Vol. LXVI-No. 8

Hamilton, Illinois, August, 1926

Monthly, $1.50 a Year

S

YSTEMATIC requeening is one of

the most important features in good beekeeping and also the most profitable. While acknowledging that this is true, some have said it costs money to buy queens, and takes a good deal of labor and expense to rear their own queens. That is true, for anything that is worth while costs time and money. But one cannot escape the cost by neglecting to requeen colonies that have old, nonproductive queens, for in such cases it costs many times more to keep an old queen in a hive and thereby lose a honey crop than it would to take time to rear a good young one. As methods of introduction have been discussed where one buys his queens, I shall confine my remarks in this article to requeening where rears his own queens.

one

By systematic requeening I do not mean that all queens should be replaced at regular intervals, for there is a variation in queens, and if all queens two years old were replaced we would not discover those queens of extra quality that keep the hives filled with bees many years beyond the normal span. By taking advantage of this and using these queens as breeders, our stock can be materially improved. I used to recommend replacing all queens more than two years old, but now when a queen is doing well and keeps the hive well filled with bees and brood she is not killed, regardless of her age. Of course, sometimes we miss it, for a queen may do excellent work and in the fall appear to be vigorous, but die in the winter. This does not happen very often, however.

I believe a good rule is to look at every queen every year and replace all that do not appear to be doing the best of work. This will take from 50 to 90 per cent of them, depend

By Jay Smith.

ing largely upon the location and the amount of work the queens have done. A queen that is kept in a small brood nest and that has not been allowed to lay to capacity will last longer than one that has been worked harder. But she will bring less returns to her owner, and if we can get a queen, to lay all of her eggs in one year instead of taking two or three, our profits will be larger in proportion to the number of eggs laid, provided they are laid at the right time of the year. A

Combined hive cover and bottom board

large brood nest and plenty of stores will go a long way in bringing this about.

It will take experience to tell when a queen is passing her usefulness., When a queen is large and vigorous looking, and keeps the hive filled with brood, she should be allowed to remain. Queens get smaller and darker in color as they get older; therefore with experience one should be able to judge in a large majority of cases.

period, when introducing a laying queen, than is the case when a queen cell is given. On the other hand, it takes more equipment in the way of nuclei. For a number of years I have experimented in introducing both laying queens and cells at different times and have found that the advantages of one about balance the advantages of the other. For a few years back I have been trying a system in which the cell is used, and it has proved so satisfactory that I expect to use it on a large scale in the future. I have described this at many of the meetings of beekeepers this past winter, and as it seemed to cause considerable interest I will give it in detail here. This system may be used with profit in localities where the honeyflow is late and the bees build up too soon in the spring. In such cases they reach the peak of brood rearing too soon and the colony is becoming weaker when the honeyflow comes on. By putting the queen and the old bees in an empty hive body or extracting super and leaving the brood and young bees in another hive body and giving it a queen cell, two colonies may be made to grow where only one grew before. To bring this about, I have what I call my combined hive cover and bottom board, as shown in the cut. This is the equivalent of having two stands, but by the use of this combined cover and bottom board, which is very inexpensive, the cost of a regular hive cover, bottom board and hive stand is saved.

Now let us suppose that we are in a locality where the honeyflow is late and the colonies have a habit of building up too early in the season. They are at their height in brood rearing four weeks before the honeyflow comes on. Under such conditions the colony is on the down grade

when the honeyflow opens. A number of colonies had swarmed several weeks before and were not in good condition to make honey when the honeyflow opened. Again, many queens are old and should be replaced.

By the use of the method given here we can eliminate all of these undesirable conditions and bring the colony up to double the strength it otherwise would have been and in many cases the honey crop will be increased four-fold.

From four to six weeks before the honeyflow begins, or just before the bees are in condition to swarm, the colony is removed from its stand and

an

empty hive body with drawn combs or an extracting super is set on the bottom board. On top of this is placed our combined cover and bottom board with the entrance pointing in the opposite direction from the entrance to the bottom hive. This combined cover and bottom board is merely a thin super cover with lath nailed on three sides. This can be made of cheap material and costs very little. Many beekeepers like myself will have on hand a lot of old super covers that are getting shaky. These can be used for our purpose, and in the place of them, for a regular hive cover, the later model, which is much superior, can be purchased. On top of the combined board set the hive body containing the bees. Look through the hive and take the queen and run her into the entrance of the bottom hive. With her shake in the bees of not more than two frames. To the hive above give a queen cell. It is a well known fact that a colony put on empty combs and no brood will build up at a rapid rate. Therefore, instead of the queen slacking up on egg production just before the honeyflow begins, she will increase egg production. All swarming will be prevented, for the field bees, when they return, will join their queen in the bottom hive. In the meantime the cell in the upper hive will hatch and the virgin will mate and soon begin to lay. When the honeyflow comes on, the old queen below is hunted up and killed and the two hives of bees united by placing a newspaper between them. In a couple of days supers can be added as desired. As the colony now has a young queen and the hives have an abundance of brood, there will be no swarming that season. Furthermore, this colony will contain twice as many field workers and brood as would have been the case had the old queen been allowed to remain in the single hive and perhaps swarm. Several have been using this system

and have reported to me that it is a great success.

