664 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



fore they get very large, one disappears. 

 There is an authentic report of two queens 

 hatching from one cell. 



Bees sometimes seal a queen-cell when the 

 larva is only four days from the egg — ninety 

 to one hundred hours — and the resulting 

 queen is as fine as can be desired. This ac- 

 counts for some of the supposedly tardy 

 hatchings. The reason that the queen lar- 

 va does not spin a cocoon at the upper part 

 of the cell is because she can not reach it. 

 She turns about and reaches up her full 

 length, but can not go further. When press- 

 ed for room, bees will sometimes put fresh 

 nectar in cells containing eggs, and soon 

 after remove the nectar. The eggs hatch 

 as usual. 



When ripening honey, bees spread out all 

 they can; hence ten frames in a ten-frame 

 super are better than eight, as it gives the 

 bees more "standing room." The ripening 

 process is most interesting to watch. The 

 large glands which open at the base of the 

 mandibles apparently have an active part 

 in the conversion of nectar into honey. 

 This "standing room" probably has much 

 to do with the non-swarming or retarded 

 swarming in the Aspinwall hive. 



A bee packing pollen in a cell acts like a 

 little pig rooting, and a tiny grunt from the 

 little worker would hardly seem strange. 



Workers, drones, and queens alike are 

 very fond of digested food fresh from the 

 workers or of brood food from the cells when 

 it is taken out; and why they let it alone 

 when it is in the cells is a mystery — prob- 

 ably due to the presence of the larva; for 

 when that is gone, the food is promptly eaten 

 up; and yet if conditions become adverse, 

 larvae and food all vanish. Shall we ever 

 know the whys? 



To irritate gentle bees to the stinging- 

 point, use cotton in any form as smoker 

 fuel. 



Comb-building, to all appearances, is 

 a most haphazard job. One bee, after a 

 seemingly endless lot of fussing, will add a 

 bit of wax to the growing comb, and soon 

 after another bee will remove it and apply 

 it elsewhere. And yet see the result. 



Unsealed honey in the brood-nest under- 

 goes a lot of shifting — outward if the brood 

 is increasing; inward if decreasing; and this 

 is so, even with a pretty heavy inflow of 

 fresh nectar. 



A dozen bees can raise a good queen if 

 conditions are right. 



Bees draw down out of the supers on cool 

 nights, not to keep the brood warm, but to 

 keep themselves warm. The sheets of brood 

 are superb warming-pans for cold bee-feet. 

 Watch the drones when they are being grad- 

 ually expelled from the cluster. They will 

 mass shoulder to shoulder on any outlying 

 brood. To keep that brood warm? Well, 

 hardly. 



The bee's tongue has four known func- 

 tions: Taking up food; spreading propolis; 

 "polishing" cells (probably with propolis); 

 and taking up any surplus liquids within 

 the hive. 



If the food is good, bees can get along 

 without flying for a long period in winter. 

 Under normal conditions, then, all excre- 

 ment is virtually solid. If the hive is dry, 

 and ventilation ample, it soon becomes 

 quite dry, and is later thrown out with cap- 

 ping chips, etc. 



In winter the temperature within the hive 

 and outside the cluster is, within one or two 

 degrees, the same as it is outside the hive. 

 Winter temjjerature of the cluster is close to 

 70° F. Bees hang back down and feet up 

 when putting honey (nectar) in the cells 

 until the cells are nearly full; then they 

 hang vertically with head down. The nec- 

 tar (already partly changed to honey) is dis- 

 charged directly from the mouth, and flows 

 between the mandibles and over the gland- 

 duct openings thereon. The mandibles are 

 kept in motion during the operation. The 

 tongue takes no part in the operation, but 

 is folded up behind the chin. 



Providence, R. I. 



[The idea that brood is a warming-pan 

 for the cold feet of bees is a new one, and 

 probably right. This is like a number of 

 other things here suggested that should 

 draw forth discussion. We don't find that 

 cotton waste angers bees — quite to the con- 

 trary. We use dirty or greasy waste as an 

 exclusive fuel for smokers. — Ed,] 



WINTERING BEES ON THE SUMMER STAND. 

 Upward Ventilation and Clustering Space Above. 



BY ISAAC F. TILLINGHAST. 



With fifty years' experience I have never 

 yet lost bees in winter, either in doors or 

 out, except from two causes — first, too little 

 food; second, too much moisture. 



It is really surprising how much cold 

 weather bees will stand if kept dry; and, on 

 the other hand, it requires not very severe 

 freezing to use them up soon if left so that 

 water works in, or so that the moisture 

 which naturally accumulates can not escape 

 by proper ventilation. 



It is, no doubt, true that those who have 

 a properly constructed cellar, well drained 

 and ventilated, and with a dry concrete 

 floor, can and do winter bee.j inside with 

 more safety and less expense, or less con- 

 sumption of food, than can be done out of 

 doors; but as most cellars are far too moist, 

 nine times out of ten, bees are better off in 

 the open air. In our climate we usually 

 have days every month when it is warm 

 and pleasant enough for the bees to take a 

 good flight; and I find that they keep in 

 better health than when confined for four or 

 five months as they usually are in cellars. 

 So, for a number of years past I have prac- 

 ticed packing them for wintering on their 

 summer stands, which is accomplished 

 about as follows: 



First the oilcloth which is kept on the 

 tops of the frames when sections are not on, 

 I double over to the front, leaving the back 



