THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Aug. 



especially in the winter, for teaching the soldiers 

 bee-culture. Many of these soldiers, between 

 24 and 28 years of age, will, when their term of 

 enlistment expires, return to their farms and un- 

 dertake bee-keeping. 



Among our successful bee-keepers we number 

 many noted generals. "We have many retired 

 military officers, to whom a knowledge of bee- 

 culture would be of much value, hence I have 

 urged its being taught in the military schools. 



Can the time he to the day accurately named when 

 a young qeen completes her developements, under- 

 stands her bridal trip and begins laying ? when 

 does her deairCyfor impregnation begin, and 

 when after impregnation does she begin to lay? 



Dr. Dierzon. — There is an occasion for this 

 question. Our organ, the Bienenzeiiung, has 

 published the observations of a Frenchman, 

 Collir, by name, I think, who undertook to 

 prove that the development of the queen, the 

 time in which she would make her fertilization 

 flight, and begin to lay, could be calculated to 

 a day, and even to the hour. 



To all this I reply, " no." The time will not 

 allow itself to be set. The gentleman, no doubt, 

 made observations that forced him to these con- 

 clusions, but if he had made them for a series 

 of years, and at various times during the year, 

 and in different localities, he would have come 

 to widely different conclusions. 



To the first clause of the question, " Can the 

 time be to the day named when a queen com- 

 pletes her development?" I answer, "no." 

 Cases have come under my observation in which 

 queens have developed themselves in nine 

 days. 



In nine days from the time, when the stock 

 was deprived of her queen, or brood for queen- 

 rearing was presented to them, have I found 

 the queen out of the cell. But in most cases 

 the queen does not leave her cell until the tenth 

 or eleventh day, which plainly shows that it 

 would be impossible to fix the day, much less 

 the hour of hatching the queen. Her develop- 

 ment depends on the age ot the larva from which 

 she is reared, the strength of the stock, the tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere, and many other 

 modifying circumstances. 



Under certain circumstances a young queen 

 might not hatch out under twenty days, should 

 should an unhatched egg be chosen from which 

 to rear a queen. A sudden cooling of the cell 

 might also hinder the hatching. 



A somewhat accurate date can be given to the 

 question, what is the earliest time that the 

 young queen will leave the cell, reckoning first 

 from the time of the commencing of the cell, 

 and second from the time when the egg was 

 laid. In answer to the first portion of the ques- 

 tion, I would say, in nine days; to the latter 

 portion, I would reply, fifteen days ; though in 

 general the average from ten to sixteen days. 



Just as the time for hatching of the queen 

 varies, so also is it impossible to fix with cer* 

 tamty the time when she is ready for fertiliza* 

 tion, and will fly out in search of the drone. 



The before-mentioned observer, I believe, 

 fixes the time between the sixth and seventh 

 day. But this time cannot be limited to a day. 

 Is the weather warm, and does a vigorous life 

 rule the swarm, so will the development of the 

 whole stock — its common bees, as well as queen 

 bee, greatly hastened, under other adverse cir- 

 cumstances, all development will be hindered 

 or stopped entirely. For preparing the young 

 queen for fertilization, it is necessary that she 

 receive nitrogenous food. A young queen will 

 sooner become fertilized when placed in a hive 

 to which young brood has just been given, i. e., 

 an afterswarm, and which is busily engaged in 

 building, than in an old stock where work is 

 proceeding more leisurely. 



I have known instances in which the young 

 queen has sought the drone on the third day, 

 and on the fifth day began to lay. A queen 

 bred late in the fall, often lays no eggs during 

 that year; but if she does lay, it will not be un- 

 til the lapse of some days, even weeks, whereby 

 the increase of the stock is greatly hindered. 

 In spring and early summer, the body of the 

 young fertilized queen swells almost imme- 

 diately, because the stimulating food she has 

 taken tends to the early development of the 

 egg, and an observation made about forty-eight 

 hours after copulation will generally show a 

 number of cells filled with eggs. 



In my judgment the time for the hatching of 

 the queen, the period of her lertilization, and 

 the time when she begins to lay cannot be ac- 

 curately fixed to the day and hour, since the 

 difference of the conditions and surroundings 

 are so many and various, which will either 

 hinder or advance the development of a swarm. 



Herr Vogel. — If we search for grounds 

 from theory and observation upon which to an- 

 swer the foregoing question, we must say : The 

 desire for fertilization develops in the young 

 queen first, when she is called upon to rule the 

 hive. The queen of an afterswarm will hence 

 be earlier in heat than that of the mother 

 stock, which is, perhaps, still piping in its 

 cell, when the other has begun to lay eggs. It 

 is well known that the queen of the mother 

 stock, even although she may be done ruling in 

 the hive will be later in heat than the queen of 

 an afterswarm. The reason of this has not yet 

 been fully explained. Is a young queen ruler 

 of the hive, she will seek the drone as soon as 

 the germinating eggs (Eikeime) enters her 

 oviaries. Why tliese germinating eggs should 

 appear earlier in the oviary of some queens than 

 of others, is owing to the individual charac- 

 ter of the queen, to her nourishment and sur- 

 roundings. 



To the second part of the question I would 

 answer : That the young queen begins to lay 



