568 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Nov. 



can be raised or lowered so as to have It on a level 

 with the saw-table. It is hinged at the back end, 

 and is held in position by a thumb-screw that passes 

 through a slot in the standard B. When not in use, 

 this frame-work can be shoved, telescopic fashion, 

 into the rest of the machine. C is a gauge that 

 works parallel to the saw. There is a piece of wood 

 fastened to the back end with screws, that project 

 an inch below the edge of the saw-table, and 

 at the front end is a thumb-screw (D) that turns 

 against the front edge of the table. A piece of hoop 

 iron is nailed against the front edge of the table for 

 the thumb-screw to work against. The saw can be 

 seen peeping through the table at E. The screw 

 that raises the saw-table can be seen at F. G is the 

 little bench upon which the operator stands, while 

 the treadle-bar H comes up hehind him. The top of 

 the treadle-bar never goes lower than the top of the 

 bench G. In order to make the pitmans as long as 

 possible, a piece of wood (I) is bolted to each side 

 treadle-bar, and to the lower ends of these pieces of 

 wood are fastened the lower ends of the pitmans. J 

 and K are braces. L and M are the pieces upon 

 which the boxes of the saw-mandrel rest. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich., Oct. 13, 1883. 



P. S.—At the postoflRce, 9:20. I happened to think, 

 as I was coming along, that I neglected to say, 

 that in order to make the large wheel heavy, 4 large 

 stones are fastened inside, one at the cctge of each 

 spoke. These stones cause so many "shadows" 

 that they were taken out when the picture was taken. 



P. S. No. 2.— If ever I felt provoked at myself; if 

 ever I realized, to the fullest extent, my thickhead- 

 edness, it was to-day. One of my younger brothers 

 made me a visit, and, after a few experiments, he 

 demonstrated that the way to make a sketch with 

 the "Artist's Sketching Camera" is to first mark the 

 picture, with a pencil sharpened to a jiin point, up- 

 on the piece of ground glass at the back of the 

 camera, and then lay a piece of white paper over the 

 drawing, and the drawing can be seen very plainly. 



October 18. W. Z. H. 



I am sure we are much obliged, friend H., 

 for the idea of the cheap camera for making 

 drawings of bee implements, as well as for 

 your full description of the home-made buzz- 

 saw, liut why did not the makers of the 

 camera send printed instructions for nsing 

 it, instead of obliging each user of the in- 

 strnment to work it out as you and your 

 brother have done? or did they do so, and 

 you have improved on their process? In 

 any case, I think you should send them this 

 article, and direct their attention to the mat- 

 ter. Such outlines as you sent will do al- 

 most as well for our engraver as a real bona- 

 fide photograph, and we will take measures 

 at once to add these little cameras to our 

 counter store. 



^ ■ m- — — 



DRONES FROM WORKER EGGS, AGAIN. 



A WEAK SPOT DISCOVERED IN THE CHAIN OF EVI- 

 DENCE. 



l^h.T^ the 9th of September I removed a virgin 

 WM queen from the stock containing my choice 

 ^""^ drones, and inserted a strip of comb from my 

 breeding stock, containing fresh-laid eggs. I cut it 

 from where I foUnd the queen laying. With my ex- 

 tractor knife I beveled one side that they might the 



more readily start cells, and start them all on one 

 side. In a few days I found queen-cells, and I also 

 found them enlarging some of the cells around the 

 edge, as though starting queen-cells. But they built 

 them out horizontally, and sealed them up just like 

 drone-cells. Any one would call them drone-cells. I 

 determined to save them after the workers had all 

 hatched, and cage them to see what manner of 

 beasts they were. So on the last day of September I 

 went to that hive to get my drone-cells, and put them 

 where I could watch them. The workers were just 

 beginning to hatch, and, to my surprise, one of the 

 drottc-ceUs was a^so hatchino, ami it was a worker! An 

 examination of the other drone-cells showed that 

 they also contained workers. After the worker was 

 allowed to crawl out, the cell looked for the world 

 just as if a drone had hatched there. The cell was 

 both long enough and large enough. One that 1 

 opened contained a worker which did not occupy 

 more than half the room. 



Now, like Mr. True, I have stated the facts just as 

 they are. But you will observe, the two experiments 

 differ in one essential: I saw the cells in question 

 hatch, and he did not. If I had not seen them hatch, 

 and had found drones there not there when I insert- 

 ed the comb, could I not have asserted that they 

 came from those large cells? And would not my 

 story have been a very plausible one? Well, I did 

 find plenty of drones in that hive not there before. 

 The drones already there were the finest drones I 

 ever saw, and very uniform. But at the time I 

 speak of, there were black drones, and even fertile- 

 worker drones, lots of them. Could not his Italian 

 drones have come from some other hive as well as 

 the black and fertile-worker drones in my case? In 

 my humble opinion, friend True's facts don't In- 

 clude the fact that those drones hatched from those 

 so-called drone-cells. And you will also notice that 

 none of our correspondents on this subject ever 

 mention having seen the drones hatch. Friend 

 Flanagan told you the drone-cells were there for 

 you to make the most of. Why did you not tell him 

 to watch them till they hatched, and then send them 

 to you? I affirm most positively, that nothing but 

 seeing the drones hatch is any proof that workers or 

 any thing else can change the sex of eggs after they 

 are deposited by the queen. I have more on this 

 subject, but will stop for the present. 

 Mt. Zion, HI., Oct., 1883. J. S. HUGHES. 



Well and thoroughly done, friend II. This 

 is a most important point indeed. I hope 

 you will excuse me for not telling, until this 

 late hour, that we did watch one lot of drone- 

 cells that hatched out workers. As Ernest 

 held up the comb and pointed to them he 

 said, " Pa, don't you think anybody would 

 have called these drone-calls? " 



" Surely, no one could have been blamed 

 very much for calling them drone-cells." 



" Well, just look here. That worker came 

 out of that cell! " 



I at once suggested that this explained the 

 whole matter; but he declared the other 

 drone-cells did hatch drones ; and although 

 you may blame me for my carelessness, I 

 can only say, the matter was dropped there 

 and forgotten. Now, don't let us be too 

 hasty, but let us listen to what others have 

 to say to this, and Ernest among this num- 

 ber. It has brought out many valuable facts, 

 any way. 



