726 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



but they will average no better queens than 

 will be reared by the bees when they have 

 brood of all ages from which to select. In 

 the hands of the common honey-producer, the 

 best queens will be reared by allowing the 

 bees their own way, and then, when the cells 

 have been sealed in a strong colony, letting 

 the nucleus or colony in which the queen is to 

 be kept till laying have several cells from 

 which to select. I know that I have reared 

 hundreds of good queens in that way, and 

 there is less chance for miscarriage thereby 

 than in any of the other ways that may be 

 advisable for queen-rearing specialists. 

 Marengo, 111. 



[My own experience of several years ago, 

 when I was doing the queen-rearing at the 

 Home of the Honey-bees, and the experience 

 of our Mr. Wardell, who is now doing that 

 same work, would rather lead me to lean 

 toward Mr. Taylor's position; namely, that, 

 when a colony is made queenless of eggs and 

 larvcB of all ages, they do not as a rule " se- 

 lect what will make the best queens." I have 

 sometimes thought that, when they find them- 

 selves suddenly deprived of their mother, they 

 are in such haste to supply the deficiency that 

 they start with any thing they can get; but, 

 on the other hand, when they are about to 

 supersede a queen there is no hurry; neither 

 is there need of any haste during the swarm- 

 ing season, for they have in either case plenty 

 of time, not only to do good selecting, but to 

 do good work. Our recent experience shows 

 that, in order to get good queens under any 

 circumstances, a moderate honey-flow or mod- 

 erate feeding is an important requisite. — Ed.] 



THE WORKER-BEE A PERFECT BEE. 



The Dzierzon vs. the Dickel Theory, Regarding the 

 Control of the Sex ; Second Entrances ; Cotton 

 Batting for Calking Old Hives; a Simple Intro- 

 ducing-cage ; a Novel Method of Introducing 

 Queens by means of a Cage made of Foundation. 



BY F. GREINER. 



When reading the Aug. 1st issue of Gi^Ean- 

 INGS, different things suggested themselves to 

 my communicative mind ; and while I think 

 of them I will jot them down. 



Dr. Miller, in Stray Straws, speaks of the 

 worker-bee and the queen, the former as being 

 generally considered a dwarfed or undevelop- 

 ed female. As he further saj's, each is a per- 

 fect being of its kind, each made for a special 

 purpose, and so they are beginning to be 

 regarded by good authorities on bees, and by 

 scientists in this and other lands. What is 

 most remarkable in this matter of queen and 

 worker-bee is the fact that the nurse-bees have 

 it in their power, even at so late an hour as 

 when the worker-bee larvte have already 

 reached a very advanced stage of development, 

 to still bring either a queen or a worker-bee 

 to maturity. This in the face of the fact that 

 the queen is minus some organs and faculties 

 the worker-bees do possess. I reason it out 

 like this : The worker and queen larvae are 



perhaps exactly alike up to within two days 

 of the end of their growing or larval period ; 

 that they act as a sort of storeroom for certain 

 foods administered during the last two days, 

 and to be assimilated or used during the pupa 

 stage for the perfection of the insect, and that 

 this further and final development in the cell 

 after being sealed is in accordance with the 

 kind, quality, and perhaps amount of food 

 thus stored. Let us bear in mind what a 

 power the worker-bee here exercises on the 

 offspring. Some of our German scientific bee- 

 keepers go still further. Although few doubts 

 have been expressed for years as to the sound- 

 ness of the Dzierzon theory, according to 

 which the queen alone determines at will 

 what her offspring shall be, male or female, 

 yet of late this "Dzierzon theory " has been 

 attacked by F. Dickel, present editor of the 

 Bieiieii Zeittmg (formerly edited by Vogel). 

 The proof seems to be strong, I must admit ; 

 but after all I have grave doubts. Dickel 

 seems to show that the eggs, as laid by a nor- 

 mally fertile queen, are indifferent as to sex. 

 Or if that does not quite express it, the male 

 and female rudimentary beginnings are both 

 present in the egg, both equally strong, and it 

 is owing solely to the influence of the worker- 

 be^ which one is to develop. 



We have long been convinced that the 

 workers are the leading power in the home 

 affairs of the hive, and it may be that their 

 will here is decisive also. When I get a little 

 more leisure I will try to show just what the 

 Dickel theory is. 



In another Straw, Dr. Miller speaks of giv- 

 ing ventilation and giving a second entrance 

 when two brood-stories are being used. Why 

 not give this second entrance by sliding the 

 top story back far enough to suit one's ideas 

 as to the amount of ventilation ? By sliding 

 the bottom story back over the floor-board, 

 an entrance may be given there also. So we 

 . have it in our 



r p r IG- I ^ power to provide 



^ H as mau}^ as four 



entrances when 

 using two brood- 

 chambers, with- 

 o u t interfering 

 with the usual 

 bee - spaces. If 

 the top story is 

 slid back, that, 

 of course, would 

 allow the rain to beat in at the front, and a 

 suitable provision will have to be made. A 

 piece of pine lumber, beveled on one edge, 

 and temporarily tacked on as shown in Fig. 1, 

 answers the purpose. My little girls speak of 

 our hives thus arranged as the hives with 

 stoops for the bees. 



Cotton batting for calking up old box hives 

 serves a good purpose ; but with well-made 

 hives of modern construction none will be 

 needed. I have just moved a few loads of 

 bees into other pastures (buckwheat) without 

 mishap, although the roads were in bad con- 

 dition owing to heavy rains and washouts. 



This season has been a remarkable one for 

 storing pollen in the sections. Contraction 



