662 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 15 



COMB-HONEY COLONIES KEPT PACKED IN LEAVES THE "VEAR ROUND. 



than one or two colonies during the winter, 

 and some seasons 1 do not lose any. 



When steady cold weather conies I close 

 the entrances with bran-sacks and shut 

 down the drop-door. I open this again 

 wlien the thermometer registers 60 degrees, 

 so that the bees can ha\e a cleansing flight. 

 They generally have several before spring 

 comes. 



During the first warm days of March or 

 April I feed 25 to 35 pounds of the best gran- 

 ulated sugar, in the proportion of ten pounds 

 of sugar to three quarts of scalding-hot wa- 

 ter. 



East Whately, Mass. 



WHY VIRGINS TEAR HOLES IN QUEEN- 

 CELLS. 



Stimulating a Starved Queen with Royal Jelly, 



BY O. B. METCALFE. 



I do not agree with Dr. Miller, page 578, 

 Sept. 15, that virgin queens have a passion 

 for tearing holes in queen-cells regardless of 

 what may be in the cells. I have had my 

 " noticer " at work on that point, and I have 

 seen very strong evidence that the virgin 

 queen tore those holes Dr. M. referred to, for 

 the definite purpose of getting back in the 

 cell to eat the royal jelly she did not con- 

 sume while growing, and could not turn 

 around to eat before coming out. Her cell, 

 in most cases, is like the fellow's room that 

 was so small he had to go out in the hall to 

 turn around — even more so, for the little 

 door she cuts as she comes out is so small in 

 many cases that she can barely squeeze out, 

 and often can not get back through it, there- 

 fore she must cut a new hole in the side of 

 the cell or enlarge the one through which 

 she emerged. In case she does enlarge the 

 one through which she first came out, she 



may still have to cut another hole in the 

 side of the cell, for a bee can not back out 

 wings and legs first through as small a hole 

 as it can crawl in head first. Perhajis some 

 of the holes Dr. M. noticed were cut under 

 these circumstances with a definite aim at 

 getting out. 



Many readers, no doubt, think such points 

 of little importance, and not worth studying 

 or writing about. However, I feel that such 

 an attitude is a mistake, and I ^\i\\ take a 

 longchance that any thing I can learn about 

 a honey-bee may be of practical value to me, 

 as well as of interest. It has often tiu-ned 

 out so. Take, for example, the point I have 

 just been discussing. I took one of the first 

 newly hatched queen-cells I ever saw, and 

 carefully cut it open to see what it was like 

 inside. I learned that part of the royal jel- 

 ly was left, and that, down near the end, the 

 cell had a strong tough lining of cocoon, 

 and that up near the base it seemed to be 

 wax only. Later, when I saw a virgin cut- 

 ting open her old cell in a nursery cage, just 

 as described by Dr. Miller, I might easily 

 have decided that she was doing it for pas- 

 time; but I stopped right there, and fell to 

 studying her actions. I thought of the royal 

 jelly that was probably left in the bottom of 

 the cell, and concluded that perhaps she 

 wanted it. Such turned out to be the case; 

 for as soon as she had a hole large enough 

 to allow her head and thorax to enter she 

 settled down to a good meal of the royal jel- 

 ly, which she nearly cleaned up at tliat one 

 meal, partially dried as it was. I decided 

 then that perhaps the bees were not feeding 

 her enough, and that, if such were the case, 

 it certainly was a strong argument against 

 the nursery cage. Later in the season I 

 noted that the virgins in the hive sometimes 

 do the same thing where they could at least 

 have honey, all they wanted, and decided 

 that it was not a question of starvation with 

 them, but that they liked it. 



