502 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



run some wax alongside of the strips 

 so as to liold them still better. You 

 now have frames with' eggs not over 

 24 hours old, and tlie cells pointing 

 downward. There is a charm and 

 fascination to the bees in having the 

 cells point down insteadof being liori- 

 zontal. It seems to conform to their 

 idea of how eggs out of which queens 

 are to be made should be placed. 

 They illustrate this-instinctin the fact 

 that when they are filling a hive with 

 comb they will" build nice tender queen 

 cells here and there in irregular and 

 roomy places where they can con- 

 veniently point them down, though 

 they have not the slightest swarming 

 impulse at the time. After awhile 

 when the impulse comes, the queen 

 sharing it lays eggs in three cells, and 

 the yoiing queens are developed. 



Having the frames with strips of 

 e^gs, go to a vigorous colony — one 

 with enough bees and energy to be 

 building comb, and occupying at least 

 1,-100 cubic inches of space. Remove 

 the queen and all combs having brood 

 excei>t two. The brood combs left 

 should have unsealedbroodand pollen, 

 and as few eggs as ])ossible, also let 

 the combs left be black and tough. 

 Place your frames with strips between 

 the two brood combs, fill any vacant 

 places with empty combs, close the 

 hive, and you have conformed per- 

 fectly to the requirements of nature in 

 your endeavor to produce the finest 

 queens. The reason 1 leave tlie brood 

 combs, is that I do not know but that 

 bees use the young larvoe in making 

 the royal jelly, and if they had only 

 eggs the queens might be dwarfed on 

 this account. Let me ask older bee- 

 keepers, do bees use young larva in 

 making royal jelly? There is little 

 danger of the bees'making queen cells 

 in the two brood combs, the cells be- 

 ing horizontal and tough. Open the 

 hive between the 2d and 3d days, and 

 remove any larvre in cells started in 

 the brood combs. The bees will re- 

 move the royal jelly to the cells on the 

 strips. By this method you will rear 

 large, long queen cells, and plenty of 

 them, in beautiful rows easily re- 

 moved. With a sharp knife I cut un- 

 derneath the cells close to the wood, 

 taking a portion of wax that is very 

 convenient to hold the cells when you 

 put them between the frames in the 

 nuclei to which you introduce them. 

 You can remove the cells on the even- 

 ing of the 11th and morning of 12th 

 days. Say you put in eggs July 3d, re- 

 move the cells during the 13th and 

 morning of the 14th. I believe by the 

 above method as good queens can be 

 reared as bees are capable of rearing, 

 notwithstanding the wise conserva- 

 tism of Mr. Doolittle, who insists that 

 Dame Nature cannot be equalled in 

 that particular branch, though he is 

 very bold to improve upon and assist 

 her in many other departments. 



As to negroes being bee-keepers, I 

 will say, according to my life-long ob- 

 servation they have no taste for bee- 

 culture, though many are well situated 

 to engage in it. They love honey as 

 fondly as a bear, but seem to be want- 

 ing in the capacity for that intel- 

 lectual exertion necessary to under- 



stand and practice advanced or true 

 bee-culture. JSx nihilo nihil fit. 



I forgot to say in connection with 

 rearing queens, that I believe the dol- 

 lar queen traflic lias done great good. 

 It is as easy to rear a fine queen as a 

 poor one, and competition makes it to 

 the interest of every queen-breeder to 

 rear the best and satisfy his customers. 

 What is the difference to me between 

 a fine warranted dollar queen from 

 Mr. Alley or Ilayhurst, and a tested 

 one? It is merely a difference of time, 

 for they would be bound to make it 

 good if the queen did not produce all 

 three banded workers. Let the dollar 

 queen traffic continue through the 

 omnipresent U. S. Mail, and dissemi- 

 nate Italian and Cyprian blood where- 

 ever bees are kept. I am glad to see 

 the Lone Star State has excelled any 

 yield hitherto reported from a siiigle 

 hive. Evidence from all quarters 

 shows that much can be done at bee- 

 culture in the South by the application 

 of intelligence to the industry. 



Grenada, Miss. 



Translated by A. Neighbour. 



Winter Temperature Required by Uees. 



DR. DZIERZON. 



In the hot climate of Syria, Ethiopia, 

 and Brazil bees do not suffer harm 

 from the heat : and while in our coun- 

 try they keep perfectly well in a hot 

 summer and mild autumn, they are 

 supposed to perish during a cold win- 

 ter from excessive heat. Who can 

 comprehend these contradictions? In 

 two cases only is this conceivable. 

