1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNALo 



83 



workers able to withstand the cold. It is a mere question of 

 the survival of the fittest, and the influence of the nurses is a 

 question of good and bad example to the young generation. 



The quality and quantity of the food have, however, an 

 Influence on the development of the eggs and larvas, and in 

 that way the nurses have an indirect influence through the 

 food they provide. This influence is strong enough in bees to 

 change the development of a fecundated egg from a worker 

 to a queen. But the germs of the organs of both worker and 

 queen were present in the egg, and the difference is that a 

 certain set of organs was developt in one and not the other. 



INFLUENCE OF THE DRONE UPON THE QUEEN. 



Another point has been erroneously advanced. It is well 

 known and incontestable that the drones are born of un- 

 fecundated eggs, and that all the eggs of an unfecuudated 

 queen, if she is otherwise sound, will hatch, but hatch only 

 drones, while all the fecundated eggs of an impregnated 

 queen will hatch workers or queens, according to the food 

 they receive. Well, some have claimed that the drones will 

 have some of the qualities of the drone which fecundated 

 their "mother." This seems hardly possible. When a queen 

 is fecundated the male germs enter a little sack inside of the 

 ijueen's body, and remains there completely separated from 

 her eggs or any other of her organs. Her eggs are produced 

 in another and entirely different part of her body. As they 

 mature and come out they pass before the opening of the said 

 little sack. If the sack is kept closed up, the eggs come out 

 unimpregnated, and hatch out drones. If the sack is opened, 

 one or more male germs come out, enter the egg as it passes, 

 and that egg will produce a worker or a queen. 



A CAUTION. 



A fact often overlookt is that the bees of an apiary will 

 always mix, more or less, from one hive to another. Many 

 apiarists have thought that the queens they bought were not 

 pure, or that their 5-banded queens did not produce all 5- 

 banded workers, when the faulty bees they saw had come from 

 other hives. I have had proof of such cases time and again 

 in ray own apiaries. To be sure, in every case it is necessary 

 to observe carefully the very young or hatching bees. 



Knox Co., Tenn. 



Snow \n the Apiary — Its Advautages. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



Since our fields have put on their warm white winter 

 clothing, it is well for us to consider what is best to be done 

 for the colonies that are wintering under this white sheet in 

 the apiary. Is it necessary to remove the snow from the 

 hives, or should it be left for a protection ? 



That this snow is a protection to our fields and our mead- 

 ows all our farmers well know. It is a non-conductor of heat 

 or cold, and the ground under it retains its natural warmth. 

 When the snow melts, the wheat and grass show, by their 

 green blades, that this mantle has been beneficial. The hives, 

 likewise, if partly or entirely buried in the mound of snow, 

 will retain the warmth of the bees, and many of our old api- 

 arists purposely pile up the snow over their hives. 



In Canada, in Siberia, bees live well through the winter 

 and come out strong and healthy if a sufficient shelter of snow 

 has protected them. The conditions, in those countries are, 

 however, somewhat different from what they are at our lati- 

 tude. The sun there has but little strength during the winter 

 months, and when the hives are entirely buried their natural 

 heat alone has any effect upon the snow. It causes it to melt 

 away from the wood slowly but by a steady action, and the 

 openings of the hive are thus liberated, and ventilation 

 secured. 



In our latitude of central Illinois there are but very few 

 days when the sun does not more or less cause a thaw, the 

 snow changes to ice, and an additional freeze-up by a sudden 

 change of wind may completely close up the entrance and air 

 passages. This condition would lead to the suffocation of the 

 bees so confined if protracted beyond a few days unless some 

 aperture or crevice at the upper part can give a chance for 

 the ingress of pure air. So there is a danger against which 

 we must guard and a little snow, enough to close the air-holes 

 with ice is much more dangerous than a drift iu which the 

 hive is ensconced as in a cellar, 



That a few degrees in latitude make a great difference as 

 to the results for the protection to be derived from the snow, 

 is not to be doubted. I have had occasion to visit northern 

 New York and a part of the Province of Ontario in the winter, 

 and I have noticed with what faith In the thin coat of snow 

 the vehicles of all kinds embark into trips on sleds. Every- 



thing is on sleds from the omnibus to the dray cart, and it 

 looks as if they might be tempted to put the electric cars on 

 runners as well. Hereabout, if we venture ten miles from 

 home in a sleigh we run great risks of having to come home 

 in a skiff. 



