1885 



GLeANLVGS in IJEE CULtUllE. 



;]91 



DRY FECES, AGAIN. 



I have just received from Dr. C. C. Miller some 

 long-, cylindrical, dark-colored masses, some bent, 

 some straight, and some constricted so as to appear 

 bead-like. The accompanying- drawings represent 

 the bent and constricted ones, and are magnified 

 five times. These are un- 

 doubted feces, and must 

 have been quite solid 

 when extruded, as they 

 have kept their form en- 

 tirely, have not stained 

 the place where they fell, 

 and, as Mr. M. writes, 

 were some of them stiff 

 enough to stand out un- 

 Iient fi-om the place they 

 UEE-FECES. were dropped. 



They break up at once when put on a glass slide 

 with water, as do all bee-feces when dry; do not 

 melt with heat, are not dissolved in alcohol and 

 ether; and as they break up in water they are 

 found to be composed wholly or almost wholly of 

 pollen grains. In some I found (luite a number of 

 hairs and other fibers. 



As stated in my address at Cincinnati on this sub- 

 ject (see A. B. J., 1882, p. 630), fecal matter in bees is 

 semi-solid. Of course, the liquid may be less on oc- 

 casion, as we find in all animals. I have never seen 

 such solid fecal pellets from bees as these before, 

 but am not surprised that they may exist. In all 

 animals, the fecal excreta varies much ;it times in 

 its consistency. 



This is not the "dry feces" so much talked of in 

 our papers. That is the matter dropped by bees^in 

 their winter (juiet; and, as shown in the article just 

 mentioned, is wax and other matter kneaded by the 

 bees by use of their jaws, and dropped as pellets to 

 the bottom of the hive. A. .1. Took. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



TWO Oli MORE EGGS IN A CKI.I,. 



I have seen along in the bec-paper.«, that a (|ueen 

 always lays but one egg- in a cell, but that a worker 

 will lay more eggs than one in a cell; and also that 

 a laying worker is developed only in the absence of 

 a queen. To-day I was overhauling my bees, and I 

 was astonished td see about a dozen cells contigu- 

 ous that had three eggs each, mostly sticking to the 

 sides near the bottom; and yet within tliree or four 

 Inches of these cells was a fine queen moving about 

 as usual over the comb and among the bees. 



Baltimore, Md., May SO," 1885. C. Garwood. 



One esff in a cell is tlie rule, friend (}.; but, 

 as is usual witli bees, there area jj^ood many 

 exceptions. Where a vi^forousciueen has but a 

 small cluster ot bees, slienill otten <;o around 

 and lay e.^ffs in the same cells over a<?ain, 

 for want of some better emyjloyment, and in 

 that case it indicates nothing wronj?. (Jive 

 lier a couple of pounds of young bees to pro- 

 vide empty cells for her. and she will put 

 one egg in ;i cell as nice as can be. A good 

 fertile (lueeii sliould, however, stick each egg 

 in pretty nearly the center of the bottom of 

 the cell. If they are sticking along the sides 

 of the cell, near the bottom, as you say.it 

 usually indicates something wrong, and' the 

 queen often does this kind of work just be- 

 fore she pla\s out entirely. Fertile workers 

 lay great numbers of eggs in a cell — some- 

 times a hundred or more, and very often 



they stick them around the sides of the cells, 

 on top of the combs, etc. In rare cases, how- 

 ever, they deposit them regularly, filling the 

 cells as they go along.' A good' queen fills 

 the cells regularly as she goes along ; and 

 Avhere the cells are skipped here and there, 

 we generally have pretty go(!d rer.son for 

 suspecting that it is the"' work of a fertile 

 worker. If several eggs are in one cell, and 

 none in another, the evidence is still more 

 conclusive of a' fertile worker, oi 

 that does not amount to much. 



(lueen 



SLATTED HONEY-BOARDS. 



I invented and used a slatted honey-board long 

 before I heard or read of a Heddon honey-board. 

 I just nailed slats on to end-pieces to keep the bees 

 from building combs between the top of brood- 

 frames and the bottom of wide, or section frames, 

 and it does well. Said end-pieces rest on the ends 

 of brood-frames, and leave a bee space all around 

 between honey-board and hive. 



COMB-FRAME ST.\ND. 



One (,f the simple but vciy useful things in my 

 apiary and extracting-rooni, that I invented and 

 never have seen or iieard of in any other apiary, is 

 a little like a light low stand without top-board, 

 made to hold a set (,f wide or brood-frames. I use 

 twoof tliem. D. Tvhrem., M. 1). 



Toulon, III., May 18, 188.5. 



lived in spite of bad treatmknt. 



The first of last .luly I purchased ];.' hives of black 

 bees, going »0 miles for them with a spring dragon. 

 I commenced shutting them in as soon as they were 

 all in in the evening, which was <iuite a job, as the 

 liive-maker was not a workman, nor the hives f)f 

 the most ai)proved pattern. However, I got them 

 shut in by nine oclock v. m.; and to hasten matters 

 I took strips of pine and nailed o\er the entrance 

 and all cracks. A few had wire cloth over the on- 

 t ranee. I started for home at 4 a. .m., and arrived 

 at my destination at 12 o'clock noon, of one of the 

 hottest days the summer'can boast of. all in good 

 condition. I am satisfied that there is too much 

 ventilation given generally. 



My Italians that are now the strongest, and con- 

 sumed the least amount of honey, were covered 

 entirely out of sight with snow for about six weeks, 

 ."^onie I kept enanieled cloth covers on over winter, 

 and I find them all right. In cellar, I would not 

 care how much ventilation it had. if with warm air; 

 but I would keep the hives closed, llces have win- 

 tered fairly, as far as I have heard, in this county. 



Bethleh(>m, Conn., May (J, 1885. F. A. MAi/rnv. 



Friend M.. I shoidd sav that vou got off 

 remarkably well. We have all " seen :ind 

 read of hundreds of colonies that were en- 

 tirely iiiined by being sliut uj). apparently 

 in the very way you closed those hives oil 

 th;it hot siuumer night. Probably tiie hives 

 weie so old, ;ind had so many cracks 

 through them, thai they got snllicient air in 

 spite of tiie way in wiiich you lixed them. 1 

 should be inclined to think the colonies were 

 not very strong, and that the hives were 

 pretty good size. One of the first purchases 

 I ever made was under circinnstances a good 

 deal like those you have mentioned; and 

 although I moved them oidy across the 

 town, the whole contents of the hive ran 

 down into one heap, and the mass was al- 

 most scalding hot. My honey ran on to the 



