April 9, 1S>74. J 



JODKNAL OF HOfiTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE aABDENEB. 



30:{ 



on as well as if there were a queen reigning, or a regent in her 

 place. 



What a fass and heraldry are made at the birth of queen bees ! 

 The princess that first comes to perfection heralds her claim to 

 the throne by making some unaccountable noises before she 

 leaves her cradle cell. She calls " off, off, off," several times, 

 and being unanswered, and so far as she knows without rivals, 

 she bursts out of her cell, and becomes queen of the hive, utter- 

 ing sonnds more shrill and piercing, somewhat like "peep, 

 peep," or rather " pa-ay, pa-ay — pa-ay " spoken by the human 

 voice. When the other queens come to perfection they bark 

 " off, off, off " in their cells, which barking enrages the first-born 

 — the queen of the community — very much, and causes her to 

 run up and down the hive with murderous intent, bent on the 

 destruction of her rivals and sisters. When the bees wish to 

 swarm they vigilantly guard the cells containing the young 

 princesses, and thus prevent a collision and contest that would 

 be fatal, for young queens fight as ferociously as bulldogs, and 

 with quite as much courage. In every contest between queen 

 bees it is death or victory ; no quarter is given or taken. In 

 contests between queens they cross and clasp each other very 

 closely, and then wrestle in the most violent manner. Their 

 stings, which are more crooked or curved, and much blunter 

 than those of working bees, are never used but in these royal 

 battles. No amount of squeezing with the human hands will 

 provoke them to use their stings. 



The lives of the queens are so valuable to the community that 

 the greatest provision is made for their safety and preservation. 

 When two swarms are united, the bees doubtless in most 

 instances destroy one of them t<» prevent a battle. After the 

 swarms have been flung together we frequently find one of the 

 queens surrounded by a hard cluster of bees, termed "a regicidal 

 knot." So firmly are these knots fastened on the queen, that the 

 bees will suffer themselves to be turned over and over like a 

 cricket ball before they will let her escape. The instinct of 

 mercy to both queens is manifested by the bees in the fact of 

 these regicidal knots. 



When a few days old, queen bees pass through a season of 

 danger. At that age they leave their hives to meet drones, for 

 they are never fertilised inside the hive. The more drones in 

 their hives, and the more hives kept in the garden or neighbour- 

 hood, the more likely are these marriageable queens to find 

 mates when they are ont on that errand. Many queens are lost 

 on their marriage tours — they never return. Why, we cannot 

 say with certainty. When a queen is longer out on these 

 errands than is usual, the bees manifest their concern and be- 

 come uneasy. If she does not return at all they become quite 

 disconsolate, and can do nothing but bewail their loss. Every 

 few minutes paroxysms of grief and disappointment seize the 

 whole community, and then they make a great noise, running 

 round the hive both inside and out in search of their beloved 

 queen. This lamentation and woe are not to be wondered at, 

 for the poor creatures are in a most hopeless condition — they 

 have no eggs in their hive from which to rear a queen. They 

 will gladly accept a queen of any blood now, and cast aside all 

 notions of an hereditary monarchy. Nay, let them have only a 

 few eggs, and they vrill at once set them in royal cells and hush 

 themselves into a state of perfect contentment. 



Queens go out for several successive days to meet drones, but 

 whether they ever go out to meet them a second time — that is, 

 after impregnation, is a question I cannot answer. But it is 

 well known that when a queen is fertiUsed and commences to 

 lay she never requires the drone as long as she lives, and we 

 estimate that a healthy fertile queen lays at least 800,000 eggs 

 duly fecundated in the course of her life. Queens that fail to 

 be mated during the first fourteen days of their life remain 

 virgins all their days. Queens that fail to meet drones are 

 valueless, being unproductive. They lay a few eggs only, which 

 hatch into drones. 