So the snow is not to be trusted too far, and the south side 

 of our hives is in danger of being quickly uncovered of Its 

 shelter when it is of this flimsy material. Acting upon this 

 experience we have been in the habit of banking up the snow, 

 when there is plenty of It, on the north and west sides only, 

 and carefully cleansing the apron-board on the first warm day 

 after the snowfall. If the weather gets mild enough for a 

 bee-flight, our bees then find themselves dry footed in front of 

 their hive. 



We have seen many bee-keepers close their hives on a 

 warm day in suow time to keep the bees from flying and get- 

 ting lost on the trip. We have never found any benefit in this 

 method. When the weather is warm enough for the bees to 

 fly, if they are confined they will fret and worry, and if their 

 abdomen is loaded with fecal matter or excrements they may 

 be compelled to discharge these excrements in the hive to the 

 discomfort of themselves and their sisters. Better let them 

 fly, and run the risk of their not returning. Not only is this 

 reasonably plausible in theory, but practice has confirmed our 

 view of the matter, for we have invariably noticed that those 

 colonies which take the freest flight on warm days, and con- 

 sequently seem to lose the greatest number of bees on the 

 snow, prove to be the best colonies in the spring. 



All things considered a heavy snow is to be taken as more 

 beneficial than Injurious to the interests of the apiarist, for if 

 it is a sign of protracted cold — which is by no means always 

 the case — it is also a prophet of prosperity since it shelters the 

 land and promises us a healthy growth of grass, clover and 

 other plants, and adds moisture iu the ground, which slowly 

 penetrates to the roots of the plants. 



Hancock Co., III., Jan. 27. 



Bees Clustering Between Brood-Frames and 

 Cushion — Feeding Bees in Winter. 



BY EDWIN BEVIN.S. . 



I shall have to confess to my inability to see what there 

 was in " Iowa's " first question (see page 39) that led Dr. 

 Miller to infer that there was an open space between " Iowa's " 

 brood-frames and his cushions, unless this inference can be 

 accounted for on the ground of surprise that any bee-keeper 

 should be surprised at feeding his bees clustered up against 

 the cushions when the cushions rest on the frames, or having 

 a Hill's device or some sticks between the frames and cush- 

 ions. If " Iowa " were to come into my yard now he would 

 find the bees in every hive, except a few colonies in two-story 

 hives clustered up against the cushions. This gives me no 

 surprise and no uneasiness. I know that there Is plenty of 

 honey in all the hives for present needs, and that the bees will 

 get it when they need it. The bees cluster up against the 

 cushions for the sake of the warmth which rises from the clus- 

 ter and is arrested and held by the cushions. 



If my bees were in a barn without any packing around 

 the hives except a cushion in an empty super over the frames, 

 I might feel some of " Iowa's " apprehension that they might 

 not winter safely. 



It seems that " Iowa " has yet to learn that a building of 

 any kind where the temperature varies much is about the 

 worst place in the world to winter bees in. If I had some bees 

 in a barn, as " Iowa" says he has, I should lose no time in 

 getting them out of the barn and into a winter-case such as I 

 now make for all of my bees. These cases are cheap, and I 

 have found a way to make them so that it does not take the 

 apple-orchard and calf-pasture to store them in when not in 

 use. 



If "Iowa " or anybody has bees that are getting short of 

 stores, no time should be lost in making some cakes of candy 

 from granulated sugar as recommended by Mr. Abbott. And 

 here let my say that In time it will come to be recognized that 

 Mr. Abbott has given us a cheap, easy and sure method of 

 saving a colony of bees that happens to be starving in cold 

 weather. I may be pardoned, perhaps, if I enlarge a little on 

 what he says about making the candy : 



If I want but one cake to help out a colony that has 

 nearly enough honey to carry it through, I put a pint of water 

 into a kettle that has a rounding bottom with short legs to 

 keep It from tipping. When placed on the stove the center of 

 the bottom of the kettle just touches the top of the stove. I 

 remove a stove-cover at first and set the kettle next to the 



