376 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



all that honey up into the sections in 

 an incredibly short time, and thus 

 continue to work there. 



Dr. Brown would not use a smoker 

 at all, but with some anise essence, 

 syrup and chloroform sprinkled over 

 them and at the entrances, he can do 

 anything with them. He also gave a 

 method ot preventing moths by kill- 

 ing the millers before entering the 

 hive. 



Mrs. Wm. Lawrence would induce 

 bees to work in the sections by cut- 

 ting out a small piece of comb with 

 drone brood, and fasten it in a sec- 

 tion, and it is remarkable how quickly 

 the bees will go up and work with a 

 " vim " in the sections. She also 

 would not use comb foundation in 

 surplus sections at all, but use small 

 pieces of empty comb, because bees 

 will take to it better ; and also where 

 comb foundation is used there is al- 

 ways a tough, hard partition in the 

 honey which is not palatable, and is 

 not so nice as that made by the bees. 



Mr. Ilutchins gave many good sug- 

 gestions. He is a live, progressive 

 and veteran bee-keeper. His apiary 

 consists of nearly .50 colonies in bee- 

 houses packed with sawdust, both 

 winter and summer, all finished and 

 painted on the outside, placed in due 

 form, which looks like a miniature 

 village. 



Others gave many suggestive facts 

 and incidents in bee-management. 

 At the close it was voted to hold the 

 next meeting at W. H. Norton's, by 

 his invitation, at North Madison, Me., 

 on August 20, 1884. He proffers free 

 entertainment to all. The time now 

 is very favorable for examining bees, 

 and for laying plans for the fall and 

 winter's campaign. Let there be a 

 grand rally. 



^V. McLaughlin, Pres. 



For the American Bee Joumai 



Queen Fecundated in a Cell. 



GUYTON BROS. 



On page 296 of Gleanings, we saw 

 Mr. B. r. Lee's accounts of fecundat- 

 ing a queen in confinement. AVe 

 thought of trying the plan. As an 

 embryo queen in the larval state ab- 

 sorbs food at her posterior, we thought 

 it might be possible that she could be 

 fecundated while in that state ; and, 

 if so, the feasibility of so doing would 

 be of paramount importance to all 

 bee-keepers ; we tried it. 



The Modus Operandi : We had four 

 cells nearly ready for capping ; one of 

 them we inverted and squeezed into 

 it the contents of a drone larva .5 or 6 

 days old. We did not do as Mr. Root 

 advises: "scooping" out the drone 

 food and giving it to the queen larva ; 

 for that was taken away with the 

 larva. Into the other 3 cells we cut 

 lids which opened downward, and 

 likewise put the drone larva contents 

 into each, then closed the lid and 

 sealed it as well as we could. We did 

 not do as Mr. Lee did — inoculating 

 the queen larva with drone, but put 

 the drone larva into the royal jelly 

 just as close to the posterior of the 



queen larva as possible, that it might 

 be absorbed before spoiling. 



The royal jelly run through upon 

 the larva in one of the 3 cells thus 

 prepared, and was taken away with 

 the larva. The other 2 cells were 

 capped nicely. As we did not know 

 the exact age of the larvse operated 

 upon, they hatched out one day sooner 

 than we expected and one was lost. 

 The other one had two combs about 

 as well filled with eggs as could be ex- 

 pected for one day. 



Like Mr. Lee, it does seem doubtful 

 to us ; but she is there, and laying as 

 busily as if she had met a hundred 

 drones. We have some under the 

 same process now, which will hatch 

 out this week, and we intend watch- 

 ing them very closely. We think of 

 clipping one' or two of them as they 

 emerge from the cell. 



Waco, Tex. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Moth. 



A. C. COKSEY. 



This formidable enemy of bees is 

 not as well understood by many apiar- 

 ists as it should be. The name is de- 

 rived from the Latin galaria cereana— 

 gallery wax so-called because the 

 larvie construct galleries in the comb. 



Bee -Moth. 



It is often seen about the hives dur- 

 ing the day, but more frequently at 

 night; and is often seen flitting about 

 the candle or lamp. It is of a light 

 grayish color, and is generally known 

 by the name of miller. 



