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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Octob 



icr 



The Large Hives are Producers 



My white clover crop is about in. 

 My old Dadant hives are the ones that 

 did the big business, as you predicted. 

 I have taken 170 pounds of extracted 

 from my best and 160 pounds from 

 the ne.xt. Besides, 30 new combs 

 were drawn in the first, and 13 ex- 

 tracting and 3 brood combs were 

 drawn in the other. Our location ;s 

 not the best, and the results this year 

 are good. Elmer T. Boach, 



Kalamazoo, Mich. 



Profit in Beekeeping 



A 24-page booklet with the above 

 title has just been issued by the G. 

 B. Lewis Company. It is intended 

 primarily for the beginning' bee- 

 keeper, to give him ideas as to the 

 proper way to begin beekeeiiing to 

 insure the most satisfactory results. 



The booklet sells for 10 cents. 



Second Crop Dandelion 



There is a large crop of Dande- 

 lion in bloom in this vicinity at this 

 time (August 15), and the bees are 

 visiting it, for both nectar <'.nd pol- 

 len. It is, I believe, the first time 

 that a second crop of this iMant 'las 

 ever been known in this State. 



A. F. Bonney, Iowa. 



Honey Week in Georgia 



According to Georgia newspapers, 

 the Governor of that State hvs been 

 asked to designate the week of No- 

 vember 6 to 12 as honey week. During 

 that time it is proposed to conduct a 

 state-wide campaign to advertise 

 honey and to make sure that it is of- 

 fered at evei-y hotel, restaurant and 

 grocery store in Georgia. 



Cuba Objects to Tariff 



A pi-ess dispatch states that a rep- 

 resentative of the Cuban government 

 has filed a special objection to the 

 proposed tariff on honey provided by 

 the Fordney bill now under consid- 

 eration in Congress. Other items ob- 

 jected to are the tariffs on sugar, leaf 

 tobacco and pineapples. 



Montana Bee Inspector 



B. J. Kleinhesselink, of Haidin, has 

 been appointed State Bee Inspector of 

 Montana. The newly appointed offi- 

 cer is a well-known beekeeper of long 

 experience. 



Minneapolis Also 



Newspaper reports indicate that the 

 city of Minneapolis is one of the latest 

 to make the attempt to banii-h bees. 

 It is proposed to pass an oidiiiance to 

 prohibit the keeping of bees within 

 certain districts. 



New Man for Massachusrtts 



The beekeeping work at the Massa- 

 chusetts College of Agriculture has 

 recently been resumed with Norman 

 Phillips in charge. The course in 

 beekeeping has been suspended for 

 some time past, since the resignation 

 of Dr. Burton N. Gates, who was in 

 charge for a number of years. 



a lady returned home to find that a 

 swarm had taken iiossession of her 

 cellar. Fii-st she ualled the police, 

 but they decided th;it there Wf.s noth- 

 ing they could do to assist her. Her 

 next move was to demand assistance 

 from the Board of Health, with sim- 

 ilar results. 



At another place a swarm has taken 

 possession of the .■-■chool house and 

 the authorities are much worried 

 about the possibilities, since when it 

 was time for school to convene thei-e 

 seemed to be no way to rid the prem- 

 ises of the bees. 



Perhaps the most unusual is the 

 case where a large tree fell across 

 the road. Within the hollow of the 

 tree was a swarm of bees. When 

 the tree fell it was broken open and 

 the honey scattered about. The road 

 was soon swarming with bees to such 

 an extent that it became necessary to 

 close the road and warn travelers to 

 detour by another way. 



Killed by Sting 



L. E. Arensen, a mail carrier at 

 Grandview, Washington, was stung 

 by a bee while on his route and died 

 within twenty minutes. He vas un- 

 conscious when the doctor reached 

 him and could not be revived. 



Toledo Next 



Now comes the report that Toledo 

 Ohio, has under consideration an or- 

 dinance which will make it unlawful 

 to keep bees, cows, ducks or geese 

 within the limits of that city, without 

 a permit from the Board of Health. 

 It seems to be a popular pastime for 

 city aldermen to legislate ag.iinst the 

 bees. 



A Strange Case 



A Milwaukee paper says that "The 

 honey crop is hindered by the nectar 

 flow." What do you think of that? 



