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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



studio, who has never practically studied 

 the nature and habits of the wonderful 

 little honey-bee, and manipulated it from 

 day to dav, this claim for our beloved art 

 may excite a smile. Nevertheless, the 

 apiarian devotee who has studied,observed, 

 and handled the marvelous denizens of 

 his hives, for twenty years, will affirm his 

 art, no less than the Havor of the nectar it 

 produces, to be indeed fine. Ladies of 

 high culture and refined tastes are en- 

 gaged (and successfully too) in bee-cul- 

 nure with all the enthusiasm which is 

 naturally inspired by a congenial and en- 

 nobling pursuit ; and tliis is the best proof 

 of our contention as to its lesthetio status. 

 Being withal a healthful occupation, bee- 

 culture invitingly offers itselt to those in 

 delicate health and not strong enough for 

 hard physical labor. In numerous in- 

 stances such persons, by engaging in this 

 pursuit, have not only procured liberal 

 means of subsistence, but have also re- 

 covered lost health and strength. The 

 capital required is comparatively small, 

 while the average return for skilled 

 exertion is large. Hardly any other 

 legitimate business yields so large a return 

 in dollars and cents for the amount in- 

 vested and the work bestowed. True, bee- 

 keeping has its formidable obstacles and 

 serious drawbacks ; but these, while 

 sometimes troublesome to the scientific 

 apiarist, are disastrous mostly to the un- 

 skillful or negligent, or the mere neophyte. 

 And, even though the cargo of industry 

 sink, not much treasure in money or labor 

 is carried to the bottom, while a very little 

 capital added to the valuable lesson of 

 failure soon sets the redoubtable amateur 

 on his feet again. 



The honey-bee— which belongs to the 

 general branch of the animal kingdom 

 called Articulates, and to the class Insecta, 

 and to the subclass Hexapoda, and to tlie 

 order Hymenoptera, and the family 

 Apidse, and genus Apis, and species Apis 

 mellifica— is one of the most intensely 

 interesting studies in the whole domain of 

 natural history. When the immortal 

 Darwin had the scientific zeal and patience 

 to study tlie apparent Insignificant earth- 

 worm for forty long years, leaving a field 

 untouched for thirty years for the purpose 

 of studying and observing the habits of 

 these despised creatures, how compara- 

 tively easy and pleasant to study the 

 honey-bee, which is so much more useful 

 and beautiful ! The fact that the honey- 

 bee is so much more serviceable to man 

 than many others of the lower creatures 

 whose nature and habits are equally 

 wonderful, as the ant, for instance, invests 

 it with a double interest to us. Insects 

 which are pests, no matter how marvelous 

 in structure and habit, we cannot study 

 with that intense pleasure and interest we 

 can those that yield so much to our physi- 

 cal as well as mental gratification. 



Of the species. Apis mellifica there are 

 many varieties— the principal of which 

 are the Ligurian or Italian bee; the Ger- 

 man or black bee; the Syrian bee; the 

 Cyprian bee ; the yellow, Egyptian bee; 

 the amiable, Carniolan bee, of Africa ; 

 the superbly beautiful Dalmatian bee ; the 

 Smyrnian bee, very popular in Austria ; 

 and the stingless bees of South America. 

 In this country (i. e., Canada and the 

 United States) we have principally the 

 German and Italian bees ; but within the 

 past five years the Syrian and Cyprian 

 varieties have been extensively imported 

 into this i-iiuTitry. As the genus Apis is 

 not iniiigennus to tliis continent, all now 

 existing here have been introduced from 

 the Eastern Hemisphere— first the black 

 and Ligurian races, and latterly the East- 

 ern varieties. 



Each of the varieties in this country 

 (vying for "survival" as the "fittest") 

 has its distinguishing characteristics, so 

 far, however, the Italians seem to possess 

 more good points and desirable qualities 



than any of the other races, and hence are 

 the most numerous and popular among 

 advanced apiarists. Their chief distin- 

 guishing qualities are superior amiability, 

 industry, and what may be called patriot- 

 ism, or indomitable energy in defending 

 their homes against invaders, such as 

 robber-bees and the " bee-moth "—against 

 both of which they are quite invincible. 

 While different strains of this variety vary 

 considerably in color, they are in general 

 distinguished by three beautiful yellow 

 bands across the abdomen. They also 

 have longer tongues than the German 

 bees, by which they are enabled to sip the 

 nectar from places inaccessible to their 

 less favored competitors. A. J. Cook, 

 Entomological Professor in the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, who has done very 

 much to advance scientific bee-culture in 

 the United States, says on this point: 

 " The tongue of the black worker, 1 have 

 found, by repeated dissections and com- 

 parisons, made both by myself and by my 

 pupils, is shorter than that of the Italian 

 worker, and generally less hairy." In 

 confirmation of this tact, established by 

 Prof. Cook's dissections, I have freqnenlly 

 noticed my Italian bees, during a scarcity 

 of honey from oilier sources, working 

 upon the second bloom of the common 

 red clover (not the Trifolium pratense, 

 which the black bee can readily work 

 upon), when the Germans were doing, 

 nothing on it, the flower tubes being too 

 long for their tongues. 



The black bees (or rather, German, for 

 in point of fact they are not black in 

 color, but a gray-black) have some desir- 

 able qualities, though they are now being 

 rapidly superseded by the Italians. They 

 produce nicer comb honey than the Ital- 

 ians, or perhaps any other race. The pro- 

 verbial whiteness and finish of their 

 comb are due mostly to the extra capping. 

 For the Syrian races of bees, leading 

 apiarists claim .some superior qualities. 

