around. Those who have preserved 

 their colonies in good condition during 

 this year, are likely to become wealthy 

 proprietors during the next year. 

 Glasgow, Scotland, Nov., 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal 



The Age of Drones. 



W. S. FULTZ. 



Desiring to rear a few Italian queens 

 about Sept. 1st, from a queen 1 had 

 just purchased, I examined my 15 

 hives to see whether I had any drones, 

 but finding none, I procured of a 

 neighbor two pieces of drone brood 

 each about 10 inches square and after 

 making a colony queenless I inserted 

 the drone brood in it. In one piece of 

 this brood the drones were emerging 

 from the cells ; the other was well 

 sealed brood. A careful watch was 

 kept over this colony ; no queen-cells 

 were allowed to hatch, and the colony 

 became hopelessly queenless so far as 

 the ability of the bees to raise a queen 

 was concerned. It was well-tilled with 

 honey, and the bees were continually 

 adding to their stores. In 10 days the 

 drones had all hatched out, and the 

 hive was apparently filled with them. 

 Eight queen-cells were capped over and 

 given to nuclei, and I felt sure the 

 young queens would all become fertil- 

 ized in due time. 



On examining the hive on Sept. 30th, 

 I noticed that the drones were fast dis- 

 appearing, and thoughts they may have 

 found their way into the nuclei, but 

 alas I found but 2 even there. By Oct. 

 5th, the drones were so scarce that I 

 had to give up all thoughts of queen 

 rearing. The first of these drones 

 were hatched out between the 4th and 

 9th of Sept., and now in 24 days they 

 were virtually all gone. Am I not right 

 in concluding that the age of the drones 

 will average about 24 days, just the 

 time required from the laying of the 

 egg until the perfect bee emerges from 

 the cell ? 



The 8 queens came out perfectly; 6 

 were lost in their (lights to meet the 

 drones, and the other 2 have not com- 

 menced to lay, though one of them has 

 made at least two flights. 



A writer in Gleanings says that dur- 

 ing the months of June to Sept. the 

 life of the worker is 45 days, and that 

 of the drone is about the same, but my 

 experiment in September shows con- 

 clusively that the age of the drone is 

 only about 24 days, even when reared 

 in a strong colony, and not in a nucelus. 

 Another writer in Gleanings experi- 



j mented with rearing drones in June, in 

 I a nucelus, and strange to say, his ex- 

 I periment and mine show the same re- 

 i suits— the lateness of the season, there- 

 ; fore, had nothing to do with it. 



In 1868, I purchased a colony of 



i Italian bees, and wishing to rear some 



queens from it for the purpose of 



j Italianizing my apiary. I carried all my 



nuclei a distance of \% miles from my 



apiary, taking no drones except from 



i the Italian colony. I had to carry 



: drones there every 2 or 3 weeks. I then 



! thought they found their way back to 



I the parent colony. I now think they 



! lived out their day and died naturally. 



: Every fall, for years, I have noticed 



i some colonies driving out their drones, 



! while others had none to destroy — the 



: latter probably had reared none for 



some time, and in consequence they had 



| died a natural death in 24 days after 



j hatching. 



At our Convention last spring it was 

 stated that it' drones were shut in their 

 hives by drone traps for 3 days they 

 would die ; one of my neighbors says 

 that he has tried it this summer, and 

 that his drones did die. 

 Muscatine, Iowa, Oct. 13, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



American Honey in Europe. 



BEESWAX. 



I am sorry to learn through the Bee 

 Journal that the past season has been 

 an exceptionally unpropitious one for 

 honey. But even in bad seasons 

 American honey will, after this, find its 

 way to this market to be sold at re- 

 munerative prices. A protectionist cry 

 is raised here and there, but it meets 

 with no general response. However, 

 there is a real struggle, but not between 

 producers and American or other im- 

 porters, nor between producers and 

 consumers, but it is consumers against 

 land owners. Three fourths of the land 

 of this country is owned by members of 

 Parliament, they rent their land at ex- 

 orbitantly high prices and hope by 

 imposing a duty on imports to raise the 

 cost of home produce to a false value 

 and thus enable their tenants to— pay 

 their rent, but the consumers will not 

 stand it. The question is : " shall the 

 nation be supplied with food upon the 

 most reasonable terms, or shall the 

 masses slave for the sport and family 

 pride of the landed aristocracy— the re- 

 sult cannot be doubtful. 



Through the Thurbers we have in- 

 troduced a better, cheaper and more 

 attractive quality of honey into this 



