54 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 28, 1904. 



the bees are in, it should be set in the window, a hole 

 through a board placed under the sash. Thus set, in a 

 north window, it may stay summer and winter. Since there 

 is small space for storing honey it will be necessary to feed 

 frequently. This is best done by setting a tumbler of 

 syrup inverted in a saucer on the window sill outside near 

 the entrance. 



I have at present two such hives in a north window. In 

 one is one comb : in the other are ten little cross-combs 

 built to the top-bar and to the glass walls of the hives. I 

 can by means of these two hives get nearly all the doings of 

 the colonies. 



These colonies — at least the one with the single comb — 

 are not a source of expense entirely. I have several beauti- 

 fully straight worker combs built there through the sum- 

 mer. It takes about ten days to get a full comb built, and 

 two weeks more to replenish the working force before the 

 comb is removed and an empty frame inserted. Possibly 

 the history of such a colony during the past season will in- 

 terest the readers of the American Bee Journal. 



A year ago this observatory-hive colony went into win- 

 ter quietude with about 3,000 bees and five pounds of honey. 

 It wintered perfectly, taking only two or three flights. 

 There were wrapped about it several thicknesses of paper 

 and denim to shut out the light and to conserve heat. The 

 room in which it was, and is, was occupied by an 8-year-old 

 boy, who is not by any means always quiet. The coverings 

 were often removed that the winter cluster might be ob- 

 served. By the way, the bees were clustered in only the 

 coldest weather ; at other times scattered throughout the 

 hive. During one or two zero spells I placed a small lamp 

 beneath the hive till the weather moderated. 



The bees outside had begun to breed some time before 

 this little colony warmed up and the queen started to lay. 

 But when work was once started it was pushed so well that 

 a healthy, if not large, swarm came out May 11th. That 

 swarm is to-day of full strength in a hive which is filled 

 with comb. //, itself, swarmed in July, the swarm getting 

 away to the woods. The old colony also swarmed in July, 

 going to the woods. It thus follows that from that small 

 colony three (possibly four) swarms came, and besides that 

 I got three full combs built. 



It is of course necessary to add that some 20 pounds of 

 sugar were fed, off and on. 



I paused a few minutes just now (it is December 18th, 

 9:25 in the evening, with a temperature outside of 20 degrees 

 above freezing), to take a look at my two observatory hives. 

 The bees were loosely clustered in spaces 8 or 10 inches 

 across. Several bees were fanning their wings. Small 

 pools of water were on the hive-bottoms. Two or three dead 

 bees were in each hive. One queen was seen huddled in 

 with the workers without any circle of attendants. Bees 

 show no indication that confinement was injuring them as 

 yet, though we have had a long spell of cold weather. 



These hives are a source of much interest to ray chil- 

 dren, to their friends, and every one who sees them. I think 

 that they pay for the trouble they cause, many times over. 

 I strongly advise every one to set such a hive in a north 

 window on the second floor. He will get well paid. 



New London Co., Conn. 



The Making of the Queen-Bee. 



From mi, (iddress by Pastor Kline, delivered before the Wanderversimun- 

 lu?ig, ill Strassburg, and Translated 



BY F. GREINER. 



IN regard to the physiology of the worker and the queen 

 bee I have concluded, after a close observation, that the 

 female bee-larva, when but little developed, embraces 

 within her little body two distinct possibilities or tenden- 

 cies, viz : 1st, to develop either into a mother-bee, or, 2d, 

 into a nurse or worker bee. One is irresistibly forced to the 

 conviction of its being an error, that the worker-bee is a 

 dwarfed or undeveloped female bee, for in the worker as 

 well as in the queen do we find different organs in the high- 

 est state of perfection. The worker is endowed with that 

 wotfderful system of glands, the pollen-baskets, the 

 stronger tongue and jaws ; the queen with those perfect 

 organs of reproduction. 



One and the same egg may produce a worker or it may 

 produce a queen, according to the treatment it receives. 

