i^6 



GLEaMNGS IK BEE CtlLTURE. 



Mar. 



harmony was obvious, and thus the previous disap- 

 pearance of eggs was accounted for. It was now 

 perfectly clear, that the all-wise Creator had en- 

 dowed this insect with a forethought and power, 

 probably unexampled in the animal kingdom. They 

 knew that they wanted a queen, and prepared their 

 cells accordingly. They also seemed to know that, 

 without a male to mate that virgin queen, their 

 colony would become extinct; hence they trans- 

 ferred these eggs from worker to drone cells, to 

 prevent such a fatality. The result was, iu the 

 month of October they had a queen performing all 

 the duties pertaining to her position, and several 

 drones were then flying. 



One more corroboration was noted. In one hive, 

 a queen was observed dropping eggs, not in cells, 

 but on the top of the comb, whilst a number of bees 

 were, with the utmost order and eagerness, watch- 

 ing and picking up the eggs, and placing them in 

 cells. In this case, could the queen instruct the 

 bees where each egg was to be deposited, if her will 

 regulated the sex, or did they instinctively know 

 the proper cell for each egg? It could scarcely be. 

 The only warrantable and logical conclusion is, that 

 the ova of a fertilized queen-bee, in a sense differing 

 from that of a virgin queen, or even a fertile work- 

 er, belongs to neither sex, being for the time neutral, 

 having its future sex determined by the cell In 

 which It is placed, and the treatment to which it is 

 subjected by the bees. K. Edward. 



Montrose, Scotland, Dec. 5, 1881. 



I think, my friend, yon are in error ; for 

 eggs have been repeatedly cut out of a work- 

 er comb, and transferred to drone-cells, and 

 vice versa; but, so far as I know, all experi- 

 ments have resulted in showing conclusively 

 that it made no difference where the egg was 

 placed,— it produced the same insect it would 

 if it had not been moved. Moreover, micro- 

 scopical experiments, detailed in that valua- 

 ble little book, the Dzierzon Theory, show 

 pretty conclusively that the egg producing 

 the worker or queen is fertilized, while that 

 producing the drone is not. You found the 

 eggs gone which you gave them, and other 

 eggs in drone comb, and these latter pro- 

 duced drones ; but for all that, I do not think 

 the bees moved them tliere. The eggs in 

 drone-cells were probably the eggs of fertile 

 workers ; and these fertile worker drones, I 

 should say, could not have produced the 

 drone that fertilized your queen. First, 

 these drones could not well be old enough ; 

 and secondly, it is a matter of great doubt 

 whethei- eggs from fertile workers ever pro- 

 duce drones equal to the task of fertiliza- 

 tion. The fact you furnish, in regard to the 

 bees taking eggs from a queen, and placing 

 them in cells, is an important one; for, if I 

 am correct, we have never had proof of this 

 in print before — only conjectures that it 

 might be so. Whether, in such a case, the 

 bees would know from the looks of the egg 

 which kind of cell it belonged in, or whether 

 the queen called out to thpm, as they carried 

 the eggs away, the name of the sex, is a 

 pretty deep question ; but I am inclined to 

 doubt whether the bees have the ability to 

 judge, further than to call all eggs drones 

 they find in drone-cells, until the larvae are 

 hatched. I also doubt the queen having 

 sufficient intelligence to communicate any 



knowledge of this kind to the bees. When 

 a queen has too few bees to care for her 

 eggs, she frequently exudes them, and the 

 bees apparently eat them up. If they put 

 them into cells, it seems to me a very unnat- 

 ural proceeding, and I should be rather in 

 doubt that they hatched out into either 

 drones or workers. Did you, friend E., note 

 whether these eggs produced perfect bees 

 or drones? It has been suggested, that 

 caged queens sometimes furnish eggs for the 

 bees to put around into cells ; but I believe 

 you are the first one, friend E., who has seen 

 it done. 



K. I. FRGKBORN'S REPORT. 



350 COLONIES IN WINTER QUARTERS A YEAR AGO, 

 AND WHAT THEY DID. 



BOUr a year ago I reported having 350 swarms 

 in winter quarters. Since then I have said 

 not a word (in Gleanings I mean), though I 

 have said several that might have been heard around 

 here, especially when handling hybrids and Cypri- 

 ans. Well, had I not been ashamed to make a re- 

 port last spring, it would have been about 146 with 

 live queens the first of May — 100 of them the weak- 

 est lot ever owned by a discouraged bee-keeper; 

 about 40 that I had in a location where they wintered 

 fairly well, were the salt that seasoned the whole 

 mess, and served as a reserve corps to draw on for 

 bees and brood to restock my empty combs and 

 make a passably fair report out of what seemed in 

 spring a very doubtful chance. The spring, or sum- 

 mer, rather, as we had no spring (only winter fol- 

 lowed by summer), was all that a bee-keeper could 

 ask for, as May was bright and balmy, and the nights 

 warm ; that enabled many a handful of bees to build 

 up into good strong stocks that in a more unfavora- 

 ble season would have been lost by brood chilling. 



In May I had an opportunity of buying 19 swarms 

 of blacks in box hives; this made 165 to start with; 

 and as I had them in five places I debated whether 

 to get them together in one or two lots, and run for 

 honey, or Increase them up to the original number 

 again; buthavmg so much comb on hand, and not 

 liking to have the name of being out of bees, I con- 

 cluded to increase them again. So I kept them scat- 

 tered; and when dividing and making swarms I 

 moved all the young ones to a new location, which 

 prevented their returning to the old hive, which 

 they will do more or less when not moved, and they 

 work nearly or quite as well as natural swarm? of 

 the same strength. 



I had thought in spring, if I could increase aa 

 many as I have lost, it wouJd be about all I could 

 reasonably expect, without much of a honey crop; 

 but after getting bees in my 350 hives again, I 

 thought if they could do more than fill up they 

 should have all the comb they could fill, and I kept 

 them supplied according to strength and location; 

 using, on some of the strongest, from 16 to 34 Gallup 

 frames. 



The season was in many respects remarkable, es- 

 pecially for heat and moisture. White clover was 

 almost a total failure, as we got no pure clover 

 honey, though there was sufBcient of It to keep 

 them Increasing. Well, to be ready for basswood 

 and later flowers, we had too much rain during bass- 

 wood for a large yield, the amount from this source 



