1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



Who shall be so prejudiced as to say that her wasp- 

 ship does not consider her act in laying: the special 

 egg, and does not think and plan in maternal acts 

 looking to the larders of her yet unborn? Now, if a 

 wasp realizes what she is doing- as she adds or with- 

 holds the sperm-cells, to such an extent that it in- 

 fluences her daily acts, and modifies her perform- 

 ance of daily duties, who shall say that the queen- 

 bee, of higher development and structure, does 

 not think upon her act as she places the eggs in 

 drone or worker cells? So we have here another 

 proof that egg-laying, with the queen, is a matter 

 attended with intelligent volition; and far be it 

 frond me to say that the queen does not consider 

 the size of her home, the population of her family, 

 and the dimensions of her larder, as she passes in 

 stately mien over the combs, stocking tlie worker 

 or drone cells as circumstances dictate. If volition 

 and discretion are exercised, we can easily see why 

 the affairs in different hives vary. Each queen has 

 her own notions. A.J.Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Dec. 15, 1885. 



ANOTHER USE FOB HONEY. 



EGGS NOT H.\TCHING; WINTERING. 



TN the Medical Times for Nov. 28, 1885, in its Paris 

 j^ letter, written by Thomas Linn, M. D., there is 

 ^r given an important new use for honey, discov- 

 •*■ ered by Dr. Comi, of Rome, by which the hu- 

 man body can be preserved for many years 

 with its " natural color, form, and consistence. 



" To preserve organic bodies in a flexible state, all 

 that is required is to steep them in honey, the finest 

 and clearest that can be found. The cephalic, tlio- 

 racic, and abdominal cavities must be filled with 

 tannin. The result obtained here is due to a sort of 

 fermentation, alcoholic in its nature, that keeps the 

 parts for a long time: afterward they harden." 



The above facts are given on excellent authority, 

 and are doubtless reliable. 



EGGS NOT HATCHING. 



A little more than a year ago I returned to you a 

 Howard queen-daughter, with the statement that 

 " her eggs would not hatch." Within a -week after 

 I wrote you, "Her eggs have been,.si/ice her removal, 

 hatching." 



About two months since, I came across a queen 

 in my apiary that was fourteen days old, with a 

 large patch of eggs deposited in one comb, and I 

 marked her " laying." A week after that I again 

 examined the colony, and was surprised to find 

 there was no brood nor larvse sealed; but again, I 

 saw a good space filled with eggs. I waited again a 

 week, having in remembrance the queen I returned 

 to you, and hoping her eggs would finally begin to 

 batch; but at the end of this week I again found 

 only eggs; and on Nov. 4 I killed the queen, to be 

 followed by regret that I had done it, when, on Nov. 

 8, 1 found larvt« and queen-cells started, which duly 

 matured, but too late, I fear, for the fertilization of 

 the young queen. I believe such cases have never 

 been published before, but T am without any doubts 

 as to all the facts given above. I do not know what 

 became of the eggs, whether they hatched and were 

 Immediately carried out, or eaten by the queen, 

 workers, or drones, until the removal of the queen 

 inclined them to a more sensible course. I am in- 

 clined to think that this is the explanation, for 

 there was not more than one larva to five eggs 



which the queen left in the comb at the time of her 

 removal. The colony in which this has just occurred 

 was a very strong Palestine stock, entirely too wick- 

 ed to "fool" with until after I had destroyed a 

 virgin queen which had accidentally been allowed 

 to hatch, and destroy the " grafted " Carniolan cell; 

 since that they have been comparatively easy to 

 manipulate. The colony has to-day several hun- 

 dred drones in it, and I fear a virgin queen, for 

 there has been only one day when any number of 

 drones have been flying, and then the queen was 

 but three days old. 



PREPARING BEES FOR WINTER. 



I have no new thing to offer on this subject; but 

 judging from the many colonies lost every winter 

 in every section of the United States and Canada, 

 because of ignorance or carelessness on the part of 

 apiarians, I think the cardinal points of the subject 

 should constantly be presented in Gleanings. 

 There are three of these. 



1. Contraction. This is never to be neglected 

 where a hive as large as the Simplicity is used. If 

 the colony is one of the strongest, I would remove 

 three of the lightest combs and substitute division- 

 boards. If the colony is weaker, remove enough 

 frames to croit'd the bees on the remaining combs; 

 or if the colony will only fairly cover one comb, 

 remove all but one comb. 



2. Stores. In this provision the important thing 

 to attend to is to see that there is an abundance. 

 Give me a single comb as full of pollen as you can 

 get it, and I will take enough bees to thoroughly 

 cover it, have them store syrup over the pollen by 

 building out the comb, and I will insure as good 

 wintering of the colony as can be had with any 

 other stores. As food, I should prefer g:ranulated- 

 sugar syrup to honey; and as I can always sell hon- 

 ey and buy sugar with profit to myself, I never feed 

 honey back. 



3. Ventilation. As illustration, take four colonies, 

 like the very weak ones relerred to above, there be- 

 ing only enough bees in each to thoroughly cover 

 one comia, and this one full of syrup as dii^cted 

 above. I take a two-frame nucleus hive, make 

 thi-ough its center a division by means of new 

 enameled cloth, place a colony with one frame on 

 each side of the division, covering each with two 

 folds of strong canvas. I prepare another nucleus 

 hive as above, but remove the bottom, placing this 

 one on top of the other one, but with its entrance 

 revei-sed. I pack them both, with their four queens 

 and retinues, in a box with ten inches of space on 

 every side, prepai-ing entrances ?« XI inch, diverg- 

 ing toward the outside so that they will be ten inch- 

 es apart. I will now carefully pack them with chaff 

 around and above, and leave them undisturbed out 

 of doors all winter. Of course, it must be seen to 

 that the roofs do not leak, and a hole should be 

 made at either end of the box just under the lid 

 that would admit air but not rain. If the packing 

 of these nuclei is undisturbed, the same principles 

 can be easily e-xtended to the larger colonies. It is 

 not unusual to experience a temperature here of 

 4 to 5° below zero; hence in this latitude I am not 

 in favor of cellar wintering; but If I were in a 

 much colder one I should be. I winter strong col- 

 onics in the single-walled Simplicity hive, without 

 any packing, except to replace the enameled cloth 

 above, with a chaff cushion, having only attended 

 well to the two first cardinal points; viz., contrac- 

 tion and stores. If there is but one nucleus colony 