 When the reproductory organs begin to develop in the larva, 

 the faculties and organs peculiar to the worker remain 

 dormant, and vice versa. There is no possible way'to pro- 



duce a queen-bee with the strong worker tongue, and the 

 fully developed pollen-baskets. When a five-day worker- 

 larva is transferred to a royal cell, from which a royal larva 

 has just been removed, the faculties peculiar to the worker 

 are already in the beginning of their development, and this 

 process is then stayed as quickly as possible, and the re- 

 sulting insect has the appearance of a queen, but small, and 

 with very small pollen-baskets and short tongue. 



In reality we have' ?;o^ an animal which combines the 

 qualities of worker and queen as we find it the case with 

 other related insects, as wasps, etc. One would naturally 

 think there would be a distinctly defined line between the 

 two. But we find it not so. The manner in which the 

 embryo larva is fed decides the direction in which the in- 

 sect is to develop, and, when persistently continued, begins, 

 conducts and completes the development. 



When a three-day worker-larva is selected for a queen 

 by the bees, the larva has not yet been fed undigested pol- 

 len, and one might expect that at this stage the worker 

 faculties have not yet made a start even in their rudimen- 

 tary beginnings, but it must be taken in consideration, that 

 on the third day the worker-larva is not as lavishly fed as a 

 queen-larva at this age ; also, that before the cell in which 

 the selected worker-larvae lies can be changed over and 

 built out into a queen-cell, the fourth day will probably 

 have come. A miserable little queen will be the result. We 

 occasionally come across queens which have characteristic 

 marks of the worker plainly visible. In practice, we better 

 steer clear of the idea that a three-day worker-larva is good 

 enough for a queen. 



What do we know about a larva developing into a 

 worker in one case, into a queen in the other ? It is believed 

 that we must look for a certain admixture in the larval food, 

 or that the latter is more plentifully administered, and thus 

 produces the queen-bee. It appears that as soon as the 

 larval food is changed the development changes with it, 

 but it comes very gradually. I have taken five-day worker- 

 larvK and transferred them to queen-cells. They should 

 have been sealed after one-half day, but it was accomplished 

 only in a full day, and yet the resulting queen could hardly 

 be distinguished from a worker 



The older the larva selected for a queen at the time the 

 change is made, the nearer the resulting queen will be like 

 a worker. 



Worker-larva;, when from 1 to I'/i days old, have hardly 

 received other treatment than queen-larvse. Not till the 

 end of the second day can we notice that the larval food is 

 more scantily supplied to worker than to queen larvae. 

 Even when a three-day worker-larva is placed into a queen- 

 cell full of royal food, its growth is slower than that of one 

 that has been in a queen-cell from the beginning, and we 

 can notice some distinguishing marks in the natural insects 

 between those that were reared from one or two day larvae. 



Merely to prove the theory, it might be of interest to 

 know what a queen-larva would do if placed back into a 

 worker-cell, but the latter is not roomy enough for it. From 

 young larv;i; taken out of queen-cells I have reared five work- 

 ers, none of which showed characteristic marks of the queen . 

 The past season I made another experiment in the same 

 line. I transferred thirty ji to 1 day old worker-larvx- to 

 queen-cells, let them remain therein for two days, and 

 finally returned them to worker-cells. I succeeded only with 

 two. One of the larva; was immediately sealed after the 

 second transfer and produced a perfect worker-bee ; the 

 other one was not sealed quite as quickly, and produced a 

 queen, small and weak, showing a round head and curved 

 hairs on the hind legs, and possessing a short tongue. This 

 experiment shows that the queen-larva can be changed over 

 into a worker. 



This may have no practical value except to show by the 

 results obtained, that whatever has been neglected in the 

 earlier stage of bee-life cannot be made good later on by the 

 very best treatment. The moral of the whole is this : " The 

 earlier a larva receives royal treatment, and therefore the 

 more lavishly she is fed, the better and more perfect will be 

 the resulting gueeti." 



COMMBNTS BY THE TRANSLATOR. 



While I fully endorse the moral, I wish to say this : Our 

 positive knowledge in this mysterious matter is restricted 

 to the fact that the queen-larva is fed more lavishly, and 

 slightly difi'erently during the later period of her life. We 

 do not know that this difference in the food and food-supply 

 produces the results we see. I believe the real cause is not 

 understood, and what we see are only the accompanyinglfir- 

 utnstances. Ontario Co., N. Y. 



