630 



XHE MBdEmiCJS-P* mMWi J©'PKIfMEr. 



Xlie OOl.UE.^ ROU. 



Sweet flower that by the wayside grows, 

 And where the noisy brooklet flows, 

 How far and widespread no one knows— 

 Sweet Golden-rod. 



A nation's suflfrage flows to thee 

 To preside o'er its destiny 

 And brighten all futurity- 

 Loved Golden-rod. 



Thy thornless stem shall teach us peace. 

 The arts of war to give release, 

 And from unholy strife to cease- 

 Dear Golden-rod. 



Yet if war's passion shall arise. 

 The smoke of conflict dim our eyes, 

 A rod be thou to enemies— 

 A Golden-rod. 



When peace returns, a symbol be 

 Of blessing and prosijerity. 

 Which fills the arms of charity- 

 Bright Golden-rod. 



The maiden pins thee to her breast. 

 By little children e'er caressed, 

 In love of all forever blessed- 

 Loved Golden-rod. 



OUK GOLDEN ENSIGN. 



Flower that glad rays with charm indue. 



With con.iuring rods evoked in saffron dye. 

 To vest nude hills in .ioy of hue. 

 To paint with cheer each vale's sad view. 



And point above to Freedom's sapphire skj , 

 Our nation's beams now summon thee. 



For growth of Liberty aglow to stand. 

 Her figured strength in bloom to be— 

 In garlands sun-wrought for the free. 



An aureate ensign on her golden land '. 



— Union, Brandon, It. 



m 



Drones from Eggs that Would 

 Have Produced Workers. 



Written far the American Bee Journal 



Query 657.-1. Have the worker-bees the 

 power to remove the fertilizing quality, and 

 rear drones from eggs that otherwise would 

 have produced worker-bees ? I made a colony 

 by dividing, to experiment, and did not give 

 them a solitary drone-cell, but gave them 

 combs built entirely on full sheets of founda- 

 tion ; nevertheless, they reared about a dozen 

 drones near each of two or three of the queen- 

 cells. 2. Where did they get the drone-eggs? 

 —Nebraska. 



1. I tlo not kaow. 2. I do not know. 

 — Mahala B. Ohaddock. 



1. No. 2. Probably from drone- 

 laying workei'.s. — Dadant & Son. 



1. No, the ,<>pcniinlozoa are beyond 

 their reach. 2. A worker laid theiu. 

 — M. Mahin. 



1. I sometimes think that perhap.s 

 they have, as I have noticed the same 

 thing.— R. L. Taylor. 



I do not know, but your experiment 

 would seem to demonstrate it. — C. H. 



DiBBERN. 



1. I think not. 2. They were laid 

 in the cells when yon made the divi- 

 sion, I presume. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



1. No. 2. They probably "stole 

 'em " from some other hive. Bees have 

 been known to do so, under similar 

 circumstances. — Will M. Barnum. 



1. Bees do many strange things that 

 we do not always understand. 2. They 

 were laid by the queen.— H. D. Cut- 

 ting. 



I do not know. I have made .similar 

 observations, that I could hardly ex- 

 plain any other way ; still, it is easy to 

 be mistaken.- C. C. Miller. 



1. I think not. I have seen the 

 same thing a number of times. 2. I 

 think that the worker-bees furnished 

 the drone-eggs. — G. L. Tinker. 



They have no such power. The 

 drone-eggs were laid by laying workers, 

 in case they were not already laid in 

 the comb by the queen, before you 

 gave it to them.— J. P. H. Brown. 



I could not say. I have had the 

 same experience that you speak of, 

 but how the change was accomplished, 

 I cannot tell. — G. M. Doolittle. 



I cannot guess. I have not paid 

 much attention to this part of bee-cid- 

 ture, as I have been too busy ti»ying to 

 make a living out of the business. — 

 James Heddon. 



