ESTABLISHED -1661 



'theOlde5T bee-paper -amer 



PubUsTied Weelrly, at 91,00 per annum. 



Sample Copy sent on Application, 



36tli Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., DECEMBER 3, 1896. 



No. 49. 



Work of Worker-Bees— California Notes 



BY PROP. A. J. COOK. 



Years ago, while working with bees preparing to issue my 

 "Bee-Keepers' Guide," I introduced on several occasions Ital- 

 ian queens into colonies of black bees for the purpose of study- 

 ing the function of the worker-bees at different ages. As 

 stated in my " Manual," I found that the age of beginning 

 field-work varied much with circumstances. In case there 

 are no old bees in the hive, the young bees will go to work in 



the field at the end of a week after coming forth from 

 the brood-cells. On the other hand, if there are old bees In 

 the hive, the workers will frequently wait two or three weeks 

 before they engage actively in field-work. There can be no 

 doubt but that the younger worker-bees are better fitted to do 

 nurse-work, and the other labor in the interior of the hive, 

 while the more mature workers are better fitted for out-door 

 work. Yet it is no doubt true that in case there are few or no 

 young bees, the old bees will do the inside work of the hive, 

 and, as intimated above, if there are no old bees, the young 

 bees will repair to the field in quest of honey and pollen much 

 sooner than they otherwise would. 



There is but very little doubt that the function of the 

 upper-head and thoracic glands are to furnish the ferment 

 which will digest the nectar of the flowers, while the lower- 

 head glands secrete a digestive liquid which acts to digest the 

 pollen. The fact that these lower-head glands are better 

 developed in the young workers, and that the other glands 

 attain their maximum development in the older bees accords 

 with what has been said above. 



It has been slated by some of the authors of our bee- 

 literature that the food given to the larvse, and probably to the 



Majority of the Members of the North AmericdU Dee KcciJcrs' Associdtioii nt Lincoln, Nebr., Oct. 7 (vul «, tSUG. 



3. Charles White. 



4. M. A. Enslow. 

 8. L. M. Brown. 



16. J. C. Stewart. 



18. Mrs. E. Wbitcomb. 



21. W. C. Frazler. 



22. Rev. Clay C. Cox. 



27. J. C. Masters. 



28. E. Kretchmer. 



29. H E. Heath 



30. Mrs. E. T. Abbott. 



31. S. H. Herrlck. 



32. E. C. Alkln. 



33. T. K, Delonsr. 



34. J. C. Knoll. 



.■J6. Prof. Lawrence Bruner. 



37. L. D. StUsoQ. 



39. Mrs. Compton. 



40. Mrs. A. L. Amos. 



41. Mrs R. C. AlklD. 



42. E. U. Glallsb. 



4:). Ernest R. Knot. 

 44. Georpe W. York. 

 4.5. A. Laini^. 



48. Dr. C. C Miller. 

 47. Dr. A. B. Mason. 



4 8. Kfv. R T. Abbott. 



49. Mrs. Eugene Secor. 



.">0. Hon. Knirene Secor. 



.51. Mrs. .1. N. Heater. 



f>'2. Mli-8 .Jennie Razer. 



53. Mrs. V. Collins. 



.5.5. Chancellor MaoLean. 



36. A. I. Root. 



57. Mrs. A. L. Hallenbeck. 



