June, 1910. 



American Tiee Journal 



queen had filled it with eggs, and a few 

 of these eggs had hatched into larvae, 

 when this comb was to be placed in a 

 wire-cloth nursery-cage, put in a strong 

 colony and left a few hours or over 

 night. 



The next morning, by placing some 

 of the larval food on the eggs imme- 

 diately surrounding the larvae, by 

 means of a dropper or the little stick 

 used in putting the royal jelly into 

 queen-cups, then setting the frame 

 back in the nursery for an hour or so. 

 this should tell whether what I believe 

 to be true was a real fact. Of one 

 thing I am certain, which is, that eggs 

 taken from the bees will never hatch 

 from simple warmth, for I have watched 

 time and time again, both in the lamp- 

 nursery and in a wire-cloth nursery 

 left with a strong colony of bees, and 

 never knew of one hatching. 



From the observation as given, of 

 the egg which I see apparently hatch- 

 ing, it would seem that larvae never 

 really hatch ; or, to put it in another 

 form, the eggs of the queen-bee do not 

 hatch, but are liberated by the action 

 of the food which is placed upon the 

 egg by the nurse-bee. This seems rea- 

 sonable ; the larvae having no means of 

 biting or breaking their way out of the 

 prison walls that surround them. 



Again, all of my observations have 

 failed to reveal the "shells " of eggs in 

 any cells in any bee's mouth (as would 

 be the case if the bees removed them), 

 or in any part of the hive. So I con- 

 clude that the action of the food upon 

 the " shells" cause them to melt away, 

 as it were, and mix with this food, all 

 of which is consumed by the growing 

 larvs. 



Who can give us more light on this 

 interesting subject ? As to how long 

 the queen's eggs can be kept and still 

 hatch, I am unable to say. I have 

 stored combs of drone-brood in the 

 cellar with a view of killing the brood 

 there, and had both the eggs and 

 capped brood mature after being a 

 week away from the bees ; but the 

 larvae were killed. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



5.— Bee-Talks for Beginners 



BY JIMSON RAGWEED, OF INDIAN.V 



Texas Honey— Price of Honey. 



Mr. JiMsoN Ragweed:— If Texas produces 

 so much honey, why do we not see more of 

 it on the market ? What do you think is the 

 reason that the price of honey does not ad- 

 vance in proportion with eges. butter, pork, 

 etc.? 



How is Sam setting along since his term at 

 college? Yours, 



Amos Cumbsome. 



Dear Amos : — Your postal card to 

 hand. Texas really does produce an 

 immense amount of honey, and the 

 quality is fine, but they consume it 

 themselves, especially since the pro- 

 ducers have got to putting up chunk 

 honey. When they have a good thing 

 in Texas they keep it themselves. 



In my opinion, the price of honey 

 has held its own. Improved facilities 

 with increased numbers of colonies 

 have increased the production wonder- 

 fully, and under ordinary circumstances 

 this would mean a decline in prices. 



Sammy is getting along fine. He can 

 play feet-ball, and they say he is fine 



on roller skates. One of the students 

 asked him what business I follow, and 

 Sammy told him I have an apiary. And 

 then they asked Sammy what an apiary 

 is, and Sammy told them it was a place 

 where apes are kept! When asked 

 what an aviary is, he told them it is the 

 place where Wright Brothers keep 

 their air-ships. Today Sammy is sprout- 

 ing the potatoes in the cellar, but he 

 did not like it much because Thursea 

 brought up the pan of doughnuts while 

 he was working there. 



Truly yours, Jimson Ragweed. 



Label for Honey- Jars. 



Mr. Jimson Ragweed:— I wish to get a 

 new label for my honey-jars. What kind of 

 a label would you recommend ? I would like 

 one so fine that the grocer would place my 

 goods to the front. 



Manda sends her love to Thursea. 



Yours. John Johnson. 



Dear John:— I do not know that I 

 can tell you very much about labels, 

 but I would get an oval label rather 

 than a square one, because it can be 

 placed more rapidly without the cor- 

 ners curling up. I would suggest that 

 you have your photo engraved and use 

 it in the center of your label. An ad- 

 vertising man told me once that your 

 own picture makes the very best possi- 

 ble advertisement. A bee is all right, 

 but all bees look alike, but there is but 

 one John Johnson, and the uglier one 

 is, the better the advertisement. On 

 this account you might ask Manda if 

 the suggestion appeals to her. 



Yours truly, Jimson Ragweed. 



Attending Bee-Conventions. 



Mr. Jimson Ragweed: — What do you 

 think about attending bee-conventions? I 

 thought the one up at Indianapolis was fine, 

 but I did not fancy that banauet business at 

 the Hotel English. I noticed four men 

 speaking German before I had been there 5 

 minutes, and I thought that seemed funny 

 for an English hotel. Even the waiter looked 

 at nie inquiringly and said "tabledote?" 

