THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



265 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WASHINGTON, JUNE, 1870. 



n^ With this number closes the fifth volume of 

 this Journal. Though it is gratifying to us to be 

 able to say that the volume ends with a largely in- 

 creased subscription list, it is nevertheless true that 

 the bee-keepers of the country have not, thus far, 

 sustained our effort to establish an organ of commu- 

 nication for the common benefit of those interested in 

 bee-culture, as generally and as generously as we 

 presumed they would when m'c engaged in the 

 enterprise. Though the Journal now does somewhat 

 more than pay cost, our aggregate expenditures for 

 its support since its commencement largely exceed 

 our total receipts, regardless of time and labor de- 

 voted to the work. Of this, liowever, we have not 

 complained, trusting that, in due season, our ser- 

 vices and efforts woiild be properly appreciated in 

 the quarters to which we must look for encourage- 

 ment and remuneration. With increasing patronage, 

 ■we have steadily enlarged and improved the Journal ; 

 and it is our constant endeavor to make it keep pace 

 with the progress which the specialty to which it is 

 devoted is continually making at home and abroad. 

 But to improve the paper to the extent we con- 

 template, and publish it as frequently as its steadfast 

 supporters desire, demands more ample fostering aid 

 than we have yet received. Give us that,— gi\e it 

 right speedily, and the American Bee Journal 

 shall soon be made all that its warmest friends 

 wish it to be, without deviating an iota from that 

 impartiality and fail- dealing which have always been 

 among its prominent characteristics. Will our friends 

 assist us in the effort to increase its circulation? 

 Each can do much in its behalf, in his own imme- 

 diate neighborhood, by presenting it to the notice of 

 practical bee-keepers who are not yet numbered 

 among its patrons. Those who have already done so, 

 have our cordial thanks for their kindness. 



The carrying in of saw-dust for pollen, as 

 noticed by Novice, was observed many years ago in 

 Germany, and occasionally in this country ; but 

 appears to have been practiced this spring, more 

 generally than usual here, by the bees, especially in the 

 west and southwest. To what extent, or how, it can 

 be used by them, as a substitute for the pollen of 

 fruit blossoms, remains to be ascertained. 



In the Bienenzeitung, vol. 6, No. 20, for 1850, Mr. 

 Scholtisz stated that he saw his bees carrying pellets 

 formed of charcoal dust, which were black as jet, and 

 had a sweetish taste- the dust having evidently been 

 slightly moistened with honey. 



The plant mentioned by Mr. Argo as springing 

 up in a vineyard and furnishing early pasturage for 

 his bees, and of which he sent us a specimen, is the 

 Lnndum or dead nettle; but whether the stem-clasping 

 or the 2^w-ple, the specimen did not enable us to de- 

 termine — probably the former, as the latter is com- 

 paratively rare. It is a good honey plant in its 

 season, but otherwise a worthless weed, introduced 

 from Europe, and not easy to extirpate when it gets 

 a foothflJd. It is an annual, quite hardy, often 

 blossoms in mid-winter when the weather is mild, 

 and seeds profusely. The pollen gathered from the 

 {lowers is orange colored. 



Bees' Metamorphoses. 



According to recent careful observations made in 

 Switzerland, the development of queens, drones and 

 workers proceeds as follows, in the ordinary tem- 

 perature of the hive in spiing and summer: 



The egg hatches on the third day after being laid. 

 The queen remains in the larval state, in the open 

 cell five daj-s ; the worker five days ; and the drone 

 six days and twelve hours. In spinning the cocoon, 

 the queen spends one day, the worker one day and 

 twelve hours, and the drone three days. After spin- 

 ning the cocoon the queen remains a larva two days 

 and sixteen hours, the worker three days, and the 

 drone two days and twelve hours. After changing, 

 the queen remains in the nymph or pupa; state four 

 days and eight hours, the worker seven days and 

 twelve hours, and the drone nine days. Hence, from 

 the capping of the cell to the issuing of the bee, the 

 queen usually requires eight days, the worker twelve, 

 and the drone fourteen days and twelve hours ; mak- 

 ing from the laying of the eggs to the eniQj-ging of 

 the perfect insect, the normal period of sixteen days 

 for the queen, twenty for the worker, and twenty- 

 four for the drone. This period, however, is occa- 

 sionally hastened or retarded by the peculiarly propi- 

 tious or unpropitious state of the weather or the 

 temperature of the hiv^; and the term has been found 

 to vary, 



In the queen, from the 15th to the 32d day. 

 " woker, " 19th " 26th " 



" drone, " 23d " 28th " 



Attaching Guide Combs to Frames or Bars. 



CoTTAGB Cheese Cement.— Dissolve one ounce of 

 borax in six ounces of water, and use the solution 

 for mixing with curd or cottage cheese to I'educe it to 

 the consistence of paste. Spread a thin layer of this 

 on the surface of the frame or bar to which the guide 

 comb is to be attached ; cut your comb into strips of 

 about one-inch in width, and press these gently on 

 the paste, lengthwise of the frame, from end to end. 



