560 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



they will be part worker. An egg from a fertile 

 queen will hatch a queen, drone, or worker bee; an 

 egg from an unfertile queen will hatch a drone only. 

 Is it not plain, that a hen will lay eggs without ever 

 having seen the male? But those eggs will not re- 

 produce their kind. Lot any one take snne fresh- 

 laid eggs from worker-cells, put them into drone- 

 cells; mark the cells, and see if they hatch worker 

 bees. The differenc:; in size of cells is only to ac- 

 commodate the size of bee, just as the queen-cells 

 are made to suit the shape of the queen. 



J. S. TADIjOCK. 



Luling, Caldwell Co., Texas, Oct. 9, 1883. 



I think you should read the Dzierzon Tlie- 

 ory, friend T. If I am correct, moving the 

 egg to a dilferent cell does not alter the sex. 

 A worker egg will be a worker still, and a 

 drone egg a drone still. Every egg has a lit- 

 tle opening near one end, called the micro- 

 pyle, and it is through this opening that the 

 spermatazoa is supposed to get, as the egg 

 passes the oviduct of the queen. 



QUEENLESS COLONIES; DO THEY KILL, TIIEIH DRONES? 



Did you ever know a queenless colony to kill off 

 its drones before accepting a new queen? A few 

 days ago I lost a queen, which died leaving plenty of 

 newly laid eggs, and a large quantity of brood in all 

 stages in the hive. Prior to the death of this queen, 

 di'ones had been allowed to enter and leave the hive 

 at their pleasure; but the very next day after the 

 queen died, the workers began driving them out as 

 fiercely as I ever saw done. Thinking this might be 

 a case of dual queens, I opened the hive and found 

 they had formed quite a number of queen-cells, thus 

 showing that they knew of the loss, but no second 

 queen was there to be found. I have placed a new 

 queen on the frames, not yet accepted, but the hive 

 has been completely cleared of dz'ones. This is my 

 first experience of this kind, and it is certainly con- 

 trary to the accepted idea; but the more experience 

 I have with bees, the more fully I am led to believe 

 that many rules heretofore laid down as infallible 

 are subject to enough exceptions to leave me in 

 doubt as to their correctness, if noi to fully disprove 

 them. 



I should call the above, friend P., a sort of 

 aberration of instinct. I never noticed a 

 case of the kind. 



S.^LT — BEES NEED IT AT TIMES. 



During the summer I have kept jars of clear 

 water on my feeding-hoards, which have been visit- 

 ed more or less frequently; but for the last two 

 weeks scarcely a bee has been seen on them. A 

 week or more ago, in filling I put a small quantity of 

 salt in each of them, and found in less than two 

 hours that the feeders were completely covered, and 

 so continued until the jars were exhausted; and on 

 refilling, the same state of things continued. The 

 colonies are raising considerable brood, and perhaps 

 that is the cause of their taking it so freely; at any 

 rate, I have taken the hint, and in future shall keep 

 them constantly supplied with a jar of weak brine, 

 believing that it will be a benefit to them; for if 

 they do not need it for some purpose, they certainly 

 would not have taken it so voraciously. 



DO BEES EVER KILL A QUEEN BECAUSE SHE PER- 

 SISTS IN LAYI.VG FltEELY AVHEN NO HONEY 

 IS COMING IN? 



I have lost several queens this season, none of 

 them over a year old, and all have died leaving plen- 



ty of eggs and brood in all stages in the hives, and 

 showing no signs of premature old age, or that they 

 were killed off in order that they might be supersed- 

 ed. As they all died just after a flow of honey had 

 ceased, showing no evidence of failing powers, I am 

 led to conjecture that they were killed on economic 

 principles, not being able to discover any other pos- 

 sible cause. When a queen suddenly dies, we can 

 usually discover some cause that will account for 

 death; but in these cases, all were laying freely up 

 to the very day and probably the very hourof death, 

 judging from appearances — no drone eggs being 

 laid, no queen-cells building, and no robbers had 

 been having access to the hive. If any one can ac- 

 count for these deaths under these circumstances 

 on any hypothesis other than the query that heads 

 this article, I shall be very glad to have them do so; 

 for 1 must confess, that I am completely puzzled; 

 and while it seems contrary to reason, and all known 

 rules, I am led to this solution of the problem as the 

 only one that I can figure out. Can any one aid me 

 in the matter? ,J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxboro, Mass., Oct. 14, 1882. 



I can hardly accept yotir explanation, 

 friend P., and yet I can give no reason for 

 the sudden disappearance of a good queen 

 in the full season of egg-laying. We might 

 explain to our readers that the queens allud- 

 ed to by friend P. were all of them our test- 

 ed $3.00 queens. 1 hardly need say, that the 

 queens that live to be three or four years old 

 are just as often found among those we 

 grade at a low price, as any other. 



PENNSYLVANIA NOT TO BV. PUT IN "BLASTED 

 HOPtS." 



On page 513 of Oct. Gleanings appears a letter by 

 A. A. Harrison, McLane, Erie Co., Pa., in which he 

 says: "Count Pennsylvania out this year." I think 

 this is rather presumptuous. Is a State of 46,000 

 square miles to be "counted out" because one of its 

 inhabitants failed? 1 do not know of any members 

 of the Philadelphia Bee-Keepei-s' Association who 

 have a "Bonanza" to report; but not any of them 

 have done so poorly as to be counted out; for my 

 own unsolicited report, I refer you to the American 

 Bee Journal, Aug. 30, page 549. Friend Root, 1 think 

 you owe the bee-keepers of Pennsylvania an apolo- 

 gy for allowing such a lettar to go into print. 



Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 16, 1883. F. Hahman, Jr. 



All right, friend H. I beg pardon ; but at 

 thft same time I don't see that I have made 

 such a very bad mistake, if 1 have succeeded 

 in calling out Pennsylvania, and waking 

 her people up. On referring to A. B. J. we 

 lind your report sums up, 3 colonies were 

 increased to 12, besides giving 100 lbs. of 

 honey. Now, who else did well in Pennsyl- 

 vania? 



A BEGINNER'S TROUBLE WITH ROBBERS. 



I am one of the ABC scholars, and at the foot of 

 the class. Last March I purchased one colony of 

 bees, and by buying 3 queens and natural swarms T 

 now have six. Everj' thing went smoothly until the 

 flow of honey ceased. They then began to fight. All 

 I knew what to do was to watch. They were fighting 

 all along the line. I supposed they were robbing, 

 but could not tell what to do. I then beg.in to feed 

 outdoors, 3 rods from hives; and as long as I kept 

 up the feed they were quiet; but stop half a day, 

 and they were at it again. They have been confined 

 to their hives for three days by cold, but to-day they 



