323 



of said Hannemann. But before that ar- 

 ticle appeared in the Bienen Zeitung, L 

 bad sent to the editor of that journal a 

 long communication, in which I made 

 it a point to prove to Hannemann how 

 much he was in the wrong, when he at- 

 tempted to belittle American apicul- 

 ture and putting himself so much in 

 the foreground. 



He denies the remarkable honey crops 

 of the Yankees, simply for this reason 

 (do not laugh, dear friend), because he 

 never realized the same results him- 

 self ! I have shown to him that he 

 never will be able, notwithstanding his 

 blessed Brazil, to obtain such quanti- 

 ties as have been obtained by the most 

 successful American apiarists, because 

 he only and solely carries on swarm-cul- 

 ture, gains about 700 swarms from 135 

 hives, which he stows away in old pack- 

 ing boxes, barrels, etc., and, as he 

 seems to know nothing of honey extrac- 

 tors, he obtains only strained honey, 

 which he divides from the wax by 

 means of a steam press. 



These hints will prove to you, I think, 

 how arrogantly Hannemann tries to drag 

 American apicultural matters into the 

 mud. But at the same time, the proofs 

 will be furnished to you in an article, 

 which was written by me, and which will 

 shortly appear in the Bienen Zeitung, 

 that I have not read the American 

 Bee Journal up to the present day 

 without having derived some benefit 

 from it; and, also, what sympathy I 

 feel for my transatlantic brother bee- 

 keepers. 



Braunschweig, Germany, May 6, 18S0. 



From the Farmers' Home Journal. 



Rearing Queens andjOther Matters. 



CHARLES F. SIUTH. 



Where a swarm is deprived of its 

 queen, the whole colony is in a state of 

 alarm. The inexperienced will observe 

 the unusual commotion in the hive, and 

 squads of restless bees will be noticed 

 running about the outside of it. About 

 24 hours later, quiet is restored, the bees 

 have realized their loss, and proceed to 

 start queen cells. The first work no- 

 ticed is the widening of those worker 

 cells containing eggs or larvae, from 

 which they intend to rear queens. We 

 can show them the very cells we want 

 them to use. by widening the openings 

 somewhat, with the end of a pencil. 



Worker bees are imperfectly devel- 

 oped females ; but from the egg, which 

 produces a worker bee under ordinary 

 circumstances, a queen bee can be 

 reared by enlarging the cell and supply- 

 ing the larvae with the necessary food. 



so-called " royal-jelly," a mixture of 

 bee-bread and honey. It requires 21 

 days to hatch a worker bee from the 

 time the egg is laid and 16 days to hatch 

 a queen, under ordinary circumstances. 

 An hour or two after the young queen 

 has made her appearance, she can be 

 noticed running leisurely over the 

 combs apparently unnoticed by the 

 bees ; and wherever she finds a queen 

 cell, we can see her actively at work 

 biting a hole in it at the side, through 

 which she introduces her sting, killing 

 the queen inside. Every other rival 

 queen cell will be served in the same 

 manner, generally in less than 24 hours. 



If the colony was deprived of its 

 queen, in order to breed queens the pru- 

 dent be"e-keeper will commence to cut 

 out the capped queen cells on the tenth 

 day after the colony was made queen- 

 less, and have them hatched out by col- 

 onies made queenless for tne purpose, 

 or nuclei colonies by laying them on the 

 frames above the brood in the hives. 



The stock of bees can be controlled 

 with almost the same certainty as that 

 of horses, cattle or hogs. We select the 

 colonies from which to breed queens, 

 and the colonies from which to breed 

 drones (male bees). As fertilization is 

 consummated on the wing, it should be 

 our object to have an abundance of 

 choice drones on hand in due time, that 

 our young queens, who make their bri- 

 dal trips generally when 4 or 5 days old, 

 have more chance of meeting one of 

 them than a common drone. Herein 

 lies our only reliance of a pure fertili- 

 zation until that art is better under- 

 stood. 



When the young queen returns from 

 a successful trip, she has the mark of 

 the drone still adhering to her body. 

 The impregnation lasts for life. She 

 moves among the bees like one of them, 

 unnoticed, until the second or third day, 

 when her body appears more developed, 

 looks larger, longer, and she begins to 

 lay eggs. A. marked attention is now- 

 paid her by the bees of the hive. The 

 sole office of the queen is to lay eggs, 

 while the worker bees build newcombs, 

 clean the cells of old combs for the re- 

 ception of eggs or honey, and do all the 

 work pertaining to the colony. 



The labor seems to be divided equally 

 and distinctly. Newly hatched bees, 

 for instance, live first on bee-bread 

 only, until after a day or two ; they par- 

 take also of honey, and commence to 

 be nurses for the brood, supplying the 

 larvae in the cells with the necessary 

 food— a mixture of bee-bread and honey 

 When 5 or 6 days old, the young bees 

 become wax-workers, comb-builders, 

 etc., and within 10 or V2 days they are of 



