242 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



September 



queen introduced in her place, about 

 the middle ol' June. The date was 

 marked on the hive, and as the twenty- 

 first day thereafter arrived a careful 

 watch was kept to see when the first 

 Italian bee hatched. When this was 

 ascertained a careful watch was again 

 kept of the hive to see when the first 

 Italian bee took its flight. This hap- 

 pened about two p. m. on the eighth 

 day after the first Italian was hatched, 

 when a few came out for a "play spell," 

 but in an hour all had returned, and 

 none but black bees were seen going 

 to and from the hive. As the days 

 passed on the numbers increased at 

 each play spell (about two o'clock), 

 but none having the Italian markings 

 were seen, except at these play spells, 

 till the sixteenth day after the first 

 Italian hatched. At this time a few 

 came in with pollen and honey, com- 

 mencing work at about 10 a. m. After 

 this the number of Italian honey 

 gatherers increased, while the number 

 of blacks decreased, until on the forty- 

 fifth day after the last black bee was 

 hatched, when not a black bee was to 

 be found in or about the hive. If the 

 above is correct, and I believe it is, it 

 will be seen that the eggs for our 

 honey gatherers must be laid by the 

 queen at least thirty-seven days before 

 the main honey harvest, if we would 

 reap the best results from our bees. 

 It takes twenty-one days from the 

 time the egg is laid till the bee from 

 this egg emerges from the cell, and 

 this, added to the sixteen days before 

 this emerging bee becomes a field 

 laborer, makes thirty-seven days in 

 all from the laying of the egg to the 

 field laborer. 



From this we see how important it 

 is that we understand about all these 



little things in our pursuit and work 

 for the bees in the right time for the 

 honey harvest. 



The prospect for a large yield of 

 honey in this locality, this year, is not 

 very good, for, during the past two 

 weeks we have been having cold 

 cloudy, windy weather, which has 

 caused the queens to lay sparingly, do 

 the best I could at coaxing them to do 

 otherwise; and as these two weeks are 

 about a month in advance of our bass- 

 wood bloom, which is our main honey 

 producing flora, it is easy to see that 

 there will not be an abundance of 

 bees in the field at just the right time 

 to secure the crop, should the flowers 

 yield ever so abundantly. 



Now just a word about bees dying 

 of old age in 45 days from time of 

 hatching, as I am met with the fact 

 that many bees live over the winter. 

 The bees' life is longer or shorter just 

 in proportion to the labor it performs, 

 said labor bringing on old age just as 

 surely in 45 days when the bee is in 

 constant activity as if it dies of old 

 age in 200 days, when all this time is 

 spent in quiet repose. In this we see 

 the wisdom of the Creator, for were it 

 otherwise no colony could ever go 

 through the winter in any northern 

 climate. So long as a colony remains 

 quiet during the winter the life of all 

 but the very oldest bees is prolonged, 

 but let this same colony become uneasy 

 and go to running about the hive, 

 rearing large quantities of brood, etc., 

 as they sometimes do, and we find the 

 bees dying in mid-winter in 45 days, 

 the same as they do in the summer. 

 The better we understand all of these 

 items regarding our pets, which are 

 quite commonly over-looked by many, 

 the better shall we be prepared for 



