IIG 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



provide funds for the purchase of another outfit. 

 Would not some benevolent friend come to the 

 rescue, and present the unfortunate apiarian 

 with a few stocks for a first start ? Possibly, 

 matters would now be better managed. It was 

 not exactly ignorance that caused failure here, 

 for the good man knew better. It originated 

 in a culpable and pitiable compliance on his 

 part with the unreasonable solicitations of the 

 wife. How many promising apiaries are an- 

 nually ruined by similar causes ! I conceive 

 that i have clearly established my position that 

 there is a worse enemy of the busy bee than 

 any yet mentioned in the books. 



LORENTZ. 



[From the Bienenzeitung.] 



A Winter's Supply. 



How much honey is required, on an average, 

 to support a medium-sized colony during the 

 winter ? This is an important question to a 

 novice in bee-culture. Writers differ very 

 much on the subject, and with most of them 

 the statements they give are probably mere 

 guesswork, based on the partial experience of 

 others. I have devoted some time to an in- 

 vestigation, and it may be interesting and useful 

 to make known the results obtained by care- 

 fully weighing a number of .locks, monthly, 

 during a series of years. 



In most districts the actual gathering season 

 embraces only four months — jNiay, June, July, 

 and August. Rarely do the stores increase, 

 even inltiue weather, in April and September; 

 and it is doubtful whether, in those months, bees 

 ever do more than sustain themselves. During 

 the remainder of the year they are consumers. 

 A medium-sized colony, wintered in the open 

 air, will require and use, of pure honey, in 



September . . 4 pounds January . . 2 pounds 



October. ... 2 " February .2 " 



November . . 1 " March ... 5 " 



December . . 2 " April .... 3 " 



The greatest diminution of weight takes 

 place in March and September; the least in 

 November. 



Nine pounds of honey Avill suffice to sustain 

 a colony from the end of September to the end 

 of February; or seven pounds will carry it from 

 the end of October to the beginning of March. 

 From three to five pounds will suflice for a 

 colony from the close of November to the first 

 of March. If we would avoid the necessity of 

 feeding from the end of October to the opening 

 of the season in Maj', a colony should have at 

 least fifteen pounds of honey; andat least twen- 

 ty-one pounds will be needed if the weighing 

 take place on the first of September, and the 

 supply is to suffice till the beginning of May. 

 When brooding is recommenced in a hive, at 

 the approach of spring, the consumption of 

 stores is largely enhanced, and the supplies 

 must be adequate to the exigency, or the popu- 

 lation will not increase, but rather decrease, as 

 the eider bees, enfeebled by the rigors of winter, 

 are daily disappearing. Heubel. 



[Froiu the Bienenzeitung. ] 



Another Exception. 



It is commonly believed that when a queen- 

 cell is found opened at the side, the royal em- 

 bryo cither died before maturity, or was killed 

 by an earlier-hatched rival, and then torn out 

 of the cell. Until recently I was firmly of this 

 opinion myself, but an observation made in my 

 own apiary satisfied me that it is not invariably 

 correct. 



One of my common stocks made no progress 

 whatever this spring, but was, on the contrary, 

 evidently dwindling away. Yet the colonj% 

 though smalJ, appeared to be healthy, gathering 

 honey and pollen diligently, and promptly re- 

 pelling assailants from other hives. I was cer- 

 tain it did not suff'er from want of supplies, and 

 I knew that its queen was only two years old, 

 and should therefore still be vigorous and pro- 

 lific. I fed it repeatedly with diluted honey to 

 encourage brooding. The honey was readily 

 taken up, but no increase of bees followed. 

 Finally I made a closer examination, and found 

 a comb filled with drone brood in worker cells, 

 a number of drones already hatched, the drone- 

 breeding queen perambulating the comb, and 

 no worker brood whatever. 1 killed the queen, 

 and on the 18th of May inserted an eight-day 

 old Italian queen cell, which was well received. 

 Subsequently I found the bees in part covering 

 the queen cell, and in part congregated on the 

 drone brood. 



On the 23d of May I made another examina- 

 tion, and observed that the queen cell had been 

 opened on the side, and supposed that the em- 

 bryo queen had perished before hatching, as I 

 had brought the cell in my pocket-book from a 

 distant apiary, and it might thus have been 

 injured. I examined the cell closely, and 

 having satisfied myself that the cap had not 

 been removed or opened, I cut it to pieces with 

 my pen-knife, which I was afterwards sorry for. 



On the 25th of May I was about to introduce 

 another cpieen cell, when I saw the young 

 Italian queen of t|^previous cell moving about 

 among the bees. T3ut how she got out of the 

 cell is a mysterj^ to me. If the colony had been 

 populous and disposed to build comb, I should 

 have been inclined to believe that the queen 

 had emerged in the normal manner ; that the 

 cap had then fallen back, reclosing the orifice, 

 as often happens ; that some of the bees finding 

 it in this state had reattached it with a film of 

 wax; and that others, seeing a closed royal cell, 

 and knowing a ciuecn " was out," tore it open 

 laterally. Yet it seems altogether unlikely that 

 this would be done in so weak a colony. But 

 if not, why was the cell opened on the side V 

 Did the embryo queen lie in it in a reversed 

 position, (which I have known several times to 

 happen,) and then cut her way out through 

 that part of the cell not lined by the cocoon V 

 Or was the opening made by the workers, to 

 liberate the mature queen V I confess I can 

 give no satisfactory explanation of the occur- 

 rence. So much, however, is evident — that 

 there was a deviation, in this case, from the 

 usual course of things ; and that it constitutes 

 an exception from the general rule. O, Rothe. 



