THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



distance frames, but not closed-end, for 

 this glue}- locality." The editor gently 

 rebukes the doctor, and then says: "I have 

 come to the conclusion that, where pro- 

 polis is verj' bad, a closed-end frame 

 is better than the Hoffman; and a metal- 

 spaced one better than either." I can- 

 not see how any frame can be better than 

 a closed-end one for a "gluey locality," 

 but they must be close-fitting — long 

 enough so that no propolis can be crowd- 

 ed in between the ends and the end of tlie 

 hive, and kept closed up, so that none 

 can be put between their edges. That is 

 the kind used in the Heddon hive. 



WHY ARE BEES NOISY IN THE CEr,I<.\R ? 



Editor Root, having said that when 

 bees quiet down in a cellar after a fire has 

 been started there, no one can say how 

 much of the trouble was due to cold, and 

 how much to foul air, Dr. Miller re- 

 plies: "But I'll tell you one case in which 

 you can tell. Temperature in cellar, 50°; 

 same outdoors. Bees noisy. Fire start- 

 ed toward evening running temperature 

 up to 60°. Next morning bees still, with 

 thermometer 50° inside and out. Foul 

 air had all to do with it in that case." 

 The editor replies: "That is a clear case." 

 But is it a clear case ? Bees often become 

 noisy and then quiet down without either 

 a fire or a change of air. I remember 

 once, in particular, going into my bee- 

 cellar and finding the bees in a tremen- 

 dous roar, exceeding anything I had heard 

 before or since, but the next morning 

 they were quiet enough. I could assign 

 no certain reason for the commotion. I 

 only know, for certain, that no ventila- 

 tion was needed, and that neither extra 

 ventilation nor fire was given. As we 

 are not supposed to be with our bees in 

 the cellar any considerable proportion of 

 the time, we cannot say hotv often such 

 periods of commotion occur; nor how 

 long they last; but many cases might be 

 collected to show that it is altogether im- 

 probable that they are caused by lack of 

 ventilation. One strong case, from the 

 experience of a man of no less reliability 

 than T. F. Bingham, of smoker fame, 



who says, in substance, (American Bee 

 Journal, 76) that he has found that bees 

 live for weeks quiet and contented in an 

 atmosphere so destitute of oxygen that in 

 . it a lamp would go out in a second. I 

 can conceive that in a close cellar contain- 

 ing no feature to create any motion in the 

 air, except the bees themselves, that when 

 the bees remain quiet the air in the hives 

 might become surcharged with vapor as 

 compared with the air outside the hive, 

 and that the bees in consequence insti- 

 tute periodical fannings to drive it out. 

 A NEW THEORY REGARDING FERTILE 

 WORKERS. 



"Oregon," in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, 39, asks Dr. Miller: "What is a laying 

 worker ? Is it a worker fed a few dajs 

 as a queen ?" evidently meaning, by the 

 last clause, fed for a small proportion of 

 the proper time for feeding a larva for the 

 production of a queen. Judging from the 

 facts he cites, he has a theory that laying 

 workers come from larvte fed for queens, 

 not from the age of three days and on- 

 ward, but for only a comparatively short 

 time before being inclosed. He says "I 

 have several times had colonies that be- 

 came queeuless when there was no brood 

 in the hive, and such colonies never de- 

 veloped laying workers. " I have noticed 

 the same thing in colonies that became 

 queenless during the winter. He after- 

 wards made experiments, putting a frame 

 of brood just ready to seal in one hive, 

 after which it produced laying workers; 

 and also taking from a strong colony its 

 queen and all its brood, and so leaving it 

 for 30 dsLXS without the appearance of 

 laying workers, but la}Mng workers ap- 

 peared in due time after some brood near- 

 ly ready to cap had been given it. 



The theory interests me, and if it proves 

 to be well-founded, it will be of consider- 

 able value. 



I can only relieve this item from the 

 curse of not finding fault, by saying that 

 Dr. Miller entirely misses the point of 

 the quer}-, and only indulges in a general 

 disquisition on the subject of laying 

 workers. 



