684 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



This assumption is supported by the 

 observations above stated, but does 

 not, of course, admit of ocular dem- 

 onstration. Well, this much we know 

 of queen and drone. The workers, 

 on account of their number, have es- 

 caped individual observation. Those 

 which were dissected proved suffi- 

 ciently, that they are stunted females. 



The next problem was to discover 

 what caused their being stunted. It 

 has been found tiiat it is the difference 

 in food which has the effect to more 

 or less develop the individual bee, 

 and produce either a worker, on a 

 diet of honey and pollen, or a queen, 

 on a diet consisting of the secretion 

 of the salivary glands situated in the 

 heads of the young worker bees ; this 

 secretion is what is known as royal 

 jelly. I may also remark here, that 

 in old bees these glands dwindle or 

 shrivel to such an extent that secre- 

 tion is entirely suspended ; this makes 

 it apparent why mainly young bees 

 should be employed to rear queens, 

 and then the same bees not more than 

 once, as their salivary glands, once 

 exhausted, cannot resume their func- 

 tion afterwards ; hence they are not 

 fit, because unable to rear a good 

 queen. ]5ut even if they can not or 

 do not rear a queen, the desire to pre- 

 serve their existence as a colony, is 

 generally present, in consequence of 

 which one or more workers begin to 

 lay eggs. 



It has been and still is a puzzle to 

 the apiarist, how v>'orkers are fitted to 

 assume the royal duty of depositing 

 eggs. Many bee keepers do not be- 

 lieve it, giving as a reason that they 

 have not seen it ; still it is a fact that 

 they do lay eggs, but these eggs 

 always hatch drones. To entertain 

 the idea that such a worker could or 

 would be fertilized by a drone was 

 considered so far from the probable 

 that no bee-keeper ever mentioned it 

 as possible. 



But a bee-keeper, by the name of 

 Kremer, in Germany, has made a 

 remarkable discovery. He caught a 

 worker and drone in the act of mat- 

 ing. When so caught, they were still 

 connected by their sexual organs, and 

 thus sent to Rev. Schoenfeld, who, at 

 present, is the keeper of tlie large 

 microscope bought by the bee-keepers 

 of Germany. After an examination 

 of them, he" pronounced the worker to 

 be not more nor less than any other 

 worker-bee ; a real, genuine worker 

 it was, and not a stunted queen as 

 was at first believed ; nor were the 

 sexual organs of this worker any more 

 developed than any of the others 

 which he had examined. 



This discovery caused a great sen- 

 sation among apiarists in Germany, 

 as well it might. A writer in the 

 Illustrated Bienen~eitung asks some 

 questions which he partly answers, 

 maintaining that the queen never lays 

 any eggs which hatch drones, but that 

 it is the business of the fertilized 

 worker. Where that drone comes 

 from, to do the first fertilizing in the 

 spring, he does not say. The follow- 

 ing is a translation of the main points 

 and answers which he submits : "1. 

 May a worker be fertilized V Accord- 

 ing to Kremer's discovery and the 



investigation of the bees by Bev. 

 Schoenfeld, the question must be an- 

 swered in the atlirmative. 2 Had 

 the worker, in question, a desire to 

 mate V Certainly ; otherwise the act 

 would not have taken place, for a 

 worker possesses the means to repel 

 a drone in case the latter should want 

 to enforce copulation. The observed 

 fact is also proof conclusive that the 

 stunted or smaller sexual organs of 

 the workers admit of copulation. 

 Microscopical investigation proved, 

 also, that no part of the sexual organs 

 of the said worker had been in any 

 way injured or torn. Experience also 

 proves that in a colony some workers 

 are larger than others, and some 

 drones are smaller than the average. 

 3. May such workers, in mating, be- 

 come fertilized V Certainly ; nature 

 does nothing without an object. The 

 object of mating is to fertilize, -i. 

 Have laying workers been observed V 

 Experience says. Yes,- especially in a 

 queenless colony. 5. What did such 

 eggs hatchV Only male bees ordrones." 



The other points are of minor im- 

 portance, in one of which he asserts 

 that it has not been proven that 

 queens ever lay eggs which hatch 

 drones, which is contrary to facts ; 

 and he winds up by saying, " A queen 

 which is fertilized lays such eggs 

 only, which hatch either perfect or 

 stunted female bees, according to the 

 food with which the larva; are sup- 

 plied. The less stunted and fertilized 

 workers lay the eggs which hatch 

 perfect male bees or drones." 



