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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



BEES. 



Thursday afternoon Mr. York was in our room, and 

 told us a great many interesting things about bees. 

 There are three kinds of bees, the queen, the workers, 

 and the drones. The queen is long and narrow. 

 She lays all the eggs in the hive, but never gathers 

 honey nor goes where the surplus is stored. Her food 

 consists of a finer quality of honey, called royal jell}-. 

 The worker is like the queen in every way except 

 two. The first is that the lower part of its body is 

 shorter ; and the second is, that its work is different. 

 It gathers the honey and pollen, which it stores away 

 in the cells. The drone is larger and broader than 

 the worker. It does nothing but eat and sleep. 



The pollen is stored in the lower part of the hive, 

 and here the queen lays her eggs. One egg is put into 

 each cell. After the egg has been laid, and food put 

 in for the larva, the workers plaster up the opening 

 of the cell. There is some difference in the covering 

 of the cells. Those of workers are fiat, while the 

 drone-cell caps resemble a mass of bullets, and the 

 entire queen-cell is different. Her cell looks like a 

 bag, and is shaped somewhat like a peanut. A few 

 days after being laid, each egg is transformed into a 

 small, pearly-white larva. 



The queen develops in 16 days, the worker in 21, and 

 the drone in 24. The workers seldom lay eggs ; but 

 when they do, only drones are produced. 



Bees will gather honey for several miles around. 

 The bee flies around the hive several times before it 

 leaves, and when it comes back it flies to a certain 

 height, and then in one straight line to its home. 



The drones have no stings. The worker dies after 

 using its sting, and the queen uses hersonly in killing 

 a rival, if she has any. 



There are about 40,000 bees in a hive, and a strong 

 colony of bees will store about 100 pounds of honey in 

 a good season. 



When the hive is overcrowded, the queen and a 

 great many of the workers fly away and settle on the 

 branch of some tree. This is called swarming, and 

 causes a great deal of excitement in the hive when it 

 happens. Anna Sundberg. 



Who can estimate the good that may result 

 from Mr. York's talklet before this school ? 



AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Mr. J. L. Lattimer argues for the old-style 

 section as against the plain. He says if both 

 kinds are put on the table for sampling, the 

 old style will be taken first as it has a neat 

 oval appearance, while the plain sections will 

 have a mussy appearance, caused by the honey 

 flowing from the outside cells, very much as a 

 piece of chunk honey would look on a plate. 

 Oh dear ! how easy to assume as fact what we 

 imagine to be the truth. Mr. L. should have 

 added a clincher, to the effect that the cook is 

 sure to let grease spatter all over plain sections 

 while the old-style ones always escape that 

 dire calamity. How many housekeepers would 

 think of putting two sections of honey on the 

 table at a time ? and how many would put on 

 even one without first throwing the section 

 into the stove ? I confess I am unable to see 

 why people should show so strong a prefer- 

 ence for plain sections as has been reported in 

 these columns time and again ; but the pref- 

 erence is there, and it is just contrary to what 

 Mr. Lattimer would have us believe, and that, 

 too, without "puffing." Of course, those 

 who buy honey to sell are wise in selecting 

 that which sells best ; but in buying it to eat 

 I would pay no more attention to the section 

 than I would select a coat according to the 

 color of the box the manufacturer packed it in. 

 ft 

 BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 



I quote the following from our British con- 

 temporary : 



We deeply regret having to record the death, under 

 very sad circumstances, of Mrs. Chapman, wife of 

 Mr. F. Chapman, of The Dairy, Wells, Somersetshire, 

 well known as a successful bee-keeper and exhibitor. 

 It appears that, on the evening of Wednesday, July 

 19. Mr. Chapman, accompanied by his wife and sister, 

 went, by request, to the Eunatic Asylum, Wells, to 

 inspect the hives there. One of the medical officers 

 (who is himself a bee-keeper) accompanied them to 

 the apiary, and nothing unusual occurred while the 

 hives were being examined. This done, the party 

 returned indoors. A bee apparently followed them 

 in, for while in the corridor the insect got into Mrs. 

 Chapman's hair ; she became somewhat alarmed, 

 and, as might easily happen under such circum- 

 stances, the bee stung her on the head. This further 

 increased Mrs. Chapman's excitement, but the sting 

 was extracted, and the party all walked down the 

 corridor into one of the wards ; here Mrs. Chapman 

 fell into a faint, and, notwithstanding the joint efforts 

 of the medical officer and her husband, she never re- 

 covered consciousness, but died in about ten minutes. 



The coroner made an examination, and 

 found death due to a defective valve in the 

 heart, the excitement of the sting causing a 

 failure of th^t organ. 



NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA. 



Drone-cell Queen-cups; a Practical Method of 

 Clipping. 



BY H. L. JONES. 



Apiculture has been with me a life-long oc- 

 cupation ; and if there is one branch that I am 

 better versed in than another it is that pertain- 

 ing to queens and queen-raising ; and it is on 

 this subject that I wish to have a little chat. 

 DRONE-CEEL OUEEN-CUPS. 



Two years ago you published and gave illus- 

 trations of my method of queen-raising, and 

 expressed your intention of giving the method 

 a trial in your apiary ; but until Mr. Wardell 

 came along and made a success of the Doolit- 

 tle cell-cups, nothing more was heard of your 

 queen-raising operations. Mr. Wardell, how- 

 ever, still uses the dipped cells, and I can not 

 imagine how you progressive Yankees, with 

 your love for labor-saving methods and short 

 cuts, still prefer the dipped cells to the Diore 

 rapid and just as effective drone-cell method 

 outlined in my article in Gleanings, May 15, 

 1897. I have raised some thousands of queens 

 since that article was written, and still prefer 

 drone-cells to the dipped ones. , Request Mr. 

 Wardell to try this method, and report for the 

 benefit of your readers. 



clipping queens, from a breeder's 

 standpoint. 



I was pleased to note, a year or so ago, that 

 you had seen the error of your ways, and had 

 become a convert to queen-clipping. I have 

 practiced this for more than 13 years, and I do 

 not know a single objection that can be legiti- 

 mately urged against it, while the advantages 

 are many. But, aside from its importance to 

 the honey-producer, the practice is of even 