Now we come to the fertility of the queen. Many young folk 

 fancy that the tragedy of life will be over when their bridal 

 cakes will be broken, whereas in most cases the tragedy and 

 tussle of life are but beginning then; and so when queens have 

 been mated they commence the tussle of life ; and, oh ! what a 

 life-long toil is that of queen bees. Queens of their hives, 

 mothers of all their populations ; for four years laying in the 

 summer season at least two thousand eggs a-day ! Some trust- 

 worthy experiments have indicated four thousand and six 

 thousand eggs per day each queen. We are within the margin 

 at two thousand eggs per queen per day in the height of the 

 season. What prodigious fertility ! How exhausting and toil- 

 some her life ! What generous feeding is necessary to keep-up 

 her strength ! At what time and how long does she sleep ? Who 

 says she sleeps at all ? How can she find time to sleep if she 

 lay from two thousand to four thousand eggs in cells in twenty- 

 four hours ? But really, does she both lay and set her eggs in 

 the cells ? Most writers think and assert that she is not assisted 

 by the bees in this work. We differ in opinion from almost 

 everybody else on this point, and believe that tho bees do assist 

 in the distribution and setting of the eggs laid by the queen, 



for she frequently lays two and three eggs in one cell, the super- 

 numeraries are removed by the bees, and we think set in un- 

 occupied cells. Besides, a queen has not power to retaiu her 

 eggs, they come so fast. If placed on the broad side of an empty 

 comb the eggs may be seen falling from her as she moves over 

 it, and sometimes eggs fall from queens as they leave their hives 

 with swarms. And who has not seen and admired in a unicomb 

 hive the vigilant attention of the bees attending the queen as 

 she moves about the hive ? Three or four of them have their 

 heads towards her abdomen, apparently watching for and catch- 

 ing the eggs as they drop from her. When the bees have gone 

 over the cells in which the queen has been depositing eggs, we 

 find that every cell has an egg, and one only ; we therefore come 

 to the belief that the bees help in the distribution of the eggs, 

 and we all know that bees take eggs from worker cells and set 

 them in royal cells when they wish to raise queens. 



Does a queen been govern her subjects ? So far as queen and 

 working bees are concerned no government is needed. No 

 human monarch had ever more loyal, dutiful subjects than a 

 queen bee. Her people adore her, study and provide for all her 

 wants, remove every pebble out of her pathway, vigilantly wait 

 upon her night and day, will fight in her defence, and pine and 

 die if they lose her. A queen lives four years, and she becomes 

 slightly darker in colour and slower in her movements every 

 year. When old age and incapacity come upon her, as they 

 fortunately do in summer time, the bees prepare for her death by 

 setting eggs in royal cells. But sometimes she lingers longer 

 than expected, and the bees are compelled to cast her out alive. 

 If she crawl back into the hive they cast her out again, but 

 abstain from killing her. It is a melancholy end to a useful 

 life, causing a pang of sorrow to all right-minded spectators. 

 The value of a queen in a hive is seen in the practice of dethron- 

 ing an old one in her dotage, and providing, while it is possible, 

 a successor to the throne. — A. Pettioeew, Sale, Cheshire. 



The Illustrated Pigeon Book. — The first number of this 

 has been published ; and as the practical portion is contributed 

 by Mr. Fulton and the illustrations by Mr. Ludlow, it may be 

 expected to be a worthy companion of " The Illustrated Poultry 

 Book." 



MR. PETTIGREW ON HONESTY AMONG 

 BEE-KEEPEES. 

 In your number of April 2nd Mr. Pettigrew writes as follows : 

 — "The teaching of experience will lead all honest practical 

 apiarians, seeking great results, to use straw hives of simple 

 construction, large size, and beautiful build." I have been con- 

 nected with The Cottage Gardener and Journal of Horti- 

 culture from its earliest days, and have been a writer on bees 

 and bee-keeping in its pages almost from the first, and continu- 

 ously up to the present time. It is well known to all my old 

 friends that " the teaching of experience " led me many years 

 ago to discard straw and to adopt wooden hives as in every 

 respect preferable. I leave them to say whether I am an 

 " honest practical apiarian " or not. Let Mr. Pettigrew " use 

 and recommend straw hives of considerable dimensions :" no 

 one will question his perfect right to recommend what he has 

 found practically most useful, neither will anyone doubt his 

 perfect honesty in so doing; but good taste, to say the least, 

 should lead him to abstain from questioning other people's 

 honesty when they use and recommend other hives, and be- 

 lieve from their own experience, as I do, that wooden hives, 

 if not cheaper at first, are cheaper in the end, and " better for 

 health and honey, and more easily managed than " straw 

 hives.— B. & W. 



The Great Yarmouth Poultry Show.— At the next Show, 

 to be held December IGth and 17th, a class is to be provided 

 exclusively for the improvement of poultry-breeding by farmers 

 and cottagers, which is no doubt very much needed in this 

 country. It is the object of the Great Yarmouth Poultry Asso- 

 ciation to induce them to breed a good fowl for both table and 

 laying purposes by making a class for Dorkings (cockerel and 

 puUet) hatched in the present year, price not to exceed £2 per 

 pair; and they propose offering prizes of £2, £1, 10.?., and 5s., 

 providing the entries number twenty. By this means they hope 

 that the sales will be numerous, and that the purchasers will be 

 almost exclusively farmers and cottagers. The entry fee for 

 this class will be 4s. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Blackburn Poultry Show. — " Josticia," a siicceasful exhibitor at this 

 Show, held early in Janaary, haa made two applicationa to the Secretary for 

 the prize money awarded. Theae communioations have passed unheeded. 

 Proceed against the Secretary in the County Coort. 



Bromley Poultry Snow [F. C. Bassard). — We will keep your letter, and 

 publish it if neceaaary, or even the whole of the prerions oorreapondence frith 

 the Secretary ; bat the facta of the ease and the judgment witti oosts in your- 

 fitTOiir tell the true tale, and the publio appreoiate it. 



