this singular result is arrived at, that a yel- 

 low niotlier dues not lay any males at all; 

 that they are all laid by workers. This is 

 the case, tor instance, in a mixed hive in 

 which only black males are seen. What 

 then becomes of Dzierzon's theory ? It 

 would have been as well to have frankly 

 denied it at first, as to arrive at la«t by a 

 roundabout way at the very denial it was 

 sought to avoid. This question, whether 

 workers lay eggs, is well enough set now 

 for us to expect a positive solution in the 

 next season. 



I know well that more than one bee-cul- 

 turist will give more attention than has 

 hitherto been done, to the male population 

 of mongrel hives. To obtain absolutely 

 conclusive results it will be necessary to 

 proceed in the following manner : To col- 

 lect the male offspring of an Italian mother 

 of pure race, who has been impregnated by 

 a male of the same breed. On the other 

 hand, to collect the sons of a mother born 

 of the preceding one, but impregnated by a 

 black male. If the last, take them alto- 

 gether, are darker than the first, we shall 

 have proved undeniably the incorrectness 

 of Dzierzon's proposition. The existence 

 or absence of egg-laying workers will then 

 remain to be proved. If the mother be 

 taken away at the proper time, the careful 

 examination of all that passes in the hive, 

 after she is taken away, will allow us to see 

 how far the opinion, that egg-laying work- 

 ers habitually exist, is rightly founded. 



J. Perez, Proffesseur 

 a' la Faculte des Sciences de Bordeaux. 



From the Michigan Farmer. 



Pollen and Wax. 



[Translated by Chas. Benton, Dearborn, Mich.] 



The bee gathers nectar from various blos- 

 soms, and at the same time secures the pol- 

 len which it finds on the anthers. When it 

 cannot obtain the nectar, it contents itself 

 with the pollen. 



In the months of April and May, the bee 

 gathers pollen all day long, but in June and 

 July only till about 10 o'clock in the morning, 

 probably because after that time the pollen, 

 as well as the flowers, is a little dry and the 

 small particles do not unite as well. In the 

 afternoon it appears to seek only the flow- 

 ers that stand in the shade. The dampness 

 contained within the blossoms enables the 

 bee to pack the pollen in little balls, which, 

 in the bee-keeper's vocabulary, are called 

 pollen baskets. If one catches a bee which 

 is returning home, and examines the pollen 

 baskets with a microscope he finds nothing 

 but the dust from the anthers, which has as 

 yet undergone no change ; it does not 

 alter when taken between the fingers and 

 kneaded ; if held over the fire in a spoon it 

 does not melt but burns, and when it is put 

 into water it sinks, which would not be the 

 case if it were wax. 



Should we proceed on the supposition 

 that the particles of pollen contain wax and 

 that the bee only removes the outer coating 

 in order to obtain the wax, experiment will 

 show that no amount of rubbing and knead- 

 ing will produce wax from the particles. 

 Earlier naturalists were of the opinion that 



the bee formed wax by mixing honey and 

 pollen, however all experiments of this kind 

 contradict the assertion. Neither can wax 

 be produced, as some think, by mixing pol- 

 len with bee-poison. The following para- 

 graph contains in a few words a statement 

 of how wax is produced : 



How does the bee produce wax ? Pure 

 wax is produced by the worker-bee from 

 sweet juices and not from pollen. After a 

 wax-worker has filled its sac with nectar 

 from the flowers and returned to the hive it 

 remains for some time hanging. In the 

 meantime a chemical process takes place in 

 its body, i. e. a decomposing of the honey 

 and a separation of the materials. After 

 some time it secretes between the rings on 

 the under side of the abdomen a glutinous 

 substance, which remains hanging to the 

 body and forms into thin leaves. The bee 

 loosens these semicircular portions from its 

 body, passes them forward to its mandibles, 

 and fashions them into cells. This is real 

 wax. It is prepared in the body of the bee 

 from honey, and emerges from the peculiar 

 glands on the under side of the abdomen.— 

 Bienenvater Bohemia. 



Exporting Honey to Spain. 



In an exchange we find the following item 

 concerning the exporting of American 

 honey to Spain : 



A caveat was recently filed for protecting 

 all honey stored in Harbinson's frames by 

 means of an ingenious device of glass and 

 pasteboard, which, when finished, presents 

 the appearance of the neatest imaginable 

 cap, weighing about 2% lbs. each. One 

 dozen of these are packed in a crate, and is 

 a prominent feature in the trade, and is 

 continually increasing. It is mostly sent 

 to France, where it was not introduced 

 until this last winter. We know our read- 

 ers will be astonished when we tell them 

 that a merchant chartered a sailing vessel 

 to go to Malaga, Spain, for a cargo of raisins, 

 and on her outward bound trip she carried 

 no less than 10,000 lbs. of Mr. Harbinson's 

 honey, protected and packed in this manner, 

 to their branch house in Bordeaux, where it 

 is being satisfactorily disposed of. There 

 is a heavy duty in France on all goods 

 packed in cans, jars or bottles imported in- 

 to that country, so the trade in honey to 

 that country will be confined to packages. 

 Carpenters were employed, and this honey 

 all made perfectly fast on board the vessel, 

 and notwithstanding they encountered 

 rough weather, it was landed in reasonably 

 good order. 



Pyrmont, Germany, May 18, 1879. 

 Your German book, entitled "Bienen- 

 Kultur," came duly to hand. The contents 

 are highly interesting, and in a great many 

 places quite new to us. What a paradise 

 for bees and their keepers is your country, 

 in comparison to ours ! With but little 

 care, but with sound apistic knowledge, 

 you get hundreds of pounds of the best 

 honey, while we with unceasing care and 

 study earn but a few pounds. 



A. L.OTTMANN. 



