1888 



GLEANINGS IN B£lE CULTURE. 



30t 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



WHAT DO THE BEES DO WITH THE SURPLUS OE 

 EGGS LAID IN EARLY SPRING ? 



gDITOR Gleanings: -The Soth'of Janual-y, in 

 examining- my bees to see if they had plen- 

 ty of honey, I found a little brood in all; 

 but there was something- about two of them 

 that puzzled me. In one there was a small 

 patch of comb, on either side of which was brood of j 

 all agres. In many of the cells I counted three, 

 four, and in one cell even six eg-gs. In a few days 

 those same cells contained each a nice young larva. 

 Now, what became of the surplus eggs? Do the 

 bees remove them? If so, before or after hatching? j 

 Was it because there was but little empty comb in 

 the brood-nest, and the queen was just ruruiing over 

 with eggs, that caused her to deposit so many in a 

 cell? I 



small drones, and are they of any ser- 

 vice ? 

 The other puzzle was this: I found in another i 

 hive a small patch of brood, in all stages, many 

 cells containing two or three eggs; but a good por- j 

 tion of that which was sealed was drawn up above | 

 the other like drone larva^, notwithstanding this 

 comb was originally a sheet of worker foundation. 

 I thought, "Fertile worker," according to my A B 

 C book; but in due time the other larv.v were sealed 

 over, worker like; and the following week, while 

 standing in front of this same hive I heard some- 

 thing like the sound of a drone on the wing; and by 

 watching the entrance closely (it required close 

 watching, though) 1 detected among- the bees a pe- 

 culiar-looking fellow which I picked up and care- 

 fully examined. It looked like a" sure enough" 

 drone, all except its size. The queen has been lay- 

 ing all right since, though not so prolific as could be 

 desired. Now, what could have induced the pro- 

 duction of drones thus early in the season, while 

 the colony was very weak? Would those small 

 drones have been of service for fertilization? I 

 had some drones last year that were raised on 

 worker foundation, but the cells were enlarged in 

 some way by the bees to the proper size for the ac- 

 commodation of those "gentlemen of leisure." 

 Sparta, Miss., Mar. 5, 1888. L. Hall. 



The extra eggs found in the cell iu your 

 case, were probably because the queen had 

 not bees enough to prepare as many cells as 

 slie was capa])le of using each day. This 

 state of affairs often occurs where colonies 

 are weak, especially in the spring time. I 

 presume the nurse-bees remove the extra 

 larvae, for I have always found only one 

 when they Ijegan to get large e^nough to oc- 

 cupy the cell properly. The small drones 

 were accidental, and it is a common thing 

 to find a drone or two that came out of 

 worker-cells in almost any good colony of 

 bees. Just before (jueens fail, however, 

 it is quite common for them to lay a good 

 many drone eggs in worker-cells. As to 

 whether these small drones are capable of 

 fertilizing a queen, is a question that has 

 been argued quite a little. I believe we 

 have, however, several pretty conclusive 

 testimonies to the effect that they do, at 

 least sometimes, fertilize (lueens. 



A burning-glass fob collecting the rays of 

 the sun for the solar wax-extractor. 



Would it not be a good idea to use a burning- 

 glass in connection with the solar wax-e.xtractor, 

 the glass to be larger than the average glasses? Of 

 course, we must not set it so as to burn the whole 

 concern, only just enough to make it a little warm- 

 er, to enable us here to make the sun do the trying- 

 out of the wax for us any time through summer, 

 when it shines. We would, of course, have to turn 

 the machine a little every two or three hours or so, 

 to face the sun nearly, till some fellow invents a 

 "fixin"to make it work automatically, like your 

 windmill. About two years ago I took a large bot- 

 tomless white-glass jar, put a wire cloth under it, 

 and filled it with old comb, etc., and hung it on the 

 south side of a house, with a sheet of tin between 

 for a reflector, as was described by one of your 

 correspondents on page 127 for Feb. 15, 1886. It has 

 been hanging there now for two years. Sometimes 

 it reaches 90 to 100° Fahr. in the shade; but that 

 won't melt wax. This makes me a little careful 

 about a solar wax-extractor. What is the trouble 

 with mine? <-. Reichert. 



Thiensville, Wis., Mar. 6, 1888. 



Friend R., I am afraid your burning-glass 

 for a solar wax- extractor, large enough for 

 the purpose, would be rather expensive. I 

 have tried some of the cheaper ones, such 

 as are sold for 1.5 and '25 cents. They will 

 melt the wax on a spot as large as a cent, 

 but you can readily see that, at this rate, it 

 would take a good" while to melt any consid- 

 erable quantity of wax. As long as we can 

 make the solar wax-extractor raise the tem- 

 perature to 21H degrees Fahrenheit (wax 

 melts at 14-5) with common tin as a reflector, 

 and simply one sheet of glass, I hardly see 

 the need of a burning-glass.— The trouble 

 with your bottle hung up on the side of the 

 house is, that it was not protected from the 

 outside temperature sufficiently. The cool 

 air would have access to the under side of 

 the bottle, and I shoidd readily suppose it 

 could not heat up to more than 90 to 100 de- 

 grees Fahr. You remember Mr. II. L. 

 Jeffries, the correspondent to whom you re- 

 fer, had his jars inclosed in a triangular 

 apartment, one side open to receive the rays 

 of the sun. 



In addition to what Ernest has written 

 above, I will say that the glass jar is not of 

 the right shape to utilize to good advantage 

 the suns rays. You want a flat glass that 

 faces the sun ; and the nearer the sun shines 

 perpendicular to the surface of the glass, the 

 more heat will be retained. 



A NET PROFIT OF fUM FROM 2 COLONIES. 



Last year I increased from 2 to 12 colonies, and 

 took 84 lbs. of box honey, worth here 20 cts. per lb. ; 

 Slfi.HO; 4 colonies I sold at f6.35, or 25 (lO, and :S full- 

 crammed colonies at *1(), or $30.00; and :! others en- 

 gaged, $30.00; all paid for, WOl.SO. 1 fed, to winter 

 them, 250 lbs. sugar at ti '4 cts., $16.87. Net profit, 

 $84.93. This leaves me the 3 hives still. All this I 

 told you, and just how I did it. Eight or ten weeks 

 ago I called your attention to it in a pleasant way, 

 but have received no response. I can not account 

 for it, why you did not print it, unless you thought 