 I am inclined to think that the Syrian 

 queens (Palestine strain) crossed with the 

 Italian drones, will presently prove to be 

 our very best bees— combining more good 

 points than any other variety. Doubtless, 

 however, the bee of the future will be 

 greatly superior to anything we have at 

 present. For purposes of experimentation 

 in developing such, we have now in 

 America several of the best varieties in 

 existence under domestication. By judi- 

 cious crossing, in accordance with tlie 

 well-known lawsof variation and heredity, 

 such a result is quite certain. The vast 

 improvement made in this way among our 

 donie.stic animals, within less tlian half a 

 century, fully warrants the eonclnsion 

 that, in the evolution of tilings so palpa- 

 ble everywhere, we may, in the case of 

 our bees, subsidize and utilize the same 

 ever acting law of progress. 



Following the S\rians, and genealogi- 

 cally closely allied to them, we have the 

 Cyprians, though not yet widely diffused. 

 They resemble the Italians, of which they 

 are supposed to be the progenitors. The 

 Cyprian bees have some good points, and 

 one very bad point. They are famous for 

 their fecundity, but equally infamous for 

 their ferocity, being maliciously expert in 

 using very "po'uted stings. The variety 

 (unless in this inspiriting western atmos- 

 phere it requires more amiability) is not 

 likely to become popular, notwilbstand- 

 ing the marvelous tecnndity of the (lueens. 

 It may be possible, by crossing with some 

 bee of good disposition, to mollify tbeir 

 bad tempers and retain their good 

 qualities. , , 



Of the remaining varieties of the honey- 

 bee, and sub-varieties, including hybrids, 

 little is practically known in this country, 

 with the exception of one or two strains of 

 the latter. The " hybrids," resulting from 

 a cross between the Italian queen and the 

 German drone, are well known in Canada 

 and the United States, and, next to the 



pure Germans and Italians, are perhaps 

 most numerous. These hybrids have 

 excellent qualities ; they make superb 

 comb ; are active and energetic ; and I 

 have observed that they stand the rigor of 

 our Canadian winters much better than 

 the pure Italians ; but they are much less 

 amiable. 



A properly constituted colony of bees 

 consists of three different kinds, viz., an 

 impregnated queen (the fully developed 

 female) ; drones (the males) ; and workers 

 undeveloped females). The queen (ab- 

 surdly called the "king-bee" from the 

 time of Aristotle, and even from Virgil 

 down to Hnber) is the mother of the 

 whole colony, and is capable of laying 

 over 3,000 eggs per day ! During the 

 height of the breeding season in the 

 honey-flow, she frequently lays from two 

 to three thousand eggs per day for many 

 consecutive days together. She remains 

 prolific from two to four years, and in 

 some instances queens have been known 

 to remain prolific upwards of five years. 

 Before the queen-bee of a colony becomes 

 quite barren, and while she is still laying, 

 if not removed by the apiarist, the work- 

 ers themselves supersede her, by killing 

 her and rearing a young queen to take her 

 place. Sometimes, however, the old, 

 worn-out mother is permitted to remain 

 in the hive while the young one is being 

 reared, and ultimately ilies of neglect and 

 depression, or is assisted to " shuffle off" 

 by her own unfilial progeny. 



The queen is reared front the same egg 

 as the worker, but in a much larger cell, 

 nearly perpendicular, and on different 

 food, called "royal jelly," which has the 

 effect of fully develoinng the sexual 

 apparatus. The time from the egg to the 

 perfect queen emerged from the cell is 

 about 16 days. In a few days after hatch- 

 ing, the young queen leaves the hive for 

 her " bridal flight," during which, and on 

 the wing, she meets the male bee or drone 

 in copulation, and becomes impregnated, 

 when she returns to the hive to remain 

 there until she leads out the first swarm, 

 which she does when she finds young 

 queens being reared in tlie hive— one of 

 them being designed to take her place. A 

 single fertile queen in a colony is the 

 noimal condition of the household, and 

 hence the old queen departs to make room 

 for her successor. Second and thiid 

 swarms are of course led out by the young 

 queens. With the exception of sometimes 

 attacking and destroying inchoate queens, 

 the sole function of the queen is to deposit 

 eggs and lead out the first swarm. After 

 her impregnation slie deposits both drone 

 and worker eggs— either kind at pleasure. 

 She is capable, however, as a v :;in 

 queen, of laying fertile drone, bu; not 

 worker, eggs. This apparently anomalous 

 fact (parthenogenesis) is now well estab- 

 lished, but not only in the case of the 

 virgin queen-bee, but in that of several 

 other insects. Sometimes worker-bees In 

 queeuless colonies lay fertile drone-eggs ; 

 but the queen is the only fully developed 

 female in the colony. 



The worker-bees, though "the bone and 

 sinew "of the hiye, are not blessed with 

 the queen's longevity. In active work, on 

 the wing and in the hive, during the honey 

 season, thev naturally live but a few 

 ^ypeks— froiii one to two months— while 

 those hatched in the fall will live until 

 spring, sometimes reaching the age of nine 

 months and upward, which is the maxi- 

 mum longevity of the worker-bee. In 

 passing from the egg to the perfect bee, 

 the worker occupies 'il days. The young 

 worker spends several days (from 10 to 1.5) 

 at home building comb, attending to the 

 young brood, receiving and depositing the 

 loads of the outside workers, and sundry 

 other little duties, before it ventures to 

 the fields to work. The duties of the 

 older workers of the colony are to gather 

 honey, pollen, and propolis, destroy and 



