Sept. 14, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



579 



are gnawed oif in little frag-meiits, and not in the round 

 iorm spoken of. 



VISITING DIFFERENT FLOWERS IN GATHERING HONEV. 



" In g-athering- honey, do bees visit different kinds of 

 flowers on one trip, or gather honey from one kind of 

 flowers only ?" 



Answer. — From the fact that bees never bring in pol- 

 len of different colors in their pollen-baskets at the same 

 time, the idea has obtained that they visit only the same 

 blossoms, or blossoms of the same color, which idea in the 

 main is correct, or very nearly so. Regarding this point I 

 will say that, in gathering pollen, I never saw a bee cliaiige 

 from one kind of flower to another, except on the clovers. I 

 have seen bees gathering pollen from white, red and Alsike 

 clover at the same time ; but those clovers gave the same 

 colored pollen. When we come to honey I have seen bees 

 fly from a gooseberry-bush to a currant-bush, and from 

 clover to raspberry bloom, and vice versa. I have also seen 

 them go from the red variety of raspberry to the black, 

 •where the different kinds of bushes were planted side by 

 side, or in alternate rows ; still, all that does not prove 

 that bees gather honey promiscuously, for I do not believe 

 they do. It will be observed that all of the above, except 

 from clover to raspberry, were of the same species of 

 plants, or nearly so. Teasel and bassvfood bloom at the 

 same time ; but never, in all of my watching, did I ever 

 see a bee go from teasel to basswood, or from basswood to 

 teasel. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Some Experience of the Present Season. 



BY J. C. ARMSTRONG. 



I HAVE kept bees for nearly 40 j'ears, and have come to 

 the conclusion that there are more surprises in the bee- 

 business than in any other in my knowledge. Owing to 

 a. cranky neighbor I made up my mind a year ago I would 

 divide my bees and have no more swarming. My bees were 

 very light in stores last fall, and I fed some of the lightest 

 of them. When I put them into the cellar I was fearful 

 that some of them would never come out alive, but luckily 

 they all pulled thru, and out of the 10 colonies I suppose I 

 took out about a gallon of dead bees. I had them in con- 

 finement 138 days. They all had a little hone}', and some 

 of them very little. I thought I must feed them a little till 

 fruit-bloom came, nearly every day, and did so all but two 

 of them. 



They gathered up considerable during fruit-bloom, but 

 I could not see what they were to get after that till bass- 

 wood came, as the white clover was nearly all killed last 

 winter, and I had heard it said that the young clover (and 

 there was an abundance of that) would not afford any honey 

 the first year. 



They had by this time become pretty strong, but from 

 the outlook I could not think it a good time to commence 

 •dividing. But on May 23 they commenced swarming, and 

 took the matter into their own hands and swarmed, and 

 swarmed. But after basswood was over they seemed to let 

 up a little, and commenced killing off their drones. But 

 ■within the last two or three weeks they have changed their 

 tactics, and this has been the most lively week with me of 

 the season. They seem to be gathering as rapidly as at 

 any time of the season, and from the young clover. They 

 are booming with bees, send off good-sized swarms, and 

 some of them r'crj/ large. There has been just enough honey 

 coming in, in the scarcest time, to keep the queen laying, 

 virith plenty of room to spread herself. I am all " at sea " 

 now. I thought two weeks ago that swarms that came off 

 then would have to be fed for winter stores, but I believe 

 they have now as much as some of them had tliat I put away 

 last fall. Still, the)' are stronger in bees than those were, 

 and of course will require more. 



I have lost four swarms, and have doubled my number. 

 I had one to leave me to-daj'. It is a question with me 

 Vfhich to do, hive them iu empty hives, or destroy tlie 

 queen-cells in the parent hive, and run them back. The 

 one that came out to-day alighted in a place that it was 

 ■difficult to get at, so I concluded to let it go, consoling my- 

 self with the thought that most of them would die off be- 

 fore spring, after helping to consume part of their winter 

 stores. So I put what they would gather from now until 

 the honey season closes, against what they would eat be- 

 fore they die. 



