246 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



November, 



ed and emerging brood be frequently- 

 supplied, for otherwise the drones are 

 not sure of being well fed and vigor- 

 ous, and hence will not fly freely. 



The method which I have found to 

 be the easiest and at the same time 

 the most effective and always under 

 perfect control, is to confine the drones 

 to a super or other chamber containing 

 combs, and placed over a strong colo- 

 ny, but separated from it by "excluder 

 zinc.'' The workers pass freely and 

 store honey and the di'oues are always 

 well fed and will fly not only on the 

 day or hour we wish, but are ready at 

 any moment to talie wing. To release 

 them the upper chamber is raised at 

 the rear end a half inch from the ex- 

 cluder. The drones will tumble out 

 like a lot of youngsters from school. 

 Released from the rear of the hive th'ey 

 more readily find their way back, not 

 being attracted by the workers return- 

 ing to the regular entrance. When the 

 drones have ceased flying for the day 

 they are confined till wanted again. A 

 few drones will die from various 

 causes, but most of them keep in the 

 best of condition. I stock such an up- 

 per chamber either by placing in it 

 combs of drone brood, or by releasing 

 therein a trapful or more of drones'. 

 The first way is the best, and one is 

 sure of having all the drones of the 

 desired stock. 



I do not know whether this plan Is 

 original or whether I -.lot an inkling of 

 it from some article, but it works most 

 satisfactorily. The life of the drone 

 offers the bee student an almost imex- 

 plored field, and it should yield rich 

 returns to the diligent searches. 



Pro\Mdence, R. I., Oct. 7. 1903. 



(The October number of the Irish 

 Bee Journal contained a discussion re- 

 lating to drones, which, in connection 

 with Mr. Miller's for'^going study of 

 the sub.iect. will doubtless be of inter 

 est to our readers. We therefore re- 

 produce it. — Ed.) 



THE DEATH OF THE DRONES. 



(Dr. A. W. Smyth.) 



Drone bees cannot survive the win- 

 ter in a temperate climate. They can- 

 not hibernate, or form iiibernnting 

 clusters, to save them from the cold. 

 Some food is required by iMumals ■<^llen 

 in the dormant 'itate, and iLe drones 

 have no honey sac or other means 

 whereby to store it, and aUhough lar- 



ger than the worker bees, they are 

 more sensitive to cold. Thi male or 

 drone of wild bees do not live through 

 the winter. 



It is generally believed that on the 

 approach of winter the worker bees 

 kill the drones, but I never yet have 

 seen a worker bee kill a drone The 

 workers occasionally kill each other, 

 and if a young queen returns to the 

 hive after leaving with a swarm, the 

 workers will sting her at once. When 

 afterswarms or casts are being unite! 

 one of the young queens will some- 

 times take flight and return to the pn^ 

 rent colony if it happen to be near, 

 and in a very few^ minutes she will be 

 found dead in front of the hive. .A 

 worker or qiieen bee entering a 

 strange hive is frequently killed, but 

 a drone rarely or never. 



The workers in the fall keep march- 

 ing and driving out the drones, so as 

 to have them die on the outside of the 

 hive and away from the colony. A 

 dead drone in the hive in winter ist 

 very ob.iectionable to the workers. A 

 whole colony of workers frequentl.v die 

 in the hive, but I never detected any 

 unpleasant odor from dead worker 

 bees, while a dozen or two of dead 

 drones will give off a very disagreeable 

 odor in putrefaction. The poison in 

 the worker bee becomes disseminated 

 through the body after death and ar- 

 rests decomposition. It is a curious 

 provision of nature that the poison of 

 the worker bee should act as a disin- 

 fectant in the dead bee for the pro- 

 tection of the living, but all the facts 

 indisputably lead to that conclusion. 



It is known that the bodies of ani- 

 mals and men fatally poisoned with 

 the salts of arsenic or of antimony re- 

 sist decomposition for some time: and 

 long ago it was thought that the occu- 

 pation of individuals had something 

 to do with preserving their bodies after 

 death. Shakespeare expresses this 

 idea when he makes the grave-maker 

 say to Hamlet that "a tanner will last 

 vou nine year." The application to the 

 tanner is. as intended, ludicrously ab- 

 surd: but in the idea there may be a 

 modicum of truth. 



In Shakespeare's time the microbes 

 were not known, and water was con- 

 sidered the great cause of deca.r. AA'e 

 know now that water alone, without 

 the microbes, cannot decompose organ- 

 ic matter, and that, as the mlcobeft 

 are composed of fifty per cent, of wa- 



