598 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 17, 



versally poor. In Michigan there is only one who reports 

 good, and all the rest show from fair to poor. This is a sur- 

 prise, as we have had general reports of good seasons from 

 that State. This can be accounted for only by the fact that 

 those who order goods have a fair season, and so report ; and 

 those who do not order do not need the goods, and so of 

 course do not write us. However, taking everything into 

 consideration, the season over the country has been better 

 than the one of 1895. As to prices on comb honey, 12 cents 

 seems to be about a fair average. 



CONDUCTED BT 



OH. C. O. MILLEIi, MARBNaO, ILL. 



IQuestlonB may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.! 



Where Did the Egg: Come From? 



July 4, 1896, I examined one of my hives of bees, and it 

 contained eggs and brood. July 11 it contained neither eggs 

 nor young brood. Being away from home I did not examine 

 it again until Aug. 18; when it contained neither eggs nor 

 brood of any kind, and was apparently queenless, and had 

 been for some weeks. On Aug. 31 I opened it to introduce 

 a queen, and examined it carefully to see if there were any 

 signs of a queen. To ray surprise, I found a queen-cell con- 

 taining a larva not quite half grown, well supplied with royal 

 .ielly. But there was not the slightest sign of another egg nor 

 larva. The question is. From where did the egg the larva in 

 the queen-cell was hatched from, come ? Did the bees steal it 

 from another hive ? If not, where did they get it ? 



C. E. M. 



Answer. — Before answering your question, I'd like to 

 know what was the outcome of that queen-cell. If it con- 

 tained a drone, or if the larva died in the cell, then I should 

 guess that a laying worker had laid the egg. If a good queen 

 came out of the cell, I'd make another guess. A queen was 

 reared from some egg or larva that was present about July 

 4. She was a poor affair, was a long time in commencing to 

 lay, and then laid just one egg in the queen-cell you found. I 

 once had just such a case, and the curious part is that some- 

 times the royal progeny of such a queen may be fairly good. 



Disappearance of the Queen. 



I formed a nuclus July SO by placing a frame of brood 

 containing a queen-cell in it and tilled out the remaining space 

 with empty comb in an empty hive ; removing a strong colony 

 to another location I put this nucleus in its stead. August 12 

 this young queen hatched out a beautiful Italian queen ; Aug. 

 29 (to-day), on examining the hive, I found sealed brood about 

 half of each side of one frame, no queen that I could find, but 

 lo or 20 queen-cells mostly capped over. What became of 

 the young hatched queen I saw in the hive Aug. 12—17 days 

 before this ? 



On Aug. 12, on finding the queen hatched out, I gave 

 them two frames of comb taken from the second story of 

 another colony, which may have had eggs in it, but the bees 

 were all swept off, and besides queen-cells being in this there 

 were also 7 or 8 cells in another full frame of foundation 

 which they have partly drawn out, and which was given to 

 them the same time the empty frames of comb (Aug. 12), so 

 the young queen must have deposited the eggs in the drawn- 

 out comb foundation, which, if so, is evidence she was not lost 

 in mating. A. B. B. 



Answer. — You are probably right iu thinking that the 

 young queen that you saw in the hive Aug. 12 laid the eggs 

 for the brood you found on the 29th, and that no queen was 

 present on the latter date. The question is, what happened 



to the queen after she laid those eggs ? I don't know. It isn't 

 the usual thing for a queen to disappear in that way, but if 

 you have any considerable experience you"ll find that such 

 cases do occasionally occur. It is just possible that you had 

 the hive open after the queen began to lay, and in putting 

 back a frame you crushed the queen. But you may not have 

 opened the hive at all between Aug. 12 and Aug. 29, in 

 which case you prove an alibi, and must be exonerated from 

 all blame. Then it is left for us to guess what may have hap- 

 pened with the bees themselves. In rare cases a small fugi- 

 tive lot of bees may have gotten into the hive, causing the 

 balling and death of the queen. Possibly there was something 

 about the queen that was not satisfactory to the bees, and 

 they superseded her thus early, for I've known cases where a 

 queen was superseded before laying a dozen eggs. Other 

 accidental occurrences might be guessed at, but the sum and 

 substance is that sometimes queens disappear without our 



knowing why. 



m I ^ 



Odor of Honey Cans and Kegs — Shipping Comb 

 Foundation in Winter. 



1. Do new honey-cans ever have an odor which will not 

 leave them after scalding and airing a few hours ? 



2. How can one tell for certain whether such cans are 

 new, or old oil cans? 



:5. Will the odor from oak kegs taint the honey? 

 4. Can foundation be safely shipped in the winter ? 



E. M. H. 



Answers. — 1. I never heard anything of the kind, and 

 will be obliged if any one who knows anything about it will 

 tell. 



2. I don't know of any way except the general way in 

 which you can tell new tin from old by its unmarred bright- 

 ness. 



3. I think not materially. Paraffine the inside will make 

 a sure thing of it and guard against leakage. 



4. If well packed there ought not to be much trouble, but 



if roughly handled there is danger of a little crumbling of the 



edges. 



— ^ — I ^ 



Honey Fermentation — Oalvanized Iron Tanks 

 for Honey. 



1. Some three months ago I extracted about 40 gallons of 

 honey. It was almost all sealed over before being extracted— 

 in fact, it was allowed to remain on the hive for some time, 

 and had gotten extra thick, and the flavor was good. About 

 30 gallons of this honey was put in three 10-gallon kegs ; the 

 kegs were not filled up to the bung-hole, but say within 2 VX 

 inches of it, and the bung put in fairly tight, and the kegs 

 stored in a floored house. The balance was put in 4-gallon 

 tins, aud some bottled. The honey remained in the kegs for 

 about three months before 1 decided to ship, but on examining 

 them before doing so, I found the keg filled up to overflowing 

 —in fact, when the kegs were struck, the bung flew out with 

 a column of honey. The honey had gotten thin, had a 

 slightly sharp taste, and there were a few small bubbles at 

 the top, whereas some of the same honey which was put in 

 tins and in bottles were in first-class condition. I know that 

 honey, if left open in a damp atmosphere, will soon absorb 

 moisture, increase in quantity, and become thin, but is it pos- 

 sible for moisture to find its way through a honey-tight keg to 

 such an extent? For I am sure there was at least 2 to 3 

 quarts more liquid iu each keg than what I put in. What 

 would you advise me to do in the future in order to prevent a 

 recurrence ? Tins are not suitable packages for me. 



2. If honey be left in a new galvanized iron tank, for say 

 two months, will it spoil the flavor of the honey, or in any way 

 depreciate its value? The galvanized tin roofing on our 

 house, although there over 10 years, imparts a distinct un- 

 pleasant taste to rain water. S. N. 



Black River, Jamaica, Aug. 17. 



Answers. — 1. It seems pretty clear that there was fer- 

 meutation, and no doubt deliquescence as well. For that 

 throwing out of the bung shows the presence of restrained 

 gases coming from fermentation. It is possible that there 



