256 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of my hives to teach them to catch on the 

 wing:. Then I take my breech-loader and 

 practice on the wing, too. I have killed 

 and dissected them and found the honey 

 bee in them. Their general habit is to sit 

 on the top of some post or mullen stalk on 

 the watch for the loaded honey bee on her 

 bee-line for home. His sharp, quick eye is 

 on her, in an instant he is in the air on the 

 line, you hear his bill snap and the honey 

 bee with her load of honey is no more. The 

 honey bee when loaded flies lower and 

 slower than one that is empty, consequently 

 they fall a more easy prey to the birds. 



My bees have done very well so far this 

 summer. I get more honey in a dry, hot, 

 than I do in a cold, wet, summer. 



J. W. CONKLIN. 



Suffolk Co., N. Y., Aug. 8, 1870. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Scraps from Illinois. 



Mk. Editor:— In reply to your query in 

 regard to controlling swarming, I would say 

 that I work exclusively for extracted honey, 

 as do all of the bee-keepers in this place. 1 

 now have 20 very strong stocks — over 1,000 

 fts. of honey in the hives — have sold 3 and 

 bought one. Had 11 light stocks in the 

 spring with not a pound of honey to go on 

 when flowers began to come, but at swarm- 

 ing time my bees were very strong, as I had 

 plenty of empty comb to work with. Have 

 taken to date 304 lbs. of extracted honey, 

 and with buckwheat just coming into 

 bloom, heart's-ease(smartweed some call it), 

 white clover, rape, and other fall flowers, 

 we expect a good fall harvest. 



I have heard, but have never known of an 

 Italian swarm coming off without starting 

 queen cells, and am still in doubt about a 

 natural swarm coming oft" without it. Queen 

 cells are sometimes so carefully concealed 

 as to be hard to find except by careful ex- 

 amination. 



" Is a wet season best for honey?" I 

 answer yes. most assuredly, at least that is 

 the case with us, for with a wet season we 

 get a good crop of honey early as well as 

 late in the season, while in a dry season we 

 get no more honey than will keep up brood 

 rearing, till the fall harvest. But our honey 

 resources may be different from those of 

 other localities. Wm. M. Kellogg. 



Oneida, 111., Sept. 5, 187(5. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Marks of Prolific Queens. 



Mr. Editok:— Please let me ask if there 

 are any established ))oints in Italian queens 

 to indicate one as a i)rolific breeder any 

 more than others, as all must know that 

 some are better layers than others. I have 

 had several queens that could not lay an 

 egg for. several weeks, altliougii they tried 

 hard to do so as tlu'y went through tin; mo- 

 tion very often. 1 also have had, and now 

 have, one queen that lays eggs i)lentifully 

 but ncme ever hatched. I want to hear 

 through y«»ur paper what jujinls, if any, are 

 known that will show the suix'rior (lualities 

 of laying ca])acity of one queen over 

 another. I have thought that I have seen a 

 difference in the make or shape of queens, 

 as there are certain marks in cows that 

 show a good milker and other marks to 



show a good breeder, so with all domestic 

 animals fi'om a dog to a horse. Why not 

 the same laws to govern bees? Now I 

 don't want to puff my observations on the 

 stature of queen bees but if they are new 1 

 am willing to give the same to any who are 

 in want of them. 



I also want to know if any one has ob- 

 served any union of sex in one bee. On or 

 about July 10th, 1876, 1 had a queen cell to 

 hatch out in nucleus No. 13 but no queen 

 there. I found a bee that was not a queen 

 worker or drone, it had legs like a queen, 

 head and wings of a worker and abdomen 

 of a drone. 1 thought of caging it and send- 

 ing it to you as a specimen of bees, as you 

 are wanting such at yoiir office, but I waited 

 several days to watch her motion and see 

 more myself. It had no sting, as I tried to 

 make it show it, and see whether it would 

 go out to meet the drones. About five days 

 after it was hatched it was not in the 

 nucleus. Whether it went to meet drones 

 and was lost, or was killed for a drone I 

 can't say. I will say that there were no 

 drones in the nucleus and no drone cells. 

 This bee was the size of a common drone in 

 body but lacking in size of head and wings 

 to be a drone, her motion on the comb was 

 that of a worker. F. K. Davis. 



Noble Co., Ind., Aug. 7, 1876. 



[We know of no special marks by which, 

 at a glance, the prolificness of queens may 

 be determined. If others do, we shall be 

 glad to hear from them. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Another New Experience. * 



I believe it makes but little difference 

 how long an individual may have been en- 

 gaged in bee-culture, or however close at- 

 tention he may have paid to the journals or 

 to standard works on apiculture, he will 

 frequently find his bees doing something 

 he never heard or dreamed of. Here is a 

 case in point. 



About the first of August one of my best 

 black stocks threw off a very large swarm. 

 I was away from home at the time, but my 

 wife, who is quite a bee-ist, took the matter 

 in charge. The bees circled around a few 

 minutes and then returned to the hive. On 

 looking on the ground in front of the hive 

 she found the queen, and taking her with 

 about a quart of the bees, put them in a 

 small nucleus hive and set them on a new 

 stand a few feet off. In regard to this nu- 

 cleus hive, more anon. I dul not open the 

 hive luitil about ten days after they had 

 swarmed. I found considerable capped 

 brood but no eggs and no larva% and no 

 queen— lost I suppose in her flight to meet 

 the drones — but ni her place I found three 

 (lueen cells, two ca]iped and one just ready 

 to ca]). One of these looking somewhat 

 suspicious, I picked the cap off and lound it 

 enii)ty. The other ca])i)ed cell I found sns- 

 pentU'd from the bottom of a jueee of drone 

 comb in the lower corner of the frame. It 

 occurred to me from the fact that it was so 

 near tlu^ bottom of the hive that the enclos- 

 ed queen might have become chilled as we 

 lia(i had two or three quite cool nights. I 

 opened it and found it as I expected— a 

 queen nearly mature, but dead. 



Now this drone larva must have been 



