THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



159 



of colonics mcntioued. as it is betlci- to 

 Lave too nuicli tliaii not enough. 



I have not tried the alfalfa clover. It 

 can be had of any of the seedsmen iu 

 St. Louis, the retail price being 75 cents 

 per pouud, prepaid by mail. I would 

 also suggest tlie sowing of melilot or 

 sweet clover, for it is a No. 1 lioney- 

 l>roducing plant. The price is the same 

 as that of the alfalfa. I would sow iu 

 addition to those named, alsike clover, 

 catnip and rape seed. The latter named 

 plant delights iu a rich soil. J. G. 



F'or the American Bee Journal. 



Do Bees Sleep. 



It lias not, we think, been proven that 

 bees ever sleep. We have uever seen 

 one either in winter or summer asleep. 

 Analogy and their very active industri- 

 ous habits would lead to the belief that 

 they do sleep. AVhcn, where and how 

 they sleep, we have hitherto been unable 

 to discover. Iu summer they work both 

 uight and day, aud never seem to tire. In 

 earlj' life we thought they worked hard.er 

 after a day of rest — that is to say. if 

 weather kept all at home for twenty-four 

 hours they were recruited in strength aud 

 vigor, and worked better the day follow- 

 ing. In later years wc have considered 

 that iu tlie absence of outdoor labor more 

 work is done iu the hive. Wheu weather 

 is favorable aud honey abundant we know 

 that frequently honey is gathered into 

 hives faster than the iudoor laborers can 

 manage — it accumulates too fast on their 

 hands. The cessation of outdoor work 

 for a time enables the bees to remove the 

 accummlatious of honey from the center 

 combs, and store it up iu their outer aud 

 upper edges. Thus the domestic arrange- 

 ments are advanced, aud room made for 

 more honey, and more laborers are set at 

 liberty to gather it. When bees have no 

 domestic work to attend to, as is the case 

 when a swarm is put into a hive of empty 

 combs, they work prodigiously fast. 13y- 

 aud-by the brood and houey of such a 

 hive require much attention. Hence, out- 

 door work activity seems to abate. But 

 wheu no bees leave their hives we have 

 uever been fortunate enough to find one 

 asleep or anything like it. Young queens 

 ou coming to perfection sometimes pipe 

 or call for seven days without cessation. 

 During that time they can get no sleep. 

 And if iu be true that pregnant Hueeus 

 deposit in cells two thousand eggs a 

 day — that is, eighty eggs per hour, tl*ough- 

 out the summer months, when, pray, eau 

 they tiud time to sleep. 



In winter bees liave few domestic 

 duties to perform, and there is no houey 

 to gather. But the question of bees sleep- 

 ing or hyberuating iu winter is just as 

 ditHcult to answer as that of sleeping iu 

 summer. I know what others say on 

 this question, but I like to read nature 

 through my own eyes. I have examined 

 hives at all seasons, even when there 

 were 30 degrees of frost, and I never 

 found a bee asleep. Still I do not say 

 that bees never sleep. Can any of your 

 readers give evidence on the question. 



A. Pettigkew. 



From the Practical Farmer. 



Ages of Bees. 



The queen passes about three days in 

 the egg and live a worm ; the workers 

 then close her cell, and she immediately 

 begins to spin her cocoon, which takes 

 her from twenty to twenty-four hours. 

 (3n the tenth and eleventh days, and per- 

 haps a part of the twelfth days, she seems 

 to be exhausted by her hard labor. She 

 now remains in almost complete repose ; 

 she then passes four or five days as a 

 nympha, and on the fifteenth to the six- 

 teenth day a perfect queen is attained. 

 Much depends upon the strength of the 

 colony and the heat of the season, which 

 will vary it fiom one to two days. 



The drone passes three days iu the egg 

 and about six in the worm, and changes 

 into a perfect insect on the twenty-fourth 

 day after the egg is laid. Much depends 

 on the strength and heat of the colony, 

 which should be about 70° Fah., for their 

 speedy developmeut. They lay in rather a 

 dilatory state for several days after they 

 hatch, before taking wing. 



The worker bee spins its cocoon in 

 thirty-six hours. After passing three 

 days in the egg iu this state of preparation 

 for a new life, it gradually undergoes a 

 great change, aud becomes armed with a 

 firmer body with scales of a brownish 

 color aud somewhat fringed with light 

 hairs. Ou its belly it has six riugs or 

 scales. After it has reached the tweuty- 

 firsi day of existence— reckouiug from the 

 egg— it comes forth from the cell on the 

 twenty- first to the twenty-second day a 

 perfect insect, and is termed an immago. 

 This is the simple stage of the worker 

 bee, as it is fully developed when it comes 

 forth, except in size, it soon becomes a 

 sportive inhabitant of the air, and ready 

 to enter upon the duties of gaining a live- 

 lihood, which varies from six to eight 

 days from its birth, the all seems to be 

 business the remainder of their existence. 

 A. F. Moox. 