I have been using this system considerably for requeening alone, and it has proved so successful that I will use it more extensively in the future. The method I am using at present is for requeening only and has no reference to the honeyflow. As I remove many frames of brood for forming nuclei, my colonies are weak at the time I wish to requeen. To kill the queen and give a cell is to make this weak colony still weaker. My method, therefore, has been to wait till the hive contains as much brood as the bees can care for, which, for these weak colonies, is about four or five frames. I take away all the brood and put it in a hive body above, as has been described. The queen and the remainder of the empty combs are left in the hive body below. After the queen above has her five frames about filled with brood, the queen below will also have the combs filled with brood and eggs. The old queen is now killed and the two united with a newspaper. Two days later the frames above are set in the hive below, making eight or ten frames of brood, and the colony has been requeened, while with the old way there would have been not more than half the brood and bees. In one case the colony would be queenless two weeks, while with the other it would not be queenless at any time, but on the contrary it would have two queens for a period as long as desired. One other advantage is that in case one should fail at introducing the cell to the upper colony another cell can be given, and, as there is a queen below, the colony will not become unduly weakened. As in introducing cells to any other colony or nucleus, if there is not a good honeyflow on, feeding should be resorted to for at least one day before giving the cell.

(I am highly pleased to see that Mr. Smith does not insist, as some do, on changing the queens regularly, whether they are good or not. I have never been able to get the courage to kill a first-class queen, when she appears still first class, to replace her with one whose ability is problematical.-Editor.)

Facts About Sanifoin

By R. B. Manley.

I have noticed from time to time that this plant attracts some attention in the American Bee Journal, and I think that you might care for a few lines by one who has grown it and seen it grow, both for hay and seed, for a good many years.

In the first place, the plant is one of the best and healthiest fall forage

crops and is especially suitable for sheep. It is possible to turn hungry stock into a field of it at any time without the least danger of bloating, which is very apt to occur in the case of most green plants, such as lucerne or alfalfa in particular.

There are two kinds of Sainfoin, which are very distinct in their habits. First, the "Old English." This plant, once a stand is established, will last for eight to twelve years and give a good crop of hay each year. It does not run up to flower the second time in one year, but produces a thick crop of leaves without any sign of stalk or flower stem. This crop is used here for sheep, and there is no plant that gives our lambs such a healthy appearance.

For hay, all Sainfoin should be cut about one week after the flowers come out.

The other variety is known as "Giant Sainfoin." Not that it is any bigger than the other, and I do not know why the word "Giant" is applied. This plant will flower again a few weeks after it is cut for hay, and if cut a second time will again flower; hence this is the best plant for bees. Its fault lies in the fact that it will not last more than a few years as a plant, but dies out after that time. The seed is much cheaper than that of the "common," or "Old English" variety, because seed can be saved from the second growth. The two are identical in appearance. In this country there is no plant I can think of that yields honey so certainly. While in full bloom, honey literally pours in from it and is of very fine quality.

One peculiarity of Sainfoin honey is that the wax cappings are always of a distinct pale sulphur color and sections of it have a very beautiful appearance. When a comb is partly sealed of Sainfoin honey and finished with white clover or other honey, the comb will show distinctly by the color of its cappings where one ended and the other began.

One of your Wisconsin beekeepers was here recently and I was able to show him Sainfoin in full bloom for the first time in his life. This was Mr. Lathrop. He told me that much of the land on limestone in Wisconsin was very similar to our Oxfordshire land, and that being the case, it does seem a pity that you people should not try Sainfoin.

I am sending a one-pound sample bottle of honey that is as nearly pure Sainfoin as can be had. The raising of Sainfoin seed requires very great care, as if mowed too dry the seed is liable to drop off. It should be cut while still quite green and put into cocks almost at once and moved to the stack while dew is on it in early morning. England.

THE

'HE apicultural press thirty years ago was thrown into

a great furore over A. I. Root's Red Clover queen, whose progeny was able to collect nectar from the red clover (Trifolium praetense) because of their long tongues. J. M. Rankin (1) reported an increase of .9mm. in tongue length from crossing. After the first excitement died the stocks Idegenerated because of the impossibility of obtaining pure matings. Zander (2), Kulagin(3), and others worked on the length of tongue between the first period and 1922 when J. H. Merrill (4) reported a correlation between tongue length and honey production. A comparison of the lengths reported by these men is afforded by Table 1.

