530 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



powered. Mr. Langstroth had also 

 successfully united colonies that 

 were inclined to quarrel after he tried 

 to unite them, and it was done by 

 wetting with sweetened water, tl)e 

 colony that was at home. The in- 

 truding colony had no desire to light. 

 The Convention adjourned to meet 

 again in Chicago upon the Wednes- 

 day and Thursday of the last week of 

 the Exposition, when heid.in 18S4. 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



For tile American Bee JoumaJ. 



Worker Bees in ftueea-Cells, etc. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



On page 433, 1 see that Mr. lleddon 

 is puzzled by that " Curious freak of 

 bees," given by JSIr. Rickeubacher. 



Mr. 11. says that, while cutting out 

 queen-cellsi one of them fell to the 

 bottom-board unnoticed, and in it lie 

 afterward found an old dead worker 

 bee. As he says he did not notice it 

 at the time it fell to the bottom- 

 board, I take it for granted that it did 

 not fall there, but that the bees built 

 it there, for I have frequently found 

 queen-cells built by the bees in all 

 sorts of places in the hive, some of 

 which was more strange than a queen- 

 cell on the bottom-board to the hive. 



Mr. R. further states that, at the 

 time he cut out the queen-cells lie 

 grafted in a cell from an Italian col- 

 ony, the queen from which went out 

 with a swarm a few days afterwards. 

 He then asks why the bees sealed the 

 cell with the dead worker in it, and 

 then swarmed. Here again I take it 

 for granted that the queen-cell with 

 the dead worker in it had nothing to 

 do with the swarming of the bees, for 

 a swarm of bees know whether a 

 queen-cell contains an embryo queen 

 which is alive o'r not, just as well be- 

 fore it is opened as Mr. R. knew what 

 was in the cell after he had opened 

 it. I have seen this verified in many 

 instances, when queen-cells have been 

 chilled so as to kill the young queen. 



The way the worker came in the 

 cell was this : As soon as the young 

 queen emerged from the cell, the 

 worker went in to partake of a royal 

 jelly diet, as bees always will do. 

 While the bees were in the cell, the 

 cap to the same was pushed shut by 

 some of the bees, when it was fastened 

 there, thus securing the unfortunate 

 worker a prisoner, after which she 

 died ; hence was found dead. Many of 

 such cases havecome under my notice. 



Now, why did tlie bees swarm with 

 the Italian queen ? Probably from 

 one or two reasons, the most likely of 

 which is that this queen from the "cell 

 on the bottom -board hatched about 

 the same time that the Italian queen 

 did (from the cell inserted). Of course 

 one must be killed, and the bees saw 

 fit to keep the Italian and kill the 

 Other. The Italian queen became old 



enough to take her wedding flight, 

 and the bees (a swarm) went out with 

 her, which is no uncommon occur- 

 rence, by any means. The other rea- 

 son would be, I hat tliis queen from 

 the cell on the bottom -board hatched 

 and was killed as before, while, in 

 some out-of-the-way place, was a 

 queen-cell not so "nearly mature, 

 wliich escaped the notice of Mr. R. 

 As this cell came to maturity later, 

 tiie bees swarmed after the few days, 

 under the same conditions as a second 

 or third swarm issues, and both 

 queens went with the swarm, as is 

 often noticeable, especially with third 

 swarms, as the parent colony is often 

 left queenless by all the young queens 

 going out with a third swarm. In 

 any event there can be no question 

 but what a queen had hatched from 

 the cell in wliich the dead worker was 

 found. 



IS SMOKE INJURIOUS TO BEES? 



On page 483, 1 am asked " Whether 

 the very pungent smoke from the use 

 of sound wood in bee smokers has no 

 deleterious effect on the delicate larviB 

 and eggs of the bees." I have smoked 

 a patch of eggs and larvse thoroughly, 

 and marked the same by sticking wire 

 nails around it, but have never found 

 any of the brood removed by the bees, 

 but all were sealed over and came out 

 perfect bees ; hence I conclude that 

 smoke from any kind of wood is not 

 deleterious to the bees or the brood. 



