300 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 21, 



No. 37, where a young unfertilized 

 queen had been destroyed. When the 

 attendant workers began to move on 

 to the comb, the tenants of 37 met 

 them with a buzz of gladness, and 

 stretched out their bills to feed their 

 approaching visitors. So the queen 

 was permitted to move on in the pro- 

 cession ioo. She was fed and caressed 

 from the start. She commenced de- 

 positing eggs at once, and her progeny 

 will be on time for the coming exhibi- 

 tion. 



On the 7th, a nucleus containing 

 queen and bees on 3 frames, arrived 

 from M. II. Snyder, of Eimwood, 111. 

 The accompanying bees are exceed- 

 ingly large, and seem bent on making 

 up for all'Iost time, by lilling their nu- 

 cleus with honey. They are a dark 

 leather color. The brood of the queen 

 is issuing quite rapidly, and of course 

 will show her breeding qualities by 

 the time the day arrives. The queen 

 is very large, brightly colored and 

 beautiful, and pays no attention on 

 being handled, pursuing her business 

 as though the comb remained in the 

 hive. 



Take it all in, they are as line a col- 

 lection of queens as I ever saw ; oue, 

 of which is at least from an ) 8 ' to a 'j 

 larger than any yet having come under 

 my observation. What her progeny 

 may be, in this respect, time alone 

 will determine. 



From some reason or other, the one 

 from Baltimore has not arrived yet, 

 neither has the alternate from Mr. 

 Taylor. Therefore, if any other queen- 

 breeder wishes to compete for the 

 prize, and will forward a nucleus hive 

 at his own risk containing a queen, 

 accompanied with a sufficient number 

 of bees of her own progeny (and 

 none others), I will put her in, 

 provided the others do not arrive, and 

 either pay for her, or return her in as 

 good order as received, at the express 

 oilice, provided the others do come. 

 However, if no other comes, one of 

 the live will be awarded the $10.00 

 prize, in addition to the sale price, and 

 1 shall be abundantly satisfied with 

 the result of the enterprise. 



Wilton Junction, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Wintering of Bees. 



E. ROOD. 



on candy; it carried them through 

 nicely; they did not seem to attempt 

 to store liquified candy at all. 



One writer in the Bee Journal, 

 says his bees dwindled badly in the 

 cellar in the spring, as I have not a 

 particle of doubt all have if the cellar 

 is warm. The living drag out the 

 dead, tumble them to the floor to- 

 gether, and how does the living one 

 find its way to her hive again 't Mr. 

 Kelley, of Wayne, Mich., devised a 

 perfect remedy by tacking to the bot- 

 tom board a small box, so smooth inside 

 that a bee cannot carry her dead sister 

 up; and they will tumble into the box; 

 she will drag the dead one around, 

 when it finds that it cannot succeed in 

 carrying it up the side of the smooth 

 box, it will abandon the attempt, am! 

 of course seek her home and find it. 

 Wayne, Mich. 



Were I younger, I would try a very 

 simple experiment in wintering, to 

 wit : As soon as the lirst killing frost, 

 I would extract all the honey, then se- 

 lect sufficient combs to contain syrup 

 made of pure cane sugar and water 

 (say 2 lbs. of sugar and 17 ounces of 

 water), simmer them together for a 

 few moments, skim, and feed 25 lbs. 

 to each colony, by some of the vari- 

 ety of feeders, into combs having no 

 pollen. This should surely be done in 

 season for the bees to cap it over. 

 Thus the experiment covers two 

 points : 



Bacteria (or poisoned honey in some 

 other way), and the evil effects of pol- 

 len if any ; rye meal may, and should 

 be substituted for it in the spring. 

 This done, all causes for dysentery 

 seem to be guarded against, except 

 one : Epizootic, or local atmospheric 

 influence, like Asiatic cholera with the 

 human race, or epizooty with horses. 



By the above experiment, the three 

 pounds of extracted honey will bring 

 as much as the sugar will cost, and 

 more. 

 "I know of no one that has said that 

 bees will winter on candy. Mr. 

 LangStroth has not; but they will do 

 well on it when they can tly often. 1 

 tried a good colony 2 years since, by 

 placing only empty combs in the hive, 

 on Nov. 1, and gave the bees pure 

 cane sugar candy on the frames; the 

 moisture from their breath softened 

 it. While they could tly every day 

 t hey did well, and they seemed to pre- 

 fer the candy. But December was 

 cold every day, and they all gorged 

 themselves to death within 3U days. 



Fifteen colonies that were short of 

 honey, one spring, after removing 

 them from the cellar, I fed fori month 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Parthenogenesis Again. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



I have been repeatedly asked, am' 

 even urged to reply to the article b; 

 Mr. C. J. Robinson, in American 

 Bke Journal for Aug. 24ih. on par- 

 thenogenesis. My time has been so 

 occupied that I have not been able to 

 get a moment for this purpose till 

 now ; and even now, I must be very 

 brief, which I can the better afford to 

 be, because of the able and excellent 

 article from Win. R. Howard, M. D., 

 (American Bee Journal vol. 17, p. 

