1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



605 



hatched, and continue to be good. I asked him to 

 tell me just how he did it, and this is substantially 

 what he said: 



" I took ten cells that had just been capped ovei-, 

 and opened a small hole at the base of the cell. 

 Then with the aid of a straw that was ground fine, 

 like a brush, I poked into a largo drone larva just 

 before it was capped over, and squeezed the liquid 

 from the end of the straw with thumb and finger, 

 dropping it into the hole made in the queen-cell. 

 After dropping in two or three drops I then closed 

 up the opening, sealing it over nicely. I fixed 

 ten cells in this way. Four of these cells were built 

 in such a way that I could not cut them from the 

 comb without injuring them. The other si.x T cut 

 out and put into a wire cage between the frames, 

 but these never hatched. The four hatched all right, 

 and were placed in queenless swarms. Three of 

 these laid eggs inside of two days, while the fourth 

 did not lay for 10 or 12 days from the time of hatch- 

 ing." 



Now, friends, this is the statement of a man whom 



I know to be reliable ; but that I may bo satisfied 



that It can be done, I have started to experiment 



myself, and hope to be able to report in next issue. 



J. T. Calvert, Apiarist. 



Medina, O., Aug. 38, 1884. 



It seems to me from the above, that all we 

 need to learn is just how the thing is man- 

 aged, and success will be almost certain. I 

 should have no faith in caginy queen-cells, 

 for this is an old and abandoned idea; better 

 cut them out and introduce them into the 

 colony as usual, or have them hatched in the 

 lamp or other nurseries. Since the above 

 was communicated, the following is at liand 

 from our friend J. M. Price, with whom I 

 have been acquainted for many years past, 

 and can vouch for his reliability: 



Has anybody claimed to have succeeded by the 

 process of artificial fertilization in the cell, de- 

 scribed in the May No. of Gleanings? Out of 

 about 20 cells tried, I have succeeded in raising a 

 queen that laid inside of 24 hours. The other cells 

 were all destroyed by the bees. Some would keep 

 their ceils to within a few hours of hatching, then 

 destroy them. J. M. Pkice. 



Tampa, Fla., Aug. 18, 1884. 



NOTES FHOM CALIFOKNIA APIARIES. 



SOME MORE " STUNNING " FIGURES. 



fRIEND ROOT:— California, with all her varied 

 conditions, presents a correspondingly varied 

 honey report. The season began with all in- 

 dications favoring an enormous honey-flow. 

 The rainfall was unusually heavy all over the 

 State. In the central counties, and among the more 

 inland portions of those to the southward, the yield 

 was plentiful throughout the season. Along the 

 coast, however, in the southern counties, proti'act- 

 ed fogs through May and June pi-cveuted the frui- 

 tion of the hopes to which the rain-record had given 

 rise; but, after the first part of July, matters even 

 there took a much better turn. 



From the interior of Ventura County, Mr. Moflitt 

 had reported 40 tons of extracted honey from 400 

 colonies by the last of June, and friend Wilkin had 

 at about the same time taken as much from his 

 Sespe apiary as he had taken last yeai-; while his 



Matilija and Cosy-Dell apiaries, nearer the sea, had 

 fallen considerably short. 



Last year, by the last of June the honey-season 

 had closed. This year it was seemingly at its best. 

 I have no complete returns from any of the coun- 

 ties, and it is too early as yet to expect them. 



BEE-BRUSHES. 



The requisites of a good bee-brush do not need to 

 be described. The one which you have lately ott'er- 

 ed for sale conies up to the standard as well as any 

 I have ever seen. The brush, however, I consider a 

 little too short. If it were one-half longer, it would 

 be more convenient. One requisite for convenience 

 it does not supply. Even with metal corners and 

 tin rabbets, combs are liable to separate with difii- 

 culty because of being bridged together. Many bee- 

 keepers have neither; and the projecting ends of 

 the top-bars are gummed tightly to the hives. A 

 lever not only starts the frames with greater ease, 

 but, on mechanical principles, with far less jar; yet, 

 the fewer implements one has in hand, the better. 

 But, the brush you sell bends too easily to pry. I 

 inserted a little rod of iron in one of them, and I 

 found it to be a decided improvement. Mr. Wilkin 

 suggests that they be made with brushes at both 

 edges, thereby securing economy of time in wash- 

 ing. No patents to be applied foi-. 



WHITE-SAGE BLOSSOMS. 



The qualities, merits, and general appearance of 

 white sage have been already discussed in your 

 journal; still, one peculiarity of the flowers I have 

 never seen mentioned. If you examine a sage- 

 flower freshly picked, you will wonder how a bee 

 can get into the nectar-tube and obtain honey. The 

 corolla, like those of all other mints, is two-lipped. 

 But, unlike all others, the lower lip bends upward 

 till it completely closes the mouth of the tube, and 

 it is so fashioned that it is like a spring. In this 

 way the entrance to the tube is completely closed, 

 and, even with the flower in hand, the entrance is 

 not apparent. When a bee alights on the lower lid, 

 her weight overcomes its spring-like resistance, and 

 she enjoys a little free ride, as in the downward 

 movement at " see-saw." 



The way into the tube is thus opened, and the nec- 

 tar-drops, whose flavor is not surpassed by any in 

 the world, ai-e within easy reach of the gatherer. 

 As soon as the insect flies away, the lower lip 

 springs back and again closes the tube. How flow- 

 ers having such divergent stamens and pistils as 

 these have, can either fertilize themselves, or be 

 cross fertilized by insects, is a problem that I have 

 not satisfactorily solved, and yet the ovary always 

 ripens its seeds. The bee almost invariably alights 

 square in front on the lower lid, and she is thus be- 

 tween the two stamens, like a man between the 

 horns of a wild California steer. Exceptionally, 

 however, she alights on the side of the flower back 

 of the stamens, forcing the lip down by strength in- 

 stead of weight. But in neither case have I ever 

 seen a bee touch, however slightly, either the stig- 

 ma or the anthers. 



FORCING SWARMS. 



To several colonics that had just begun queen- 

 cells, preparatory to swarming, I gave, by way of 

 experiment, cells fi-om which queens were to hatch 

 within 36 hours. One colony gnawed down the cell 

 thus given it; the others allowed theirs to hatch, and 

 the old queens departed with swarms, leaving the 

 virgins in their places. An extreme example of the 

 time that weather will delay a swarm from leaving. 