Bees Take Possession 



Some amusing incidents a-; a result 

 of .stray swarms of bees a'-e going 

 the rounds of the press. In one case 



TRANSFER OF EGGS BY BEES 



It would seem that repeated, well- 

 authenticated instances should in due 

 time establish a precedent or a fact. 

 Also, here is an instance where "it 

 was the unexpected that happened." 



On last Saturday (April 2), I dis- 

 covered a colony to be hopelessly 

 queenless. I had previously seen the 

 queen on one of those unseasonably 

 warm days about two weeks befoi-e. 

 However, the queen had been gone 

 long enough that there was positively 

 no brood in the hive, nor eggs; so, in 

 order to forestall laying workei's, and 

 keep the bees contented, I gave a 

 frame of brood and eggs from an- 

 other colony. Three or four days 

 later I looked in and found two rather 

 small queen-cells (joined) started on 

 the comb facing the comb of brood — 

 and in one of the cells there was an 

 egg! There was no jelly about the 

 egg, nor in the cell. The egg could 

 not have been in the cell any length 

 of time, judging by all appearances. 



So here is a plain case where the 

 bees must have transferred an egg 

 as there is certainly no other expla- 

 nation for the presence of the egg 

 in that cell cup, the cell cup having 

 just been built from "whole cloth" 

 upon a comb which had been in the 



hive all winter, and having just prior 

 to this occurrence, no sign of brood 

 or eggs in it. 



The bees, having unquestionably 

 transferred an egg in this instance, it 

 is reasonable and proper to believe 

 that bees have done the same thing 

 before, and are likely to do the same 

 thing again. 



As previously stated, the frame of 

 brood was given solely to forestall 

 laying workers, and to keep the bees 

 contented; it is too early to think of 

 getting a queen fertilized, or even of 

 raising a respectable queen. There 

 are no drones ready, as yet, to fly. 



By the time a queen may be 

 hatched, the season will be further 

 advanced, and I shall hope the 

 weather may be more favorable and 

 dependable — and it may be possible 

 then to find a queen cell in some other 

 hive, to be transferred to this colony 

 for another chance. The present 

 price for a queen at this date is pro- 

 hibitive. D. Queen. 



New Jersey. 



(We have seen instances similar to 

 this. But in each case, the egg thus 

 apparently transported turned out to 

 be a drone which died in the queen- 

 cell, as happens when they try to rear 

 a queen from a drone egg. The ex- 

 planation of this happening is to be 

 found in Wagner's "Dzierzon The- 

 ory," published on page 5 of the first 

 volume of the American Bee Journal, 

 January, 1861. Mr. Wagner wrote: 



"So long as a fertile queen is pres- 

 ent in the hive, the bees do not toler- 

 ate a fertile worker. Nor do they 

 tolerate one while cherishing a hope 

 of being able to rear a queen. In 

 rare instances, however, exceptional 

 cases occur. Fertile workers are 

 sometimes found in hives, immediate- 

 ly after the death of the queen; and 

 even in the presence of a young 

 queen, so long as she has not herself 

 become fertile." 



It is true that, in the instance of 

 which we speak, the bees had been 

 broodless, and that they surely ought 

 to have had some brood there, if a 

 fertile worker was there. But there 

 appears to be a tendency, on the part 

 of some workers, to lay a few eggs at 

 the time when their comrades are 

 making eflorts to build queen-cells. 

 Instances of workers laying a few 

 eggs, at the time of queen-rearing, in 

 a queenless colony, are perhaps more 

 frequent than is generally believed. 

 The main argument in favor of the 

 famous Dickel theory, which held that 

 bees could change the sex of the lar- 

 va, by the change of food, was based 

 upon the fact that sometimes drones 

 are reared around a queen-cell, when 

 that cell has been built by tearing 

 down some worker cells containing 

 young brood. These drone eggs are 

 undoubtedly due to some over-zeal- 

 ous worker which finds herself able to 

 lay an egg or two, and thinks she may 

 help matters along by so doing. 



Later information from our friend 

 above is to the effect that the egg in 

 that cell has disa|ipeared and that 

 well formed and sealed queen-cells 

 arc on the brood-comb furnished by 

 him. This is in the line of our ex- 

 pectations in this occurrence. — Ed.) 