I have often thought of a plan pursued by Mr. Hosmer, 

 of Minnesota, some years ago. He claimed a quart of bees 

 as all he wisht to put away into winter quarters, and would 



take the combs and shake part of the bees on the ground, 

 claiming that the old bees would shake off' and the young 

 bees would stick to the comb. This seems like a barbarous 

 action, but, full as the hives seem now, I believe it would 



I have adopted the plan with some of my hives with 

 which I am so well pleased that I think I will follow it gen- 

 erally next year. It is to clip the queen's wings, then when 

 the swarm comes out I set a tumbler over the queen, re- 

 move the hive to another place, and set an empty hive in its 

 place, and when the swarm commences to return let the 

 queen run in with them. Or, after the swarm returns, de- 

 stroy the queen-cells in the parent hive, set it back, empty 

 the bees out in front of the hive, and let them run back. 



I would refer the subjects mentioned in this to Dr. 

 Miller for any advice he may choose to give me as a guide 

 to the future. Marshall Co., Iowa, Aug. 11. 



From the Eg'g' to the Perfect Bee. 



BY H. W. BRICE. 



ON examining a cell just after an egg is laid, we find a 

 small white speck standing on end, attacht to the base 

 of the cell, and slightly on one side of the apex thereof ; 

 it is fixt in this position by a watery, semi-sticky substance 

 which at this period envelops the whole of the egg. Within 

 a few moments, however, one of the nurse-bees enters the 

 cell — head first, of course — and, after a few seconds of ac- 

 tivity, withdraws and hurries away to the next cell to " go 

 on " as before. 



Now, let us examine the cell again, and we find that the 

 nurse-bee has carefully placed the new laid egg down on its 

 side, and in its orthodox and proper position at the bottom 

 of the cell. The egg from this time forward is a matter of 

 constant care and attention on the part of the nurses, that 

 are persistently examining it, probably to see how it is 

 " getting on." 



On the second day we find the bees have shifted its 

 position to an angle of about 35 degrees ; on the third it is 

 again moved to a horizontal position, and on the fourth 

 day it hatches out. 



This brings us to the question. What is the still unde- 

 velopt insect to be ? But in any case, whether worker, 

 drone, or queen, we find the young larva lying in crescent 

 shape at the bottom of the cell, and here it rests for some 

 hours almost unnoticed by the bees, and certainly unfed for 

 12 hours. Then is seen a little transparent food, upon 

 which the larva almost floats. In 24 to 36 hours the food 

 first exhibits a slight milky opacity, and becomes more 

 abundant until about the third or fourth day, during which 

 time the food is absorbed by the moutli and other portions 

 of the bodv floating upon it, the larva passing no ejections 

 whatever. At the period mentioned — and with either 

 worker or drone larva; — what is known as the " weaning 

 period " occurs, and for a short time no food is supplied. 

 Then, when nourishment is again necessary, the food is 

 changed, and the rich nutriment previously given — which 

 appears to me to partake of the nature of " royal jelly " — is 

 discontinued, and honey and partly-digested pollen take its 

 place. The worker-larva; are fed on this until the end of 

 the eighth day, when the cells are capt over, and after the 

 21st day the insects come forth from the cells perfectly de- 

 velop!, in the form of brownish-gray little creatures, ap- 

 parently regarded by the adult workers as hardly belonging 

 to the same community. However, in a very short time 

 the newly-arrived ones are running about the combs, 

 clearly to the " manor " born. 



Drone-lar\'a; are fed for one day longer than the work- 

 ers, the cells being sealed over about the ninth day. They 

 do not, however, issue as perfect insects until after the 24th 

 day from the laying of the eggs, both days inclusive. 



Bees have the power to prolong the above times, but I 

 have failed to discover that they can shorten the time oc- 

 cupied in the metamorphosis. They have, however, a mar- 

 velous power of lengthening the period, instances having 

 come under mj* notice where worker-larva; have been kept at 

 apparently from three to four days old from the egg, until 

 the eig'hth day, these same cells having been found un- 

 sealed on the i2th day. This often happens in queenless 

 colonies. 



I have also known drone-Iarvie to remain unsealed for 

 daj's after the generally-accepted period. The protraction 

 of time in sealing the cells is more markt, however, in the 

 case of queen-rearing. A larva intended for a queen is fed 

 during the first three days on the same partly-dig^ested food 



