instinct teaches 

 tlieiu to start queen cells as soon as their 

 queen is gone, or even when she shows symp- 

 toms of failing. Sometimes, after an old 

 queen has been removed, they get into a 

 kind of mania for building queen cells, and 

 keep on building tliem ; I can liardly call it 

 a "sport," but ratlier an offshoot of instinct 

 — a sort of misconception of instinct. (Jn 

 another page, an English friend speaks of 

 the "accumidated memories"' of past gener- 

 ations. Well, they seem to remember not 

 quite right ; the past experience that tauglit 

 them such expensive lessons in ages gone 

 by. they now and then recall indistinctly. 

 If they never built queen cells and swarmed, 



the race would become extinct ; if they built 

 them and swarmed to excess, the result 

 would be the same, and hard seasons would 

 eventually thin off all except those tliat 

 chose the golden mean between the two ex- 

 tremes. But the tendency to these freaks 

 remains still, and hence the many reports 

 we have, of two queens in one hive; queen 

 cells wlien there should be none ; another 

 queen started in the cell from which one has 

 just hatched, etc. I might state it in anoth- 

 er way, by saying the young bees did it, be- 

 cause they wanted something to do, to keep 

 out of mischief. They often' carry the eggs 

 I to other cells for queen rearing. 



QUEEN CELE.S TO OKBEK. 



vrrr^mLE reading ycur article on the queen 

 rl^l nursery, I thought of making some sug- 

 u'y/ gestions on the way of getting cells start- 

 ed. There are alwaj's more or less queen 

 cells just started, or "acorns," on the combs 

 in the hives; if you cut these olT and keep 

 them on hand, \ou can always get as many cells as 

 you want, by taking a Hat stick and removing larvfP 

 that have just hatched, and puttihg it in the Ijottom 

 of the acorns ; for the bees will ncccpt the situation 

 at onee, and soon have a nice sealed queen cell from 

 every acorn given tliem. You can decide what comb 

 is to be devoted to cjueen raising, as the bees will 

 fasten the acorns wherever you put them. I believe 

 the plan would work, if small pieces of wood fixed 

 in the frame were used to fasten the acorns to, in- 

 stead of comb. These pieces of wool could be tak- 

 en out and put into the nursery without any bother 

 at all from liatching bees. By this means, I believe 

 a swarm could be made to build auy uiunlier of cells 

 wnnted. What think vou? W. L. Boyd. 



Hamilton, O., Sept. n, ISVS. 



There, my friend, I expect you have "jtist 

 gone and done it."' The idea was partly giv- 

 en some time ago, in Gleanings ; and, 

 since then, somebody has spoken of artificial 

 queen cells, made by dippiuo- a wet stick of 

 the i)roper size and sliaj^e iu melted wax. 

 A7ell now. you see, we will just take a comb 

 guide, and "fasten little knobs of wood along 

 the edge like this (Fig. 1): 



Fig. 2. Fig. 1. 



ARTIFICIAL QUEKN CELLS. 



The pointed i)ieces of wood may have a 

 pin point in their lower ends, that will hold 

 them to the comb guide, until the whole mtir 

 chine is innnersed in melted v.ax up to the 

 line A B; take it out, remove the sticks, 

 and you have a string of queen cells, like 

 Fig. 2: take these to your best imported 

 stock, and put small larvtc in each cell; 

 liang it in a queenless and broodless hive, 

 and I will warrant a string of nice queen 

 cells, nicely capped over in due time. If Ave 

 have a poAverful colony, several such sticks 

 may be used, for a full stock can supply as 

 many as 50 cells with food all at onee, and 

 in the height of the season, it may be e\'- 

 en more. Nice queen cells to order, strimg 

 on a stick, for 10c. ])er dozen ! sent by mail, 

 postpaid ! Friend Boyd, you shall have half 

 the profits for your share of the invention, 

 and — I Avas just going to say — the friend avIio 

 used to advertise (pieeu cells for introducing 

 might have the other lialf ; but then, you 

 see, I wouldn't have any. We shall see. 



