9fi 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



lay are different, and according to the sex pro- 

 duced; as no proof exists that any animal knows 

 and determines in advance the sex of its offspring, 

 ] think that it is rational to conclude that the exter- 

 nal conditions which are present at the laying of 

 the queen have a positive influence on the sex pro- 

 duced. I should gladly see some discussion raised 

 on this interesting topic. Chas. Dadant. 



Hamilton, 111., Jan., 188H. 



Friend Dadunt, you really surprise me by 

 the depth of reasoning you have given this 

 very wonderful subject. You suggest many 

 things that I hadn't thought of ; and al- 

 though I am left more in a maze than ever 

 before, I think you have opened up a great 

 held for investigation iu a way it has never 

 been oi)ened before, to my knowledge. I 

 know that removing drone comb is a great 

 factor ill preventing the production of use- 

 less drones ; but it didn't occur to me before 

 that this was a powerful argument in favor 

 of the old Wagner theory — that the size of 

 the cell might determine the sex of the ofE- 

 spring. I should be very glad to hear from 

 Prof. Cook again after he has considered the 

 facts you place before us. 



VABIOUS MATTERS. 



now MUCH PAIN IS TIIEKE IN THE STING OF AN 

 INSECT? 



fN page 856 of Gleanings for Dec. 15, 188.5, 1 see 

 friend Root wishes to know more about the 

 testing of the vrater in that well which gave 

 an average tempei-ature of 42°. I will tell you 

 all I know about it. The man owning it is 

 one of the oldest bee-keepers in our town; and as 

 it is natui-al for the younger bee-keepers to visit 

 the older ones, it so happened that I used to go oft- 

 en to see this man to talk bees, twelve to sixteen 

 years ago. Being thirsty one hot day in July while 

 there, I asked for a drink, and he went to the well 

 and drew the "old oaken bucket "full of water, 

 and handed me a glass of it. As I began to drink I 

 stopped and spoke of its coldness, for it seemed to 

 me equal in coldness to any ice water I had ever 

 drank. He then spoke of the facts I gave on page 

 8.56; and to prove the matter to me he took a ther- 

 mometer off a nail close by, which was showing 

 some 90° in the shade, and placed it in the bucket of 

 water, lowering the same into th^ well. 



" Now," says he, " we will go in the bee-yard for a 

 few minutes while the exact temperature is being 

 registered in the well," which we did; and when we 

 came back the thermometer showed between 42° 

 and 43°. It was just such a thermometer as you 

 sell on your 20-cent counter, and I eupposed it was 

 accurate. If I can think of it I will take my spirit 

 thermometer along the next time 1 go that way, 

 and make a further test of it. 



HOW LONG A pEE LIVES AETEK STINGING. 



By what I gee in Gleanings I find an effort is 

 being made to find out how long a bee lives after 

 having left ifp sting' ; but so far T think the reports 

 only point toward confinement being the cause of 

 the death of the bee, rather than the loss of the 

 Bting. If ^ single bee is confined alone it will rai-e- 

 ly live a great while; but if a dozen or two are put 

 together with their queen they will live for a much 

 jflqSfer titqe. t)uf RQt go JQ)]§- ft§ \t tl^ey lja4 their lib- 



erty. Now, I wish all the little folks (or big ones 

 either) who try the experiment to see how long a 

 bee lives after stinging, to put such a bee in with a 

 dozen or two other bees which have a queen, and 

 then tell us the result. While they are thus experi- 

 menting I will tell J ou what I know regarding the 

 matter. 



A year ago last August, while preparing a queen 

 lor shipment, one of the vvorkers stung my fingers 

 in getting- it in the mailing-cage, which is a thing 

 that happens occasionally with me; but always be- 

 fore this, and since, 1 have gotten them out of the 

 cage, or secured them before they were in. But 

 this bee was so spry that I could not get hold of it, 

 and so I concluded to let it remain. This was at 

 about 10 o'clock a. m. The caged queen and bees 

 were left on my shop-bench all that afternoon, an<l 

 till the next morning at 6 a. m. (or 20 hours), when 

 the cage was wrapped and gotten ready for the 

 seven-o'clock mail. At this time every bee in the 

 cage was alive and smart, the one that left its sting 

 in my finger being as lively as ever, as 1 could easi- 

 ly find it by the thread-like attachment which still 

 hung to it. About this time I saw an account in 

 the Bce-Kerpers' Maiiazi)ir, by J. Hasbrouck, if I mis- 

 take not the paper and the writer, telling of how a 

 Syrian bee stung him, after which it was so persist- 

 ent in trying to sting again that he caught it and 

 put it in a cage with some other bees which he 

 chanced to have caged. This bee he said lived a 

 week when he let it have its liberty again. 1 may 

 have made a mistake in some of the minor details, 

 as I quote from memory. If Mr. Hasbrouck's eye 

 meets this, will he not tell us all about itV 



SMOKING BUMBLE-BEES AND HOKNETS. 



On page 636, II. Kobinson speaks of "jugging" 

 bumble-bees, and says that smoke "would do no 

 good" in quieting them. The reason must have 

 been that friend K. did not smoke them in their 

 nest. Smoke does little or no good on cross honey- 

 bees when they get in the air, and the same can be 

 said of any kind of bees, hornets, or wasps; but 

 take them in their nests, and a little smoke quiets 

 them as effectually as need be; at least, such has 

 been my experience with both bumble-bees an<l 

 hornets. I have removed several objectionable 

 bumble-bees' nests from about my premises by the 

 use of smoke during the past ten years, and at one 

 time I had quite an experience with a hornets' nest. 

 This was about ten years ago, when I still managed 

 the farm. One day I wished to sort some sheep, so 

 I yarded them under a shedAvhich I knew contained 

 a large yellow - jackets' nest behind one of the 

 braces. As I went in among the sheep I noticed the 

 hornets thick about the nest, but ^l^qught they 

 would not molest me; but as I reached out my 

 hand to take hold of a sheep, one of them struck 

 me, stinging at the same time, and, oh how it did 

 hurt: I had got used to the sting of the bees, so it 

 hurt me but very little; but this foreign poison 

 affected me so I nearly fainted aA^ay, and I nearly 

 lost the use of that hand and arm for four or five 

 days, it was go swollen and inHamed. Well, I wenj 

 to the shop, got tfje smoker, and after putting on 

 veil and gloves I went cautiously to the nest, anr| 

 before one was aware of aught save safety, I was 

 pouring the smoke into the nest in a thick volume. 

 The result was, that they began in a few moments 

 to leave the nest, and, after hovering around for a 

 few iiioiTients, tl?ey )ef t, ^u^ 1 rfpyer §aw one aboyf 