It enters the hive at the same en- 

 trance as the bees, and deposits its 

 eggs in some crack or crevice in the 

 hive where the bees are unable to 

 reach it. When the colony is weak, 

 it will deposit its eggs in the combs, 

 and the colony soon becomes a prey 

 to its ravages. A strong colony will 

 keep the combs free from these depre- 

 dators. 



The egg of the bee-moth, when 

 hatched, produces a little worm which 

 encloses itself in a case resembling 

 white silk, which it spins around its 

 body. It gradually increases in size, 

 and feeds on the cells around it. As 

 it increases, it enlarges its gallery by 

 cutting the cell away before it. The 

 gallery, as well as the insect, is im- 

 pervious to the sting of the bee, but 

 if one drops from its gallery, it is 

 seized by the nape of the neck and 

 forcibly ejected from the hive by the 

 bees. 



In the course of three weeks the 

 larvse or worm stops eating, and en- 

 closes itself in its silken case. It, 

 however, soon deserts its case, and 

 plumes its wings for flight. Many 

 devices have been invented called 



moth-traps, to prevent its entering 

 the hive, but all have proved failures. 

 There is but one effectual moth-trap, 

 and that is a strong colony of bees. 

 Moths never disturb a strong colony 

 where the hive is properly made, so 

 that the bees can pass all around their 

 work. 

 Cucamonga, Cal. 



for the American Bee JoumaL 



More About the Eastern Bees. 



L. A. LOWMASTER. 



On page 132 is an article from G. M. 

 Doolittle, condemning the Syrian bees, 

 classing them with those from Pales- 

 tine, and calling tliem all " Holy Land 

 bees." Syria is not the Holy Land, 

 and never was ; and I would like to 

 know how the Syrian bees can be 

 called Holy Land bees when they 

 never came from the Holy Land. 



The Syrian bees are the original and 

 only pure race of bees in the world, 

 and all races originated from them ; 

 if not, where did the other races of 

 bees come from V 



Before I notice a few of Mr. D.'s 

 remarks, I will say that I have han- 

 dled Syrian (not Holy Land) bees 

 longer and more of them than Mr. D. 

 has, and I know what I am talking 

 about. I also have the dark and light- 

 colored Italians and Cyprians, and I 

 had one of the Palestine (Holy Land) 

 queens, but I did not keep her long, 

 for that race of bees is too cross, and 

 not very good workers. I suppose that 

 was the kind of bees that Mr. D. had 

 instead of the Syrians. 



Concerning the proliflcness of the 

 Syrians (Holy Lands as he calls them), 

 Mr. D. says : " So I say, that when 

 he (Frank Benton) says that he wants 

 the hive overflowing with bees in the 

 fall, there must be a mistake some- 

 where.'' That is just where Mr. D. is 

 mistaken. I want lots of bees in the 

 fall, then there is no danger of any 

 less in wintering. It is a well known 

 fact that a strong colony of bees will 

 winter far better than a small, good- 

 for-nothing colony, and where is there 

 an intelligent apiarist that will try to 

 winter a small colony of bees V 



Mr. D. says : " As soon as the 

 honey harvest arrives the queen (Ital- 

 ians I suppose) ceases her proliflc- 

 ness, and thus we do not have a lot of 

 ' hungry hands ' to board when they 

 are ot no use to the apiarist." I am 

 surprised to hear such remarks by one 

 who claims to know all about bees. 

 It is a well know fact that a queen 

 will not "cease her proliflcness as 

 soon as the honey harvest arrives ; 

 but on the contrary, as soon as the 

 bees are getting honey and pollen, she 

 lays more rapidly ; and when there is 

 scarcely any honey to be gathered, 

 she will lay more sparingly. From 

 the strongest colony we always get the 

 most honey ; and to obtain this, we 

 must have the hive overflowing with 

 bees, and to secure them we must 

 have aproliflc queen. Please give the 

 Syrians credit for their proliflcness. 



Mr. D. claims that the Syrians will 

 keep on laying as long as there is any 

 honey in the hive. Let us see what 



