704 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



have bees of their own, and they must have the 

 best of care in the spring when bi'ought out of 

 the cellar. By the picture you will notice 

 Grover has forgotten himself, and is taking a 

 sly look at the strange lady taking the picture. 

 It was taken about 11 o'clock. The bees were 

 flying strongly, yet you can see by his looks he 

 does not care for them. Just back of him is 

 Helena. She has worked with bees ever since 

 we have had bees, till within the last two or 

 three years, when she had enough to do to help 

 her grandma take care of the rest of us. She 

 will keep bees when she gets a home of her 

 own. 



That other lady is the new queen in the 

 " Snyder hive." I brought her home last win- 

 ter. I can not name her race, for in size she 

 resembles the little brown or German bee; in 

 color and disposition, the Italian; and when 

 any one tries to drive her she shows the 

 Cyprian. In a moment of energy you would 

 call her perhaps a hybrid — a rather mixed-up 

 mess; but she was not imported; she is full 

 American; and should we ever be so lucky as 

 to have you come to this part of Wisconsin and 

 our place, you can get a good glass of lemonade, 

 and she will be happy to see you; and I know 

 she and grandma will do their best to make it 

 pleasant for you or any one else from the Home 

 of the Honey-bee. 



Those four in the background just happened 

 to be here. Ernest R. and his grandma are in 

 Minnesota this summer. At the left, and back 

 of Charley, is vour humble servant- 

 Orion, Wis., July, 1893. F. L. Snyder. 



[Those who have Gleanings for 1S89 will 

 find, by looking on page 680, that I greatly 

 enjoyed myself once on a time when I found 

 this pretty home on the banks of the beautiful 

 Wisconsin River. We had beautiful soft 

 water and just the nicest lemonade; and before 

 retiring at night friend S. gave me the big arm- 

 chair and the old family Bible; and while we 

 were having a little visit that I shall always 

 remember, he told me he had learned through 

 Gleanings to make that Bible his friend and 

 counselor, and his hope, even when grim death 

 laid its hand on' one of that little household. 

 I remember the vine-covered porch to the 

 honey-house, and the stairs that led to the 

 little room above. I remember, too, the fruit 

 and the flowers, and the pretty garden. The 

 memory of that visit makes me long to repeat 

 it. May God ever bless and watch over your 

 little flock, friend .S.; and may he give wisdom 

 and understanding, both to you and the " new 

 queen " as you together lead them all in the 

 way of eternal life.— A. I. R.] 



WILL TWO QUEENS FIGHT I 



interesting facts from observation. 



I wish you would say to that jolly old fellow 

 and fun-maker, Dr. Miller, that we Southerners 

 had thought he was a real practical apiarist 

 until we saw in Stray Straws where he said, " I 

 never saw two laying queens show fight — did 

 you?" Why. bless the doctor's heart! If he 

 had put it, " I never saw them fail to show 

 fight— did you?" then we should have had the 

 same high opinion of him that we have always 

 had on any thing pertaining to the bee-business. 

 His queens haven't got the grit ours have here 

 in the South, or else he has not tried the exper- 

 iment often of caging two laying queens to- 

 gether. I have tried it often, and never failed 

 to see them show fight, and that to the death 

 of one of them. 



DO virgin queens meet the drone more 



THAN ONCE BEFORE COMMENCING TO LAY? 



I say she does, for I have witnessed it the 

 third time this summer; that is, I have seen 

 three different queens this spring and summer 

 return to the hives showing signs of having 

 met the di'one the second time. The circum- 

 stances were these: I was sitting by a hive one 

 afternoon, that I knew contained a virgin 

 queen. I saw the queen come out and make 

 the thii'd trip that afternoon. The last time 

 she was gone quite awhile, but returned, show- 

 ing all signs of having met the drone. As I was 

 in need of some queens (that I had promised a 

 friend), I kept close watch of this queen, look- 

 ing into the hive every few days for about a 

 week, to see if she was laying; but all to no 

 purpose, when at last one day I opened it and 

 found she was gone. I then closed it, and went 

 and got a queen-cell, and was about to put it 

 into the hive, when, to my surprise, I saw the 

 same queen come in at the entrance, showing 

 all signs of having met the drone the second 

 time. I have also seen the same thing twice 

 since that, as above stated. Who says I am 

 wrong? It's the case with all of our domestic 

 animals; why not with the queen-bees? 



I witnessed a queen laying in a queen-cell. 

 I believe it is claimed by some that a queen 

 never deposits the egg in a cell from which a 

 rival queen is to be reared; but I had always 

 doubted such being the case, and . now I know 

 they do at least deposit eggs in them some- 

 times, for I have jusi witnessed the sigiit. I 

 have a hive in my yard, the ([ueen of which 

 has been showing signs of failure for some 

 time. I have just had the hive open; and, 

 while holding a frame in my hands, I saw the 

 queen depositing eggs in drone comb right close 

 to a queen -cell. I watched her for a f"W mo- 

 ments, and she crawled up to the queen-cup, 

 and peeped in (as she always does before de- 

 positing eggs in any cell), and curved herself 

 up and deposited an egg with as much uncon- 

 cern as she did in any of the drone comb. 



THE HONEY CROP A FAILURE FOR THREE 

 Y'EARS. 



The honey crop has been a failure here for 

 three years. It doesn't stop at the honey crop 

 being a failure this year, but crops of all kinds 

 are a failure this year — that is. in this part of 

 the State. L. B. Smith. 



Lometa, Texas, July 30. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



I am sorry to lose the good opinion of Bro. 

 Smith, but I suppose it's better to tell the 

 truth, even if I lose caste with the whole Smith 

 family; and the plain truth is, I never saw two 

 laying queens fight. It is true, I never saw 

 them put to the test in a great number of cases, 

 but I have known a number of cases where they 

 got along peaceably together. 



I am well aware that some stoutly insist that, 

 whenever two queens get together, there's 

 bound to be a funeral, but I can hardly under- 

 stand how they can insist there are no excep- 

 tions to the rule in face of the considerable 

 number of those who have reported finding two 

 queens in a hive. Only lately there was re- 

 ported in Gleanings a case in which two 

 queens were dwelling together in a sisterly 

 manner, and that right in the sanctum of 

 (tLEANINGS. What object would there or could 

 there be in such cases for false reports? 



From the fact that Bro. Smith has seen so 

 many cases in which laying queens fought, I 

 suppose my experience in the matter is some- 

 what exceptional, but that doesn't alter the 

 truth. At the present lime I have no less than 

 three colonies with two queens in each, or, at 



