714 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mv. 7, 



a list of the books of reference needed is given, so that the 

 student who wants further information, or desires to verify 

 that which is f?lveu, will know just where to look. The pupil 

 Is introduced to the analytical method at once, and is thrown 

 upon his own powers of observation, as every student should 

 be. He soon learns that he is not to study about seeds, but 

 sec(J.v, and a list of the different kinds of seeds needed forms 

 the first part of the lesson. With those seeds before him, he 

 is introduced to the various parts and functions of seeds, and 

 the technical names by which they are called. At the end of 

 the book is a glossary of the terms used, as well as a com- 

 plete index. It is a pity, it seems to me, that the proper pro- 

 nounciation of the difficult names could not have been given 

 also. 



After seeds, the student is Introduced to root, stem, 

 leaves, flowers, etc., in the same way. Then some of the im- 

 portant Families of plants are taken up, and their leading 

 characteristics pointed out in a way which is sure to impress 

 them upon the mind of the seeker after information. 



I wish I had space to say more, but will say in a sentence, 

 that I think the book admirably suited to the work it pro- 

 poses to do, and at least every young student of botany should 

 own a copy. 



CONDUCTED BY 



HR. C. C MILLER, MARENGO, ILL, 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct. 1 



Epilobium Honey- 



-Bee-Space Between Frames and 

 Cushion. 



1 am very sorry that the express company managed to 

 smash the section of honey I sent you, but I do not regret very 

 much your not being able to give me a remedy for brace- 

 comb building. I do not not think the cause was overcrowd- 

 ing, because I had two supers on, and they were only working 

 in part of one them. 



The honey I sent you was pure epilobium — there is noth- 

 ing else in this new country for surplus honey but epttobium. 



Is it advisable to leave a bee-space between the frames 

 and cushion ? I did so with my bees. A. P. G. 



McMurray, Wash. 



Answer. — All I have to say about epilobium is, that I 

 wish my bees had a big lot of it to work on, if they'd always 

 store as nice honey as the section you sent. 



I suppose you mean that you put a Hill's device or some- 

 thing on top of the frames before putting on cushions, so that 

 the bees could have a free passage over the top-bars from one 

 comb to another. I believe the plan is good, if the top-bars 

 are so clean that the cushion would fit down close enough to 

 prevent the bees passing over. Sometimes there are so many 

 burr-combs on top of the top-bars that there is no need of 

 anything being put over. 



Best Size of Frame and Hive— T Supers. 



I have been using the 8-frame Quinby hive, and a hive 14 

 Inches square and 11% inches deep, and the latter gave me 

 decidedly the best results. 



1. What size frame and hive would you recommend, for 

 both comb and extracted honey ? Your answer will probably 

 be: " Use the one you like best, and the one that gives the 

 best results." But how am I to know that, unless I test them 

 all ? That would take long years of hard study ; it would take 

 money; and another thing, a person would never get done. 



2. Don't the bees stick the bottom of your sections with 

 propolis, with the T-super arrangement ? 



8. Don't the T tins ever sag ? A. B.'G. 



De Soto, Mo. 



Answers. — 1. I have some doubts whether I will ever 

 change from the size of frame that is in most general use, and 

 on that account may be considered standard, the frame ITJ^x- 

 93^. Not that I think it is standard. I may say that most of 

 my frames are 18x9, and I don't think any difference could 

 be recoRnized between that and the standard as to results, but 



all my later frames are of standard size, just for the sake of 

 having that which comes nearest being standard. If I be- 

 lieved any other size would give better results, of course I 

 would change to it, and I've no quarrel with the man who 

 prefers a different size. 



2. Sections filled during a good honey-flow, and taken off 

 early enough in the season, are not troubled with propolis. 

 Left on late — especially left on in the fall when the bees har- 

 vest more glue than honey — there will be glue on the bottoms 

 of the sections as well as on the other parts that are exposed, 

 and I don't know of any arrangement that will keep the sec- 

 tions free. I formerly used very extensively wide-frames, 

 and with them the enttre bottom of the section is covered as 

 fully as can be by any kind of device. But the bees could 

 always crowd in propolis between the section and the bottom- 

 bar of the wide-frame, and in the early part of the season 

 they'd crowd propolis in there when they wouldn't think of 

 daubing the exposed bottom of the T super. You see, the 

 bees try to fill up cracks when they don't think of disturbing 

 a plane surface. Later in the season, when glue is so plenty 

 that they daub it everywhere, then it will be daubed over the 

 whole surface of the section bottom in the T super, but in the 

 wide-frame only along the edge. 



3. No, T tins never sag. You see it is much the same as 

 if there were a bar of iron half an inch thick to sag, for the 

 upright part is half an inch. It must bend to one side before 

 it will sag, and the flange each side prevents it from bending 

 to one side. I don't believe a T tin would sag if 20 times the 

 usual weight were put on it. 



Worker-Bees and the Control of the Sex of Eggs. 



On page 650 Mr. Abbott tells of an experiment where 

 bees were almost absolutely known to carry eggs, and that 

 the eggs produced both workers and drones. Did the idea 

 ever strike you that it might be the workers which control the 

 sex of the eggs, in the same manner that they control the 

 rearing of queens and workers ? If they can take an egg 

 and produce either a queen or worker at pleasure, why may 

 they not be able to produce a drone as well? Please give us 

 your idea of it. W. S. F. 



Answer. — Some years ago that thing was suggested, but 

 I think there has never been any proof that bees have made 

 such a change on worker-eggs that drones were reared from 

 them. You see, in the case of a queen being reared from an 

 egg or a larva that under ordinary circumstances would have 

 produced a worker, there is nochange of sex. It is simply a 

 matter of greater or less development. If a worker should be 

 changed to a drone, there would be a change of sex, and the 

 change would have to be made in the egg. The difference be- 

 tween a worker and a drone egg is that the worker-egg is 

 fecundated and the other not. The spermatozoa enter the 

 worker-egg through a very minute hole, so small that the 

 workers have no tool sufficiently delicate to extract them. 

 After the larva has hatched out of the egg the change would, 

 if possible, be still more difficult, for tbte larva would, I sup- 

 pose, have to be dug open to make the change, if any change 



were possible. 



^ I ■ 



Bee-Associations — Granulated Stores. 



Heretofore I have found just what to do when in any diffi- 

 culty about my bees, by consulting my bee books and papers, 

 though six years ago I knew nothing about bees, and have 

 never seen an apiary where the people knew even as much as 

 I do about the best ways ! 



Suddenly we find ourselves — my neighbors and I — with 

 lots of honey to dispose of. We sold three carloads at one 

 time this summer, in 24-pound boxes that cost us 20 cents 

 each, which I have found was itutch too much to pay for them; 

 and our sections cost us $-1.50 athousand. Butworst of all in 

 this mismanaged bee-community the people sold their honey 