Youngstown, Ohio. 



For the Americun Bee Journal. 



The Ontario Convention. 



Many kind references on this oc- 

 casion were made to the large gath- 

 ering of a year ago, when our city 

 was honored by the presence of the 

 many great bee-men brouglit together 

 at the meeting of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. We held 

 our annual meeting during the time 

 of the Industrial Exhibition, at which, 

 too, the honey exhibits formed no un- 

 important part. The present in- 

 creased interest manifested in bee- 

 culture, as compared with only a few 

 years past, is truly astonishing." Three 

 evening sessions of nearly four hours 

 each, and two forenoon meetings were 

 all attended by many who, for the 

 first time in their lives, had been 

 present at such a meeting ; and being 

 invited to ask questions, they afforded 

 no small amount of amusement as 

 well as displaying intense anxiety in 

 their efforts to master the mysteries 

 of the bee-hive. 



The themes and questions discussed 

 covered most of the ground which is 

 generally gone over, and tlie common 

 conflict of theories had ample devel- 

 opment. The answers as to methods 

 and uses of ventilation were so flatly 

 conflicting as to sadly bewilder the 

 solicitous inquirers, and sometimes 

 looked more like thickening the dark- 

 ness than evolving any light. " Shall 

 we clip the queens' wings i"' " Yes I" 

 "Xo!"' -'Which is the better for 

 bee-forage, a new section of country 



or an old, well-cleared and cultivated 

 one?" -Xewl"' "Old!" 



" Which is the best race of bees V" 

 " Survival of the fittest," " Tree-top 

 conditions,"' " Foul brood," " Prevent- 

 ing spring dwindling," "Fall feed- 

 ing," "Shape of frames," "Swarm- 

 ing, and bacteria theories," none of 

 them seemed to lack freshness of live 

 treatment. Upon the whole, perhaps 

 the special good-nature evidenced 

 amid so spirited a discussion may 

 have been somewhat promoted by 

 lingering recollections of how hardly 

 and good-naturedly big bee-men (here, 

 a year ago), without mercy, hit each 

 other's pet theories. In fact, the sort 

 of enjoyment of the ease with which 

 a good brother's " castles in the air" 

 could be demolished, seemed to lend 

 a charm to the exercises. Then, 

 amongst all, the " toes " so rudely trod 

 upon, so few seemed in the least 

 tender. 



Several of the number present won- 

 dered why we do not have these an- 

 nual meetings oftener ; as Pat ilon- 

 ahan wanted to have " quarterly meet- 

 ings " held "monthly."' Some of us 

 suggested that Rochester, N. Y., is 

 not so very far away, and a big meet- 

 ing is to be held there in the near 

 future. A number expressed a desire, 

 nearly amounting to intention, to be 

 there. 



It is all very well to read articles on 

 " hybrids " and all that, buj for a 

 real good time, some would say, give 

 us a genuine, live International Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention with a respect- 

 able sprinkling of lady members pres- 

 ent : and absent all dry, long, well- 

 written papers. To this should be 

 added two or three bee-paper editors, 

 and one or two crank .advocates of 

 " (Jueen-larvoB fertilization in the 

 cell."' But then we. of course, re- 

 quire on hand, too. a few large pro- 

 ducers of Xo. 1 comb honey, and a 

 fair proportion of anxious -to-be-in-. 

 structed novices. Then, ho, for next, 

 nearest bee-keepers" convention I S. 



Toronto, Can., Sept. 20. 1884. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



A Dark Picture. 



J. M. nA.MIiAUGH. 



A more promising season than that 

 of the present year never dawned 

 upon the entliusiastic apiarists in this 

 region. Mother Earth seemed abund- 

 antly clothed with the tiny petals of 

 white clover, and as the days in- 

 creased in length and warmth, our 

 hillsides and valleys were soon car- 

 peted with living green. Xone were 

 more enthusiastic than myself in the 

 cause, and nothing was left undone to 

 secure our portion of the nectar from 

 white clover. 



March 23 marks the first joyous im- 

 pulse of the eager little bees, as they 

 hovered over the opening buds of the 

 soft maple. Living as I do at the 

 western terminus of the sloping bot- 

 toms of the Illinois river, with the 

 abrupt bluffs to the north and west 

 heavily studded with timber, and 

 basswood abundant, to the south and 

 east a vast landscape of waste land 



