1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CtJLTUliE. 



ini 



thank them both; and while I honestly say I have 

 tried to be and to do what the biography gives me 

 credit for, I am but too conscious of having come 

 far short of my ideal. It will be mj' aim in the 

 future more faithfully to realize that ideal, more 

 fully to deserve the esteem of my friends, and more 

 efiiciently to labor for the advancement of apicul- 

 ture. The tokens of respect and appreciation which 

 I have received will not fail to ha^•e an influence in 

 spurring me on toward the attainment of these 

 ends. James Heudon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., June 4, 1886. 



DETEBMINING THE SEX OF THE EGG. 



ALSO SOME OTHER MATTERS. 



BOOK, Hayhurst, and others have much to say 

 ' about queens laying eggs in shallow cells, 

 and cite this as evidence that it does not re- 

 quire worker-cells to produce worker-bees. 

 Now, is there any truth in this? and who is 

 the author of the theory that eggs laid by tlie queen 

 while she is in a horizontal position with the foun- 

 dation, impregnates the egg by curving the lower 

 part of her abdomen in such a manner as to bring 

 her spermatheca in the right place to distribute the 

 spermatozoid on the egg in the same way as it is 

 done when laying in a contracted cell? 



DO BEES HEAR? 



If Marshall Darling, on page 269, had suspended 

 his hives in mid-air, would blasting rocks disturb 

 them? I think that bees do not hear, except by the 

 jarring of their antennre while they are at rest on 

 or toui;h something solid. 



CAN WE USE WIRE CLOTH OVER THE CRATE OF A 

 SMOKER? 



D. McKenzie's Are among his hives, page 268, re- 

 minds me of the caution that is required in using a 

 smoker while manipulating hives that are filled 

 with chair. I protect my smoker by a piece of wire 

 cloth bent over the grate. You will have to take 

 the grate out of the smoker to do this. Bend a 

 piece of wire cloth a little larger than and the same 

 shape of the grate over the grate, and drive it back 

 in its place again. Can't the smokers be fixed in 

 some such way as this before sending them out? 

 We always want to have things safe. 



HOW MUCH MOISTURE CONDENSES IN A COLONV 

 DURING WINTER? 



I have 40 colonies wintered in good shape in sin- 

 gle-wall hives, size ISi^XlS'^ inside, with an upjier 

 story tilled with leaves. There were leaves also on 

 each side of five to seven frames of bees and honey, 

 separated by two thin (1-in.) empty di\-ision-boards. 

 The portico in front was likewise filled with leaves. 

 Between two projecting boards that I have hinged 

 to the back of the hive (used for a comb-holder in 

 summer and for this purpose in winter) I filled with 

 leaves, and covered with my entrance-board one 

 foot wide, made out of clapboards. The cover of the 

 hive is made from clapboards, and shaped like the 

 gable roof of a house. On the inside of one of these 

 covers I tacked last fall a large piece of enameled 

 cloth, having it Hap on to the leaves in the upper 

 story in such a manner as to catch the water that 

 would condense on this cloth, and drip down intt) a 

 cavity made lor the purpose. I collected nearly a 

 gill of water in this way in a week's time; then I 

 let it remain through the winter, and in March the 

 combs in this hive were covered with mold, and 



sugared (away from where the bees were clustered) 

 so badly that the bees would starve before they 

 could eat it; so I am satisfied that, if dampness 

 docs not hurt the bees, it injures the honey. This 

 water must have run oft' from this enameled cloth. 

 The hives were ventilated like yours. 



J. L. HvDE, 49-4X 

 Pomfret Landing, Conn., April .5, 1886. 



Friend XL, I never heard of the tlieory yon 

 suggest, in regard to the queen being in a 

 horizontal position. — In regard to the bees 

 liearing, the experiment 1 mentioned, of tlie 

 teeting of the queen while on a comb field in 

 the hand, seems to me tonches the point. 

 The bees will hear the note of the queen 

 when the combs are out of the hive, and i 

 don't think that any jar conld be commun- 

 icated while the comb is held in the hand. — 

 Our smokers were Hrst made with wire cloth 

 instead of perforated tin ; but it tilled up 

 and clogged so badly that we made a series 

 of experiments with tin having different 

 sizes of perforations. Those we now use 

 give by far the best lesults in the long run. 

 —I am well aware that a large amount of 

 moisture is given off by a colony of bees in 

 the winter time. 



— I ^— 



A LESSON DRAWN FROM THE HABITS 

 OF BEES. 



YOUNG MAN, DON'T "GO WE.ST." 



fRIEND ROOT:-The honey season has opened 

 up unusually well here. Fruit-bloom was 

 very abundant, foUowe 1 bj' white clover. 

 Lower stories arc now full. I shall com- 

 mence extracting at once. My bees are mix- 

 ed—Italian, hybrid, and blacks—as well as some 

 large brown or gray bees. None of them are purely 

 American, judging from their habits, not having 

 any respect for the Sabbath; they work, swarm, 

 and act as badly on Sunday as on any other day. 

 Vet there is (»«e American trait; i. e., a desire to "go 

 west." Several colonies of mine have left a good 

 new Simplicity home for a dug-out, or hollow tree, 

 until we adopted your plau of giving the new col- 

 ony a comb of unsealed brood from the parent, or 

 some other colony. I find it works like a charm- 

 contented, they at once commence work. 



The thought occurred to me, could we not cut otf 

 a slice or two of the home farm for our boys when 

 they swarm, and have them settle near us, where 

 the country is settled— school and church buildings 

 already built; society, and home comforts to keep 

 their hearts warm, and social ties unsevered? Our 

 farms are too large for the necessary high stated' 

 cultivation thej' denumd and must receive, if farm- 

 ing is made to pay. 



The western fever is raging all over our land. 

 Many go, while few are benefited by it greatly. The 

 loss of time, and exjjcnse of moving, together with 

 the cost of one year's supplies necessary in a new 

 country, if added to the " one f lame " from the old 

 colony, would build up a home away from the pri- 

 vations of a frontier life. Yet bees will swarm, and 

 occasionally run away. Young people will, may, 

 and do "go west to grow up with the country," and 

 we must accept the change as one of the unavoida- 

 bles of life. Yet when we see the young man who 

 was raised in refined society, with his wife, the 

 frail, fragile daughter of a cultured home, brav- 



