398 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Novi'uiber 



each pleasant day,) but none having 

 the Italian markings were seen, except 

 at these playspells, till the sixteenth 

 day after the first Italian hatched. 

 At this time a few came in with pol- 

 len and honey, commencing to work 

 at about 10 a. m. After this the 

 number of Italian honey gatherers in- 

 creased while the number of blacks 

 decreased, until the 45th day after the 

 last black bee was hatched, when not 

 a black bee was to be found in or 

 about the iiive. If the above is cor- 

 rect, and I believe it is, it will be seen 

 that the eggs for our honey gatherers 

 must be laid by the queen 37 days 

 before our main honey harvest, if we 

 would secure the best results from our 

 bees ; as it takes 21 days from the 

 time the ^^g is laid to the time the 

 bee emerges from the cell, and this 

 added to the sixteen makes the thirty- 

 seven days. The above is applicable 

 to any portion of the country where a 

 certain flora produces the larger part 

 of the honey crop. To be sure, the 

 bees from the time they are three days 

 old, help to perform the labors in the 

 hive, such as building comb, feeding 

 the larva, evaporating the nectar, etc., 

 hence are of much value toward secur- 

 ing the crop of honey, if we have 

 plenty of older bees beside, but other- 

 wise all hatching after the middle of 

 the honey harvest are of little use so 

 far as our honey crop is concerned. 

 Another thing which is acertained by 

 these experiments, which was that the 

 bees which gather the honey are not 

 the ones which deposit it in the cells. 

 I was reading in one of the papers not 

 long ago, how the loaded bees from 

 the fields carried their honey easily to 

 the top of a four story hive. This 

 was used as an argument in favor of 



placing the empty combs on top of the 

 full ones, instead of raising up the 

 second or third story and placing 

 them between the full combs, as is 

 usually recommended by those u^ing 

 the tiering up plan. As far as the 

 loaded bees are concerned it makes no 

 difference, as will be seen when I state 

 that on the fifteenth day after the first 

 Italian hatched, when none but black 

 bees were seen going in and out at the 

 entrance, I found that by taking off 

 the cover and examining the sections 

 that scarce a black bee was in them 

 but all were Italians, which were at 

 work there, building comb and depos- 

 it! ug honey. After this I used an 

 observatory hive co.ntaining but one 

 comb. In this I also had black bees 

 as field bees, and young Italians for 

 the inside work. By watching the 

 entrance through the glass I could see 

 the loaded bees come in, and when 

 one came on the side next to me, I 

 could easily see what it did with its 

 load of honey. The bee would pass 

 along on the comb till it came to a 

 young bee, when it would put out its 

 tongue toward the young bee. If this 

 bee had no load it would take the 

 honey, but if it had our field bee 

 must try again till one is found that 

 could take the load, when it was given 

 up to it. The field bee then rested a 

 little while, when it would go for an- 

 other load. Thus it will be seen that 

 any entrance leading direct to the 

 surplus arrangement, as was formerly 

 made in many hives, is no use, but on 

 the contrary is a positive damage, as 

 in cold or cool nights it causes the 

 bees to leave the sections, from allow- 

 ing two much cold air to enter them. 

 To secure the best results, it is neces- 

 sary to be fully acquainted with all of 



