1068 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



would be far better to give her to a colony 

 without an escort. The presence of worker- 

 bees in an introducing-cage is likely to af- 

 fect adversely successful introduction. Some 

 of our breeders go so far as to stipulate that 

 the workers be taken out of the introducing- 

 cage before the queen is given to the bees. 

 -Ed.] 



What makes bees swarm? E. W. Diefen- 

 dorf, Bee-keepers' Review, 211, ventures as a 

 possible answer to the question that the queen 

 is tired, and he supports his guess with such 

 good arguments that he is likely to make not 

 a few converts to his belief. But I've known 

 a queen to be caged in a hive a week or more 

 when one would have thought she would be 

 thoroughly rested, and then to swarm out 

 within a few hours after being liberated. 

 Once I gave to a swarming colony a queen 

 not two weeks old. She swarmed next day. 

 [The theory that fatigue on the part of the 

 queen induces swarming is hardly tenable in 

 view of the evidence that can be produced to 

 the contrary on this point. — Ed.] 



The queen and half the brood was taken 

 from a colony, and foundation alternated 

 with remaining brood-combs. A few days 

 later a qiieen-cell containing a larva was 

 found on the foundation. — UAiyicidteur, 297. 

 I've been skeptical as to bees carrying eggs 

 or larva?; but I don't see how to account for 

 this case otherwise; but I should like to know 

 whether said larva turned out to be a queen 

 or a drone. [Don't you remember, doctor, 

 that we have reported having seen bees car- 

 rying eggs? In a queen-rearing apiary there 

 are so many proofs that they must necessari- 

 ly do so that one who has been in the busi- 

 ness for a year or more could scarcely doubt 

 the feasibility of their doing it. — Ed.] 



Replying to your question, Mr. Editor, p. 

 lOOi), I think the general opinion is that the 

 fertilization of the egg depends upon the 

 will of the queen; but i said the preponder- 

 ance of argument was not on that side. 

 Ralph Benton says worker eggs are laid in 

 drone-cells, but he does not add, "without 

 the mouth of the cell being narrowed." Is 

 there a definite instance on record of queens 

 laying worker eggs in drone-cells without 

 such narrowing? [We, perhaps, should 

 have published that other testimony, then you 

 would have no doiibt. Apparently you 

 attach no importance to the fact that a queen 

 will lay worker eggs in Swarthmore queen- 

 cell cups (larger than drone-cells) which we 

 mentioned in the last issue, page 1008, and 

 those eggs wil produce females. This in 

 itself should leave no doubt in your mind or 

 else we don't understand your point. — Ed.] 



Hekr Spuehler, Sch'weiz. Bztg., 242, re- 

 lates a case in which an Italian queen was 

 introduced into a black colony. In due time 

 Italian workers appeared, living peaceably 

 with their black sisters. But as soon as the 

 Italians became old enough to stand guard 

 at the entrance they stung all their black sis- 

 ters returning from the held. [This seems 

 hardly possible; yet, assuming that Herr 



Spuehler reported the facts correctly, we 

 should have to assume that the case is a very 

 abnormal one, or one in which the exception 

 proves the rule. There is no color distinc- 

 tion among bees. The case given might be ex- 

 plained by saying that the black robbers from 

 other hives came to the entrance of the colo- 

 ny and were promptly repelled. The old 

 black bees of the hive would naturally die 

 off in the mean time, and one might very 

 easily mistake the blacks from another hive 

 for those belonging to the colony itself. Our 

 friend might have been deceived in what he 

 supposed were the rightful black bees of the 

 hive.— Ed.] 



E. E. Hasty gives a very interesting table 

 showing the number of swarms that issued 

 during each hour of the day for a period of 

 seven years {American Bee Journo,l, p. 504. 

 Here's the table: 



Between 5 and 6 a.m 1 



6 and 7 " 2 



7 and 8 " 45 



8 and 9 " 75 



9 and 10 " 129 



" 10 and 11 " 99 



11 and 12 M 76 



12 and 1 p.m 81 



1 and 2 " 63 



2 and 3 " 45 



3 and 4 " 36 



4 and 5 ■' 12 



5 and 6 ■' 2 



Total 666 



Not worth his while to watch for swarms 

 before 7 a.m. nor after 4 p.m. [Hasty'svery 

 carefully prepared table fully supports the 

 statements in our text- books, that swarms 

 come out mostly between the hours of 9 and 

 2 o'clock. But his figures are a good deal 

 better than mere guesses. — Ed.] 



Mk. Editor, speaking of two queens, p. 

 1008, you say, "When they got together thei'e 

 would be a tight between them." I arise to 

 remark that there will not always be a tight 

 between them i>nless they are virgins. I 

 have had two queens in the same cage with- 

 out fighting, i never saw two laying queens 

 fight. Is it the rule that they do? [You are 

 correct, and we accept your amended state- 

 ment, except that we do not agree with your 

 implied statement that two laying queens to- 

 gether generally would not fight. Mr. C. F. 

 Bender, an old correspondent of Gleanings, 

 and who is now with us, reports that he sev- 

 eral times, for the sake of amusement, took 

 two laying queens which he was about to su- 

 persede, and put them together on the ground. 

 When so placed they would invariably tight 

 to a finish, as he found by repeating the ex- 

 periment. The queen that happened to get 

 the best hold was the victor. We think it is 

 probably true that two queens that get to- 

 gether in a colony of bees often will not fight, 

 but even then it by no means follows that 

 they generally will not. You are correct in 

 believing that virgins would fight ; but here 

 again there are exceptions. Not six weeks 

 ago we found in one hive nearly a dozen 

 virgins on one frame, living peaceably to- 

 gether. It was a case where a lot of cells 

 had been given to the colony to complete, 



