168 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



noticed disappearing of the bees, one or two at 

 a time, until all were gone, and the bee-man 

 was left to guess at the cause of his bees leaving 

 so mysteriously, with plenty of honey to winter 

 on still in the hive. 



The other theory supposes that the queens 

 ceased to lay eggs in consequence of the scarci- 

 ty of honey, and that thereby the colonies were 

 so reduced in numbers as to be unable to gene- 

 rate heat enough to sustain life. In my own 

 apiary I know that this was not the fact ; for 

 my own bees not only produced plenty of work- 

 ers but drones also, through July and August ; 

 and I even thought of caging the queens to stop 

 breeding. Then, too, those hives that contain 

 large quantities of honey and no bees, must cer- 

 tainly have gathered it; and experience teaches 

 me that bees breed freely when storing honey. 



As the honey crop is a failure all over the 

 country, and even in Europe, we can by inves- 

 tigation, learn which of these theories is correct, 

 for the poisonous honey would not be found 

 overall this extent of country. Yet the influ- 

 ence of the honey famine would affect the bees 

 in some way everywhere. It is to be hoped 

 that bee-keepers will unite in this work, and 

 help to explain the mystery. 



Charleston, Ills. H. C. Barnard. 



[Fur the American Bee Journal ] 



1. I think, with many apiculturists, that the 

 impregnation of the egg is independent of the 

 will of the queen. As Mr. Bickford, in the 

 Bee Journal of February, 1£68, page 147, has 

 advanced the theory that the impregnation of 

 the egg depends on the depth of the cell, I de- 

 sire to know if friend Marvin observed whether 

 the drone cells, spoken of in the January num- 

 ber of the Bee Journal, 1869, page 140, were 

 reduced in depth by the bees. 



2. I invite naturalists to examine with the 

 microscope eggs dropped by the queen, while 

 out of the hive, in the height of the breeding 

 season, in order to ascertain whether they con- 

 tain spermatozoids. 



3. I do not think that the queen lays in queen 

 cells, for she fears to give birth to rivals. Did 

 any bee-keeper ever see a queen laying eggs in 

 old or newly constructed queen cells ? 



4. I think that, in a normal condition, the 

 bees do not build drone cells, unless compelled 

 by want of room. The drone and store cells 

 being constructed more rapidly than the worker 

 cells ; the bees build them in order to be in ad- 

 vance of the honey gathered every day. 



5. I think that the queen finds less enjoyment 

 while laying drone than in worker cells ; and 

 that she lays in drone cells oidy when compel- 

 led by want of room, or when hurried by the 

 desire of laying, in the height of the breeding 

 season. 



I wish some of our bee masters would give us 

 their views on these topics. 



Ch. Dadant. 

 Hamilton, Ills., Jan. 6, 1869. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Brooding Temperature. 



The inhabitants of Frebizonde paid their tri- 

 bute to the Roman Empire in wax ; but the 

 honey produced there was of a deleterious 

 quality. 



Mr. Editor : — My object in this communi- 

 cation is to call the attention of your many read- 

 ers to one thing that should be sought alter, by 

 all who may be engaged in that most delightful 

 occupation —"bee-culture ;" namely, the best 

 means of getting at the degree of heat required 

 by the "law of nature," with the fewest bees 

 demanded for the successful nourishing of the 

 young bees and the making of wax. 



All must admit that much is lost by the bees 

 being unavoidably kept in the hive, to maintain 

 the required temperature, when their services 

 would greatly increase their wealth, if many of 

 those thus detained could be added to the trans- 

 portation company, to which they would gladly 

 attach themselves, were it not for the law of 

 instinctive duty which impels them to keep up 

 a temperature of 80° F. in their hive. 



This subject, with one other, has had my 

 special attention for seventeen years, with a 

 very satisfactory result. I see subjects of much 

 less importance discussed at length, and my de- 

 sire for the success of the business prompts me 

 to call attention to it ; and if desired I will give 

 the results of my own experience. 



The December and January numbers of the 

 Bee Journal are at hand, and I have perused 

 them with much interest. I will endeavor to 

 add some to your list of readers 



We have a fine field for the bee business in 

 this locality. Our country was almost depopu- 

 lated of bees during the war. In the spring of 

 1865, there were not thirty colonies of domesti- 

 cated bees in Jackson county ; but the woods 

 were full of wild bees. Many persons started 

 with one colony, and that taken from some hol- 

 low tree in the forest. I know men who started 

 on three colonies, and in three years some had 

 fifty, some sixty, and some one hundred colon- 

 ies. 



The past season was the worst in this locality 

 for twenty years, as reported by our oldest apia- 

 rians. My experience dates back only seven- 

 teen years, though 1 have been in this locality 

 for thirty years. I am well convinced in my 

 own mind that any amount of capital invested 

 here in bees will treble itself in oae year, with 

 proper attention. 



My object in the culture of bees thus far, has 

 been experimenting, without any regard for in- 

 crease or gain ; but from this out I am going 

 for the profits. 



James D. Meador. 



Independence, Mo. 



It is a singular fact wax is more rapidly and 

 largely made by feeding the bees with dissolved 

 sugar, than from the honey they collect them- 

 selves — the sugar thus evidently containing 

 more of the wax-producing elements. — Schuck- 



ARD. 



If several days of rainy weather should suc- 

 ceed a swarm's coming off, they may die of 

 famine if timely relief of honey is not given to 

 them. — Wildman. 



