6(32 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



Mo not tliink there is a better plan for fixing 

 the candy in the cage than the one we illus- 

 trate and describe in the A B C book, and 

 tliis cage has gone longer distances than 

 from here to Florida, witli perfect safety. 

 Tiiere are. liowever. losses in shipping bees 

 occasiojially. which we have never yet been 

 al>le lo nnderstaiid : but I should say that 

 uiue-tenths of your bees ought to have gone 

 tlirough in good order. Now, friend M., do 

 not make out any more bills of SGOUO and 

 over, for loss of '• castles" built entirely in 

 tlie air ; but let you and your friend go to 

 work next season testing a i)ound or two at 

 a time, until you are all riglit. In fact, you 

 ouglit to d')'that in any business. Send 

 three poiuids first ; if they go all right, then 

 try ten pounds; next twenty-five. If all 

 these go s;ifely, you are ready' to try fifty or 

 l)erhai)S a hundred, if you choose.— To be 

 sure, the orange-men iuFlorida, and sugar- 

 men too, for tliat matter, ought to help us, 

 and we ouglit to help tliem too. In the s.ime 

 way, we ought to help the express compa- 

 nies, and they ought to help us. and will, if 

 Ave go about it in the right spirit. \Ve are a 

 hand of brothers all round, and can surely 

 work together. Don't you remember who it 

 was tliat said, away back, years ago, '' We 

 be brethren " ? 



OBSERVATIONS UPON DRONES. 



liY 



I Til. 



-T^ BVA.\ H!iy8 that the drone liatelioh on the :.'Uli 

 K^ <)r25lli flay alter tlic cyg is laid. I know oT 

 't^ nothitifr iiioi-e definite on this point. 

 •*^ To get more preeisely the facts, on the Kith 

 day of last July, a drone-comb was put, at 7 

 A. M.. centrally in a strony colony, which had been 

 fed for several days, as the drones were being- ex- 

 Viylled from many hives. At !l .v. m. the (|ueen was 

 found on Ihut comb, having- laid three eg-gs. She 

 bad just begun laying. At .\. xi., on July IT, it was 

 removed to a strong colony, without (juecn, eggs, 

 or larvrr. On July :i7. many cells were capped, and 

 on July 2.\ at li r. m., some ~00 were capi)ed, many 

 eggs having, for some cause, disappeared. On Aug. 

 it, none had hatched. On Aug. 10, e.vamiiuitions 

 were made every hour. At 5:30 p. m. none had 

 crawled out; at 6:3J two had hatched, and a third 

 was hatching. If these drones came from the first 

 eggs laid, they took about :i) days and S'; hours to 

 develoj). 



At 6 .V. M., on Aug. H, nuuiy more had hatched, 

 and at 6 \. m., on Aug. l:i, all but IT had hatched. 

 At G:3J P. M. all but two had hatched, and at ti::iO .\. 

 .M. of Aug. 13, the last one was found with the cap 

 ott', trying to crawl out; it was strong and pei fe(-t. 

 Now. if the egg producing this drone was laid Jn^t 

 before the comb was lemoved, then it took ncaily-V 

 days to mature. 



During the whole linu; of these ot>ser\allons, llie 

 weather was of the most favorable kind— the ther- 

 mometer langing nearly every day above 8,/° Fahr., 

 and being only once as low asfi.';°. The colony Avas 

 kept in good heart by daily feeding, and I can think 

 of nothing which could have retarded in the least 

 the development of these drones, unless possibly the 

 fact that from so many of the eggs having <lisa|)- 

 peared they were not as compact in the comb as 

 they otherwise would have been. In this observa- 



tion, although there could not possibly have been 

 more than 'M hours' ditferencc between the laying of 

 the tirst and the last egg, there was about two days 

 and a half between the hatching of the first and the 

 last drone. 



It is quite interesting to watch the different ac- 

 tionsof just hatched workers and drones. The work 

 cr, true to her name and ofHce, begins to crawi over 

 the combs as if to feel her legs, stops occasionally to 

 clean herself up, and before long helps herself to 

 honey from an open cell. The drone, on the contra- 

 ry, is a born dependent. The first act is to touch 

 the nearest worker he can reftch with his flexible 

 antenme, and, begging to be fed, he is at once sup- 

 plied with honey disgorged from the proboscis of 

 his attentive nurse. And so he goes on all his life, 

 seeming to prefer to be fed, although perfectly able, 

 if needs be, to help himself. 



A very bad name has always been given the drone. 

 Virgil has his Hing at him, stigmatizing him as hav- 

 ing no proper oflice in the economy of the hive- 

 seeking only to devour the stores which he had i:o 

 share incollecting. 1 wonder what the poet thought 

 he was made for! or as he says that the bees collect- 

 ed their young from the flowers, being too chaste to 

 breed them, what motive he could have thought 

 they had to gather in such useless consumers ! And 

 yet without any special pleading, how much can be 

 said in his defense! It is only too evident that his 

 proboscis is too short to suck honey from the flow- 

 ers: that his legs have no pollen-baskets; and that 

 he can secrete no wax. Great as his bulk is, he has 

 no sting, and can do nothing for the defense of the 

 commonwealth; but then, without him that com- 

 monwealth could have no existence. The sole ob- 

 ject of his life seems to be, at the profier time, to 

 fertilize the young queen— and this he is always 

 ready to do. Now, why should we blame any crea- 

 ture which fulfills the special object of its creation';' 

 And yet I fear me, in spite of all that can so justly be 

 said in his favor, our poor drone will always be cited 

 as an incorrigibly idle reprobate, who meets with 

 only his just deserts when, after a life of pleasure, 

 he is killed without mercy by the industrious work- 

 ers. He will always be known as Shakespeare's 

 "lazy, yawning drone." 



Oxford, O. Kev. L. L. L.iMiSTHorn. 



CONVEN TION NOTICES. 



The C. iitral Illinois Hee - Keei)ers' Association 

 meets at Jacksonville, the last Wednesday and 

 Thursday in October t'H.\s. Dauant. 



The Central jSIichigan Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will meet in the Pioneers' Room, in the State Capi- 

 tol, at Lansing, Mich., at !t a. m., Nov. 12, 1885. Ev- 

 ery one who has bees, or is interested in bee cul- 

 ture, is invited to attend. E.N. Wood, Sec. 



The Progressive Uee-keepers' Association of West- 

 ern Illinois will meet in Macomb, III., on Thursday. 

 Oct. 15. 1H85. Let everybody come and have a good 

 time, (iood speakers are expected. 



J. 0. NowTON, Sec. 



The Wabash County Bee-Keepers' Convention 

 will meet in G. A. U. Hall, North Manchester, Ind., 

 Oct. 10, 1885. All bee-kceijcrs are earnestly request- 

 ed to be present. J. J. Martin, Sec. 



The Western Bec-Keei>(-rs' Asso.iation will hold 

 its fourth aiuiual nu'ctiiig in Indciii'iidciu'r, Mo., 

 Thursday and Friday, Oct. I.") and Hi, iss:,. The as- 

 sociation will ciideaxor to make this the most inter- 

 esting meeting yet held, and will spare no pains 

 within its means to make it in e\ery sense valuable 

 to all. Several (if oui- most pi-ominent bee-keepers 

 lia\c signified their intention to be present. 



C. M. Crandai^l. 



