296 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



thinff. Well, the piece before me in 

 the Bee Journal reads very similar 

 to what that Connecticut gentleman 

 said, and it he is the same, 

 then I have liad the honor of seeing 

 Mr. Holmes, ilr. Editor, as you say, 

 I consider myself worse swindled by 

 receiving what 1 did, than as if I had 

 received nothing, for it only added 

 95 cents to the price of the thing which 

 was of no practical use. I cannot 

 write anything about Mrs. Cotton 

 without feeling " kind o' nervous," 

 for I dislike swindlers. 

 Ludlow, Vt. 



For the American Hce Journal. 



Results of Some Experiments. 



G. W. DEMAREE. 



L-.ist fall when wintering some 

 queen-rearing colonies, I found one 

 strong 7Hicleus under the influence of 

 a fertile worker— perhaps several ot 

 them, from the nninbei' of eggs th^it 

 appeared in tlie combs. This colnny. 

 having had no young to feed and 

 nurse for some time, and being with- 

 out a queen, luid (ilh^l tliree or four 

 combs full of a mi.xture of ]K>lIen and 

 honey. With this state of things, I 

 conceived the idea of trying a double 

 experiment— 1. To see how lung fer- 

 tile workers are capalile of laying 

 eggs; and. 2. To ascertain whether or 

 not these bees woidd winter safely on 

 a mixture of pollen and honey. To 

 tliis end I removed every comb that 

 contained sealed stores, and put the 

 bees on four frames that contained 

 nothing but a mixture of pollen and 

 honey. The preparation for winter 

 was simply a division-board at the 

 side, and two qnilts spread over the 

 tops of tlie frames. Tliey reared 

 drones in abundance n,t tlie "start, but 

 all signs of tVrlile workers disai)peared 

 by the middle of the winter. The ex- 

 periment sliowpd that worker bees do 

 not have the vitabty to lay eggs but a 

 few weeks atmost. Tliese bees reared 

 drones through the coldest part of the 

 winter, liaving notliing but a mixture 

 of honey and pollen to subsist upon, 

 and c:nue through the winter bright 

 and clean. 



Anotlier experiment tried was of 

 much interest to me, and is perliaps 

 worthy of mention. In February last 

 I discovered tliat. a queen reared late 

 in tlie fnll liad failed to " male," ami 

 hence was a genuine drone-layer. She 

 was quite prolilic, but did iiot liiy a 

 single worker egg. There was a i)atch 

 of drone cells near the center of the 

 brood nest, and from tliese were 

 liatched some as hue looking drones 

 as any I ever saw. Tliere being no 

 drones in existence at the time ex- 

 cej.it those sons of an nnwedded 

 mother, I determined to iiscertain if 

 it was possible to get a queen ferti- 

 lized by them. 1 proceeded to destroy 

 thennmated qneeii and gave the bees 

 some larvffi just hatched, and tliey 

 reared a queen and she was fertilized 

 in due time. Of course such an ex- 

 )>erinient could not be conclusive, but 

 all the probatiilities are in favor of 

 lier having mated with one of these 

 fatherless (?) drones. 



It is generally believed that aueens 

 reared by small nuclei and such as 

 hatch out in less than thirteen days, 

 are necessarily inferior. 1 have always 

 accepted this doctrine because of the 

 reasonableness of the conclusion. I 

 now have two queens reared by a one 

 frame nucleus, in a glass case for ob- 

 servation, that are extra good queens. 

 I also have a queen that is laying her 

 third, if not her fourth year, "that was 

 reared by an ordinary nucleus, and 

 hatclied on the morning of the tenth 

 day. I have had one nine-day queen 

 th.at kept her hive full of bees for 

 more tluiii two years. These may be 

 exceptional cases, but they have been 

 quite numeious with me. 



lam inclined to boast of two Cyp- 

 rian q!ieens(danghtersof an imporied 

 mother) mated with black drones, 

 that produce workers that will pass 

 anywhere as lirst class leather-colored 

 Italians. 



Christiansbnrg, Ky. 



Now York 'I'rihime. 



Care i;f Koney Locust IJedgcs. 



JOSIAn HOOPES. 



In ttifi Northern sections of the 

 United States,where the Osage orange 

 is more or less injured by the winter, 

 the honey locust is undoubtedly the 



f^m^^^ ^^j 



^> 



m. 



'.(^^ 





s^. 



two strands, of barbed wire along the 

 middle of the hedge, thus preventing 

 the inroads of unruly animals, and 

 that bane of the hoiiest orchardist, 

 boys with thieving proiiensities. To 

 start at the commencement, honey 

 locust seeds should be collected in the 

 pods as they fall from the trees in 

 autumn, and placed in a cold exi>osed 

 position until hard, freezing weather, 

 when they can readily be threshed 

 like beans. After cleaning the seeds 

 from the fragments of pods, etc., 

 pkice in bags and preserve dry until 

 spring. At plantii'ig time soak the 

 seeds in warm water until they show 

 signs of germination, when they 

 should be sown in drills like pe:'.s, in 

 good, thoroughly pulverized soil. Like 

 the larger portion of our native trees, 

 tills species forms more root th.ui top 

 the tirst year, ciuisequently one-year 

 seedlings are usually rather small for 



Honey Locust Tree. 



most valuable plant for hedging jmr- 

 poses. There is no special culture 

 necessary for it, more than is required 

 for other species, but it needs atten- 

 tion for tlie lirst 2 or 3 years to form a 

 thick base. The young hedge should 

 be frequently cultivated and kept 

 clear of grass and weeds all summer, 

 otherwise mice will harbor thertun 

 and bark the young plants. In trim- 

 ming, cut well back for the lirst '2 or 3 

 years, bearing in mind there is no dif- 

 rtculty in quickly obtaining tlie de- 

 sired "heigiit. but it is far more trouble- 

 some to induce it to become dense and 

 twiggy. 



The best results are obtained from 

 running one strand, or, better still, 



Honey Lomst Limb, Pod and Seed. 



lilanting in the hedge-row, but they 

 should not be left to remain longer 

 than 2 years, else they will be on the 

 otiier extreme. Tlie cause of so many 

 poor liedges, however, is neglect in 

 cultivation, and the honey locust of 

 all others will not thrive without care 

 and attention. 



[The honey locust makes a beauti- 

 ful and hardy shade tree, and where 

 alternated witti other ornamental 

 trees, presents a most attractive ap- • 

 pearance. It is a good bloomer, and 

 furnishes an abundance of light, rich 

 honey. The instructions given above 

 will furnish useful information for 

 those desiring to cultivate it from 

 the seed for a standard shade tree. 

 We would prefer to transplant from 

 the drills the second season. The 

 timber is excellent. — Ed.] 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Denver, Colorado, as a Honey Market. 



C. A. CLARK. 



Tlie mildness of our climate is favor- 

 able, not only to the bee, but to the 

 man who proposes to profit by its 

 industry. This is my second winter 

 in ColoradOj and I have not yet seen 

 the thermorneter get down to zero as 

 the lower extreme, nor up to 90-' as 



