838 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



found the hour and day were put down on 

 the top-bar of the frame. As my diary tells 

 it, in about two hours less than three days 

 I found larvae hatched, and in six days and 

 two hours I found the first cells of brood 

 fully sealed over. In 11 days and 23 hours 

 I found the first bee out of its cell, and quite 

 a few biting their cells open near where the 

 first one had emerged. ' ' 



"That was pretty close to Quinby, wasn't 

 it?" 



"Yes; and from this trial I was entirely 

 satisfied as to the correctness of Quinby till 

 a few years ago, when I was withstood by 

 a bee-keeper of considerable prominence 

 who claimed the bees were in the larval form 

 only about three and a half days. ' ' 



"Didn't you tell him he was wrong?" 



"I was about to contradict the statement, 

 but concluded that I would not, as I had 

 made only the one experiment. So I went 

 to experimenting again, the weather being 

 extremely hot at this time, and right in a 

 big flow from the basswood, in July. The 

 result during this very hot weather was a 

 little less time in the egg form, a little over 

 five and a half days in the larval form, and 

 but little over eleven days in the pupa form, 

 or only about 19 V days from the egg to the 

 perfect bee this time. And this is the short- 

 est time that I ever knew bees to emerge 

 from their cells in any of the experiments 

 which I have ever conducted." 



"Might it not be that in the South this 

 might be brought down to 19 days?" 



"It is barely possible; but I h?.rdly think 

 it probable. I have many times cut out all 

 queen-cells but one on the seventh day from 

 the issuing of the first swarm, and had said 

 colonies build queen-cells over larvae still un- 

 sealed; and when these queens were old 

 enough to come fi'om their cells, send out a 

 swarm with the queen emerging from the 

 cell I had left in cutting, I expecting that 

 all larvEe would be too old to change into 

 queens; which they would have been if the 

 theory of larvae being capped at four days 

 old were correct. ' ' 



"That is about as conclusive proof as your 

 other experiments were. But is 21 days the 

 longest period you ever knew in the embryo 

 state?" 



"No. The difference with cold weather 

 is more noticeable than in hot weather. I 

 have known vei'y nearly 24 days to elapse 

 with weak colonies and cold weather, while 

 the bee was developing. But 21 days is the 

 rule according to all of my general work 

 among the bees during the past 35 years, 

 and this rule can be depended upon in gov- 

 erning all our methods of dividing bees, 

 forming nuclei, and in breeding bees in time 

 for the honey harvest; in all of which it is 

 necessary that we should have some knowl- 

 edge of these matters. And right here let 

 me say, before I forget it, that the time of 

 the year when the development of the brood 

 is the most retarded by cool weather is in 

 the fall; and when most accelerated by hot 

 weather is in June and July, when the bees 

 are busily engaged in the honey harvest. 



The reason for this seems to be that the 

 bees are very active during the fore part of 

 the season, while they become more sluggish 

 as the season draws toward its close." 



"Are the embryo queens about the same 

 time in developing?" 



"No. They are just the same as regards 

 the time for them in the egg form ; and I be- 

 lieve all eggs are alike which are fertilized. 

 Then they are from 5 to 5 ''2 days in the lar- 

 val form, and about 7i days in the pupa form, 

 or not far from 16 days in developing, warm 

 weather accelerating and cold weather re- 

 tarding to the amount of perhaps half a day 

 each way." 



' ' I think I will try these experiments my- 

 self next season, as I believe it is necessary 

 for each bee-keeper to have a thorough 

 knowledge about all things which pertain to 

 his pets." 



Some of the more critical of our subscrib- 

 ers may notice that this journal is printed 

 from a new face of type. Our heavy edi- 

 tions have been wearing our type so fast 

 that we now find it nece^ary to change the 

 type of tener than formerly. 



Several of our correspondents in Southern 

 California have written us of late that the 

 season in th;it part of the State, with hardly 

 an exception, is the worst on record. It will 

 prove very severe on many bee-keepers of 

 that State who have not prepared to tide 

 over the season for another year when even 

 then the flow may be indifferent or poor. 



THE LAST RETURNS OF THE HONEY CROP 

 FOR 1904. 



Regarding the amount of honey produced 

 this year, the accumulated evidence that 

 has come in from various sources seems to 

 show quite clearly now that the aggregate 

 of honey this season is much less than last. 

 In a way, this may be a blessing in disguise, 

 considering the large amount of comb and 

 extracted honey carried over from last 

 season. If we had had a crop as heavy as 

 last year, the market might have suft'ered a 

 total collapse from which it might not have 

 entirely recovered. "There is no great loss 

 without some small gain "is an old adage 

 that may be possibly true in this case. 



WHY BEE-KEEPERS SHOULD EDUCATE THEIR 

 LOCAL MARKET. 



I WISH to reiterate what I have said be- 

 fore until bee-keepers believe it as fully as 

 I do, that the comb-honey canards that ap- 



