THE JEMERICfEH BEE JQlOfRKMI*. 



55 



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when the proper season for egg-laying 

 and brood-rearing conies, such things 

 are no impediment. When a queen 

 gets up in the section-case, and stays 

 there too long, you will think she en- 

 joys odd nooks.— Eugene Secob. 



Hardly, as that occurs when the 

 weather is quite warm, and bees can 

 keep a large surface covered, making 

 it easy for the queen to pass back and 

 forth from one section to the other. 

 There may be a little disadvantage 

 from having the bees obliged to cover 

 a space where the queen cannot lay. — 



C. C. MrLLER. 



They are, in early spring, when the 

 colon3r fs weak in numbers, but after 

 the bees become strong enough to en- 

 ter an upper case, I regard the hori- 

 zontal bee-space between shallow 

 brood-cases an adv.antage, as breeding 

 is thereby greatly facilitated. Except 

 for queen-breeders' use, a brood-frame 

 should not be so shallow that pollen 

 will be stored in sections placed over 

 one brood-case ; that would mean a 

 frame not less than 7 inches deep. — G. 

 L. Tinker. 



Oh, no ! The inconvenience to the 

 (jueen, if any, is not worth a passing 

 thought. At that time, the weather is 

 warm. If it is detrimental at anj- time, 

 it would be in the spring when the 

 bees are weak in numljers ; but those 

 having shallow brood-chambers in use, 

 in large numbers, say that such is not 

 any impediment. — The Editor. 



DRONES. 



At -ivliat Age are Droiic-Bec§ 

 Di§po8cd to Hate ? 



Written for theAintrican Bee JuuttuiI 

 BY REV. L. L. LANGSTROTH. 



On page til-i of the Bee Journal for 

 1885, I published some observations 

 showing that under conditions appar- 

 enth- quite favorable, a drone crept 

 out of its cell in about 24 days and 8J 

 hours after the queen had laid an egg 

 there. After nearlj' two years of pros- 

 tration from severe head trouble, grate- 

 ful to Him who has restored nij- health, 

 and with kind greetings to the bee- 

 keeping fraternity, I continue the rec- 

 ord of observations then mad(^ : 



August 13, 1885— Drones fully two 

 days old can only make short, Hj'ing 

 leaps. 



August U — When three days old, if 

 tossed up into the air, they fly well. 

 One of this age kept out of the hive 

 half an hour, and eagerly licked up 

 some thin honey. 



August 27 — I gave some drones just 

 hatched in a good colony, to a strong 

 nucleus. 



August 30 — At 2 p.m., with the 

 thermometer indicating 80-', four 

 drones took wing. One coming just 

 outside, discharged a whitish, cream- 

 like mass, quite unlike the fa'ces of the 

 common bee, which was eagerly licked 

 up by the workers ! Another, caught 

 before it took wing, discharged a clot 

 of a somewhat j-ellower color. Evi- 

 dently drones can not retain their fa3ces 

 as long as workers. Some provision 

 would therefore seem to be needed 

 against a colony taking harm, when 

 the cleansing flight of the drones is 

 unreasonably delayed. As no drone 

 was gone more than five minutes, none 

 had left to mate. 



September 1 and 2 — The weather 

 was unfavorable, and a few drones 

 took wing, but not to mate. 



September 3 — The temperature was 

 76° at 2 p.m., and the weather fair, 

 with a gentle breeze. Of the many 

 drones that flew, some returned in less 

 than five minutes, most in ten minutes, 

 and a few in fifteen minutes. I think 

 that not one sought to mate, for a 

 drone, unsuccessful in finding a queen, 

 will not come home until his honey- 

 sac is nearly empty — which usually 

 happens in about half an hour. 



From all the observations made at 

 this time, 1 conclude that drones can- 

 not be relied upon for sexual duty, 

 until they are at least eight da3's old, 

 and that most of them are not service- 

 able quite so young. Unlike the com- 

 mon bee, the drone having no special 

 oSioe inside the hive, it is wisely or- 

 dered that it should seek to mate when 

 about half the age of a worker. 



September 15 — The temperature was 

 60^ to 76°, and the weather was cloud- 

 less. At 1 p.m. drones were in full 

 flight. I put a Jones' perforated-zinc 

 guard on that strong nucleus, to be 

 able more easily to catch the returning 

 drones. The most of them evidently 

 flew to mate ; the last two were gone 

 51 minutes. I caught them all ; they 

 filled two large queen-cages. After 

 most of them had been confined over 

 half an hour, 1 placed the open cages 

 more than a foot from the hive-en- 

 trance. To my surprise, many of them 

 unable to take wing, crawled to "the 

 flight hole," a truly woe-begone set of 

 beggars, impatient, nay importunate, 

 to be fed ; and the workers were all 

 eagerness to supplj' their wants ! One, 

 too far gone to crawl or even to beg, 

 on having his proboscis wetted with 

 thin sjTup, though at first barely able 

 to take it, soon grew strong enough to 

 flj". From numerous experiments 

 made at this time, it seems that if 

 drones are kept from feeding only half 



an hour after returning from a wed- 

 ding-trip, tliey become too weak to fly. 



Catching, on the same day, some 

 drones which were being worried by a 

 strong colony, their honej'-sacs were 

 found to be well filled. It is easy to 

 .see how soon a drone must succumb, 

 if the bees merely prevent it from eat- 

 ing. I believe that more perish in this 

 wa}' than b}- any actual violence done 

 them by the workers. 



I hope to be able to continue this 

 subject in a future number. 



Dayton,to O., Jan. 10, 1888. 



FIRE INSURANCE. 



Insuring and "Wintering Bees- 

 Sowing AHiice Clover. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. B. LINDLE. 



In reply to Mr. C. A. Waldron, about 

 insuring bees against loss by fire and 

 lightning, I will say that I have 1500 

 insurance on bees in the cellar or in 

 the yard, not to exceed 200 feet from 

 the dwelling ; the valuation not to ex- 

 ceed $10.00 per colony. They were 

 insured on April 17, 1883, for five 

 years, in the Phenix, of Brooklyn, N. 

 Y. I could have taken $1,000 insur- 

 ance. During this time my apiary has 

 never exceeded 270 colonies, nor have 

 I had less than 140 colonies. 



Owing to demand, sale, and the sea- 

 son, to-day I have over 100 colonies 

 less than on June, 1887, as many of 

 them staiTcd. I did not obtain one 

 pound of surplus honey, and I fed over 

 1,200 pounds of honey in frames and 

 half-filled sections extracteil from the 

 year 1886. I have never fed 50 cents 

 worth of sugar, although I have hand- 

 led and kept bees for 31 years, and for 

 over 15 years I have made it my spe- 

 cial business. At least 25 per cent, of 

 my colonies are light now. 



Bees "n'tntered In tbe Cellar. 



I winter my bees in the cellar, the 

 hives being about four inches from 

 the floor, and tiered 4 or 5 high. 

 There is no covering over the honey- 

 board, or oil-cloth on top, and the en- 

 trance is left wide open. I never al- 

 low the temiK'rature to be below 40°, 

 and never above 48°, if I can possibly 

 help it. I have wintered bees with the 

 honej'-board ofi", and experimented in 

 diflerent ways, but for over five years I 

 have wintered my bees as above stated. 



The hives are tiered up now, with 

 access to the front of each hive or en- 

 trance, to examine the entrance in or- 

 der to keep it open. So far this win- 

 ter my bees have been more quiet than 

 usual, and scarcely any dead bees are 

 outside. They seem to enjoy it in the 



