THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



569 



in wire cages. Into each colony the 

 virgin queen was placed without be- 

 ing removed from the cage in which 

 she was hatched. In due time they 

 were accepted and liberated. The 

 day these queens were live days old I 

 liberated about ten drones near to the 

 entrance of each of these hives. 

 These drones were brought from hives 

 in the apiary, and upon being libera- 

 ted most of them persisted in flying 

 against the wire-covered sides and 

 windows in the gable, and few ever 

 ■entered the hives. Here again there 

 was frigidity or disability apparent 

 among the drones. When" the young 

 queens flew from the hives seeking 

 a mate they mingled among the 

 drones, crawling over them and ca- 

 ressing them with tlieir antennae, 

 meeting with no response. These 

 queens, with one exception, seemed 

 to have no diCBculty in getting the 

 location of their respective hives. 



The result of this trial was, one 

 queen of the six was fertilized, and 

 after she had laid eggs with regular- 

 ity in two-thirds of the cells on both 

 sides of one frame, after clipping the 

 queen's wings, I removed this frame, 

 with the queen and adhering bees, 

 to a nucleus in the yard, and from 

 the eggs laid in confinement worker 

 bees hatched in due time, and the 

 queen continued to lay as long as the 

 nucleus was fed, there being nothing 

 in the fields for the bees to gather. 

 All the eggs laid by this queen were 

 fecundated eggs. Being convinced 

 that as far as the queens were con- 

 cerned the difliculties in the way of 

 success were not insurmountable, 

 and that the main trouble was that 

 the drones had not been furnished by 

 the workers with the grandular secre- 

 tion or the food suitable for producing 

 the albumenlike secretion which I had 

 been lead to believe essential to pro- 

 duce sexual desire and to assist in the 

 performance of the copulative act, 

 from these same colonies I removed 

 the remaining unmated queens, and 

 to each I introduced another virgin 

 queen as before. 



I then went to a distant apiary, and 

 secured an unusually strong colony 

 which was under the swarming im- 

 pulse. A few queen-cells were being 

 built and a moderate supply of drones 

 was present. This was late in the 

 season. This colony had not cast a 

 swarm during the year, and was the 

 only one I could find, after consider- 

 able search and inquiry far and near, 

 having any drones, and probably 

 owing to the excessive drought only 

 an occasional one of the number ex- 

 amined had been prepared by the 

 workers for the procreative function. 

 I took this colony home and placed it 

 in the wire-covered house at the end 

 opposite that in which the virgin 

 queens were located. I clipped the 

 wings of the old queen so that she 

 could not leave the hive, and upon 

 being liberated the workers and 

 drones of this hive made less effort to 

 escape than those brought in from the 

 apiary near by, and soon seemed 

 reconciled to their new surroundings. 

 The workers soon learned ther loca- 

 tion and drones were soon to be found 

 in nearly every hive in the house. 



The result of this trial was that three 

 of the six queens were fertilized, and 

 as soon as they had each laid five or 

 six hundred eggs I clipped their 

 wings and then removed them, togeth- 

 er with their colonies, to the yard and 

 fed them, and all the eggs laid by 

 these queens produced worker bees. 

 I am much encouraged by the success 

 so far realized under conditions so un- 

 favorable. 



With the return of spring I hope to 

 follow out your suggestions and con- 

 tinue the test, using a large wire- 

 covered inclosure for the purpose ; 

 with hives so arranged on the sides 

 that the worker bees may have unob- 

 structed flight, while the drones and 

 queens, being restrained by means 

 of queen-excludiug zinc placed before 

 the outside entrance to the hive, may 

 fly and mate within the inclosure and 

 readily return to the hives from 

 whence they came. If practical con- 

 trol of reproduction can be secured 

 by so simple and inexpensive a meth- 

 od—and the facts from my experience 

 as given above seem to warrant the 

 conclusion that this is true— then 

 the Rubicon of scientific apiculture is 

 passed. 



Aurora, 5 Ills., Dec. 31, 1886. 



For tbe American Bee JoaroaJL 



Bare-Heaileci Bees and tlie Wax-Motli. 



HANS ERSI/EV, 

 {Editor of the Danish Bee-Journal.) 



