834 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



will feel better; but after all, you can see just 

 as well as I can that it is a bare track. I didn't 

 think it necessary to say a barefooted person's 

 track." 



Somehow our prospecting did not amount 

 to much that day — not a color to show after 

 all our picking; and the fact is, my faith that 

 we should was as small as a mustard seed. 

 Bro. Brodbeck's faith, which was fairly large at 

 first, gradually diminished. The ground has 

 been worked over and over, and the paying 

 d lys are passed. 



After another visit that evening with the 

 miners we sought our respective tents, and 

 s iught the wooings of Morpheus. But what 

 a time we had of it ! and, dear reader, you 

 would smile to have seen the sort of Morpheus 

 that came about midnight, seeking for lodg- 

 i gs. The miners in rough country avoid jolt- 

 ing their grub and other traps over the rocky 

 road in wagons by packing them in on don- 

 keys; and half a dozen of these animals thrust 

 their big heads and larger ears into our camp; 

 and, though the donkey is not a very lively 

 animal, they can make a great stir when look- 

 ing for lodgings or for eatables. Not relish- 

 ing their company we chased them out of 

 camp Bro. Brodbeck was a little timid on 

 the chase, fearing he might catch a nightmare. 

 Not enjoying first-rate health there was some 

 danger of it ; but I am never troubled with 

 such superstitions, and the donkeys had to go. 



LARV£ FOR QUEEN-REARING. 



For what Age do the Bees Show a Preference ? 

 Valuable Testimony from the Bees on a Moot- 

 ed Question; an Interesting Series of Ex- 

 periments. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



On page 725 of Gleanings for 1898 I ex- 

 pressed the belief that the common notion 

 that, when a queen was suddenly removed 

 from a colony, the bees were in such haste to 

 rear a successor that they would select larvae 

 too old, was a mistaken notion. Earnest pro- 

 tests came from those whose opinions were en- 

 titled to respect, and some views were attrib- 

 uted to me that I did not hold. On page 427 

 of Gleanings for this year I defined my po- 

 sition more explicitly, and on page 494 said : 

 " Please watch what bees do when the queen 

 is taken away, and see if they make the mis- 

 take of choosing larvae more than three days 

 old, for queen-rearing." I made the same re- 

 quest publicly and privately elsewhere. I 

 don't know that any one paid any attention to 

 it, and I don't know that I blame such; for, so 

 far as I know, I stood alone in opposing a 

 view in which all the rest were agreed. 



Upon one point in dispute, however, I did 

 not stand entirely alone. I said queenlessbees 

 start queen-cells when first made queenless, 

 and continue to start queen-cells for several 

 days. Mr. Hutchinson said his bees started 

 all their cells at nearly the same time, and so 

 nearly of an age that the young queens emerg- 

 ed not more than two days apart. Henry Al- 



ley said his experience agreed with mine upon 

 this point. 



Having asked others to make fresh observa- 

 tions, it was only fair that I should do so my- 

 self. It might be I had not been careful 

 enough in previous observations. So I took 

 the matter in dispute to the bees, and took 

 careful notes of their testimony. The impor- 

 tant thing was to know somewhat positively 

 the age of the eggs or larvae used, and the 

 time at which the queen-cells were started. 



To No. 84 I gave successively frames of 

 empty comb, noting the time at which a comb 

 was given as well as the time it was taken 

 away. I was not as successful as I should 

 have liked in getting the queen toll)' prompt- 

 ly in the combs given. In one case no eggs were 

 laid in the prescribed comb after 24 hours' 

 waiting. The probability is, that in all cases 

 the eggs were laid in the last rather than the 

 first part of the time in which the queen had 

 the comb. That is, if I gave the comb on one 

 day at noon and took it away the next day at 

 no m, very likely most or all the eggs were 

 laid during the latter half of the 24 hours. 

 The crowd of other work upon me will ac- 

 count for the irregular hours at which the 

 work was done. 



Allow me to name the different combs by 

 the first five letters of the alphabet. They 

 were given to and taken from No. 84 as fol- 

 lows : 



Comb a, given June 28, 10 A. M.; taken June 



29, 12 m. 



Comb b, given June 29, 12 m.; taken June 



30, 2 p. m. 



Comb r, given Julv 1, 4 p. M.; taken July 3, 

 10 a. M. 



Comb d, given July 3, 10 A. m.; taken July 



4, 10 A. M. 



Comb e, given July 3, 10 a. m. ; taken July 



5, 10 a.m. 



Each of these combs, when it was taken 

 from No. 84, was put in an upper story of No. 

 54 over an excluder. No. 54 was a tolerably 

 strong colony with a laying queen. The 

 combs were merely put in this upper story for 

 safe keeping, the bees taking good care of the 

 eggs and larvae. 



July 5, at 4 p.m., I took from No. 54 its 

 queen and all its combs of brood except the 

 five combs for experiment. 



July 6, at 10.30 a. m., I examined to see if 

 any progress had been made. The colony had 

 now been queenless 18 hours 30 minutes, and 

 I found queen-cells started, but not entirely 

 where I expected. 



Comb a had no queen-cell, neither were any 

 started on it later. Counting that the egg 

 hatches 3 days after it is laid, the youngest 

 larva in comb a must have been at this time 

 about 3 days 22^ hours old, or 22)4 hours too 

 old for a good queen, if the scientists are 

 right in telling us that the worker larvae are 

 weaned at 3 days old. 



Comb b had two queen-cells started on it. 

 The oldest larva in this comb must have been 

 not more than 3 days 22)4 hours old, and the 

 youngest not less than 2 days 20*4 hours old. 



Comb c had 8 queen-cells. Two of them 

 had hoods built over them, the rest only show- 



