1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



33 



In the latter case, the brood is from a fertile 

 ■\\ orker. 



Worker bees have incomplete sexual organs, 

 incapable of impregnation, but often in condi- 

 tion to produce unimpregnated or drone eggs. A 

 feitile worker is called a quack queen. She pla- 

 ces her eggs usually in drone cells, where they 

 can be had. You often find in one cell from 8 

 to 10 eggs, in a very irregular mass, often hang- 

 ing on the edge of the cell. The bees nurse the 

 drone brood alone, hence, a colony containing a 

 fertile worker is thus easily to be told. A colony 

 1 aving an unfruitful queen from either of the 

 above-named causes, must, just as a queenless 

 stock, go to destruction, as the working force is 

 daily diminishing, with no corresponding rein- 

 forcement from the brood. Often such colonies 

 will furnish food for robbery, which will readily 

 spread to the other colonies. 



As defectiveness of queens is generally found 

 in afterswarms and swarming parent stock, it 

 is necessary to give them the closest attention, 

 and if possible, to watch the development of the 

 brood. Should, with such colonies, an imperfect 

 queen appear, there must be no neglect in reme- 

 dying the evil. This is very easy. Drive, out the 

 swarm, remove the imperfect queen, and give 

 them a sound, one. The bees will readily permit 

 the change, as they instinctively know that it is 

 the only way in which to help themselves If 

 you are able to give them a fertile queen at once, 

 by daubing her with honey, you can throw her 

 among the bees, and she will be safely taken. 

 An unfertile queen should be kept in a cage for 

 several days before it is freed. If you have no 

 queen whatever, the bees should be set to queen 

 raising, or used to strengthen weak stocks. The 

 building of a hive containing a defective queen 

 or a drone laying one, is much aided by decapi- 

 tating the drone brood. 



A colony containing a fertile worker is very 

 difficult to cure, as the fertile worker is so diffi- 

 cult to distinguish from the other workers. The 

 bees will cling so strongly to such a supposed 

 queen, that they will destroy every unimpreg- 

 nated young queen presented to them, and will 

 even kill a perfect queen. The safest plan to 

 adopt with such a stock, is to unite with them a 

 small swarm having a good, fertile queen. The 

 fertile worker will be supplanted by the workers 

 of the added swarm. ' 



Nienbnrg. Hemme. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Langstroth Hive. 



I have been asked by over one hundred cor- 

 respondents for my opinion on the Langstroth 

 hive, spread out so as to contain the necessary 

 amount of room on the ground floor, and thus 

 do away with any necessity for the upper story. 

 Now I have never tried it for myself, but cannot 

 s;e why it will not work when properly managed. 

 I will now refer the reader to vol. vi, No. 11, 

 page 255, Side Gathering Hives, by Mr. 

 Salisbury, Camargo, 111. Mr. Salisbury is an 

 experienced and practical beekeeper, and we can 



certainly rely upon his testimony. My largest 

 twin hive was sixteen frames in width, and the 

 results were entirely satisfactory. Allow me to 

 make a few suggestions, not for the benefit of 

 the practical beekeeper, but for the benefit of 

 the novice. Make a few hives of double width, 

 and try the experiment for yourself. Piace a 

 strong colony or stock into the centre of the hive, 

 comb and all, using two division boards, one on 

 each side of the comb. This confines the bees 

 to the standard size for the time being. Now as 

 soon as the weather comes right and the bees 

 populous enough, remove these division boards, 

 (ill up each sine with empty comb, or if you wish 

 to make the stock extra strong, p'ace in some 

 maturing brood from other stocks ; in the mean- 

 time, remove mature brood from the centre of 

 the stock to the outside, substituting empty 

 worker comb, so as to give the queen abundance 

 of room in the centre for breeding purposes, and 

 thus check swarming ; for if attended to just 

 right, and the keeping out queen cells, it will be 

 apt to prevent swarming entirely ; use the ex- 

 tractor freely, for if the bees fill up this substi- 

 tuted centre comb with honey, your object is not 

 gained ; that is, swarming will not be prevented. 

 Now. providing those hives do not prove satis- 

 factory, worked in this manner for a single 

 stock, all you have to do is, put in permanent 

 division boards in the centre and use it as a 

 double hive, with two stocks in it, placing the 

 entrances at opposite ends. Or, place a division 

 in the portico, and allow both entrances at one 

 end ; then you can place on your upper story 

 and you have two swarms in one hive, both 

 marked on the standard plan. We saw such 

 hives in the yard of J. S. Hill, Mount Healthy, 

 Ohio. For wintering single stocks in those 

 hives, reverse the outside combs, placing the 

 combs occupied by the bees in the centre and the 

 standard number of combs. Now adjust the 

 division 'board and fill in each side with dried 

 leaves, dried chaff, dried sawdust, or any such 

 material ; remove the honey-board and substi- 

 tute the Bickford or Novice quilt, or some other 

 material ; pack the rear portion with some of 

 the above material, fastening a board to keep it 

 in place ; contract the entrance and shade the 

 hive from the sun, and see how they winter on 

 their summer stands. I must give an entire 

 article on wintering bees on their summer stands, 

 as my visit to the South opened my eyes a little. 

 The reader will readily see that if a few of those 

 hives do not work satisfactorily for single swarms, 

 they need not be torn down or thrown away, so 

 there is no great risk to run, or nothing lost in 

 trying the experiment. As double swarms can 

 be worked in them to good advantage, and in 

 some localities and to some individuals they may 

 be satisfactory, while in other localities and to 

 other individuals they may not. The same can 

 be said of my large or twin hive. 



E. Gallup. 

 Orchard, Iowa. 



The bees will be sure to serve themselves first, 

 their first generation being always females. — 



BUTLEK. 



