1V()8 



GLEANlNCiS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1005 



The basket is not smooth, as with tlie 

 worker-bee, but covered with tine hairs. 

 Ottenbac'h, Switzerland. 



IIG. 5.- 



-THE MIDDLE (OR SECOND) LEG. 

 The spur is shown at a. 



pincers with which the bee can grasp minute ob- 

 jects — for instance, the wax pellets on the abdo- 

 men. On the end of the tibia there is a little 

 comb consisting of about 18 bristles, the purpose 

 of which is still unknown. On the palma of the 

 hind leg we tind on the worker-bee the " brush," 

 consisting of nine or ten series of bristles. With 

 this brush the bee gathers the pollen that adheres 

 to the body, or with it cleans the body from 

 dust, etc. Thus we see that the legs of the 

 honey-bee serve not only as organs of locomo- 

 tion but for cleaning, carrying, etc. 



With the drone and the queen the first and 

 second pairs of legs do not differ materially from 

 those of the worker. On the hind leg the brush 

 of the queen and drone consists of finer and quite 

 irregular bristles, and there is no comb at all. 



THE ALEXANDER PLAN POR 

 MAKING INCREASE. 



FIG. 7. 



-TIBIA-PALMAR JOINT OF THE THIRD (OR HIND) LEG 



a, comb; b, brush. 



Allowing Colonies to Rear Tlnir 

 Own Queens. 



I have been very much interested in 

 reading Mr. Alexander's plan fur mak- 

 ing increase, and would like to ask him 

 a few questions about it. 



How would it do to select a frame or 

 two of capped brood having also some 

 eggs and young larv;t around the bot- 

 tom and sides, and put it above an ex- 

 cluder with a flight-hole; then when the 

 young queen's eggs begin to hatch, re- 

 move the old hive andj set the young 

 <iueen down, when the colony would be 

 ready for extracting or incre.ise, or set 

 the young queen and brood in the low- 

 er or old hive.which has now two queens, 

 and therefore is not likely to swarm. 

 By shaking the youtig queens in front of the 

 lower hive as soon as they commence to lay we 

 can be sure to have young queens always, with- 

 out having to look up the old one. They will 

 surely be as good as superseded ones. Some of 

 our best bee-keepers advise letting colonies do 

 their own requeening. I should like to have 

 Mr. Alexander's opinion of these things, and I 

 think there are many others who would also. 

 Salem, N. J. Henry Bassett. 



[The above was referred to Mr. E. W. Alex- 

 ander, whose reply follows. — Ed.] 



Friend Bassett does not say, but I suppose he 

 intends to give a ripe queen-cell or virgin for the 

 bees to mature a queen from. Now, this looks 

 all right, and it would be, providing 

 the bees from below w^ould tolerate 

 a virgin so near their laying queen. 

 With us, when we have tried this 

 way of maturing young queens, at 

 least 90 per cent were balled and 

 killed when about two or three days 

 old. 



This is one thing I never could ac- 

 complish — that is, keep a virgin alive 

 where bees with a laying queen had 

 free access to each queen. 



I know some recommend supersed- 

 ing queens by simply letting a virgin 

 run into the hive at the entrance. 

 We have tried this hundreds of times 

 when we had a surplus of virgins, and 

 ne\er, but once, was the virgin al- 

 lowed to kill the laying queen. If 

 I had a breeding queen worth fifty 

 dollars in a good full colony I would 

 not be afraid to have a pint of virgin 

 queens shaken down at the entrance, 

 for I am sure each virgin would be 

 grabbed and stung by the workers 

 before she could ever meet the laying 