 The bill of fare, which they called a " menu 

 card." had a peculiar list on it. the first item 

 being cranberry sauce and roast turkey; 

 but the very next item was sucking pig and 

 apple sauce. The idea of us sitting down to 

 a table and sucking a pig was too much for 

 me, and when Ras Smith took a drink of 

 water from the finger-bowl I nudged him. 

 and we went over by the hay-market where 

 we each had a piece of pie and a glass of 

 milk. No more banquets for Ras or me. 

 Yours truly. Amzi Cragg, 



Dear Amzi : — I believe it pays to at- 

 tend the bee-conventions, and your 

 support will help others. I confess 

 that I realize the most benefit at a con- 

 vention from the social part, or the 

 little talks and hand-shakings during 

 the intermissions, and I find many men 

 of excellent ideas who do not get up 

 and talk. Whenever I go to a bee- 

 convention I always connect many 

 pleasant memories with the meeting 

 for years to come. The first bee-con- 

 vention that I ever attended was across 

 the river in Kentucky, and the late 

 Father Langstroth was in attendance. 

 One man got up and told how the king- 

 birds were eating his bees, and how he 

 was shooting the birds, and I guess we 

 all thought the thing to do was to get 

 the gun and kill all the birds that came 

 around. Mr. Langstroth then took the 

 floor, and in his kind and impressive 

 way urged them not to kill the birds. 

 Older readers who have heard him will 

 never forget his wonderful power as 

 an impressive speaker, and to hear him 

 was well worth a long journey. 



Jimson Ragweed. 



Mixing or Drifting of Bees. 



Mr. Jimson Ragweed:— My hives are ar- 

 ranged in long rows, and very close together, 

 and at times the bees mix. I would like to 

 overcome this, and I wish you would give 

 me your ideas about it. 



Neighbor Newt Plumb sends his regards 

 to you. and says to tell you that he is rearing 

 lots of queens this year. Newt has issued a 

 circular about his bees and honey, but the 

 printer made two bad mistakes. Last year 

 .Newt sold 10 untested queens to one man. 

 and all proved to be purely mated, and Newt 

 used his letter in his circular, but the printer 

 used the word poorlv instead of purely. In 

 the part about his honey he wanted to say 

 no foul brood in his locality, but the printer 

 h&s ii no pure food in his locality. Newt is 

 sending them out anyhow. 



Truly yours. Ephram JONES. 



DearEphram: — The nicest way that 

 I have ever discovered to arrange 

 hives so bees will not mi.x is to place 

 the hives in groups of three. The bees 

 seem to remember the end hives and 

 the center hive without any confusion. 

 I use scantling 2x4 and 6 feet long, 

 placing them on bricks so the hives 

 will be 5 or 6 inches above the ground. 

 Use a spirit-level, and have the front 

 of the hive an inch lower than the rear. 

 Very truly, Jimson Ragweed. 



Ordering Bee-Supplies. 



Mr. Jimson Ragweed:— You know I told 

 you about the long delay in getting my sup- 

 plies last year. We got entirely out of hives 

 right at swarming time, and Angeline hived 

 one swarm in one of her bureau drawers 

 and another in an old churn. This year 1 

 ordered earlv. 



How do you arrange your alighting-boards ? 

 Mine are always falling down, and weeds 

 and spiders occupy the underside. 



Truly yours, Tii.ford Moots. 



DearTilford: — I use tin alighting- 

 boards to all of my hives, and Thursea 

 and I made them ourselves by unsold- 

 ering some quart fruit-cans, bending 

 the edge to an angle and soldering a 

 wire-nail at each end. We drove an 

 end-space staple over each nail, which 

 makes a hinge, and we can turn them 

 up against the hive while we run the 

 lawn-mower close to the hive. We 

 painted them one coat and then sprin- 

 kled them with sand; and then another 

 coat of paint, and this gives the bees a 

 good foot-hold. I sometimes sprinkle 

 a little salt around the entrance which 

 keeps down weeds and grass. During 

 the winter snows I turn these alighting- 

 boards up against the hives, which still 

 permits an abundance of ventilation, 

 and prevents having the entrance 

 closed with snow. 



Very truly, Jimson Ragweed. 



Control of Queen-Fertilization 



.\ Chicago bee-keeper is working on 

 a plan to control the flight of queens 

 and drones, which looks feasible enough 

 to insure the pure mating of over 75 

 percent of the queens. He has ex- 

 plained this procedure to the editor of 

 the American Bee Journal, and as soon 

 as he has experimented sufficiently he 

 will describe his methods in these col- 

 umns. He has also discussed it with a 

 number of bee-keepers during the past 

 year, and all feel that it must prove 

 successful. 



The copies of "Honey as a Heath Food" 

 that I have used have about doubled my sale 

 of honey. Geo. H. Coulson, 



Cherokee, Okla., Oct. 26, 1900. 



