90 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



That there is profit in working 

 bees for wax, etc. 



It seems to me that I have cited 

 false statements enough to take 

 away the excellent qualification 

 that Mr. Fournier gives it. 



Mr. Fournier places on the ac- 

 count of m}^ unfitness the stings 

 that I have received, in handling 

 the combs of my hives at daybreak, 

 and rei)roaches me for placing this 

 unfitness to the account of Mr. 

 Debeauvoys. Now, not only has 

 this apiculturist given me this coun- 

 sel orall^', but in his books. . . 



Mr. Fournier wishes to reinstate 

 the Debeauvoys hive. He has a 

 perfect right to do so, and least of 

 all I shall have no objections. We 

 shall see if he succeeds in causing 

 its adoption. — Translated from 

 Bulletin de la Societe d'Apicidture 

 de la Somme. 



Fertile Workers, by Geo. 

 W. House. — This is a subject I 

 dislike to write upon inasmuch as 

 I entertain an opinion difiterent 

 from that given by the various au- 

 thors of bee literature. But being 

 asked for my views on this sultject, 

 I will endeavor to comply with such 

 requests, hoping that it will be the 

 means of bringing out discussion 

 that will be of benefit to us all. 



What are fertile workers? 



They are workers suflScientl}^ de- 

 veloped to be capable of laying 

 eggs, but these like those of a vir- 

 gin queen, always produce drones. 



How are fertile workers pro- 

 duced ? 



Langstroth says: "It is a well 

 known fact, that bees often begin 

 more queen cells than they choose 

 to finish. It seems probable to 

 me, therefore, that when rearing 

 queens artificially they frequentl}' 

 give a portion of the royal jelly to 

 larvae, which for some reason they 

 do not develop as full grown 

 queens ; and such larvse become fer- 

 tile workers." 



Berlepsch advanced the same 

 theory, or nearly the same. Huber 

 thought that fertile workers were 

 usuall}? reared in the neighborhood 

 of the young queens and that they 

 received some particles of the pe- 

 culiar food or jell}^ on which these 

 queens are fed, 



Quinby claimed to have disproved 

 Huber's theory that they are devel- 

 oped by being reared in the vicinity 

 of queen cells, and partaking of a 

 small quantity of royal food. 



Cook seems to side with the 

 Langstroth and Berlepsch theory, 

 but is not decided and gives no 

 theory of his own. 



King expresses no theory on the 

 subject. Root, in his " A B C," 

 claims that the organs of a worjier 

 bee ma}' become at amj time suffi- 

 ciently developed to allow the bee 

 to lay eggs. 



I differ with the various theories 

 advanced in regard to the manner 

 in which they are produced. I have 

 seen many cases in full colonies, 

 but as yet I have never known 

 them to exist in a colony that had 

 hatched a young queen and lost 

 her in her wedding flight; such 

 colonies may remain queenless for 

 months, and no fertile workers will 

 make their appearance. This dis- 

 proves the theories of Huber and 

 Root. The queen cells may all be 

 cut out on the seventh day after 

 the colony l)ecomes queenless, and 

 you will have a case of fertile work- 

 ers. This will not sustain Lang- 

 stroth and Berlepsch, although they 

 are nearer right than other writers, 

 and had thej"- experimented fnrther, 

 I believe the}' would agree with me 

 that fertile workers are produced 

 by feeding royal jelly to lai-vie that 

 are about to be capped over. 



The bees, being deprived of the 

 means of raising a queen, resort to 

 the next best thing, uncapped lar- 

 vfe, which may yet tnke a portion 

 of the royal food before being 

 sealed up by the bees. 



