JULY 15, 1915 



593 



NOTES IROM3GERMANY 



15V J. A, HKBERLK 



Tlie leather, W. lluiizejk, icpurU'd in tlu' 

 Deutsche Imker aus Bochmen an inlerestiuii' 

 observation oC bees moving eggs. He says 

 the various instances of bees moving egg's, 

 as reported in ilie contemporary bee-litera- 

 ture, were never convincing to him. That 

 bees Avith a hiying queen take eggs from 

 one comb and carry it to anotlier, no ex- 

 perienced beekeeper will believe. The fol- 

 lowing instances will prove that a queeiiless 

 colony which received a fertile (jueen in a 

 cage leally did move eggs. 



" Tiie middle of July, 191;}, in the pres- 

 ence of tlie owner, the merchant Jos. Flei- 

 scher, of Reichenberg, I examined an after- 

 swarm that bad been there before, and 

 found it queenless. Mr. Ed Sieber, our 

 A-ice-president, was also present, and gave 

 us a young fertile queen which I took from 

 an after-swarm and gave it to this ciueenless 

 colony the same day about 4 p. ir., using a 

 Siicking-cage. [These round cages are stuck 

 into the comb with the queen, giving lier a 

 conil) area of ly^ to 1^^ inches in diameter. 

 To liberate the queen the cage must be jiull- 

 ed out or the bees have to gnaw deep into 

 the comb.] 



" The queenless colony was on four large 

 combs. I pulled the fourth comb back 

 enough to get I'oom for a nice comb I had 

 selected from tlie comb-chest, caged the 

 queen on it, and put it in the prepared 

 space. Immediately after I had shoved up 

 the comb that I had pulled back to inake 

 I'oom for the comb with the queen on it, the 

 colony made that peculiar humming wliieh 

 all practical beekeepers know means joy, 

 and began to cover the cage. The field l)ees 

 returning apparently recognized tlie change, 

 delayed before the entrance, and paid hon- 

 or to the royal presence by fanning, etc. 



'•' At 2 P. Ji. the next day I found that 

 the space between the comb on which the 

 queen had been caged was thickly covered 

 with bees, and I had to give a little smoke 

 to get at the cage to free the queen. The 

 liberated queen was moving very slowly, 

 and it took her some time to get to the other 

 side of the comb. 



" I was greatly surprised to find on the 

 side of the comb on wliich the queen had 

 been imprisoned, fresh eggs. About 300 of 

 tjiem were placed in a circle around the 

 cage. The cells that had been covered by 

 the cage were free from eggs." 



Mr. Honzejk says, " In this peculiar case 

 we may assume that the fertile queen dro]i- 

 l)ed the eges. and these fell on the bottom 



whence (he bees gathered them up; or it is 

 possible that the bees caught the eggs at the 

 meshes and placed them ai'ound the cage. 



"The supposition that the eggs were in 

 the comb when it was with the queen given 

 to tlie colony, or that they were from laying 

 workers or from an overlooked queen, is in 

 this case impossible. 



The comb in question had not been in 

 use for quite a while, and could have con- 

 tained only dried-up eggs which the bees 

 would have cleaned out as worthless. Had 

 tlie eggs been from an overlooked queen or 

 laying worker the introduced qj.ieen would 

 have been killed; but this introduced queen 

 was jovfuUy received and lovingly cared 

 for. 



"Somewhat surpiising is it that the queen 

 in the cage, although very fertile, did not 

 deposit any eggs in the cells that were at 

 her disposal. Did her instinct warn her to 

 de]iosit eggs in a place where they could 

 not be cared for by the bees, and where her 

 jn'ogeny would have to perish? Possibly. 

 Regardless of the secrets that the bees dis- 

 creetly keejD to themselves and thereby puz- 

 zle their keepers I affii'm upon the forego- 

 ing carefully sifted material that the bees 

 took the eggs dropped by the imprisoned 

 queen and placed them in a circle around 

 the cage." 



DIET FOR BEES. 



It is necessary for the well-being of our 

 bees, as well as for mankind, that the food 

 contain in sulTicient quantity all the ele- 

 ments of which the body is built up, because 

 they are gradually but continually changing 

 through waste and repair, and must be re- 

 paired by a proper diet. 



We know that bees winter well on cane 

 sugar — as far as we can see — however, we 

 cannot see very far. AVe conclude that 

 sugar is good for winter food, and that 

 may be right. As long as the bees are 

 practically resting there is little waste and 

 wear and tear of the bee organism. 



Sugar is a carbohydrate containing only 

 carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. When the 

 bees have to Avork as nurses or in the field 

 nitrogenous and mineral matter must be 

 supplied or they soon will be exhausted and 

 succumb from deficient nutrition. 



Dr. Langer-Gratz has shown that the bees 

 furnish from their body the albumen in 

 honey, and the nurse-bees the nitrogenous 

 food for the young larva). Dr. U. Kramer, 

 in an interesting article, "The Physiological 

 Inqiortance of Feeding Sugar," Iia.s shown 



