738 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Xov 



tractor slioiihl lakf advantage of your kiiid- 

 Iv liiiils. If the weather is not warm, (hj the 

 work ill (piite a warm room ; in fact, there 

 is alnu)st no other way to get ont a greater 

 part of the honey — say ! (» per cent. Wiiere 

 extracting is doiie in liot weather, of course 

 there will l.e no tronble. and hereafter we 

 will have this cantion embodied in our di- 

 rections for nse. 



FERTILIZATION OF QUEEN-CELLS. 



>li; 



HOT 



■ r.'dlli <>r Auiiiist hist. I coiii- 

 inciK-»Ml to doctor or fertilize tlic cells in +■, 

 nuclei, to test its aihaiitafies over the iisiiiil 

 way of raisiiij*- (i\icens, with ii \ie\v to its 

 coiiimereial value to (nieeu -raisers. l)Otii 

 buyers and sellers. The first three cells in each nu- 

 clei were doctored, and marked to distinguish them 

 from any l)uilt after, and not doctored. Tlie first 

 caijped was marked from the 3id cell, and 2d from 

 the :Kd: the undoctoie<i were left so that the nuclei 

 could still raise a (jueeu. even if tliey destro.\(Ml all 

 the doctored cells. 



To note and keep record of the datcsof f>'i\ '"K' the 

 brood, the oappinj-- of cells, <lates of hatchinji, and 

 of first eiajis laid, I had to invent a machine, or cal- 

 endar— one that 1 could read any <latc on from any 

 l)osition, or at any distance in my a|)iary, of each 

 nuclei; by means of this calendar, any thiuji' per- 

 taining to a nucleus can be seen at a glance. 1 will 

 describe it and its working- in a future article soon. 

 Out of 45 nuclei I raised M (|ueens from fertilized 

 cells; the other nuclei either had all the doctored 

 cells destroyed or the unfertilized cells hatcheil 

 out first, as the average time for fertilized cells to 

 hatch with me was a little oxer I:J days— the short- 

 est, 6 days; longest, IB days. Of the 30 (luecns from 

 fertilized cells, .3 had imperfect wings; and al- 

 though large line (lUecns, looking like laying 

 queens, they in :i or 4 days came up missing; li laid 

 eggs within 34 hours; :i laid a few eggs the first day, 

 then (|uit until the 4th day, when they commenced to 

 lay regularly, as other laying- queens. Three com- 

 nienced to lay as fertile queens from the tlrst, with- 

 out any interruption; 4 commenced the4Miday; 

 :j commenced the 0th day; 3 each the 7th and sth 

 days; one each the !ith and lOtb days. These cells 

 worefertllizedby opening the queen-cell at the base, 

 and inserting a live drone-larva into the (lueen-cell, 

 flie drone-larva one-half the size of the (lueen-larva, 

 l>erformed within 34 hours after the ca|)ping- of the 

 queen-cells by the bees. 



In my next I will give lesult of cells in 35 nuclei, 

 cells fertilized by the juice. O. >J. Pmci:. 



Tampa, Fla., Oct. !t, 1HS4. 



Many thanks, friend l\. for the teport. so 

 faithfully given, of failure as well as success. 

 Jf we were to have no progress, \ery likely 

 the expense \\'Ould be tnore than it is worth": 

 but it seems to me when we once get hold of 

 the essential points to success, the matter 

 may be found to be (piile simple, and be 

 pretty reliable. In any event, it is a won- 

 derful discovery. Is it indeed possible that 

 worker-bees may be produced by a ([ueen, 

 witliout any ageiicy of the drone wliatever V 

 AVe shall be vcrx giad indeed to hear further 



reports. 



A BOOM FROM CALIFORNIA. 



KltO.M IS STAKVIXG COLOKIKS 1 .\ THE SHHINO TO 

 till. AND WJuO I.BS. OP CO.MB HONE%-. 



IN the spring of ISWJ, Israel Bros, moved their 

 apiary— 101 hives— from the shores of San-Diego 

 Hay to a ranch within a mile of here. We 

 stopi)ed there, bees and all, until we coijld 

 make a road. In the fall or late summer we 

 moved ourselves uj) here. The bees were left be- 

 low three months later. We had a young- man with 

 us to" learn the bee business." He would go down to 

 his neighl)or's house, where the bees were left, 

 take out a sheet of honey, break it out of the frame, 

 and hide the frame in the bushes. In the morning 

 the bees would become frantic— finish up what was 

 on the frame, and then dash into the weakest hives. 

 Kememl>er, that last year was the worst year in ,"3 

 years. All old Californians say so. There were 

 thousands of swarms in the mountains, starving to 

 death. While our bees were fighting- one another, 

 the barbarians came in from the mountains and 

 whlp|)ed them both and carried off what supplies 

 were left. I saved 18 hives only. If I had been 

 there it never would have happened. T)tat boy va- 

 cated the ranch, and I moved the 18 hives up here. 

 Now from this on, mark the history of these 18 hives 

 of bees. They had not four ounces of honey in each 

 hive on the 1st day of January, 1884. 1 dashed off to 

 town— 38 miles— for sugar, and the store-keeper 

 callc<l me an "idiot." But T got the sugar, and 

 lirought it home. 1 became the laughing-stock and 

 butt of the smart " allecs " around the neighborhood. 

 E\ cry place I went I was nuii-ked as the " fool that 

 was feeding his bees." Fool, lunatic, maniac, idiot, 

 were some of the mildest names applied to me 

 (when / MVM imt tlieir). You see, it is almost a crime 

 to feed Ik'Cs here. Hut in answer to all their sallies 

 of wit 1 only said to fhem, "Gentlemen, I think 1 

 know what I am about." So I went on quietly feed- 

 ing each swarm two or three fluid oz. of syrup daily. 

 But, let your readers remember that there is no 

 winter here, and we can feed what we please, win- 

 ter or summer. What did they do? Well, they did if, 

 and I doirt think it will soon slip from my memory 

 /«.((• they did it. 



These IS hives, that had not 4 oz. to the hive of 

 honey, and their progeny, made 10,.5T0 lbs. vomh 

 honey; thus, tiliW lbs. in section l)o.\es, which we 

 have stored in town, waiting for a "rise." Then 

 they have increased to fi9 swarms, rs of which have 

 CO lbs. of honey in their brood-chamber each— mak- 

 ing 4080 lbs.; in all, 10,370 lbs., every ounce of which 

 these bees gathered this season. 



If any one else has beaten this, either in or out of 

 this State, I should like to make his acquaintance 

 and shake him by the hand— i)roviil«'d he has done 

 it with an ecjual number of hives. 



Now, listen hard— heiv is a nut to crack, and no- 

 body here has been e(iual to the task. You know 

 the Harbison honey-box— 8 two-pound sections fast- 

 ened together. Well, we (Utn't w.sc that, but we use 

 the Lovett box— exactly the same size and same 

 number of sections. It is much smoother, nicer, and 

 more easily made. Now for the nut. The bees 

 tilled the whole of the section jam full of honey, 

 and sealed the whole of it up except the ends of 

 each box of sections. Each end section would be 

 sealed on the inside; but on the outside it would all 

 be open, except a spot in the middle. They played 

 this on ns— not here alone, but all over the county 



