1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



393 



HOW DID THEY GET THEIR QUEEN ? 



The following rather curious case came under my 

 notice recently. A neighbor whokeeps a good many 

 bees noticed that a weak colony had a great many 

 drones. He opened the hive, and found drone brood 

 in worker-cells. He also found a fertile queen, evi- 

 dently a young one, and a cell, half destroyed, from 

 which she had been, apparently, hatched. The eggs 

 from this queen all produce workers, and the drone 

 brood has now disappeared from the hive. The bees 

 in the colony are all black, but the bees from this 

 queen are hybrid. The presence of the drone brood 

 would seem to indicate the presence of a fertile 

 worker. I can see no solution to the problem, unless 

 it is that the fertile worker died, and the queen-cell 

 started from her brood failed to come to maturity. 

 This queen might have got into the hive from some 

 colony that had swarmed out. What do you think of 

 it? Do bees ever steal hrood from which to raise a 

 queen? Chas. Bowles. 



Hillsboro, Ohio, June 5, 1883. 



This looks something like a case of steal- 

 ing an egg or larva, Mend B., but yet I 

 think there is another and easier solution. 

 The old queen, before she failed entirely, 

 laid drone eggs in worker-cells, and the bees, 

 from instinct, started (lueen-cells from some 

 of the last worker eggs she had laid. The 

 drones in worker cells were not all hatched 

 when the young queen commenced to lay, 

 and this was the state of affairs when the 

 hive was opened. The young bees were hy- 

 brids, because she met an Italian drone from 

 some Italian stock in the neighborhood. 



MOVING TO FLOIilDA. 



If any persons intend to come to Florida under the 

 impression that there is such a great difference be- 

 tween making a liting at the North and here, I think 

 they had better change their ideas quickly, and 

 stay at home. If a man is willing to work, let him 

 come; but if he is not already comfortably fixed 

 where he now is, he will find that, if ho has to live 

 by labor of any kind, he will have just as much 

 work here to do as elsewhere, to make the srtoic liv- 

 mg; and, in a great many cases, more inconvenien- 

 ces than in a more thickly settled place. I believe 

 the future here is brighter for a iioung man than al- 

 most anywhere else in the United States; but the 

 first four or five years wi;i require bard and steady 

 work. So far as bee- keeping here is concerned, I 

 can not speak, as I have had no experience in that 

 line. As regards any one coming here for health, he 

 must judge for himself, for a man will do many 

 things for health that he would do for no other 

 cause. As a State, I think Florida will rank among 

 the first, if not the first. I should like very much to 

 see our State settled by people from all sections, 

 provided they do not come with the idea that they 

 can live without working themselves, or paying for 

 the work. D. L. Alex.\ndei{. 



Altcna, Orange Co., Fla., June 8, 1883. 



FROM A " FRIEND " INDEED. 



Although I am a stranger to thee, and but a new 

 subscriber to thy valuable journal, this being my 

 first year, I want to thank thee at this time for the 

 many kind words and good counsel which I have 

 read in the four numbers of this volume. 1 am very 

 much interested in reading the various depart- 

 ments, but more especially that coming under the 

 bead of Our Homes, I think that part alone is worth 



more than two or three prices of the paper. I bought 

 two stands of bees last fall; and in order to get post- 

 ed on the subject I subscribed for Gleanings and 

 the Kansas Bec-Kcepcr, and bought a copy of A B C. 

 Bees have come through the winter all right. If I 

 live I will report at some future time what my suc- 

 cess at the business may be. I hope to make it a 

 success, but if I do not, and the bees all die, don't 

 put me down in the "Growler's Column," for I do 

 not propose to grumble and complain, but expect to 

 try to live 50 that I can praise the Lord and be hap- 

 py. Jared p. Atkinson. 

 Tehama, Cherokee Co., Kan., April 7,1883. 



WAX and rosin for fastening starters in sec- 

 tions. 



What per cent of wax and rosin did friend House 

 use for fastening fdn. in section boxes, as mentioned 

 on page 247, May Gleanings? Our bees, 14 stands, 

 are doing finely. C. P. Hockett. 



Jonesboro, Ind., May 21, 1883. 



Mr. House replies as follows:— 



I used .50 per cent or more of rosin. Tnis makes a 

 very firm cement. Rosin alone would be too bard 

 and brittle. Keep the mixture just hot enough over 

 a lamp so it will not harden on top. 



How are you all? and how do the boys get on wilh 

 those estimates? They have my sympathy. I have 

 been through my 40 swarms of bees, and find them 

 in most excellent condition ; a number have 10 full 

 frames of brood. Apple bloom has just begun. I 

 declare, it seems as though I'd gained 15 or 20 pounds 

 since I got out of doors, and had a chance to kick. 

 I closed out 335 lbs. of honey 1 had left, in Chicago, 

 at It cts., and think I did well. There is a large stock 

 on the market yet. Walter B. House. 



Saugatuck, Mich., May 30, 1833. 



May I suggest, friends, that rosin has been 

 objected to, on the ground that it is liable to 

 give the comb honey a resinous flavor? Per- 

 liaps this might not happen, unless some 

 careful consumer should scrape the section 

 to get his full money's worth, and may be it 

 will never happen at all ; but I thought best 

 to mention it.— I thought, friend il., we 

 gave you room enough to " kick," when you 

 were with us here in the office; but it occurs 

 to me now, that college boys often require a 

 whole ten-acre lot, with the bars down be- 

 sides ; and I have heard that they sometimes 

 feel cramped for room even then. I am very 

 glad to know you are enjoying your vacation 

 so hugely. Can you not take time to give us 

 some more notes occasionally V 



QUEENS THAT WON'T LAY WHEN NOT ALLOWED TO 

 SWARM. 



My queens all have their wings clipped, and some 

 of them, after several attempts to swarm, stop lay- 

 ing. They did the same way last season, and in each 

 instance I replaced the old queen with a young one, 

 and all was well. Now, can you tell mo what will bo 

 the result if I let the old queen remain? Will she 

 begin to lay again? All the queens that act in this 

 way are two years old, and in very strong colonies. 



SlL\S H. HiCKOIC. 



Bethel, Conn., May 26, 1883. 



Queens do often refuse to lay, after a 

 swarm has come out and they are put back 

 again. In fact, it is so difficult a matter to 

 make a swarm stay and work, when they do 

 not want to, that I have advised in the A B 



