THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



127 



the preceding months, and the weather is delight- 

 i'ul, brooding no longer proceeds as extensively 

 or as energetically as bel'ore midsummer. 



4. By the age of the queen. Old queens are 

 naturally less prolific than young ones, thougli 

 exceptions very frequently occur. 



5. By size and shape of tlie hive. Brood is 

 commonly more abundant in hemispherical 

 liivcs than in quandrangular ones, because in 

 the former all parts of the interior are more 

 equably warmed. It is less abundant compara- 

 tively in hives tliat are l)road and deep, and 

 still less in lagers tliau in standards, because 

 the hinder portion of the lager hives is cooler, 

 and the brooding space is consequently re- 

 stricted to a narrow space. Naturally, too, in 

 hives of the same shape or form, those largest 

 in size will ordinarily contain tlie most brood. 



6. By warmth and ample store of honey, at a 

 time when flowers and blossoms dispense no 

 nectar. Warm hives and rich supplies of 

 honey, with plenty of pollen, and ready access 

 to water, greatly promote brooding, jiarticularly 

 iu the spring. 



7. By populousness. The queen of a strong 

 stoclv will produce proportionally much more 

 brood, and commence brooding earlier, than one 

 connected with a feeble colony, because a cer- 

 tain degree of heat is required whicli a populous 

 stock readily generates, maintains, and diffuses 

 in all directions within the hive. And if there 

 be a want of laborers to build, repair, and 

 cleanse cells, and to cover and nourish the 

 brood, tlie most prolific queen will bo unable to 

 develope her fertility to tlie same extent as 

 might be feasible under different conditions. 



8. By the kind and quality of the combs 

 which the hive contains. Colonies with new 

 clean worli;er combs will contain a larger quan- 

 tity of brood than such as have old combs, 

 black or mouldy, and partially composed of 

 drone cells. 



9. By the number of empty worker cells the 

 combs contain. This is natural, for when 

 empty cells are wanting, the queen has small 

 chance to display or develope her power of 

 ovipositing. This deficiency of cells usually 

 occurs just before the departure of the first 

 Bwarm; and this fact explains how it is that the 

 old queens, with uninjured wings, which ac- 

 company the first swarms, are so well able to 

 fly, though the fertile queens accompanying 

 driven swarms are scarcely ever able to take 

 wing. The former have no empty cells within 

 reach for some time before the swarm leaves, 

 and hence repress their energies, and thus be- 

 come slender and agile. The other, takcu un- 

 awares in the full discharge of her functional 

 duties, is unprepared for the change, heavy 

 and clumsy, and disqualified for flying. 



What causes a diminution of the queen's fer- 

 tility ? 



This question has already been iu great part 

 answered indirectly in the preceding remarks. 

 1 shall merely subjoin that in August there ap- 

 pears to be naturally a very considerable re- 

 duction of brood. Stocks which have not pro- 

 duced swarms, and early first swarms also, often 

 have none whatever from about the middle of 

 September. In the beginning of October I sel- 



dom found any in my hives, and from the 

 middle of October till Christmas none whatever, 

 except in cases where the bees had been liberally 

 fed with liquid honey. This latter fact of 

 course proves no more as to the natural con- 

 dition of stocks, at that season, than the blos- 

 soming of a fruit tree in a conservatory proves 

 in regard to out-door fruit culture. Frequent 

 disturbance, which temporarily incites the bees 

 to action, may also cause the production of 

 brood at this ungenial season, unless the cold 

 be very severe, or the hive be in a sheltered 

 location. In the mild winter of 1856, 

 Dzierzon found brood in several of his hives in 

 the month of December. In such winters, 

 very populous stocks, well-supplied with honey 

 and pollen, Avill usually have some brood about 

 the first of January, and almost invariably 

 towards the end of that mouth. Weak stocks 

 commence brooding much later; many of them 

 not before the middle of March. 



What causes the total cessation of the queen's 

 fertility ? 



With advancing age queens become gradually 

 less prolific, and the brood is no longer so com- 

 pactly placed in the combs, as at first. Finally 

 ovipositing ceases because the ovaries supply 

 no more eggs. But mechanical causes may 

 also prevent laying, or make it difficult. Thus 

 an accumulation of foeces in the rectum may 

 surcharge the abdomen, and prevent or at 

 least obstruct the passage of the eggs in the 

 oviduct. 



But queens, barren from superannuation, are 

 rarely met with, because they commonly die 

 naturally before their ovaries are entirely 

 exhausted, or are killed by the workers when a 

 diminishing production of brood shows that 

 their natural force is abating. 



Tallow -tre 9 of Algeria. 



This remarkable tree, a native of China, and 

 called by botanists Groton sehiferum or Stillingia 

 sebifcra^ has now been successfully acclimatized 

 in Algeria, through the exertions of the French 

 Government. Its cultivation would diminish 

 the cost of candles. A tree ten years old, ac- 

 cording to Galignani^ yields from one to two 

 kilogrommes of tallow; fifteen years later it 

 would yield from three to four. It requires no 

 care or watering, and may be planted on the 

 road side. In the island of Chusan large quan- 

 tities of oil and tallow are extracted from its 

 fruit. In hot weather the candles made with 

 the tallow are apt to become soft and even 

 liquid, but to guard against this inconvenience 

 they are dipped into melted wax. 



Honey, like most vegetable products, should 

 be fresh every year. It may easily be kept 

 from one season to another; but when kept 

 beyond that time, unless very carefully stored 

 in a warm temperature, it will crystalize iu 

 the comb; and it is liable to ferment when in 

 jars separated from the comb. 



