The fourth season they cast swarms again, but here was another drawback: the fall was an extra open one, and they piled in so much pollen that they nearly ruined one-half the combs, and then having so much pollen they got the diarrhea before spring, and dwindled badly. But I demonstrated one fact, which I believe to be a fact, that one can rear long-lived queens large and prolific; also that their workers are longer lived than ordinary, else how could all those extra-large colonies that I have mentioned, both blacks and Italians, keep up their extra-large number of workers the entire year?
I forgot to mention that I had two ¾inch holes in the ends of those hives—one near each side at the top, and when the bees were gathering so rapidly, one could see the stream in early morning passing out of those holes, thus demonstrating that evaporation of nectar was going on very rapidly inside the hive. Water would also be dripping from the lower entrances. We understand that a portion of that probably was from the breath of the bees.
Now we have demonstrated, at least to our own satisfaction, that bees can certainly be improved under judicious and intelligent management instead of retrograding; and the great wonder to me is, that they have held their own under the bad management of as large a proportion of queen-breeders as we formerly had.
Now, Mr. White, your argument that the blacks are superior to Italians because one can rear black bees from Italians under unnatural and unfavorable conditions, is about like the argument of the large queen-breeder that I before mentioned, who claimed that when he tried to rear queens from the eggs or larvæ just hatched, many of the larvæ sealed up were not larger than kernels of wheat. You see that he was rearing them under the greatest possible unfavorable and unnatural conditions, hence his argument was drawn from false premises.
You can readily see how the old man Gallup hollowed and swung his hat about his non-swarmer, etc., before he was “out of the woods.” No wonder that bees are afraid to sting him! I have always held that bees seldom sting a fool, for that was the most satisfactory answer that I could give to a majority of people that asked why they did not sting me. Of course I have another reason, but that is the quickest and easiest manner of disposing of the question, and proves satisfactory to a majority of questioners.
By the way, I am asked why, in my method of queen-rearing, I kept the colony five days before giving the brood. Because the bees were all young, or nursing-bees, and it takes about that time before a sufficient number become outside gatherers, and we want all the favorable conditions possible.
Santa Ana, Calif.
Foul Brood and Its Propagation.
Written for the American Bee Journal
BY RANDOLPH GRADEN.