 First, if the whole atmosphere is 

 heated to such a degree as almost to 

 melt the wax, causing the combs to 

 break, which is reported to be the ca'se 

 in the neighborhood of Aden in the 

 Red Sea ; and second, if a large colony 

 get excited while the entrance is 

 closed. In such an event the heat in 

 a short space of time may become so 

 great as to cause the combs to break. 

 Many of the colonies sent to the ex- 

 hibitions at Cologne, Erfurt, and 

 Potsdam, with large population and 

 abundant honey, but meeting with an 

 accident on the way, arrived in this 

 condition. I may also refer to the case 

 of a bee-keeper who, in order to keep 

 back a swarm which was on the point 

 of issuing simultaneously with another 

 swarm, quickly closed the entrance of 

 the hive, and shortly after found the 

 bees suffocated and the wax in a melt- 

 ing state. 



But I deny that a colony of bees can 

 be ruined or injured by excessive heat 

 when the entrance is open, and I con- 

 sider it to be quite impossible. For if 

 the temperature in the hive should 

 have been raised somewhat high, as it 

 might be during a necessary removal 

 of the hives, a portion of the bees rush 

 out of the entrance as .soon as open— a 

 number of bees, which return im- 

 mediately, and by setting up a terrific 

 hum expel the excessively hot and 

 foul air from the hive, which in a 

 short time re-establishes quietness 

 among the bees. But if quick fanning 

 should prove of no avail, because the 

 air that rushes into the hive is just as 



hot as the air which is driven out, the 

 bees may be seen to hang out, which 

 we frequently have an opportunity of 

 observing on sultry days in the sum- 

 mer. In winter even we may happen 

 to see bees hanging out if the colonies 

 have a large population and are kept 

 in rather a warm place. When my 

 apiary, containing sixty colonies and 

 many empty hives, was completely de- 

 stroyed by fire in 1846, 1 had an oppor- 

 tunity of observing the behavior of 

 the bees during the heat which human 

 beings were unable to endure. The 

 hotter it grew the larger the number 

 of bees became which hung out, but 

 otherwise they remained perfectly 

 quiet until they were finally seized by 

 the flames and consumed. Thus the 

 bees know how to shift for themselves 

 even during an unbearably great heat, 

 as long as relief is possible. If, how- 

 ever. Dr. Krasicki wants to make us 

 believe they suffer and perish from 

 excess of heat in winter while the en- 

 trance of the hive is open, they would 

 be the most stupid creatures on earth. 

 Dr. Krasicki surely will not be able to 

 plead that the cold does not permit 

 the bees to move to the entrance of 

 the hive to establish ventilation, as 

 excess of heat and excess of cold, or 

 the absence of heat, are contradictory 

 terms, the one excluding the other. 



But does not Dr. Krasicki produce 

 arguments and evidence in favor of 

 his peculiar opinion — that bees, like 

 Polar bears, can stand cold better than 

 heat ; at least, better during repose in 

 winter, and that they are more likely 

 to perish from the latter than from the 

 former? He certainly states his reas- 

 ons, but they are such as you might 

 expect to hear. They become value- 

 less if examined closely. He relates 

 how a colony in a log hive, the door of 

 which had given away, survived ex- 

 tremely cold weather, and how another 

 community existed for several years 

 in a hollow tree with a large opening 

 through which the bees entered. But 

 what is there particularly remarkable 

 in this, and what does it prove? I 

 myself have had similar experience, 

 of which I have given an account on 

 various occasions. Let us consider 

 the bees retired into the very centre 

 of the structure of combs, the latter 

 being covered with hoar frost, and the 

 passages between the combs, so to 

 speak, filled up with feathers, or we 

 may consider the cluster of bees 

 wrapped up as in in a feather bed. 

 As long as the bees keep close to the 

 honey they are able to brave the most 

 severe cold, no matter whether the 

 hive be closed or open. An open door 

 or a good size entrance is a real ad- 

 vantage to bees, because the vital air 

 (oxygen) cannot so easily become ex- 

 hausted as when the door is tightly 

 closed or when there is only a small 

 entrance, closed, perhaps, with ice. 



In the winter of 184.5 I had an op- 

 portunity of noticing the appearance 

 of the interior of hives after being 

 exposed to extremely cold temperature 

 for a considerable time. A truly Si- 

 berian winter continued without in- 

 terruption from the beginning of 

 February till Easter. I had many of 

 mv colonies in wooden boxes, and 

 even those in heavy log hives taken 



