18<)4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



89 



with the sperm produced by herself. I have 

 always been loath to accept parthf^nogenesis in 

 so far as the non-fertilizing of the drone egg 

 was concerned, and I hailed Metzger's efforts 

 with great enthusiasm, hoping he might unveil 

 the mystery; but as yet no positive proof has 

 been brought out. If we take a ripe egg from 

 the ovaries, or from the oviduct before it has 

 passed the spermatheca, then subject it to the 

 same conditions as other eggs are in the brood- 

 nest of a swarm of bees — if such an egg would 

 produce a drone, then Metzger is disproved. It 

 wotild seem like tlie solution of a great mystery 

 if ]M. could prove his theory. In the vegetable 

 kingdom we find the male and female generally 

 united in single individuals; but not so in the 

 animal. Hermaphrodism here is as yet a myth. 

 Still, it is not impossible but that we may some 

 time regard the queen- bee and her reproducto- 

 ry organs in the light of a blossom of a perfect- 

 flowering strawberry-plant. 



According to Gleanings, page 174, 1893, in 

 Abyssina and Morocco smoking is prohibited 

 bylaw. That is the place I want to move to, 

 but ray better half objects, on account of the 

 distance. In this, our free and civilized coun- 

 try, the tobacco-slaves have driven me from 

 court, caucus, election-hall, postoffice, etc. 

 That's no credit to the country. 



Naples, N. Y., Jan. 15. 



[Your experiments, regarding packing versus 

 no packing, are just as we should expect, and 

 as our and others' experience proves. There is 

 really no necessity for pacliing under the 

 brood-nest. Our winter cases that do so well 

 for us, protect the top, sides, and ends of the 

 single-walled hives — bottom same as in summer. 



The presser methods of fastening foundation 

 are greatly inferior to the melted-wax plan. A 

 still better plan is a heated plate, so arranged 

 as to slide under the edge of the foundation 

 melting its edge, instead of dipping the sheet in 

 melted wax. We formerly advocated the press- 

 or method, but find the hot plate does the work 

 more rapidly and at the same time economizes 

 the foundation. 



We are glad to get your experience on the 

 sectional brood-chamber. We have not, so far, 

 been successful in handling those chambers 

 without having bees boil all over; and it is 

 true, that it is twice as much work to handle 

 over l(j half-depth brood-frames as the same 

 surfaceof comb in full depth frames. It may 

 be argued that it is not necessary to handle the 

 frames; but it is sometimes, and perhaps more 

 times than is in accordance with theory. 



Yet, it is quite prassible that there is a future 

 for the shallow hives, because, it is true on the 

 other hand, that much can be done without 

 handling frames. To a lesser extent, this is 

 true of full-depth hives. We should like to 

 know more fully what your experience is along 

 these lines. 



FOUNDATION. 



DO BEES ADD ANY WAX IN DRAWING IT OUT 

 INTO COMB. 



By M. W. Shepherd. 



The article in the December 15th issue of 

 Gleanings, from R. L. Taylor, leads us to ask 

 whether bees ever thin the septum of comb 

 foundation at all; if so, under what conditions? 

 Do they ever pull the side walls of the founda- 

 tion to make the cells ? If so, under what con- 

 ditions? We hear much about the different 

 grades of foundation, such as light brood, heavy 

 brood, etc. Now, is it any dUTerence to the 

 bees which they have? If so, what is it? 



We have had a little experience in the matter, 

 and it does not coincide with the generally ac- 

 cepted theories. Has any one ever weighed a 

 sheet of foundation before giving it to the bees, 

 and then after it had been drawn out into a 

 perfect comb? We venture the assertion that, 

 nine times out of ten, it will be found that the 

 bees have furnished every particle of wax to 

 make the cells of the comb, regardless of the 

 amount of wax in the foundation. Sometimes 

 bees make the base of natural comb much 

 heavier than much of the artificial foundation. 

 Why is it, if not because of an overabundance 

 of wax secreted ? 



During the past season we found swarms of 

 bees whose abdomens were literally covered 

 with wax scales. Now, when put on full sheets 

 of foundation what did they do with that wax 

 — throw it away, or use it to build cells on top 

 of the foundation? We don't believe it was 

 thrown away by the bees ; in fact, we can 

 prove it was not. 



We have often heard how much it cost to let 

 the bees build their own comb. With due re- 

 spect for experimentalists, we ask how you 

 know that, under normal conditions, wax is not 

 a spontaneous production, and costs the bees 

 nothing to produce? It seems that an all -wise 

 Providence would make no blunder in fhe mat- 

 ter. 



BEES STINGING EVERY THING, AGAIN. 



M. F. Tatman. on page '.)18, 1893. tells us about 

 how his bees stung every thing on the farm, 

 and, friend Root, you say it must have been 

 caused by robbing. We shall have to dilTer 

 with you right there. We handled bees in Cal- 

 ifornia that would sting in season and out of 

 season. They drove people from their work, 

 over half a mile from the apiary, and it was as 

 much as one's life was worth to step out of 

 doors without a veil over the face; yet all this 

 was during tht; heaviest honey-flow I ever saw, 

 and there was no robbing going on at all; but 

 it was just the nature of the " Cyps," and it is 

 possible that friend Tatman has a dash of that 

 blood In his apiary. 



Rochester, O., Dec. 2.5. 



[Years ago, as some of our older readers will 



