846 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



they wish to rear drones for the fertilization of 

 queens, or are building- combs for storing honey 

 during- a good honey-flow. The majority of those 

 who had tried hiving swaj-ms upon empty frames 

 did not favor the practice; they did not secure so 

 much honey, but dirt secure too much drone-comb. 

 A few had succeeded to their entire satisfaction. 

 Rogersville, JMich. W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



QUEENS' VOICES. 



CALLING IN THE CELLS. 



T N Oct. 1st No., page 778, E. S. Miner takes issue 

 wMp with me in regard to queens calling while in 

 ]lr the cell. Prof. A. J. Cook said, some years 

 ■^ ago, that, when the first young queen hatches, 

 if the hecs intend to send out a second swarm 

 we hear this peculiar note of the queen, and she 

 is annwered hy the other queeiis still in the cells 

 (italics mine). 



i have heard them calling when I knew there was 

 no queen in the hive outside of a cell, and when 

 the cell-cap was not cut loose so the queen could 

 push her head out, as suggested by Bro. Root. I 

 cut a queen-cell out of a hive where five or six 

 were calling, and heard the yoving queen call in 

 the cell while I held it on my knife, and the cap 

 was not cut partly off. I laid the cell down to take 

 out some frames, and in about five minutes she 

 came out. I cut out all but one cell, and at night 

 the queen had quit calling, but still the bees 

 swarmed next day, leaving the old colonj' queen- 

 less. „ I used the cells and queen that hatched, 

 to form nuclei. I ask Bro. Root to say whether 

 young queens ever call in the queen-nursery. 1 

 never used one. Why does the first young queen 

 begin to call before leaving the cell, onl)i when the 

 bees intend to swarm, if not because she is kept in 

 by the bees? When one calls, the others answer. 

 At other times the oldest queen hatches, and the 

 other cells are destroyed without any quarreling 

 among the queens. 



I ask Bro. Miner to examine caret ullj' a cricket, 

 grasshopper, or other insect that makes a similar 

 noise, and he will find it is made by the covering 

 of the wings, provided with a special apparatus 

 for that purpose. And no insect that I know of 

 makes a similar sound with the true wings, or 

 without this special provisiwi. The worker-bees 

 make several variations of a buzzing, or humming 

 sound, with their wings; but it is very different 

 from this piping of the queen. There is no way 

 of proving positively that the queens do this call- 

 ing, because kept in by the bees; but it is a fair 

 inference, when at such times the queen will stay 

 in the cell until old enough to fly, unless taken out 

 of the hive, when she will come out at oiice, and 

 at other tijnes come out without calling, looking- 

 like a worker just hatched, and unable to fly. This 

 is my conclusion after three years' investigation 

 to find the cause. 9— John C. Gilliland, 15—35. 



Bloomfleld, Ind., Oct., 1886. 



Friend G., I can not remember that I ever 

 heard a queen call while in a cell in the nur- 

 sery. I am glad you suggest the matter, for 

 I do not remember to have ever thought of 

 it before. I should like to hear from friend 

 Hayhurst and others who have used the nur- 

 sery a good many years. 



CALIFORNIA. 



BEES IN AN OLD DUNGEON. 



TjFOU may remember me as a former resident of 

 ^J^ El Dara, III., and, while there, a bee-keeper. 

 ^4(? ^ came to this country a year ago this fall, 



'*' partly for health, and also to escape the hard 

 winters. 1 find it a delightful change, and an 

 improvement in both health and climate. I intend- 

 ed to go into the bee-business here, but instead I 

 have been buying and selling. This is the most 

 wonderful country for bees I ever saw. They 

 never winter-kill; spring dwindling is unknown. 

 Bees work the year round. Honey is very cheap. 

 I got the finest extracted I ever saw, almost trans- 

 parent, and of good body, for 3 cts. per lb., and 

 retailed it for five; beautiful comb honey in 2-lb. 

 sections, at 6 cts. per lb., and sold it for 8 and 10 cts. 

 My zeal for handling bees has rather oozed out 

 since finding honey so low and abundant. 



Wild bees can be found among the rocks and in 

 caves in the canyons here, some having been there 

 for years, with immense quantities of honey. And, 

 by the way, I want to mention one little fact that 

 is wonderful. I went out with a party the other 

 day to the old Jesuit Mission, about 4 miles from 

 here. It's an old adobe and brick structure, over 

 100 years old. The main building, bull-pens, arches, 

 and wings, cover several acres, or did. Much is 

 in ruin now. Well, in one wing, running out from 

 the main building, there has evidently been a 

 dungeon; but above this room there seems to be 

 space for another room, though I could find no en- 

 trance, nor any sign of there ever having been; 

 but there are three different sides where bees are 

 passing out and in; two entrances are ver.y strong. 

 The air seemed to be full of bees, and thej- keep 

 up such a roaring you can hear them for rods 

 away. In looking- over this old pile, viewing its 

 rude but grand architecture, its ornamental work, 

 images, etc., now fast crumbling away, I was 

 filled with wonder and delight; but when I came 

 to the department of bees I was moved within me 

 as never before. There must be within that wall 

 quite a large i-oom. The guide tells of their having 

 bees there for 20 years. 



Now, Bro. Root, come out and visit this wonder- 

 ful State. We will go up to the old Mission, get per- 

 mission from the authorities, dig a hole into that 

 wall, and just take out that honey, bees and all. 

 You can load a car and take it right home. 



Gleanings comes, a welcome visitor. I like to 

 keep watch of the progress made by our old friends 

 in managing bees. Extracted honey here is put 

 up in square tin cans holding 5 gallons each, and 

 two cans in a case, the two just sliding in nicely; 

 then they are nailed up. 



The weather here by the coast is wonderfully 

 cool — mercury standing at about 8v1. sometimes 

 dropping to 70. T. C. Bunker. 



Oceanside, Cal. 



Well done, old friend ; but why don't you 

 dig a hole into that unexplored room, without 

 waiting for me to come and help? I think 

 my brother at San Diego will be the man 

 for the undertaking. lie is always ready 

 for adventures. But I can not understand 

 how it is possible that this room should 

 have remained all these years without being 

 explored. It seems to me something like 

 the age of the world when people lived so 



