494 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



Aug. 



with drone heads. They are from a young queen 

 whose bees are just hatching-. I found them out on 

 the ground, and saw bees dragging them out of the 

 hive about noon to-day. It seems that some of them 

 have queer marks. I don't think that 1 ever saw 

 any with the light spots, or rings, so near the end of 

 the body before. I have killed 3, as above, and found 

 stings. I could see them plainly, but could not see 

 any proboscis, or organ for gathering honey. 



M. L. Spencer. 

 Little Genesee, Alleg. Co., N. Y., Aug., 1883. 



Friend S., you are right in one respect at 

 least. The bees yoii send have drones' 

 heads and the worker bees' sting, and some 

 of them have a queen's body. J3ut they are 

 nothing more than a queer malformation, or 

 freak of nature. The queen is a curiosity 

 indeed, and I would advise you to keep her, 

 to furnish specimens of these " three in one," 

 for the benefit of entomologists and others 

 who may be interested in such matters. 

 The most lively one in the cage looks like a 

 very fair queen, until you give her a very 

 close inspection ; and then you see she has 

 a drone's head, and the three distinct bands 

 of an Italian worker. Some of these have 

 the fourth and fifth band, something after 

 the fashion of a hybrid queen. We will for- 

 ward to Prof. Cook the specimens you send, 

 for further remarks, if he thinks proper. 



A "REPORT ENCOURAGING" IN A 

 DOUBLE SENSE OF THE ^VORD. 



A WONDERFUL INVENTION COMMUNICATED BY AN 

 ABC SCHOLAR. 



Ij^EAR friends, I may be mistaken, for I 

 JUJj l' have been mistaken many times ; but 

 ^'^ the closing part of the letter below 

 seems to indicate an advance in queen-rear- 

 ing beyond any one step heretofore made. 

 As my eyes ran over the pages, my memory 

 ran back at galloping speed to the time when 

 I proposed doing the same thing by having 

 the queen-cell in the hive covered by a wire 

 cage. Those who have taken Gleanings 

 since its infancy will remember the reports I 

 have given on the subject. Quite a number 

 of the queens hatched were kept caged until 

 they were six or eight days old, then allowed 

 to fly, and a few of them were fertilized, and 

 caught before they got back into the hive. 

 They were introduced immediately, and did 

 good service. The principal trouble in the 

 experiment was the mischievous habits of 

 the young bees. They will reach through 

 the cages and get the queens by the leg or 

 wing, and thus worry them. And thev also 

 worried them after they came back "from 

 their excursion, unless they were watched 

 constantly. Now, then, the friend who 

 writes below tells us of dispensing with bees 

 entirely, by a bold stroke. But we will let 

 him tell it. 



The honey season has thus far been very good 

 here. From my five colonies in the spring I now 

 have 14, and have taken off 391 lbs. of honey, about 

 half comb and half extracted. Several about here 

 have taten over 100 lbs. per colony. I visited Mr- 

 L. D. Ormsby, of Pierrepoint, on Saturday last, and 

 found him the same genial, good-hearted young 

 roan as usual. He has 97 swarms at pregent, and 



about 3000 lbs. of honey, two-thirds of which is comb. 

 Mr. O. is a live, wide-awake bee-keeper, and will 

 make a big repoi-t this fall. 



SOMETHING NEW ABOUT QUEENS. 



Some time ago friend Phelps had some queen- 

 cells about ready to hatch, which he carried in the 

 house, and put under some tumblers. They hatch- 

 ed out; and when I saw th€m they were one or two 

 days old, and seemed to be taking care of them- 

 selves all right. I suggested to friend P. that he 

 let them fly some fine day, and see if they would get 

 fertilized, and return to the tumblers; so one tine 

 morning they were turned loose. They tiew away, 

 and were gone a few minutes, and returned to the 

 window, both fertilized. Now these two queens had 

 been entirely alone from the time they were hatch- 

 ed until they were fertilized. I wish I could tell you 

 more about them, but I can not at present. Mr. O. 

 S. Bugbee has one of them, or did have; perhaps he 

 will tell us more about the one he has. The other, I 

 believe, was lost. H. H. Pease. 



Kingsville, Ohio. 



Now, friends, how many of you Avill hatch 

 queens, and get them fertilized, without be- 

 ing put into the hive at all, before another 

 number reaches you ? The principal diffi- 

 culty will be in keeping these young queens 

 at the proper warmth, without any attend- 

 ant bees. They must also be fed on fresh 

 honey, right from the hives, and some should 

 be ready for them when they first get home. 

 This will make it necessary to look out for 

 robbers where the honey-yield has ceased. 

 I once thought of letting the queens loose, 

 one at a time, in a hive of drones. The 

 drones would not worry them much when 

 they returned; but as drones would not 

 protect themselves from robbers, I was 

 obliged to look for a location where no rob- 

 bers would interfere. Of course, to have 

 queens get fertilized and get back quickly, 

 we should want a great army of choice drones 

 flying at the time. One man could easily 

 look after 100 queens under their respective 

 tumblers. I presume it would make no dif- 

 ference if they got into the " wrong box," 

 providing the manager took care they did 

 not get to fighting. After a queen returns 

 with marks of fertilization, she is ready to 

 be introduced at once, where a queen is 

 needed. Perhaps it would do to ship her at 

 once with a lot of young bees taken from 

 some very gentle queenless colony. Now, 

 who will report in regard to this wonderful 

 short cut ? 



DO RAILWAY CARS GO 60 MILES AN 

 HOUR ? 



INCONTROVERTIBLE SUBSTANTIATION OF THE MAT- 

 TER. 



fHAVE just read Doolittle's article on bees flying 

 90 miles per hour. In your remarks you seem 

 — ' to doubt that railway trains ever do run 60 miles 

 per hour. I have had over 15 years' experience as 

 telegraph operator, and in the employ of several of 

 our principal trunk lines, in positions where I was 

 otlUjcd to keep a record of time and speed of trains. 

 I most cheerfully corroborate Mr. Doolittle. There 

 are one or more trains on each of the great trunk 

 lines of the United States (N. Y. C, Erie, L. S. & M. 

 S., B. & O., etc.), whose card time is 45 miles per 