I think that they have the power to 

 do so, but I was not aware that they 

 used it. Your statement rather looks 

 as though they do sometimes remove 

 the fertilizing lluid. — Eugene Secok. 



1. No. 2. The eggs were unferti- 

 lized when deposited by the queen, or 

 got so by exposure .or other causes. 

 Bees have neither the power to ferti- 

 lize nor unferlilize the eggs. — P. L. 



VlALLON. 



No ! I feel sure that they do not, 

 though some bee-keepers think that 

 they do. I should say that in the case 

 you mention, the comb had some 

 drone-cells, or else drone-eggs, or un- 

 impregnated eggs in the worker-cells. 

 — A. J. Cook. 



1. I thiiik not. 2. Queens, especially 

 very old ones about to be superseded, 

 sometimes lay "drone-eggs" in cells 

 of worker size. The "drone-eggs" 

 mentioned might have been deposited 

 by laying-workers.— J. M. Shuck. 



1. You are entering the realms of 

 mystery. Laying-workers might pro- 

 duce the state of things which you de- 

 scribe ; in fact, there are several wa5"s 

 in which such a state of things might 

 be brought about. You do not state 

 a very full proposition, but as stated, I 

 do not think that a positive answer can 

 be given J. E. Pond. 



1. No. 2. The eggs had been laid 

 by the queen that laid the worker-eggs 

 ^rom which tlie (jueen-cells were rear- 

 ed. I have often noticed that worker- 

 bees will neglect to care for drone-eggs 

 at certain times, when they have a 

 good queen ; wliile if the combs con- 

 taining such eggs (drone-eggs) happen 



to be given to a queenless colony, the 

 queenless bees will be careful to nurse 

 the eggs into drones. — G. W. Demaree. 



1. The spermatozoa are not under 

 their control, nor within their reach. 2. 

 In all probability the drone-eggs were 

 from laying-workers. — The Editor. 



Bees Building Partially- Com- 

 pleted Queen-Cells. 



Written tor the Amerierm Bee Journal 



Query 658.— Why do bees that have no 

 notion of swarming, build what appears to be 

 partially-completed queon-cells. which never 

 contain eggs or larvse ?— L. M. 



I do not know.— J. M. Hambaugh. 



I do not know. — Eugene Secor. 



Do they not have just a little idea of 

 it ?— C. C. Miller. 



That is what has often puzzled me. — 



C. H. DiBBERN. 



I have never known them to do so, 

 unless they were preparing to super- 

 sede their queen. — M. Mahin. 



In anticipation of the time when 

 they may wish to swarm or supersede 

 their queen. — R. L. Taylor. 



The bees have an instinct to always 

 have these queen-cell bases ready, 

 whether they afterward conclude to 

 use them or not. — James Heddon. 



Do you know that thej' had no 

 notion of swarming, when those cells 

 were started ?— H. D. Cutting. 



To show the inconsistency which 

 prevails throughout the material king- 

 dom. "Next." — Will M. Barnum. 



I suppose that it is done in antici- 

 pation of a How of nectar, that fails to 

 come.— G. L. Tinker. 



The motto, "In lime of peace, pre- 

 pare for war," seems to be applied to 

 bees, as their instinct makes them al- 

 ways on the alert. — P. L. Viallon. 



I do not know. I do not know that 

 bees have a rcaf:on for doing anything 

 that they do. -J. M. Shuck. 



They build them in anticipation of 

 that great event. They desire to keep 

 busy, and to employ all their spare 

 time. — J. P. H. Buo-WN. 



I do not know what causes them to 

 do this, but I do know that in the past 

 I have taken advantage of this fact, in 

 using these queen-cups for "cradles" 

 in which to rear the best of queens. — 

 G. M. Doolittle. 



It is verj' common to see embryo 

 queen-cells, started by any prosperous 

 colony when gathering honey rapidly, 

 whether thej' swarm or not. But how 

 does the querist know that the bees 

 have " no notion of swarming," at the 



