AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



245 



position as in rudimentary worker-cells. 

 Does a queen ever do this, or does she 

 always wait until drone-cells have a fair 

 depth before laying in them ? 



We know that workers are reared 

 sometimes in drone-cells, and that in 

 such cases the queen must have laid 

 worker eggs in them. But in such cases 

 are not the mouths of the drone-cells 

 made the size of worker-cells by the ad- 

 dition of wax? I think they have always 

 been in the cases I have seen. Now if 

 workers can be reared all right in drone- 

 cells (and we know they can), and if the 

 queen can lay either kind of eggs at 

 will, why is it that at a time of year when 

 workers only are reared, the queen will 

 leave vacant the drone-cells that are in 

 the middle of the brood-nest instead of 

 filling them with worker-eggs? 



I once gave to a colony a hive filled 

 with drone-comb." Surely, if the " will " 

 theory is correct, the queen, in that 

 case, ought to have laid worker-eggs in 

 drone-cells. Did she? No; with no 

 brood in the hive she wouldn't lay drone- 

 eggs, and it seemed she couldn't lay 

 worker - eggs, so she deliberately 

 " struck," and the bees swarmed out. I 

 suppose they thought it would be too 

 big an undertaking, and take too much 

 wax, to narrow the mouths of all the 

 cells. 



At times when the queen seems so 

 anxious to lay in drone-cells that she 

 will go two or three combs out of the 

 brood-nest to find drone-cells, why 

 doesn't she lay drone-eggs in worker- 

 cells in the middle of the brood-nest, if 

 she can ? To that it may be answered 

 that she will not do so because there is 

 not room for a full-sized drone in a 

 worker-cell ; but that is hardly a satis- 

 factory answer, in view of the fact that 

 in other cases the bees don't use that 

 kind of reasoning, as when they try to 

 rear a queen from a drone larva. They 

 are anxious for a queen, and they try 

 their best to rear one with the material 

 on hand, although it must be a total 

 failure, why should they not try to rear 

 drones in worker-cells when so anxious 

 for them, and no dr.one-cells in the hive? 

 Or is it because the workers are more 

 stupid than the queen when a thing is 

 left to their intelligence ? 



Just a word about "compression:" 

 Possibly it isn't best to use that word, 

 but if the will of the queen does not con- 

 trol the matter, and there is nothing 

 better than to suppose that there is 

 mechanical compression when worker- 

 eggs are laid, it does not follow that 

 such compression does not exist even 

 when the queen lays eggs on the hand. 



For it is possible that in that tiase there 

 is sufficient curving of the body to make 

 the same compression as when the queen 

 is laying in a worker-cell. 



On the whole, I don't know for certain 

 which theory is true, and I doubt if 

 either of us will ever know. So if Mrs. 

 Atchley thinks she knows, she can con- 

 sider herself ahead more than half the 

 time, and we'll look for something else 

 to quarrel about. 



Marengo, Ills. 



l./*.^*h/".>"k. 



*\.fS./N.^,./,, 



Do not write anything for nubllcation 

 on the same sheet of paper ■wltn business 

 matters, unless It can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Unable to Supply the Demand. 



I have 26 colonies of bees, most of 

 which are in movable-frame hives. My 

 frames are 11x17 inches, with the top- 

 bar in two pieces, which makes it very 

 easy to fasten the foundation. The 

 super holds 2T one-pound sections. 

 Last year was very poor here, my best 

 colonies storing only 54 pounds, and 

 others none. I got 20 cents per pound 

 for all my honey, and cannot nearly sup- 

 ply the demand. Joel Conrad. 



Linden, Ind., Jan. 25, 1893. 



The Seasons of 1891 and 1892. 



The year 1891 was a poor one for 

 bees. I had 53 colonies which yielded 

 only 700 pounds of comb honey, but the 

 bees were in good condition for winter. 

 I winter my bees in the cellar, and on 

 April 24, 1892, I put out 51 colonies, 

 which seemed to be strong and hearty, 

 but on account of much rain and cold 

 weather, I had to feed them and double 

 them down to 42 colonies, and many 

 were then so weak I had to feed them 

 through May and two-thirds of June. 

 On July 16th they began to move up 

 into the surplus boxes. On Aug. 10th 

 I had some swarms, having 130 pounds 

 of surplus honey in one and two pound 

 boxes, and in all I had 2,500 pounds 



