1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



107 



much short of the sixteen days, but I 

 have had them to go seventeen days, 

 and in a few instances a little longer 

 than that, and I always attributed the 

 longer time to ray own manipulation, 

 for in cutting out queen cells I often 

 cage the cells and place them over the 

 frames of a good colony to hatch; but 

 sometimes I feel certain the heat is 

 not maintained so well as if the cells 

 were left down in the brood nest. I 

 am aware that queen cells are very 

 often in the lower edge of the comb 

 or on the end, and that cells placed on 

 top of the frames, if properly covered, 

 should be in as warm a place as there 

 is in the hive, but 1 am sure that the 

 conditions are changed, and not as 

 they were in the hive before the cells 

 were removed. 



For the very best results I like to 

 see chicken eggs batch out during the 

 night of the twentieth day or very 

 soon on the morning of the twenty- 

 first day. So with queen bees, I be- 

 lieve the most vigorous and best lay- 

 ers should hatch in a little less time 

 than sixteen days. It seems to me 

 that any queen breeder, after hatch- 

 ing out queens for awhile, would soon 

 discover these varying conditions, or 

 at least discover that all queens do not 

 hatch in exactly the same length of 

 time. 



Mexico, Mo. 



(From Gleanings). 



APIS DORSATA. 



Eeasons Pro and Oon for Importing Them. 



Dr. C. C. Miller. — I should like to 

 ask you for a little information in re- 

 gard to Apis dorsata. I am a reader 

 of Gleanings and notice articles by a 

 few on this subject. On page 6, 

 Straws, by yourself, I notice a clipping 

 from the American Bee Journal. 



Now, while I do not believe there is a 

 bee in existance that can gather honey 

 from red clover (except the bumble 

 bee) please tell me what objection the 

 14 referred to on said page can have 

 to the government importing them 

 here and giving them a trial ; for if 

 there is such a bee as described let us 

 by all means have it, and the sooner 

 the better. We know that there is 

 more genuine honey in red clover 

 than in all other honey plants com- 

 bined, and if we can get a bee that 

 can and will gather it, we shall have 

 a boom in the honey business in every 

 department. If there is any good ob- 

 jection to the importation of Apis 

 dorsata I should like to know what it 

 is, and it would give me much pleas- 

 ure and satisfaction to have a reply 

 through Gleanings. I have kept bees 

 for thirty years, but as a business 

 only five. David N. Ritchey. 



Blacklick, O., Jan. 14. 



It seems entirely natural and reas- 

 onable for any one to take the view 

 that you do upon first being told that 

 there is a bee so much larger than the 

 one that we now have that it can work 

 upon red clover. Tons of honey go 

 to waste every year that might be 

 gathered from red clover. It would 

 cost very little for government to in- 

 troduce a bee that can gather it. If 

 a success it would be a great gain. If 

 a failure no harm can come of it ex- 

 cept the small item of expense incur- 

 red by government, and that will be 

 divided among the entire nation, mak- 

 ing the expense to each bee keeper 

 only a small fraction of a cent. So it 

 must be that there are some objections 

 or else the 14 to whom you refer 

 would hardly oppose the movement. 



I will try to answer your question 

 as to the reasons given by the repliers 

 in the American Bee Journal, so far 

 as they gave them. The question 

 asked was, " From what you have 