 290). just at hand. 



First let me say, that in stating that 

 all intelligent apiarists accepted par- 

 thenogenesis, I by no means meant to 

 be discourteous, or harsh, truth is too 

 glorious a tiling to wrangle about; 

 life is too short, too full of golden op- 

 portunity for good work, to admit of 

 any time for harsh words or unkind 

 allusions. The article which I wrote 

 was prepared and read before the En- 

 tomological section of the American 

 Association, for the advancement of 

 science one year before it appeared in 

 the American Bee Journal, there- 

 fore I did not then know of Mr. Rob 

 inson's views. Major Munn was in 

 his dotage when parthenogenesis was 

 lirst brought to the attention of scien- 

 tists, and died some years ago, (I 

 think now that without doubt, he is a 

 believer in agamic reproduction). Yet 

 even if a few do fail to accept the 

 theory, these exceptions but prove the 

 rule, and we might still say that par- 

 thenogenesis is accepted by all intelli- 

 gent apiarists. 



Mr. Robinson asks for proofs ; I will 

 give them : 



1st. As well shown by Dr. Howard, 

 this phenomenon j« not confined to 

 bees, or even to insects. If Mr. Rob- 

 inson will isolate plant lice just as 

 i hey come from the parent louse (they 

 ire brought forth alive, being nvn vi- 

 viparous) or he may carefully dissert 

 the parent and take out tbe young lice, 

 he will find that each one will produce 

 lice when full grown, though it has 

 never seen another louse male or fe- 

 male, since its birth. Von Siebold 

 has fully shown that many if not. all, 

 aculeate Hymenoptera, such as bees 

 and wasps, males are the result of 

 agamic reproduction. This then in 

 case of bees is not exceptional, but an 

 illustration of a law wide extended 

 among the lower animals. 



2d. Isolate a queen or prevent her 

 from pairing by clipping her wing, 

 and she will certainly lay none but 

 drone eggs. Examine with the mi- 

 croscope ami we find no sperm cells in 

 her spermatheca or oviducts, in all 

 drone-laying queens the spermatheca 



is likewise depleted. The same is 

 true of fertile workers. This of itself 

 is a demonstration of the truth that 

 drones result from parthenogenesis. 



3d. The eggs in queen and worker 

 cells contain the spermatozoa or male 

 elements, while none exist in the eggs 

 which are to develope into drones. 

 Von Siebold and our own Dr. Leidy 

 demonstrated this years ago, while 

 many other microsc'opists hive veri- 

 fied it since. This too demonstrates 

 the law. 



Would such an expert scientist and 

 able apiarist as the late Baron of lier- 

 lepsch, who at lirst stoutly resisted 

 this view, in opposition to Dzierzon, 

 have upon thorough research, such 

 research too as the Germans make, 

 keen, close, untiring, have accepted 

 this law. only as the loved truth and 

 found it here 't 



Mr. Robinson in his article in the 

 Bee Journal, vol. 17 page 89, carries 

 the idea that some think that queens 

 are the result of parthenogenesis. 

 The queens can only come from eggs 

 which have received the sperm cells, 

 and after the eggs hatch the food 

 must be richer (a fact of which I am 

 persuaded), and more abundant. He 

 says Dzierzon " jumped at his theory." 

 I do not so understand the matter. 

 Dzierzon pronounced this law not as 

 in hypothesis, but as a truth demon- 

 strated by practical observation, and 

 sustained bv two of the most able 

 ■scientists of the world— Von Siebold 

 nid I.euckart. 



Tlie theory of Mr. Kirby, as given 

 by Mr. Robinson, it seems to me is 

 entirely untenable. 



1st. It has no parallel, so far as I 

 know. Elsewhere in the animal king- 

 dom, sperm cells are always the pro- 

 duct of male organs, and can only be 

 effective when they come in contact, 

 in a fresh state with fresh eggs. 



2d. I have repeatedly examined 

 royal jelly with a high-power micro- 

 scope, and could not have failed to 

 notice the sperm cells if they were 

 there. There were none. That the 

 semen could be deposited and used at 

 pleasure by the workers is impossible. 

 It is well known that sperm cells are 

 only vital when comparatively fresh. 



It occurs to me that Mr. Robinson 

 can test this matter easily for himself. 

 Early next spring let him take frames 

 of empty comb one of which shall be 

 placed in a hive with a queen — no 

 drones of course — just longenough to 

 secure some eggs; with these let him 

 make a nucleus. He may feed sugar 

 for food— the bees will gather pollen 

 enough for the few larva?, and I will 

 warrant him a queen. Yet, on his 

 theory, where are the sperm cells. I 

 will tell him : They were incorpo- 

 rated in the egg as it passed the sper- 

 matheca of the queen. 



In answer to Mr. Robinson's last 

 question. I would say that had he 

 reared as many insects as I have, and 

 noted the wondrous effect on the 

 imago of partial starvation of the 

 larvae, after a reduction in size of at 

 least one-half, with parts illy devel- 

 oped, and then remember as Darwin 

 has so graphically shown, that in all 

 animals the reproductive organs are, 

 of all the tissues, the most sensitive, 

 we may easily believe that more 

 or less food, of richer or less rich 

 quality, might readily accelerate or 

 retard the development of the ovaries 

 of worker larva?. I tind that these 

 rudimentary organs do vary in dif- 

 ferent workers. 