Zander

Kulagin

Rankin

Merrill

Table 1

6.00 mm. 6.21 mm. 6.31 mm. 3.67 mm. Zander and Kulagin measured from the submentum to the tip of the glossa; Merrill measured the glossa; Rankin does not report how he made his measurements.

These papers suggest, and Merrill's paper specifically states the existence of, the intriguing possibility of a correlation between a measurable physical characteristic and honey storing ability. The following test was a direct result of speculation on various applications of such a correlation in breeding work.

1. Rankin, J. M., "Breeding Bees to Increase Length of Tongue,” E. S. R. XI, 61, 1062.

2. Zander, E., 1911, "Der Ban der Biene," 182 p. p., 149 figs. 20 pls. Stuttgart.

3. Reported by Zander in 2.

4. Merrill, J. H., 1922, A. B. J., p. p. 310-311.

Paper No. 282 of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Stations, Department of Entomology.

One hundred bees from each of fourteen hives were killed, decapitated, and the heads kept in 70 per cent alcohol until examined. The examination consisted of measuring 60 glossae (tongues) from each lot after soaking 24 hours in 1-2 per cent sodium hydroxide. The measurements being taken with a calibrated ocular micrometer fitted into a binocular microscope (1).

Table 2 is made by arranging the results of the measurements in order, beside the ranking of the same hives in honey production and number of bees.

An inspection of this table fails to reveal any marked constant agreement between tongue length and honey stored. The agreement between number of bees and honey stored and number of bees in the hive is much more evident. That does not, however, say that number of bees is the most important factor, for the relative age of bees at the time of honeyflow, the absence of swarming fever, etc., all have a bearing. In any consideration of tongue length the following quotation from Snodgrass (1), Hutson, Ray, 1924, "High Production Strains," in Rpt. N. J. Agr. Expt. Sta., 1923-24.

"Anatomy and Physiology of the Honeybee," (pp. 44-45) is pertinent. "The group of long-mouth appendages of the bee projecting downward from the lower part of the head behind the mandibles constitutes the proboscis. We should like to call this the 'tongue," as does the beekeeper who is not hampered by too much scientific learning, but the part in question is not the tongue, nor is structurally a single organ, though it acts as such. This statement is especially significant when considered alongside another quotation from the same author (p. 58), "The reach of the tongue may depend on the extent to which the proboscis as a whole may be protruded.

Urge Honey In Diet of Children

By Wallace Piper.

The value of honey in the diet of young children is receiving more attention than formerly.

Dr. Carl Pucket, health commissioner of Oklahoma, has recommended bread with honey or jelly for infants from 12 to 18 months of age. Inasmuch as Doctor Pucket supplies the papers of state with material,

some good educational work has been done along this line.

While it may be a bit technical, honey producers likely will be interested in a digest made by the Journal of the American Medical Assoarticle ciation of an about using honey for infant feeding, published in the New York Medical Journal and Medical Record for August 2, 1922:

"Luttinger asserts that honey is indicated in any condition of the intestinal tract in which the assimilation of starch or the disaccharids is delayed and when prompt absorption of energy is desired. (Note-Physicians use the word 'indicate' in the sense of 'to point to as the proper remedy.'-W. P.).

"A solution of honey in water (one teaspoonful of honey to a glass of water) is almost as quickly absorbed as alcohol, and its effect is more lasting. The largest part of the honey sugar is fructose (levulose), a levorotatory monosaccharid which seems to have a peculiar affinity for the body cells; thus it is rarely, if ever, found in the urine of diabetic patients. It is more readily absorbed than lactose and it has not the disadvantage of undergoing butyric acid fermentation like maltose; hence it does not produce acidosis. Its rapid absorption prevents it from undergoing alcoholic fermentation and infants fed on honey rarely show signs of flatulence. (Note Flatulence is defined as generating gas in the alimentary canal.-W. P.) Another advantage of honey over sugar is its protein content, mainly derived from the pollen of plants. Fresh honey, especially virgin honey directly obtained from the honeycomb, has a decided laxative action which it loses on boiling. Luttinger uses honey as a routine component of all his formulas for substitute infant feeding. The results obtained, in 419 cases studied so far, lead Luttinger to plead for He a more general use of honey. also uses honey in marasmus, rickets, scurvy, malnutrition and other conditions in which he formerly prescribed the various sugars, cod liver oil or patent foods."

Surely most children would welcome honey instead of cod liver oil!

Another advocate of using more honey for children is one of the feature writers for the Associated Editors, a prominent newspaper syndicate. She tells of "Graham Candy" as follows:

"One mother says: 'When other children come into the house munching on candy and my tiny youngster demands the same, I have small squares of graham crackers purposely cut and dip them into honey.' She accepts this beneficial sweet as 'candy.' Having never known anything else she does not crave any other candy."