OCTOBER 15, 1912 



that his queen is "no good," or else that 

 laying workers have developed. Unless the 

 queen were actually found, there might be 

 some grounds for supposing this condition 

 to indicate laying workers, for it does not 

 look at all unreasonable to sujipose that 

 laying workers may drop their eggs 

 promiscuously, and that the bees themselves 

 pick them up and i^lace them in the cells. 

 Of course, if laying workers have been 

 at work very long, scattered drone brood 

 in worker cells is likely to be the result. 



Whenever a queen is crowded for room, 

 it is not uncommon to find an egg and a 

 larva in the same cell, or even two larvae. 

 If the experiment is tried of grafting two 

 larvcB in a single queen-cell, the bees will 

 feed both of them until it is time for the 

 cell to be capped over, and then one of 

 the larv£e disappears. 



Notice that one of the cells shown in the 

 cover picture contains a larva instead of 

 an egg. This cell might have been the 

 fii'st one in which the queen laid, although 

 it is moi'e likely that this egg hatched a 

 little in advance of the other. It is cer- 

 tainly true, as we have pointed out in these 

 columns before, that larvae from the same 

 queen and of the same age vary greatly in 

 size, and it would not be unreasonable to 

 supjj'ose that certain eggs hatch more quick- 

 ly than others. Some hens' eggs hatch 

 more quickly than others, and some chicks 

 make a much faster growth; so it is not 

 suri)rising that the same would be true in 

 case of Cjueens' eggs and larva?. 



But to return to our picture. We should 

 explain that the top of this picture does 

 not represent the top of the comb as it 

 originally hung in the hive. Fig. 2, page 

 658, shows a small portion of the same 

 comb in the correct jjosition. While there 

 is not absolute uniformity by any means, 

 it is safe to say that a queen while she 

 is laying an egg usually has her head 

 toward the upper part of the comb, and 

 that the egg is generally attached to one 

 of the upper sides of the base of the cell 

 near tlie center. If the comb is held ver- 

 ticallj', the egg when it is first laid does not 

 lie in a horizontal position, but inclines 

 downward toward the center of the cell 

 somewhat. The second day after the egg 

 is laid, it inclines still more, and the third 

 day it lies almost flat on the base of the 

 cell. It is thus possible to calculate more 

 or less aecuratelj' the time when the egg 

 will hatch. 



The color of the egg varies quite a little, 

 from nearly pure white to a rich cream. 

 The size also varies considerably when 

 those of different queens are compared. In 



647 



fact, the color and size seem to vary fully 

 as much as do the color and size of hens' 



eggs. 



REPORT OF THE BEE INSPECTOR IN COLORADO 

 FOR 1911. 



Those who are inclined to throw cold 

 water on honest efforts toAvard progress 

 along the line of eliminating disease from 

 our country, and who believe that bee in- 

 spectors "do more harm than good," etc., 

 should read the 1911 report by Wesley 

 Foster, the State Bee Inspector of Colo- 

 rado. Mr. Foster opens his report by ex- 

 plaining that the ai^propriation of $1000 

 for a year is so small an amount that it 

 has been necessary to confine the work to 

 the counties that can pay for a deputy 

 county inspector to work under the super- 

 vision of the State Entomologist. The 

 county inspectors who were doing inspec- 

 tion work under appointment from the 

 county judges have been retained as dep- 

 uty inspectors where the county commis- 

 sioners wei'e willing to pay their salai'ies 

 and expenses. The prosjiects are favorable 

 for a longer list of counties that are will- 

 ing to help out in tins work for 1912. 



Five years ago fourteen per cent of all 

 colonies inspected were affected with foul 

 brood. In 1911 less than two per cent 

 were found infected. Moreover, a car- 

 load shipment of bees from Kansas, where 

 foul brood is prevalent, was kept from 

 being shipped into the State. 



The following table, condensed from the 

 statistics in the report, shows briefly what 

 has been done. 



Some idea of the extent of beekeeping 

 in Colorado is gained from the full report. 

 Notice that in six counties there Avere more 

 than a thousand colonies inspected, and 

 in Mesa County alone over 8000 colonies 

 were inspected at least tAvice, and some of 

 them the third time. The inspector in this 

 ease, William Harkleroad, evidently did 

 not have much spare time. In all, 26,861 

 colonies in the State were inspected, and 

 1576 colonies Avere found diseased. 