I have shown that Syrian bees have 

 afforded a proof of parthenogenesis. 

 The points will be given in a paper to 

 be read at the National Convention. 



Lansing, Mich., Sept. 18, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Degeneration of Bees. 



GKEINER BROS. 



In order that we may have the 

 above subject a little more investiga- 

 ted, we wish to ask Mr. S. S. Butler 

 his opinion on one or two questions. 



From the related instance of the 

 8 weather-beaten pine boxes, Mr. B. 

 draws the conclusion that that kind 

 of bee-habitation, being let alone, is 

 better adapted for successful bee- 

 keeping than the movable frame hive 

 with its various manipulations. He 



says, " 1 claim that his bees had not 

 lost any of their natural vigor or tough- 

 ness, had not degenerated by either 

 rearing forced queens himself , or be- 

 ing near enough lo one who lias," etc. 

 We refer the gentleman to the sta- 

 tistical table on page 228of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, and ask the 

 question: Why is it then, that the 



box hive has suffered a loss last win- 

 ter of 89 per cent., whilst the Lang- 

 stroth hive, which is used. perhaps, as 

 much as any other hive for artificial 

 swarming, and forced queen-rearing, 

 has suffered the least, only 43 per 

 cent. 



For the lastv G years we have made 

 bee-keeping our exclusive business, 

 and within a radius of 15 or 20 miles, 

 we are the only ones that have prac- 

 ticed artificial swarming and forced 

 queen-rearing. Why is it now, that 

 that our loss last winter was less than 

 one-half of our bees, being 75, of 100 

 colonies, while our neighbors, as far 

 as we could learn, have lost from 75to 

 100 per cent., box hives not excepted. 



There seems to be a little misunder- 

 standing in the term, " forced queen 

 rearing." We have no doubt that 

 queen-rearing, if practiced as de- 

 scribed by Mr. Butler, would result in 

 degneration. He says, "The queen- 

 less part rears one from larva, from 1 

 to 3 days old, making a queen not up 

 to the standard of one reared by nat- 

 ural swarming." This may be true, 

 but the queenless part should be sup- 

 plied with a laying queen when the 

 division is made, or else the main ob- 

 ject of artificial swarming is missed. 



The queen should not be reared 

 from a larva 3 days old, nor by a divi- 

 ded swarm, but should be reared from 

 the egg of a selected mother, and by 

 the best colony in the apiary. Queens 

 reared in this way have answered our 

 purpose first rate ; some bee-keepers 

 may pre'er those reared by the swarm- 

 ing impulse, but when we compare 

 our last winter's loss witli the loss of 

 apiaries where the latter plan lias 

 been practiced ; when we observe that 

 our best colony has given us the enor- 

 mous j ield of nearly 400 lbs. of comb 

 honey in 2 lb. sections, and that t lie 

 average yield of one of our branch 

 apiaries is 135 lbs. per colony, we can 

 well afford to rear our queens by the 

 forced system, and recommend it as 

 safe and harmless. 



Naples, N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



L. J. DIEIIL. 



Mr. II. Rickey, asks in reference to 

 my article on page 208 of the Bee 

 Journal, of Aug. 24, "Does Mr. 

 Diehl leave the hole near the entrance 

 open all winter, or what is it for? 

 Does he contract the entrance V " 



In reply, I will say that I leave the 

 auger hole open, and I have found that 

 it answers two purposes : First, there 

 is circulation of air enough to keep 

 the hive pure and sweet, and yet not 

 enough to cause a draft in the hive, 

 and cause over consumption of honey. 



1 advised that all colonies should 

 face the south ; this is very essential 

 safe wintering with my method. All 

 combs should run from front to rear, 

 then if the hive faces the south, and 

 is not shaded too much, the morning 

 sun in winter will strike the hive and 

 liie combs, and will conduct the heat 

 to the bees. The hole in front will 

 come opposite the cluster of bees, and 

 they will take advantage of a few 

 hours" sunshine to void the feces when 

 the lower entrance is frozen up, and 

 otherwise closed. 



I contract t he entrance to about 

 l'-.x'.j of an inch, thus preventing a 

 draft. The auger hole bemg4 1 ., inches 

 from the top of the hive, there is no 

 upward ventilation. 



In this way I have wintered with 

 success for the last ti or 7 successive 

 winters. In this county there was 

 scarcely any bees that lived through 

 the winter, with the exception of 

 mine, and my loss was 6 out of 80 col- 

 onies. My bees have increased to 135, 

 mostly bv natural swarming, and they 

 are in splendid condition for winter. 

 I have taken 2,500 lbs. of honey, 

 mostly in 2 lb. sections, and have 

 reared 125 queens. This lias been a 

 good season for bees, but 1 have been 

 so busy in the store that I could not 

 give them the attention they should 

 have. 



Butler, Ind. 



