Vol. XV. 



MARCH 1, 1887. 



No. 5. 



TERMS :»i.oo Per ANNTJM, IN ADVANCE; 1 T? ,,+ nh1-i oh o r] I'-n 7 J? '7 ^ 



10 or moie, 75 cts. each. Single mini- i 

 l)ti-.5fts. Additions to clubs maybe | 

 made at club rates. Above are all to 

 be sent to one postoffick. 



f Clubs to different postoffices, not less 

 I tli;in 90 cts. each. Sent postpaid, in the 

 J U. S. and Canadas. To all other coun- 

 j tries of the Universal Postal Union. 18 



A. I. ROOT, MEDINA. OHIO. V.%^il^''d!v%Td.l':^^y^^^^^ 



PUBLISHED SKIII-MIIXTHLY BY 



DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG BEES. 



SOMETHING FURTHER FROM FRIEND DC)()I.1TTI,E. 



youuf 



ATELY 1 saw the statement that " bees seem 

 I to possess the power to retard the develop- 

 r ment of both egg's and larva^, as also to has- 

 ten this process," which may be true or it 

 may not be true. That the development of 

 bees is greatly retarded at times and accel- 

 erated at others, no close observer will deny; but 

 the question in doubt is, whether the bees have the 

 power of thus hastening or retarding the develop- 

 ment, or is it a condition or state of things over 

 which they have no control? I believe, as has been 

 lately given in Gleanings, that the egg is changed 

 into larva only as it is touched by the pabulum 

 from the nurse-bees, and thus far consider that the 

 bees have perfect control over the hatching 

 of the eggs; but further than this I think that 

 the time of year, temperature, etc., have more 

 to do with the matter than the bees. Extreme heat 

 will so hasten development that I have known 

 perfect young bees to hatch in less than 10 days, 

 while vei'y cool weather so retards development 

 that several cases of worker-bees being in the cell 

 for 24 days have come under my notice. In this 

 connection I wish to give some experiments which 

 rather go against my own conclusions, and favor 

 the statement at the commencement of this article; 

 yet as this i-etardiug of development, which is to 

 bespoken of, happened only at the closing of the 

 season, 1 am not sure that such as comes in mid 

 season is produced in the same way. 



For two springs past I have experimented to find 

 out the tine terapcrMtnrc reqtiired lor brood-rear- 

 iiig, by placing a .■-eli i.gistering thermometer in- 

 side the cluster of brood and bees. It is no hard 



matter to get the highest temperature ever reach- 

 ed in a hive; but to get the lowest is quite another 

 thing. As the outside air is always colder than that 

 in the hive, unless in rare instances, all there is to 

 be done to get the highest degree of heat is simply 

 to place the thermometer in the hive, leaving it 

 there as long as you wish when it is taken out, and 

 the degree noted. 



Before going further 1 will here state that 98° is 

 the warmest I have ever found it to be in the hive 

 in our hottest summer weather, when the mercury 

 was but a very few degrees colder in the shade out- 

 side. How the bees can so keep down the temper- 

 ature of the hive by ventilation is more than I can 

 see; for a hive with no bees in it becomes so hot 

 that animal life can not exist, as I once found by 

 confining a hen for a few hours in a box about the 

 size of a hive, which sat on the ground in the hot 

 sun; for when I went to get her she was dead and 

 nearly roasted. Do we know that the bees do so 

 keep down the temperature by ventilation'] May 

 they not have some other means of doing it? But, 

 to return: To get the lowest degree ever fallen to, 

 we have to place the thermometer in a very warm 

 place, so as to make it go up to 110° or over, when 

 the steel registering-bar on the cold side is drawn 

 down to this degree. If we now start for the hive 

 with it, the cool outside air will cause the mercury 

 to sink, so that our object is thwarted; and after a 

 little thought I overcame this trouble in this way : 

 I heated a piece of iron to 140°, and placed it in a 

 box. A cloth was laid on the iron, and another over 

 this, when the box was closed for a few minutes, so 

 as to warm the cloth. The thermometer was now 

 slipped between the cloth, and carried to the hive 

 so that nocooling-otr of any amount occurred, while 

 the frames were being put in place to receive 



