October, 1907. 



American l^ee Journal| 



Does the Queen Will the Egg-Sex? 



Some maintain that the size of the 

 cell decides automatically the sex of the 

 egg laid in it. To this it is replied 

 that if the cells are only }i inch deep, 

 the queen still lays the proper egg in 

 the corresponding cell, as a general rule, 

 only sometimes when drone-comb is in 

 the way, and she does not desire to lay 

 drone-eggs, she fills these drone-cells 

 with fertilized, or worker, eggs; and 

 so it is perhaps the general belief that 

 the will of the queen decides whether 

 each egg, as it is laid, shall be impreg- 

 nated or not. 



Dr. Miller, in Gleanings, declares he 

 does not know which theory is correct, 

 but says that in the few cases he has 

 known of worker-eggs being laid in 

 drone-cells the workers have always nar- 

 rowed the mouths of the cells by mak- 

 ing a heavy margin of wax, and wants 

 to you, you know, why it is that if the 

 sex of the egg depends upon the will 

 of the queen she can not will to lay 

 eggs in drone-cells without any bother 

 of first narrowing the mouths of the 

 cells. 



Spring Stimulation of Brood-Rearing 



Allen Latham says in the American 

 Bee-Keeper : 



"Few bee-keepers escape and fewer re- 

 sist the temptation to practice brood- 

 stimulation in spring. Some succeed ap- 

 parently in their efforts and tell of their 

 success, while many fail and say noth- 

 ing about their failures. That brood- 

 stimulation is a matter to be let alone — 

 let severely alone — by the novice is ac- 

 knowledged by all who are honest in 

 their advice and to their own convic- 

 tion." 



In support of his belief he then re- 

 lates how, during the past inclement 

 spring, he gave special care to the bees 

 in his home apiary, while 8 colonies 

 a mile and a half away were left se- 

 verely alone, and these neglected colo- 

 nies came out stronger than the others. 

 The neglected colonies were in larger 

 hives than the others, and the ques- 

 tion may be raised whether this item 

 made no difference. 



Get a Bee-Book — Good Advice 



The editor of the Irish Bee Journal 

 puts it in this wise : "The height of folly 

 is to try making money by bees without 

 a thoroughly reliable book of instruc- 

 tions." And that's just as true in this 

 country as in Ireland. A man with only 

 a single colony of bees can gain or save 

 enough in a single season, oftentimes, to 

 pay for a te.xt-book on bee-keeping twice 

 over. If you can not have both a bee- 

 book and a bee-paper, by all means have 

 the bee-book first, and then the period- 

 ical as soon after as you can. 



Speaking of bee-books, that same Irish 

 editor — Rev. J. G. Digges — has writtten 

 the "Irish Bee-Guide," a book which has 

 had high words of praise, and no one 

 familiar with the bright scintillations of 

 wit in the Irish Bee Journal could be 

 easily persuaded that a book written by 

 Its editor would be very dull reading. 



flews -ItGms 



The National's Membership 



It is still growing. On September 26 

 it had a total of 2471 members. Surely 

 more than enough will come in before 

 the Harrisburg convention, Oct. 30 and 

 31, to put it away over the 2500 mark 

 mentioned some time ago. There are 

 many of our readers who should become 

 members at once. Send $1.00 to N. E. 

 France, Platteville, Wis., which will pay 

 a year's dues. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion is the greatest organization of bee- 

 folks on this continent. If all will lend 

 a hand, it will increase in power and 

 usefulness as the years come and go. 

 If you, dear reader, are not now a mem- 

 ber, better join today. 



such as was afforded by the leaves of 

 the tree. 



They had been there long enough to 

 have some sealed brood, and a larger 

 quantity of larvae and eggs, and in a 

 short time would have been hatch- 



Apiary of M. A. Salazar 



Mr. W. H. Laws, of Beeville, Tex., 

 sent us the following taken from a local 

 newspaper, last June : 



Yesterday morning M. A. Salazar 

 hived the most remarkable swarm of 

 bees, in some respects, that has ever 

 been seen in the Falfurrias Country. 



These bees — a big swarm — were act- 

 ually building comb, storing honey, etc., 

 among the branches of a tree near Mr. 

 Salazar's house on West Rice Street. 

 They were as busily at work as if they 

 had been at home in a hive, and, con- 

 trary to the usual bee laws and regula- 

 tions, were building comb and rearing 



An Out-Door Colony 



ing out, had nothing happened to 

 interfere with them, but Mr. Salazar 

 decided to put them in a more up-to- 

 date hive. No one knows where the 

 swarm came from, but Mr. Salazar is 

 certain they used good judgment in 



I 



Apiary of M. A. Salazar 



brood as though intending to make their 

 permanent home in the open light of 

 day, and without the slightest protec- 

 tion from sun, wind and rain, except 



stoppmg near his large apiary. 



Mr. Laws also kindly sent us the ac- 

 companying pictures which were on , 

 souvenir postal cards. 



