188() 



GLEANINGS IN IJEE CULTUliE. 



565 



The structure of the sting, and the way it is used, 

 is well given, and is sulistantially the same as given 

 l)y Hyatt. 



1 have not space hero to more than refer to the 

 wonderful description of the spernuitlieca, and the 

 manner in which eggs are impregnated, or passed 

 unimpreguated, at the will of tlie (lueen. 



This, with other parts ol the work, show the au- 

 thor to l)e an expert with the miiM-oscope, which 

 fact, combined with a skillful pencil, makes the 

 treatise of great \ahie. 



Tlie last part of the work, showing how useful 

 bees are to plants, is most opportune Just at this 

 time. The author has selected wisely frcun Dar- 

 win's great work on this subject, and has given 

 graphic examples of the \alue of bees to fruit- 

 growers. The work is beautifully e.vecuteil, and is 

 certainly a great credit to its author, and a most 

 valuable acquisition to liee-literature. It is to he 

 regretted that its price is so great— *.''>.(I0 for the 

 entire work, $2..'>0 for each volume— as this will 

 keep it from the libraries of a great many who 

 would otherwise secure it. Vet it is hard to see 

 how it could cost less. A. .7. CdOiv. 



Agricultural College, Mich., July, 18M5. 

 Thanks, friend Cook, for your kind and 

 deserved notice of this valuable work. 1 

 am pleased to see, als<i. how well you " stand 

 tire," if I may be allowed the expression. So 

 long as we are all human, and liable to err, 

 especially wlien we try to search out the 

 depths of natural history, why should we 

 not have a very wide charity for each other? 

 Of course, a good deal of the above is beyond 

 my depth ; but may I be excused for ven- 

 turing to criticise both you and friend 

 Cheshire on one point? You kno\v it has 

 often been said that a queen will lay eggs 

 enough to equal her own weight in 24 hours ; 

 but it seems to me that this is surely a mis- 

 take, and I want to imiuire if you "have at 

 tlie Agricultural College a pair of scales 

 equal to the task of weighing a queen's egg, 

 or, if you choose, 100 or 200 eggs. Suppose 

 we grant that a queen may lay 8000 eggs in 

 a day, will these eggs weigh any thing near 

 as much as the (jueen herself, say at a time 

 when she is not laying eggsV A great part 

 of my life has been spent with small scales 

 —those for weighing gold and silver. From 

 the experience I have had I can not think 

 that the above statement is correct. One of 

 the poultry-journals a short time ago sug- 

 gested that it was next to impossible for a 

 common fowl to eat and digest food enough 

 every day to produce an egg; that the way 

 she managed it was to accumulate flesh be- 

 fore she commenced laying ; and when this 

 accumulation had disappeared she was 

 obliged to take another rest. Well, there is 

 a "biddy'" down at our poultry-house that 

 has laid an egg every day since last Februa- 

 ry ; that is, if she has missed a day I have 

 not noticed it. She was quite a small fowl 

 when she commenced to lay, and I should 

 say she had increased in size fully a third 

 while she has been laying. So this upsets 

 the point made i'n the poultry-journal. Per- 

 haps I should add, however, that the eggs 

 laid are remarkably small — so small tliey 

 would hardly answer for market. The hen 

 is a cross between Plymouth Rock and Leg- 

 horn. She was hatched so late in the fall 



tliat she was probably stunted in growth 

 during winter. She takes enough food to 

 furnish matei-ial for an egg every day, and 

 something mcu-e, which makes me look at 

 her in amazement (piite often. Now, then, 

 can a queen, even with thousands of attend- 

 ants using tlieir digestive apparatus to help 

 her along in her work of egg-producing (by 

 giving food in the most concentrated anti 

 fully digested shape possible), produce eggs 

 enough i)t (nil' daij to weigh as much as she 

 does y It may be true, but I should like 

 to see it proven. When it is I will take 

 off my hat and make my best bow to a 

 queen-bee, in token of the great wonders the 

 iimiates of a bee-hive are capable of per- 

 forming. 



GETTING BEES OUT OP SECTIONS. 



TIIK WAV KIUKNI) UOOLITTI.F, MANAOES IT. 



NOTICED C.eoi-ge A. Wi-ight's (luestion on page 

 :i9:i, regarduig getting bees out of sections, and 

 it would have l)een answered sooner, only for 

 pressure of business. As I have verj' little 

 time at my command I will tell, as biietiyas 

 possible, just how I manage; and as July is our 

 great honey month here at the North, it will be in 

 good time for all those whose surplus is obtained 

 from basswood or fall tiowers. All have noticed 

 that the bees have passageways, or holes, in each of 

 the four corners of nearly every section- so much 

 so that these holes come as near being a matter of 

 fact as an.\- one thing connected with l)ee culture. 

 Now, it will be seen that, in our plans of later 

 years, tiiese sections are so i)laced upon the hive 

 that these holes in the corners make one straight 

 hole right through from one side of our case, or 

 clamp, of sections to the other, nearly or quite as 

 straight as if bored with a % auger. This, I think, 

 I have made plain to all. Then all know that, if 

 smoke is suddenly poured into a bee-hive without 

 any jar or disturbing beforehand, the very first 

 thing the bees will do is tf) run as far from the 

 smoke as possible, inside the limits of the hive, 

 withotit stopping for any thing. As soon as such 

 limits are reached they will take to their honey, for 

 they will not leave the hive without taking a loail 

 of honey with them for a new start in life. Taking 

 advantage of these two facts I carefully lift the 

 cover to the hive, and just as carefully remove one 

 of the little side boards from my section case, or 

 clamp, of wide frames, blowing a little smoke up- 

 on the bees on the face side of the sections, and, as 

 quickly as possible, hold the nozzle of the smoker 

 to the first of those holes at the upper corner of 

 the sections, beginning on either the right or left 

 hand side as it comes handiest. I now give two 

 putts of smoke into that hole, working the smoker 

 for all it is worth, so as to send a stream of smoke 

 as deep into the sections as possible. Then the 

 nozzle is placed at the next hole, and the next, and 

 the next, in quick succession, till two putt's of 

 smoke have been driven as far as possible into 

 each hole. I now (juickly take off the little board 

 on the opposite side of the clamp, and as thorough- 

 ly drive the smoke to the heart of the section-case 

 from the other side. Now I wait a moment, giving 

 the i)ees the necessary time to ttee from the smoke, 

 when the sections are suddenly taken from the 

 hive with scarcely a bee upon them, if I have done 



