390 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



they cut the cell about half down and began again; 

 but, of course, t ho brood was too old to raise a queen. 

 They capped the cell one day and cut it down the 

 next, and they had been playing this way some 

 time when, to my surprise, on looking io, what should 

 I see but a cell nicely cleaned up, with the jelly and 

 a new-laid egg, just as any queen would have laid 

 five minutes before, and in a few days the cell was 

 capped, etc., and thus we have a laying queen with 

 capped worker brood, not drone brood. I have not 

 for sure seen the young bees yet, but every thing 

 seems to be all right. There were no eggs nor lar- 

 vae of any kind in the hive at the time — only some 

 capped brood, and very little of that— 710 fertile 

 Worker about it. 



Now, just what I want to know is, how did that 

 Solitary egg come in that hive, if it was not carried 

 in by a bee? and where did this bee get the egg, if 

 he did not steal it? or do you think a queen took 

 compassion on them, and visited them and laid an 

 egg for them? 



I also had another qucenless stock, into the center 

 of which I put a frame of brood, and in about six 

 days they had queen-cells on fii^e frames, so this 

 proves that the bees can carry eggs about in their 

 own hive, and why not carry from one hive to the 

 other in a like manner? I am almost afraid to send 

 thl', but I have summoned up courage and done so, 

 just as the facts appear to me. 



C. H. Beeler, Jr. 



Philadelphia, Pa., June 3, 1883. 



Why, my friend, instead of being ashamed 

 to send your article, you ought to be glad of 

 the opportunity you have for giving i^ such 

 very valuable facts. Although we have 

 great quantities of matter sent in for pnbli- 

 cation, we have comparatively few facts 

 from real experience like yours. It is true, 

 we have had reports before, tending to show 

 that bees do sometimes steal an egg from 

 another hive, but I have been incredulous, 

 until now, although it has been long known 

 that they would carry eggs from one comb 

 to another. 



DOES A FERTILE QUEEN EVER 1.EAVE 



THE HIVE, EXCEPT WITH A 



SWARM ? 



AM fully satisfied that a fei tile queen does some- 

 times leave her hive when she does not go with 

 a new swarm. Last Thursday night, when I 

 arrived home about half-past 5 p. m., I went to my 

 apiary, and there found a buQch of bees on the 

 alight ing-board. I at once opened them and found 

 a queen. Not knowing where she came from, I 

 caged her and proceeded to examine to find out 

 where she belonged, if possible. The first hive I 

 opened was one next to the one where this queen 

 was found, about dli feet distant from it, and 

 precisely the same color (white, wilh wide red alight- 

 ing-board). Upon looking it over carefully I could 

 find no queen. I examined it very thoroughly 3 or 4 

 times, but no queen could be seen. On becoming 

 satisfied that no queen was there, where 1 saw her 

 the morning before, I concluded that the queen I 

 had in the cage must belong there; so I at once let 

 her in among the bees. They received her with ev- 

 ident manifestations of joy, proving that she be- 

 longed there. My wife and little boy had watched 

 thoroughly, and no swarm had issued, so the queen 



must have gone out on an excursion of her own. 

 Now, why did she do this? I have come to the con- 

 clusion that our queens go out oftener than we sup- 

 pose, and perhaps many cases where breeders have 

 been accused of selling hybrids for tested queens 

 are susceptible of the above as a solution and ex- 

 planation. At any rate, the above story is a fact; 

 and if one queen goes out occasionally, why not an- 

 other? and why is it not probable that our queens 

 go out often on excursions? I have often opened a 

 hive, and carefully examined it, and found no 

 queen; but thinkiug I had not looked carefully 

 enough, or perhaps queen was lost, I would look the 

 hive over next day, and find the queen readily. Has 

 not every bee-keeper had the same experience? and 

 is it not fair to presume that he did look the hive 

 over, and the queen had reallj' "gone a visiting"? 



J. E. Pond, Jr. 

 . Foxboro, Norfolk Co., Mass., June, 1883. 



The matter of fertile queens going a visit- 

 ing was pretty thoroughly gone over some 

 years ago, and I believe the conclusion was 

 that it occurs so seldom we might say that 

 they don't, as a rule. I know there is some- 

 thing a little strange about the fact that we 

 so often fail to tind a queen, and then again 

 find her so easily ; but after such searches, I 

 have sometimes fojind her, away from the 

 bees, oft: on a comb by herself, almost alone; 

 and in one case I found her away from the 

 cluster, up in an upper story. If. I am not 

 mistaken, I think I have, in one or two 

 cases, seen fertile queens show themselves 

 at the entrance, or venture a little way out 

 on the alighting-board. Granting this, it 

 behooves us to keep in mind that these are 

 rare exceptions, and that, while one queen 

 shows a sort of sport, as it were, like this, 

 thousands stay in their hives for their whole 

 term of life, never manifesting any dis- 

 position to wander from their regular allot- 

 ed sphere of egg-laying. From the fact of 

 your queen having a little cluster of bees 

 with her, I should be inclined to think a 

 little swarm must have slipped out unob- 

 served. These irregularities are much more 

 frequent during a dearth of honey, and I 

 have known the bees to chase a queen out 

 of the hives at such times. Old strong 

 stocks, with plenty of stores, seldom show 

 any such irregularities. 



SUB -EARTH VENTILATION, AND 200 

 DAYS AVITHOUT A EliY. 



ALSO SOMETUING ABOUT WATER FOR BEES, AND 

 THE "DRY POWDER." 



Sf ARRANGED a room in my cellar within all the 

 walls, leaving an air space to avoid uneven 

 — ' temperature and what moisture might arise 

 from the walls: then a small stovepipe was connect- 

 ed with the chimney, and an underground tile pipe, 

 40 ft. long, to lead in the air as fast as the stove- 

 pipe would take it out, which gave pure air at about 

 41°. With the temperature 60° outside, the ther- 

 mometer showed 44°; with the temperature 30° be- 

 low zero, outside, or a variation of 80°, the tempera- 

 ture at the inner end of the ventilator was 41°, 

 showing that a little longer tile would not vary it to 

 any great extent, or prove of much greater value. 

 About the 7th of November the bees were put in- 



