568 



in diameter, and about 3 feet long, cov- 

 ered with the manure of camels or 

 mules. They are also laid on the side, 

 and the ends closed, except a small hole 

 in one end for the bees to pass in and 

 out. At Damascus they are in clay cyl- 

 inders not burned nor baked, but dried 

 with a mixture of straw to hold the clay 

 together. On Mount Hermon they are 

 the same as the above, but near Palmyra 

 they are smaller, and the bees are very 

 handsome, some of which were shown 

 at the Convention. In other parts I 

 found the hives similar to those I have 

 described. But the strangest one I 

 found was a rock hive, or rather a colo- 

 ny in a deep crevice in the rocks, near 

 the Jordan. I examined it to see if I 

 could not get them out, but came to the 

 conclusion it would take a barrel of gun- 

 powder to blast away the rocks so I 

 could get to them. I was informed 

 they would not have been there then if 

 they could have been reached, as the 

 shepherds are always on the search for 

 wild bees, and they rob them as soon as 

 they find them. 



There is one redeeming feature about 

 the system of bee-keeping practiced in 

 Cyprus, Palestine and Syria ; that is, 

 although they are heathens, they do not 

 brimstone their bees as do the Christians 

 of Europe and America. 



Beeton, Ontario, October, 1880. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in the South. 



B. F. AVERILB. 



Having kept bees with profit at my 

 home in Massachusetts, I have often, 

 since coming South, wondered why so 

 few people here are engaged in that 

 pleasant and profitable occupation. I 

 regard an apiary located in the South, 

 if managed with equal energy and skill, 

 more profitable than those I have visited 

 in other sections of the country. Here 

 are flowers in abundance (except per- 

 haps a few weeks in July and August) 

 from February to November, and dur- 

 ing the winter months, in mild weather, 

 bees gather quantities of juice from 

 stubs of cane in the cane-fields, breed- 

 ing, therefore, throughout the year. 



I find with regret, in a country so well 

 adapted to bee-keeping, the pursuit 

 sadly neglected. A walk through sev- 

 eral apiaries in this vicinity discouraged 

 me of the bee prospects for Louisiana. 

 But a number of apiarists in this State 

 are doing much to advance the business 

 in the South by their example and suc- 

 cess, prominent among whom I may 

 mention Mr. Paul L. Viallon. of Bayou 



Goula, who has an extensive apiary. A 

 glance at his many colonies and nuclei, 

 overflowing with bees, would induce, I 

 think, many of my Northern friends to 

 wish they were as favorably situated. 

 While my bees at home had ceased 

 breeding, and were ready for the cellar 

 when I left, his are gathering honey, 

 and will do so for weeks to come. 

 October 11, 1880. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Do Queens lay Eggs in Queen Cells? 



D. K. BOUTELLE. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle in an article on 

 the "proper time for queen-rearing," 

 in the Journal, for October, says : 

 " Certainly no better queens can be 

 reared than those reared in the swarm- 

 ing hive, where the queen lays the egg 

 directly in the queen-cell, and the larvae 

 is fed for a queen until it is sealed over." 



I will give an account of a little ex- 

 perience I had two years ago, which, if 

 I mistake not, may have a bearing on 

 the question whether the queen lays 

 eggs directly in the queen-cells, or 

 whether they are transferred there by 

 the worker bees from worker cells. In 

 1868 I had a few hives of black bees 

 which I desired to Italianize. Prom 

 one of them I took the queen, closing 

 the hive for a few days for all eggs and 

 larvae to be too far advanced for pro- 

 ducing queens. I then cut out all queen 

 cells started, so there was no possibility 

 of a queen being reared from any thing 

 then in the hive. Next I gave a comb 

 from an Italian colony containing a 

 small patch of eggs equal to about 3 

 inches square, but no brood. On the 

 second day afterwards I opened the hive 

 and took up that comb. To my sur- 

 prise, no queen-cells were started on it, 

 but the eggs were there, apparently as 

 when I gave the comb. I closed the 

 hive for two more days when I looked 

 again, and was again surprised, on tak- 

 ing up the comb, to find no eggs in it — 

 not an egg. This puzzled me. I took 

 up the next comb, but nothing peculiar 

 was seen. I then took up a third which 

 was a new, light-colored comb (the one 

 supplied was an old black comb) and 

 was built only about half way down, 

 and, as is often the case in a long, or 

 Langstroth frame, it was built in two 

 points— or forked. Here, for a third 

 surprise, in the fork between the points, 

 were two good queen-cells, built about 

 two-thirds length. On looking into 

 them there I saw the tiny larvse lying 

 in bits of white jelly all nice. But my 

 surprises were not yet over. While 