CHILLED BKOOD. 



Not so with unsealed brood when it 

 is exposed to a temperature which is 

 below 55^ to 60^ F., for I have often 

 marked patches of brood as above, 

 from whicli the bees had withdrawn 

 when the frames were handled in a 

 low temperature, and I have invari- 

 ably found that the bees removed all 

 such brood as was exposed, even for 

 a few moments at a time, outside of 

 the hive. In the spring of the year, 

 when the weather is generally cool, 

 and the bees are few, considerable 

 loss is likely to occur in this way, 

 unless the operator is very careful. 

 Especially is a cold wind liable to in- 

 jure the brood, for the cold air is 

 forced into the cells at such a time, 

 while if the day was still, the few bees 

 which were onthe comb might protect 

 it for a short space of time. In a still 

 day, no harm will result, as long as 

 the bees keep spread out evenly over 

 the brood ; but as soon as tliey begin 

 to draw together, thus leaving apart 

 of the brood exposed, you may know 

 that you will lose much if you proceed 

 with your operations. At such times 

 it is best not to open the hives, but if 

 such is necessary to be done, and the 

 hive is full of frames of comb, I select 

 such as has no brood in it, setting it 

 outside of the hive. This will give 

 room to manipulate the others easily, 

 and by being as expeditious as pos- 

 sible, I rarely get any brood chilled, 

 since I have "found out how to guard 

 against it. In early spring, brood is 

 of much value, and he who can so 

 work his bees here at the North, so as 

 to get the greatest amount of brood 

 during the month of May, will be the 

 most certain of success. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Rural New Yorker. 



A New Bee Enemy. 



rUOK. A. .J. COOK. 



It has long been known to chicken 

 fanciers that our poultry often suffer 

 serious injury from a small mite. I 

 have seen these little pests, red with 

 the internal juices, so thickly clus- 

 tered on boards, etc., in the poultry 

 house, tliat to grasp the board meant 

 death by crushing to thousands of 

 these inlinitesinial pests. 



It has long been known that other 

 mites attacked others of our domestic 

 animals, like the cow, the horse, the 

 sheep, etc. Other mites attack sugar, 

 flour and cheese. The little red spider 

 —also a mite— so thrives in a dry at- 

 mosphere that house plants are often 

 destroyed by its blighting attacks. I 

 have known the tidy housewife to be 

 seriously annoyed by mites which had 

 come from birils that had nested just 

 above her window. The little vital 

 specks fairly swarmed on the window 

 panes. Other mites take up their 

 abodes between tlie bases of the 

 human lingers, while others still 

 smaller inhabit the face pimples even 

 of the graceful belle. 



That insects are often preyed upon 

 and destroyed by mites is a well 

 known fact. Newport described a 

 mite which he found on the larvae of 

 a wild bee ; but that our honey bee is 



A New Bee Enemy— from life. 



attacked and even destroyed by these 

 little living particles is recent and 

 most unwelcome news. 



During the past spring a lady bee- 

 keeper of Connecticut discovered 

 these mites in her hives while investi- 

 gating to learn tlie cause of their 

 rapid depletion. She had noticed that 

 the colonies were greatly reduced in 

 number of bees, and upon close obser- 

 vation she found that the diseased or 

 failing colonies were covered with 

 these mites. The strong and proser- 

 ous colonies were exempt from the 

 annoyance. 8o small are these little 

 pests that a score could take posses- 

 sion of a single bee, and not be near 

 neighbors either. Mrs. S. feels cer- 

 tain that she found the same kind of 

 mites on the church window where 

 she resides. Upon request she sent 

 me some of these latter which were 

 lost in the mails. The lady states 

 that the bees roll and scratch in their 

 vain attempts to rid themselves of 

 these annoying stick-tights, and 

 finally, worried but, either fall to the 

 bottom of the hive or go forth to die 

 outside. 



