138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



Abnormal brood-rearing, which seems to be merely 

 a phase of dysentery, is a thing to be dreaded. I 

 think the young bees so raised likely to perish 

 without profiting the colony very much. 



E. E. Hasty. 

 They 6hould fly soon after they hatch. I have 

 known some cases where Italian queens were in- 

 troduced to native stocks just before placing the 

 colonies in winter quarters; and when taken out 

 the first of May they were very populous, and near- 

 ly all of the bees were Italians> but I think the rule 

 is, that bees winter best which do not breed exten- 

 sively in winter quarters. L. C. Root. 



If brood-rearing could be controlled, I would have 

 the bees wait about it till settled warm weather 

 came, providing that no material loss of old bees 

 would occur before the brood hatched; but as the 

 bees are still liable to do as they please in this mat- 

 ter, as they have done in years past, I do not know 

 that it is of any use for me to express an opinion 

 in the matter. G. M. Doolittle. 



My opinion is, that the above question is a 

 hard one to answer positively. I have had 

 colonies raise brood almost all winter long, 

 when well packed in chaff, and come out 

 stronger in the spring than when they start- 

 ed into winter quarters ; and at other times 

 I have had them give excellent crops of 

 honey when no brood was started until some 

 time in March. Some years ago we had a 

 very warm, sunshiny March— so much so 

 that people made gardens, and the bees 

 gathered pollen in large quantities. During 

 that spring I had, as a matter of course, 

 quite a number of weak colonies. Old hands 

 advised me not to undertake to winter 

 them ; but they commenced brood-rearing 

 in March, and gathered not only pollen, be- 

 sides working on meal, but made such large 

 patches of brood that I was jubilant. Well, 

 during the latter part of March or the fore 

 part of April we had a succession of cold 

 storms that cut off the supplies and con- 

 tracted the cluster, until they could not 

 cover the brood, to such an extent that my 

 prosperous young colonies were killed out- 

 right, almost every one of them. In this 

 case, encouraging early brood-rearing was 

 the death of them. Had they been kept in 

 the cellar, or been under heavy chaff pack- 

 ing, where the sun could not reach them, 

 and no meal given them in the spring to in- 

 cite to early brood-rearing, they might have 

 lived. We should remember, however, that, 

 during most seasons, if they get along well, 

 say as late as the first of April, they will 

 probably be all right. These facts may help 

 us to bear in mind what may happen. 



Question 108.— if one worker-bee, called A, stings 

 a nullify railed B, does A lose its sting, according to 

 your observations'/ If not, why? 



I never observed. 

 No. I don't know why. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 

 Geo. Gkimm. 



According to my observation, no. A is careful, 

 and stings where the tissue is too frail to hold the 

 sting. A. J. Cook. 



I have seen but one bee sting another. A queen 

 was stung by a worker, and died immediately. The 

 sting was left in the queen. Dr. A. B. Mason. 



|i Not usually, because the sting is not in very 

 deep. Dadant & Son. 



C My observation is, that the bee does not lose its 

 sting in the above case. It seems to be able to 

 withdraw the sting. L. C. Root. 



If A stings B in the soft part of the abdomen, A 

 is not apt to lose her sting; if in the breast or 

 back, she will lose it generally. C. F. Muth. 



One bee does not lose its sting when using it as a 

 weapon upon another bee, because it is sufficiently 

 strong to do the work without being injured. 



H. R. Boardman. 



Sometimes, but generally not— very rarely, in 

 fact. I suspect the sting is thrust into one of the 

 breathing-holes, from which it can easily be with- 

 drawn. C. C. Miller. 



I never knew a bee to lose its sting by stinging 

 another bee. I think the sting can always be with- 

 drawn from any thing not more solid than the body 

 of a bee. R. Wilkin. 



I have not noticed that they lose their stings. I 

 have not investigated the matter, but have con- 

 cluded the parts between the segments are soft, so 

 that the sting may be withdrawn. P. H. Elwood. 



I do not know, but I guess not. Professor Cook 

 will tell us about that. I do not care any thing 

 about it. It is much further from apicultural dol- 

 lars and cents than many other questions which I 

 do not understand, but desire to. 



James Heddon. 



I have seen them sting and kill, without losing 

 the sting; but I have seen some trying to pull away 

 from the one stung, without succeeding. I think 

 it depends in what part they sting, and they seem 

 to know it, as may be observed when they are try- 

 ing to sting each other. Paul L. Viallon. 



"He does not, generally, I believe. The power re- 

 quired to tear the muscles of the sting loose is less 

 than the power required to lift bee B and pull him 

 around. Even when the sting takes a firm hold of 

 something solid, bee A can get it out by whirling 

 around with a corkscrew rotation. E. E. Hasty. 



No. Because the sting does not penetrate deep 

 enough so that the barbs catch and hold, as they do 

 when thrust deeply into the flesh of an animal. I 

 have frequently been stung so lightly myself, that 

 the bee took its sting with it, after twisting around 

 a little to withdraw the sting. G. M. Doolittle. 



I never knew a bee to lose its sting in stinging 

 another. I presume I have seen many thousands 

 of bees that had been killed in this way, but I never 

 saw a sting in one, pulled out from the body of an- 

 other. I suppose this is because the sting is insert- 

 ed between the horny plates of the body, which are 

 too hard and close-grained for the barbs of the 

 sting to catch on, while the tissues between are too 

 soft aud yielding to hold it. James A. Green. 



Why, friends, I am surprised at you. Not 

 one of the whole number, unless it be friend 

 Green in the last item, has mentioned or 

 even suggested cases where say half a 

 swarm of bees are stung to death in a cou- 

 ple of hours. In fact, I have known a nu- 

 cleus, containing less than a quart of bees, 

 to sting to death an absconding swarm of 

 two quarts or more, that tried to get into 

 their hive, and the whole was done during a 



