GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



method which has always worked well with 

 us is as follows : 



For extracted honey, take out the escape 

 and put in its place a piece of queen-ex- 

 cluding- metal. Find the queen in the colony 

 which you fear may swarm, and set her, 

 \vith- the frame of bees on which she Avas 

 found, after destroying all queen-cells, if 

 any, into a new hive-body. In the place of 

 the frame removed, put an empty comb into 

 which you have poured some water. Put 

 the escape-board over the old colony in 

 place of the lid and nail a strip of lath over 

 the entrance. Now put your new liive, 

 containing the queen and her frame of bees 

 and broocl, on the escape-board, and fill out 

 the hive either with worker combs or with 

 frames filled with full sheets of foundation. 



There must be an entrance to the upper 

 body. This we provide by opening the 



ventilator which Ave have in all bodies, but 

 may be provided by shoving the upper liive 

 forward, then laying a strip at the rear. 

 In ten days you may take away the lower 

 hive of brood, which has been well cared 

 for by just enough bees returning thru the 

 zinc. If you wish increase, set off the 

 lower hive and give them a queen. The 

 brood is all sealed, as in the Alexander plan. 

 Or the brood may be divided among nuclei 

 which you wish to build up. 



If no increase is desired, the hive of brood 

 may be left beloAv until all bees have hatch- 

 ed; or at any time after ten days from 

 treatment it may be put above for an ex- 

 tracting-super, after destroying cells, if 

 any. A few colonies may prepare to swarm 

 a second time, when the process may be 

 repeated to advantage. 



Meridian, Idaho. 



LAYING WORKERS CAUGHT; A LOT OF 'EM 



BY M. JOHNSTONE 



Mr. Chadwick, on page 837, Oct. 15, 

 states that he has never seen a bee known 

 as a laying worker. In the same note he 

 expresses a doubt as to plurality of laying 

 workers, and also doubts that any one 

 knows. Now, I wish to take issue with him 

 right there. There is also the biological 

 issue, as Mr. Chadwick, page 841, of the 

 same issue, states his disbelief of a devel- 

 oped drone without fertilization. As to the 

 latter point I cannot see that there could be 

 a possibility of fertilization where there is 

 a multiplicity of laying workers. In fact, 

 my experience leads me to believe that 

 practically every laying worker in a bad 

 case of a colony developing laying workers 

 is likely to possess the power to lay. 



To the end that every one interested (and 

 what lover of insect life is not?) may ob- 

 serve the phenomena for himself, let me 

 relate what I saw. The science of bee life 

 was new to me, and one day I observed in 

 a small nucleus a number of eggs in several 

 cells. I could find no queen. I searched 

 every comb carefully for her, and in the 

 process of searching T observed that some 

 cells contained a large number of eggs. I 

 devoted the afleinoon of that July day to 

 observation of that colony. 



T don't know just how the inspiration 

 came, but it struck me that the laying 

 worker or workers being short of room 

 might lay again in the same cells wei-e the 

 eggs removed. I did so with a pin, empty- 

 ing several cells. Then the comb was re- 

 placed. I lifted it gently out in possibly 

 ten minutes (I am not sure of the time), 



when, lo! I caught a bee in the act of lay- 

 ing. I crushed her and removed the eggs 

 and replaced the comb. After a short time 

 I gently removed the comb again and caught 

 several laying again. Again the same re- 

 sult was obtained — a third time. 



I certainly saw these, and reported so in 

 Gleanings at the time. I believe, also, 

 that any one sufficiently interested could 

 perform the same experiment with the same 

 result. 



I am writing this to induce others to try 

 it next season, and I hope they will report 

 success or failure. 



Given a bad case of laying workers, 

 remove the eggs from several cells; return 

 gently; remove in ten or fifteen minutes, 

 and the laying workers may be caught in 

 the act. Of one thing I am certain — you 

 will never forget the api3earance of those 

 discovered in the act. 



Cayuga, Ont. 



[There is probably not one beekeeper in 

 a thousand who has ever actually seen a 

 laying worker. Unless one neglects his bees 

 there probably will not be found a colony 

 of laying workers in the apiary. When a 

 colony is queenless for a month or so, it 

 may or may not develop a case of laying- 

 workers. With regard to the question 

 whether there are more than one or two 

 laying workers to a colony, that question 

 was settled long ago. In back numbers of 

 Gleanings, and, in fact, in the American 

 Bee Journal, there is any amount of proof 

 to show that if there is one laying worker in 

 a hive there may be many of them. — Ed.] 



