April, 1909. 



American l^ee Journal 



we will be able to rear uniformly good 

 queens. 



When Nature would lavish her 

 charms upon any particular larva, she 

 uses the simpler means of increasing 

 the regular ration. Any worker-larva 

 is a queen-larva at birth, and if it has 

 all it wants to eat, tlie transition from a 

 worker to a queen is sure to follow. 

 The expression that "too much is just 

 enough" is exemplified by the amount 

 of food set before the queen-to-be. 

 Taking the worker-bee as a unit, the 

 perfect queen necessarily represents the 

 best possible development along those 

 lines. Therefore the queen with all her 

 physical graces is just a big worker- 

 bee with a new and greater instinct than 

 her common sister. The reproductive 

 powers of a virgin queen and a worker 

 are the same, for the eggs of both pro- 

 duce only males. When the queen mates 

 with the drone she comes into full 

 possession of her own. She is then said 

 to be fertile, for her eggs are productive 

 of both male and female life. The re- 

 productive powers of the drone are al- 

 ways identical with female life, and 

 vice versa the queen. But the fertile 

 queen has the distinction of being able 

 to choose the sex of her ofifspring. This 

 is the resultant factor, however, in the 

 provision Nature has made, whereby the 

 distinguishing features of the drone be- 

 come part and parcel of the queen's re- 

 productive system at the time of mating. 

 It is a wise provision, for the danger 

 arising from frequent flights to meet 

 the drone would be a greater menace 

 to the welfare of the colony than the 

 effect of inbreeding, were copulation 

 to take place within the hive. One 

 could hardly dodge the inference that 

 any difference relating to sex in her 

 ofifspring would be optional with the 

 queen after that event in her life. 



The nurse-bees can and do regulate 

 the possibilities that lie wrapped up in 

 every fertile egg, but they can't change 

 the sex of it. In proof of this I have 

 only to mention the fact that the queen 

 always seeks the embrace of the drone 

 before entering upon her duties as mis- 

 tress of the hive. Nature would not 

 hazard the life of the queen by send- 

 ing her forth in quest of something 

 not essential to the life of the colony. 

 If the nurse-bees can reverse the ex- 

 isting order of sex just as the occasion 

 demands, the drone would be utterly 

 a nonentity. But all worker-larvae are 

 females to begin with, and the destiny 

 of each is made sure by means already 

 stated. However, considering, that the 

 queen and the worker each owes its 

 rank in life to the manner in which 

 it was fed while maturing, it follows 

 as a matter of course, that queens can 

 be reared, representing at mature life, 

 every stage of development from the 

 polished physique of a perfect queen 

 down to the common worker-bee. 



The conditions essential for the best 

 development of a queen-larva, are (i) 

 all the food it can possibly consume; 

 (2) perfect quiet; and (3) a uniform 

 temperature up to the time the young 

 queen emerges from the cell. When the 

 cell is not kept good and warm, the im- 

 mature queen cannot appropriate the 

 food as she should, and the effect is the 

 same as if the proper amount had not 



been given her. The period of incuba- 

 tion will be lengthened, and her life 

 shortened thereby. Any plan or sys- 

 tem that does not keep the colony from 

 dividing its forces till the queen hatch- 

 es, is faulty, and should not be used. 

 Queens reared under the swarming im- 

 pulse are not always good queens, for 

 reasons just given. 



There should be no compromise in 

 the queen's rank, for the temperature of 

 a worker, though usually a good thing 

 in its place, will prove the imdoing of a 

 queen. But it is the quantity and not 

 the quality of the food that is respon- 

 sible for whatever difference there may 

 be between them. I fully believe I am 

 right in this matter, but if any one can 

 prove that I am not, I shall be glad to 

 hear from him. The nurse-bees have 

 no power over sex through the agency 

 of the food. The hidden power which 

 determines that all-important factor 



Can for Holding Honey-Cap- 

 pings. Etc. 



BY F. P. DAUM. 



In the December .\merican Bee Jour- 

 nal, J. R. Bogart asks for a descrip- 

 tion of a can to hold cappings and 

 straining honey, etc. I have one that 

 suits me all right, which I had made 

 at a tin-shop for $6.50. I am sending 

 drawings, and will describe them as fol- 

 lows : 



No. I fits outside of No. 2. 



No. 2. fits outside of No. 3. 



No. 4 is the permanent bottom of 

 No. 2. 



No. S is the loose (strainer) bot- 

 tom of No. 2. 



The bottom inside is 16x21 inches; 

 the cappings holder inside is 11x12 

 inches; and the strainer is 21 inches in 

 diameter. 



TIN rim' 2 WIDE 



Can for Holding Cappings. 



must be obtained through the medium 

 of the drone. When the queen has 

 met the drone and usurped his pow- 

 ers, she never again ventures beyond 

 the confines of the hive, save to accom- 

 pany a swarm. 



My observations all tend to show that 

 the fertile queen is not dependent upon 

 any agent or thing whatsoever for the 

 exercise of her doubly constituted pow- 

 ers when depositing eggs in the cells 

 of worker-comb. And, furthermore, 

 Nature would not depart from her cus- 

 tomary rulings in so striking a manner 

 if her plan of special provision for fer- 

 tilzation did not include special endow- 

 ment of the gift of reproduction. 



Amelia, Ohio. 



I hope these illustrations and descrip- 

 tion will be a help to Mr. Bogart, as 

 well as to others. 



Clinton, Mo. 



N0.4.— Colorado Bee-Keeping 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



In No. 3, I discussed the question of 

 stimulating brood-rearing by breaking 

 of stores, by readjusting so as to put 

 the honey near the entrance where it 

 would be uncapped and carried back — 

 anything that would cause the bees to 

 handle honey when there was nothing 

 being gathered from the fields. The 

 same question was up for discussion at 