In the valuable American Bee 

 Journal I have lately seen two arti- 

 cles referring to this subject— one on 

 page 393, by Mr. Hovle, and on page 

 470, by Mr. Hill. The first corres- 

 pondent asserts that unsealed brood 

 is connected with, and a sign of " foul 

 brood," while the other denies this, 

 but without giving any other explana- 

 tion of the cause that will produce 

 this strange phenomenon. 



As I firmly believe, I am aware of 

 this cause, and as the journal of my lit- 

 tle native country very seldom reaches 

 across the Atlantic, I take the liberty 

 to send this little article, as I might 

 perhaps be able to spread some light 

 on this dark point, in return for all 

 the valuable information which I, 

 through several years, have drawn 

 from the columns of the American 

 Bee Journal. 



Bare-headed bees are caused by wax- 

 moth. 1 need not describe liovv much 

 harm this enemy of bee-culture may 

 do ; how it destroys the combs and 

 eats honey and wax in the hives, if 

 the bee-keeper does not constantly 

 pursue it and keep his colonies strong 

 so that the bees may be able to de- 

 stroy these bad visitors in their home. 

 J3ut besides eating wax and honey, 

 the moth directly injures the brood, 

 and this fact has not formerly been 

 fully known or acknowledged; and I 

 think the harm thus caused by the 

 moth is far greater than most bee- 

 keepers imagine. 



The porous seals over the brood- 

 cells consists of little particles of wax 

 and pollen interwoven with the 

 threads spun by the bee-larvse. But 



if the nymph is attacked by the moth- 

 worms down at the base of the cell, it 

 grows unable to complete its cocoon, 

 and it never becomes sealed. Often I 

 have seen some few unsealed nymphs 

 in a fine brood-comb, and when I 

 have minutely examined the comb I 

 was sure to find moth-larv£e in it. A 

 healthy young bee will, itself, be able 

 to gnaw ofl: the seal over its cell, but 

 when a bee-nymph has fully spun its 

 cocoon and is well sealed, and then is 

 attacked by moth-worms, the young 

 workers that nurse the brood will 

 gnaw off the seals. This is another 

 case of unsealed-brood, but in both 

 cases the "bare-headed-bees" are 

 caused by the wax-moth. 



I hope that this question will now 

 be further investigated in America, 

 and if my explanation will be con- 

 firmed, which I do not doubt, I hope 

 that this fact may induce bee-keepers 

 to pursue the wax-moth still more 

 eagerly than formerly. 



The worst cause to the develoi)ing 

 of moth is using old comb in which 

 the eggs and larvaj of the moth have 

 not been previously destroyed. No 

 care should be spared to do this, and 

 to keep every colony strong. Then 

 bare headed bees would be rare, and 

 bee-culture often more advantageous 

 than hitherto. 



Kelundberg, Denmark. 



Florida Dispatch. 



Mmm Colonies in Florida, 



JNO. Y. DETWILER. 



The management of the apiary in 

 any locality must be governed by the 

 sources from which the prospective 

 honey crop is obtained. In those por- 

 tions" of Florida adapted to the special- 

 ist in apiculture, a routine should be 

 followed that will admit of no mis- 

 takes or failures. By carefully noting 

 the sources of nectar and the time of 

 its secretion, as well as its duration, 

 much loss of time can be saved. The 

 usual time for increasing colonies by 

 either natural swarming or dividing 

 colonies, is in the early part of the 

 season, when the nectar secreted is in 

 a thin or watery condition, which is 

 most conducive in brood-rearing and 

 increase of colonies. 



To successfully increase the apiary 

 in the early part of the season, it is 

 necessary to make the young colonies 

 previous to the coming of the mos- 

 quito-hawks ; and observe carefully 

 that they are amply supplied with 

 stores to build comb upon, as well as 

 to rear brood. To accomplish this, 

 in many instances it will require feed- 

 ing, in order to secure the necessary 

 force of field-workers in time to gather 

 the first secretion of honey. When 

 feeding is not desirable, either 

 through the lack of honey or fear of 

 robbing, a good plan is to make the 

 increase at the close of the season, 

 starting the cells in the season of the 

 greatest honey-flow, allowing the 

 colonies to fill the hives with honey 

 suliicient for both old and new. Di- 

 vide half the brood and give suliicient 

 honey to fill the hive. Let them le- 



