36 



i'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Oiieen-Niirseries, 



Query, No. 183 Is the queen-nursery 



practical V I mean, is it used by tlie majority 

 of queen-breeders and honey-producers, or 

 only in occasional instances ? Are there 

 real advantages in it '/— D 



I use it and value it liigbly.— G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



Yes, aud by some it is used with 

 excellent success, if not by the ma- 

 jority. Yes, there are advantages in 

 it.— A. J. Cook. 



It is a great convenience. It is 

 used by manyqueen-breeders.whether 

 by a majority or not I do not know ; 

 but few except queen-breeders need 

 it.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



It is doubtful if the queen-nursery 

 is better than the lamp-nursery ; in 

 either case the queens will hatch out 

 all right if the cells are left with the 

 bees until they are ripe ; i. e., until 

 they turn reddish brown at the tip, 

 which is from 1 to 3 days before the 

 queen emerges.— G. L. Tinker. 



A great many of such things de- 

 pend upon our habits, perhaps even 

 upon prejudices and whims. I have 

 never had a queen-nursery, yet I 

 know many good bee-keepers use 

 them, and it is quite possible if I once 

 used one I should think I could not 

 get along without it.— C. C. Miller. 



It depends upon what you mean by 

 "the queen-nursery." If you refer to 

 the modern nursery, made of cages 

 adjusted in a case or frame, so as to 

 be hung in the hive, it is practical 

 and practicable, though not in use by 

 a majority of queen- breeders, much 

 less honey-producers. It takes time 

 to introduce (/enerally any good thing. 

 To me there is real advantage in its 

 use. When I have spare queen-cells 

 I can save them by transferring them 

 to the nursery. It is costly to rear 

 queen-cells as they should be reared, 

 and it pays to save them when rearing 

 queens for sale.-G. W. Demaree. 



It is practical, and is used by many 

 able apiarists. As to whether so used 

 by the majority, is a question for the 

 census taker. There are real ad- 

 vantages in it, to the breeder of 

 queens m large numbers, but not in 

 my judgment to one who desires to 

 rear only a few queens for home use 

 in a small apiary.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



I believe it is. I do not know 

 whether a majority of queen-breeders 

 use it or not, but if the majority do 

 not, they seem to me to be where I 

 was when I did not use it. It not 

 only more safely hatches the queen- 

 cells, but more uniformly and surely, 

 for it preserves a more uniform and 

 proper temperature than is the rule 

 within hives.— James Heddon. 



Laying Workers. 



Query, No. 184.— Are laying workers 

 fecundated ?— F. K. 



No.— C. C. Miller. 



Of course not. They cannot be.— 

 Dadant &Son. 



No.— A. J. Cook. 



Not by the direct intervention of 

 the male. Some of us believe that 

 the causes which produce the effects 

 we see in the laying-worker and the 

 unfecundated queen, are reproduced 

 periodically in some way not now 

 fully understood. What a Held is 

 open here to the student of nature. — 

 G. W. Demaree. 



No.— H. D. Cutting. 



A single instance only, to my 

 knowledge, has ever been given of a 

 worker having copulated with a 

 drone. This case occurred in tlie old 

 country, and is well authenticated. I 

 do not believe that fecundation could 

 follow such copulation. As in Query, 

 No. 18-5, it would require far more 

 space than can be spared to give a 

 pliilosophical answer. The te.xt-books 

 on bee-keeping all explain the subject 

 quite fully.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



No.— G. L. Tinker. 



No.— G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



Yes, any worker-bee that lays eggs 

 is fecundated by something. I have 

 no idea, however, that they are ever 

 fecundated by drones, as are queens. 

 As of Query ]| No. 185, my belief is 

 formed from the statements of those 

 who have made the matter a study.— 

 James Heddon. 



No.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Im M Produce Queens. 



Query, No. 185.— Are queen eggs, when 

 first laid, male or female ?— T. F. 



Yes.— C. C. Miller. 



Yes, male or female, of course ; but 

 a differential diagnosis would floor 

 me. If the querist has reference to a 

 change of sex by tlie worker bees, I 

 would say it is never effected. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Female.— A. J.Cook. 



