8.58 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



In regard to foul ])roo(l lurking in the 

 honey, I did not suppose its presence could be 

 detected by the aid of the microscope ; but 

 it has been carried to healtliy hives so many 

 times by the bees rol)bing foul-l)roody colo- 

 nies, it has generally been taken for granted 

 that the contagion is carried -with the hon- 

 ey. Feeding even liquid honey from foul- 

 broody stocks has also repeatedly started 

 foul brood, if 1 am not mistaken. 



A DRONE-LAYING QUEEN. 



A MICHOSCOPICAL. DISSECTION OF.— BEES STEAL- 

 ING EGGS. 



@N the 15th of October, 1884, I packed in chaff or 

 sawdust, on their summer stands, 16 strong 

 colonies and 10 nuclei, of which I lost none 

 during the winter. In the spring I sold tour 

 strong and two weak colonies, and lost one 

 by robbing, while I was awaj' from home. I was 

 gone less than three hours; but during that time 

 the colony was overpowered and destroyed. So I 

 began the season of 1885 with 13 strong and 7 

 weak colonies. The latter I used for queen-rearing 

 and for experiments. One of the experiments was 

 to test the value of a drone-laying queen. In the 

 fall of 1884 I received from Italy a very flne-looking 

 queen, which the dealer said was a choice queen 

 from his own apiary, and an excellent layer. She 

 began laying in one week after her arrival here; 

 but every egg, though laid in a worker-cell, hatched 

 a drone. Thinking that she might have been injured 

 in transit, and that possibly she would be all right 

 in the spring, I gave her brood from other colo- 

 nies, and wintered her. In Februarj' she began 

 laying drone-eggs in worker-cells. During March 

 and April I gave her colony several frames of 

 worker-brood from other queens; then by placing 

 empty drone-comb in the center of her colony I 

 hoped to get some early drones. See did lay a few 

 eggs in this comb; but with her queenly wisdom 

 she insisted on going away from the center of the 

 brood-chamber, and laying most of her eggs in 

 worker-cells; but they all produced drones. 



I kept her until in June, when I gave up the ex- 

 periment, and destroj-ed her." On microscopical ex- 

 amination, the ovaries presented a normal appear- 

 ance; but the spermatheca was empty and atro- 

 phied, appearing like a little knot or wart upon the 

 oviduct. I have no doubt of the thorough honesty 

 of the dealer from whom I obtained this queen. 

 What caused her failure? 



From the 12 colonies run for honey I obtained 

 600 lbs. of extracted and 500 lbs. of comb honey. 

 Most of the extracted I have sold at 12' s cents per 

 pound. Some I have retailed at 15 cents per lb. 

 The comb honey I have sold mostly at 20 cents per 

 lb., some at 25, the whole bringing $185.00 here at 

 home, or a little over §15.00 per colony for those run 

 for honey. From the 19 colonies, spring count, I 

 now have 51 packed for winter. 



I am testing the wintering qualities of the difler- 

 ent races of bees by placing stocks from imported 

 queens side by side, under as nearly identical con- 

 ditions as possible. 



Two experiments last season convinced me that 

 bees can and will steal as well as sting— at least 

 they can and will procure eggs for queen-rearing 

 when no queen is in the hive. In looking through 



colony No. 18 on the 25th day of last April I found 

 they had neither queen nor brood. They were left 

 as found, and on May 10th I examined them again, 

 when I was surprised to find three queen-cells— one 

 with a larva almost ready for capping (it was 

 capped the next day), one with a larva not more 

 than one day old, and one cell with an egg in, which 

 hatched May 11th. There was not another egg nor 

 larva in the hive save these three, neither was 

 there any queen. Myself and two others looked 

 carefully over the combs time and again. May 14th 

 I gave the colony a frame of brood and eggs, and 

 May 16th the cell that was capped on the 11th was 

 found opened at the end in the regular way, while 

 the two others were opened at the side. One had a 

 dead queen-pupa in, while the other had been en- 

 tirely emptied. I also found a fine virgin queen, 

 evidently but a few hours old. May 26th she began 

 laying. Levi C. Johnso.v. 



Fountain City, Ind. 



WHAT MUSICAL NOTE REPKESENTS 

 THE HUM OF A BEE ? 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT THE FISH IN FLOKIDA. 



fELL Mrs. Chaddock that orange-trees bloom 

 in February. If she wants to peddle oranges, 

 she ought to be here now. The butcher 

 brings them around every week in his meat- 

 wagon, and sells them at a cent apiece, vei-y 

 fine ones too. 



Ernest has begun to teach the juveniles to use 

 their eyes. Tell them to use their ears too, and find 

 out what note in the musical scale a bee hums on 

 while gathering honey. If they know enough 

 about music to run the vocal scale, do, re, mi, etc., 

 they can easily determine. 



When I was at the lake this morning, two bees 

 came down for water, and one hummed on A, and 

 the other on C. 



How the juveniles would enjoy seeing the flsh in 

 our beautiful clear lake! They come rushing 

 toward the bank, eager to be fed. One will dart off 

 with a piece of bread in his mouth, and twenty oth- 

 ers, perhaps, will chase him just like chickens, only 

 their every motion is grace itself, and the sunshine 

 glints on their sides and makes them shine like sil- 

 ver. They are of all sizes, from an inch long to 

 eight inches. They leap half way out of the water, 

 if real hungry, catching at the crumbs that float on 

 top. They are bream and trout. The children are 

 very careful not to frighten them, and I have seen 

 the tiny ones eat out of baby's little hands, as she 

 held the crumbs in her palm under the water. The 

 larger ones are shy. 



We had quite a large frost this morning, which 

 turned the banana bushes black; but I notice the 

 geraniums are all green yet. I have one in the 

 front yard, ten feet around. The bees were carry- 

 ing in pollen to-day, but I don't know where they 

 got it. It was of a reddish yellow. 



George asks, if he will write and tell you what 

 note a bee hums on, will you send him Silver Keys'? 



Stanton, Fla. Vista A. Redding. 



Thanks, my friend, for suggesting this 

 matter in regard to the pitch of the note 

 emitted by a l)ee's Avings.— And so yon do 

 have frost in Florida, do youV— Tell George 

 we will send him Silver Keys as soon as we 

 get a new lot. We have disposed of a thou- 

 sand, but I think we can easily use a thou- 

 sand more. 



