1900 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



63 



at will and that she can fertilize the 

 worker eggs without backing into the 

 cell as some claim she must. 



In May, 1899, as I was looking for 

 queens in my apiary, I came to a colony 

 and, upon taking out the brood comb, I 

 discovered that the eggs were deposited 

 in a peculiar shape. Some were cling- 

 ing to the side of the cell while others 

 were in their proper place, at the bot- 

 tom. Upon seeing the position of the 

 eggs I became anxious to see the queen. 

 On linding her I noticed that she had 

 been in a battle royal at some previous 

 time and had lost most of her legs on the 

 right side. She laid five or sij^ eggs 

 while I was holding the frame, and in no 

 case did she back into the cell to lay, 

 but crawled directly over it and dropped 

 the egg into the cell, and hence the pos- 

 ition of the eggs. 



At this time there was no drone brood 

 in the hive; all apparently worker brood. 

 I also saw some of her brood that had 

 just hatched, and they were as perfect 

 as any young workers I ever saw. The 

 queen being a cripple, it was impossible 

 for her to back into the cells as other 

 queens do, but had to deposit her eggs 

 as stated above. 



The point I wish to make is this : 

 That the size of the cell makes no differ- 

 ence as to the queen laying drone or 

 worker eggs, and that she fertilizes the 

 eggs at her will. 



Crary Mills. N.Y. 



I 



PROLIFICACY. 



. Is it an Inherent Quality, or Determined 

 by the Influence of the Workers 

 Upon the Queen? 



BY W. H. I'RIDGEN. 



DOES a queen use her own sweet 

 pleasure in the matter of laying, 

 as seems to be the prevailing idea, 

 or does she simply respond to the wish 

 of the workers in depositing the kind 

 and quantity of eggs, when and where 

 wanted? 



The workers control in all things, and 

 the queen fills the position of an indis- 

 pensable and highly respected servant 

 rather than that of a supreme ruler. 



Exchange places with Italian and 

 German queens early in the spring — the 

 Germans being naturally earlier breed- 

 ers — and note the results. The black 

 bees will proceed with brood rearing as 

 though nothing had happened, while 

 the Italians will pursue the even tenor 

 of their ways. Italian queens mated to 

 black drones have the propensity for 

 early breeding transmitted to their off- 

 spring only, their prolificness not being 

 affected by the mating ; but still such 

 bees are famous for their early and rapid 

 breeding, and almost invai'iably come 

 out ahead of their thoroughbi'ed cousins 

 in this respect. Surely the difference 

 must be due to the desires of the work- 

 ers, and not the will of the queens. 



The same holds good in swapping 

 queens of the same race or strain all 

 purely mated where the difference is due 

 to varying numerical strength or 

 amount c f stores present ; there being 

 no perceptible difference in the progress 

 of either colony caused by the change. 



Thus far we are only considering 

 good queens and energetic bees with 

 varying characteristics and conditions, 

 some of which will be in the lead one 

 season and others another; those reap-'T 

 ing the harvest that are in the right, 

 conditions as to both brood and bees at 

 the beginning of the flow, which also 

 varies in different seasons. Of course 

 there are worthless queens and bees, 

 and industrious bees cannot change 

 an unprolific queen to a good one 

 and neither can a good queen cause 

 a marked difference in the building up 

 or progress of an inferior colony until 

 her bees predominate. 



Whether the fault is in the queen 

 herself or her offspring, or both, the 

 final results are the same and she should 

 not be tolerated ; but usually the diffi- 

 culty is in deciding these things before 



