THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



91 



Root, ill his "A B C," says of 

 fertile workers, "Whenever the 

 beekeeper has been so careless, as 

 to leave his bees destitute of either 

 brood or queen, for ten days or two 

 weeks, you may be pretty sure he 

 will find evidences of their pres- 

 ence, etc." 



Alley in his "Handy Book" says 

 " They are generally produced by 

 allowing ji colony to remain queen- 

 less for a long time, appearing 

 sooner in nuclei than in full colo- 

 nies." He further says that when 

 the bees ball the queen after return- 

 ing from her wedding flight, one 

 ma}- know that fertile workers in- 

 fest the colony. 



Prof. Cook says : " The condi- 

 tion that favors these pests is con- 

 tinued absence of a queen or means 

 to produce one. 



It seems to be the general im- 

 pression that they are caused by 

 the colony remaining queenless for 

 a long time. It all occurs between 

 the seventh and fourteenth day 

 after becoming queenless. I have 

 found, in my experience, that a col- 

 ony may remain queenless after 

 losing its queen on her wedding 

 flight until the colony has dwindled 

 entirely away, and yet no fertile 

 workers make their appearance. 



But if the qneen cells are cut on 

 the seventh day after the colony 

 becomes queenless, we shall invari- 

 aljly find fertile workers laying 

 when the last of the brood hatches. 



It is no sign of fertile workers 

 when we see the bees ball their 

 queen. I have seen bees ball and 

 kill their queen upon opening their 

 hive, and shaking the bees from the 

 comb into a new hive again it fre- 

 quently occurs that the bees ball a 

 virgin queen after she returns from 

 a successful flight with a drone, 

 and is caused by a change of scent 

 or odor which the queen takes while 

 with the drone. 



To get rid of fertile workers, I 

 generally insert in the hive thus 



infected, one or two queen cells 

 just before they are ready to be 

 sealed. But if this does not ac- 

 complish the object, draw two or 

 three frames of brood and bees 

 from the strongest colonies, and 

 insert in the colony containing the 

 fertile workers. The bees will then 

 raise a queen and destroy the lay- 

 ing workers. — Beekeepers' Ex- 

 change. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Some time ago we received a 

 tongue tester from friend Martin, 

 but this is the first opportunity 

 that we have had to notice it. 

 The contrivance is certainly ingen- 

 ious and original, and, where ac- 

 curate measurement is not essential, 

 it will do very well. 



Friend Martin certainly deserves 

 much credit for the invention. We 

 would advise every apiarist to 

 secure one as it is not only cheap, 

 but will prove a great help in the 

 selection of breeding stock. We 

 have been studying on a tongue 

 tester for several years but have 

 not as yet completed one that is 

 accurate or satisfactory but hope 

 soon to be able to do so. 



It gives us great pleasure to 

 welcome to our columns an article 

 from the pen of L. L. Langstroth. 

 It has been a long time since be 

 has been able to contribute much 

 for the journals, and we sincerely 

 hope and trust that his health may- 

 be restored and that he may be 

 spared to us many years. It is 

 pleasant to have in our ranks one 

 who was a co-worker with Father 

 Quinby — and inventor of the mov- 

 able comb hive in America. The 

 experiments which he describes 

 are very important and interesting. 



