176 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



September 



insect, that aro interesting and instruc- 

 tive. The Doctor opens by giving a 

 quotation from T. W. Cowan's British 

 Bee-keepers' Guide Book, as follows : 



1. Time of incubation of egg, .. .3 days. 



2. Timeof feeding the larvae, 5 " 



3. Spinning cocoon by larvcB,. . . .1 " 



4. Period of rest, 2 " 



."). Transformation of larvae into 



nymphs, 1 "■ 



ti. Time in nymph state, 3 " 



Total, lo days. 



These experiments, while not accord- 

 ing strictly to Mr. Cowan's table, are so 

 slightly at variance that it is thought 

 the difference in time would result from 

 varying conditions of strength of the 

 colonies employed, and tend to show 

 that while it may not always be safe to 

 leave cells uncared for the full sixteen 

 days, the usually accepted time for de- 

 velopment, they may not hatch until 

 the seventeenth day, or even longer. 

 It was further shown that the bees, 

 when left to their own selecting of eggs 

 from which to rear queens, appear 

 especially ambitious to construct cells 

 after the proper age limit has passed, 

 thereby using larvie that are too old for 

 the production of queens that would be 

 approved by the scientific queen- 

 breeder of to-dciy. It is not yet known, 

 however, that this disposition is general, 

 though apparent in the case observed 

 by Dr. Miller. 



J. W. Jackson says in his section of 

 Louisiana they have three swarming 

 seasons each year — spring, summer and 

 fall. The spring and fall swarms, he 

 says, almost always cluster about the 

 premises while the summer issues very 

 frequently abscond without clustering. 

 It is not very unusual for us to have 

 two swarming seasons during the year 

 in South Florida. 



Mr. Mediseth sends from Arkansas 

 some beetles to Prof. Cook, which, he 

 says, are very bad on his bei^s — eating 

 both combs and honey. The Professor 

 says it is something new, (that is, the 

 habit is new to him) although it is a 

 near relative of an old acquaintance 

 which has the habit of burrowing into 

 ripe fruit, such as peaches, pears and 

 apples ; thus giving evidence of its ta«te 

 for good, sweet things. 



Abbott Clemens dampens one-piece 

 sections by hanging up a tin can. having 

 it filled with water and a hole punched 

 in the bottom, from which the stream is 

 allowed to pass over tne V cuts of about 



forty sections held in the hand. 



Editor Root, after a prejudice of long 

 standing against the Globe bee-veil, now 

 regards it with great favor as a head 

 protector. 



From Ttie Proiircsslve Btc-kecper. 



Mr. F. L. Thompson, than whom we 

 have no more forcible and practical 

 writer on apiarian matters, now con- 

 tributes quite regularly to the columns 

 of this journal. He never minces mat- 

 ters, nor has been accused of holding a. 

 membership in the "Mutual Admiration 

 Society." This year Mr. Thompson is 

 running three apiaries, situated from 

 six to eighteen miles apart, which are 

 several hundred miles from his former 

 location in Colorado; and he is im- 

 pressed with the important bearing which 

 the oft-mooted question of "'locality" 

 has on some bee-keeping matters. This 

 is to be observed particulaily in the 

 relative difference in the color and quan- 

 tity of propolis gathered, by which 

 the cappings of the comb-honey 

 i s affected correspondingly. H e 

 gives in detail the workings of an ar- 

 rangement for moistening sections, 

 devised by H. Rauchf uss : A very small 

 lead-pipe, with the end drawn to a point, 

 and having a very small opening for the 

 water to escaj)(\ is attached to the fau- 

 cet in a five-gallon can placed at some 

 height. The water comes with such 

 force as to go with a shot down into the 

 grooves of the sections, which are 

 placed upon edge. Mr. Thompson thinks 

 a five-foot rubber tube used on the 

 siphon principle would be better adapt- 

 ed to the general requirements and 

 would do the work as well. He has 

 used twenty-five pounds of Weed foun- 

 dation, which was just enough to fill 

 2,9.50 sections — and found it to be "very 

 brittle stuff." He says that at a tem- 

 perature at which other foundations 

 would cut all right, this will crumble 

 and waste, while, if sufficiently 

 heated to cut well, the sheets stick. 



J. B. Dodds has discovered a method 

 of moving bees a short distance without 

 loss of working force. He starts to 

 move at dark; puffs a little smoke in the 

 entrance and takes the hive to the new 

 location. Before the bees fly in the 

 morning, disfigures the old location as 

 much as possible. As soon as the bees 

 begin to stir he gives the hives a good 

 shaking up, thereby giving the bees the 

 impression that they have been moved 

 a long distance. When treated thus, he 