An egg that produces a queen is a 

 female egg when laid.— W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson. 



Female.— II. D. Cutting. 



I have not made, and am not com- 

 petent to make examinations that 

 amount to proof. I leave this to our 

 entomologists and chemists, and take 

 their word for it. Should they err, 

 and inadvertently deceive me regard- 

 ing this matter, such deception would 

 not lessen my honey crop.— Jasies 

 Heddon. 



"Much depends." As a rule, eggs 

 deposited in worker-comb are female, 

 and those in drone-comb are male. 

 There are exceptions to this rule, 

 however. To explain fully would 



require a long article, and as such 

 explanation will be found in any of 

 the text-books, I refer T. F. to them. 

 —J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Female, if worker eggs are such. — 

 G. M. Doolittle. 



If there was any such thing, prop- 

 erly speaking, as a " queen egg," I 

 would say that it must of necessity 

 be a female egg, because it produces 

 a female of the highest order. There 

 can be but the two kinds of eggs in 

 the hive— male and female. The one 

 kind produces the male or drone, the 

 other the female, queen or worker. 

 The same female egg that will pro- 

 duce a worker, which is an undevel- 

 oped female, will produce a queen 

 when the conditions are right accord- 

 ing to nature's method of developing 

 the queen.— G. W. Demaree. 



To make the question more intelli- 

 gible, we would take the word 

 " queen " out of it ; then we would 

 answer, the eggs are male when un- 

 impregnated, and female when im- 

 pregnated. In one word the answer 

 is " parthenogenesis." Read a bee- 

 book for an explanation of this word, 

 which would be too lengthy here.— 

 Dadant & Son. 



Convention Notices. 



^P~ The annual meoting of the Champlain 

 Valley Bee-Keepers' Association will be held 

 in Middleburv, Vt., on Jan. -31. 1886. 



K. H. Holmes, Sec. 



tS~ The Northeastern Ohio and North- 

 western Pennsylvania Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will hold its se\'enth annual convention 

 at Meadville, Pa., on Wednesday and Thurs- 

 day, Jan. 20 and •:;i, 1886. C. H. CoON, Sec. 



t^~ The Eastern New York Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its annual convention 

 in Ag-ricultural Hall at Albany, N. Y., on 

 Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, January 

 26—28, 188G. The first session will beg-in on 

 Tuesday, at 2 p.m. All interested in bee- 

 keeping ai-e requested to attend, and bring- 

 apiarian supplies for e-xhibition. The pro- 

 g-ramme will consist of essays on important 

 subjects, discussions, etc. 



E. V/. Philo, Sec. 



f^~ The Hancock County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will meet at Findlay, 0., on Sat- 

 urday, Jan, 23, 1886. S. H. Bolton, Sec. 



IW The Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its next meeting at 

 Mt. Sterling, Ills., on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, Oct. 1!) and 20, 1886. 



J. M. HAMB.iHGH, Sec. 



J^~ The annual Convention of the Indi- 

 atuv State Bee-Keepers' Society will be held 

 at Indianapolis, Ind., on Jan. 'JO and 21, 1886. 

 The meetings of this Socii-ly have been very 

 successful in the past, ami the coming meet- 

 ing promises to be still better. The meeting 

 will be held in the rooms of the State Board 

 of .Agriculture, and it is one of a series of 

 meetings hold by the ditferent Societies of 

 till- Stall-, which iiirtain to the specialties of 

 Af;rii-nlturi-, viz., nairying, Wool-Growing, 

 Swiiu--liL-ecding, I'lmltry-Haisiug, etc. Re- 

 duced rates are offered at Hotels, and every- 

 thing possible will be done to make the 

 meeting entertaining and instructive. A 

 very complete program is being prepared, 

 with aiuple time to discuss the important 

 subjects of particular interest to bee-keep- 

 ers. A cordial invitation is extended to all 

 bee-keepers, with the hope that they will at- 

 tend, and thus make the Convention of still 

 greater importance. 



Frank L. DoAoherty, Sec. 



