The BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



47 



workers) in the way suggested, it would 

 be of no use, as the worker bees are neu- 

 ters, (to all practical purposes) and could 

 not transmit their developed traits; neither 

 could they influence the progeny of their 

 mother or any other queen, except through 

 the nursing of their young, and, as they 

 would be old bees, and do but little if any 

 nursing, that thory would not hold. 



I mention this because I am satisfied 

 that there are a great many quite success- 

 ful bee-keepers who have overlooked the 

 fact that a worker has no way of trans- 

 mitting her good or bad traits. 



INFLUENCE OF BAD COMP.\NY. 



Mr. E. R. Root said that when the mat- 

 ter was discussed in the journals 3-ears 

 ago, about the only evidence offered to 

 prove that the nurse bees influenced the 

 young which they fed, was that when a 

 gentle queen was put in the place of a 

 cross one, her progeny seemed to be 

 affected by the cross nurse bees, and was 

 often cross and disagreeable to handle. 



I thought it only a case of bad com- 

 pany, but resolved to experiment some 

 along that line, and here is the result. 



AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT. 



Colony No. 2 consisted of j-ellow" Ital- 

 ians, and were the meanest, ugliest bees 

 I ever saw. 



No. 14 was one of nij- old black stock, 

 some I have had for 15 years, and is hard 

 to equal for industry and gentleness; I 

 never use a veil nor hat, and only a little 

 smoke. 



I changed places with these queens, 

 putting the one from N0.2 in No. 14, and 

 that from No. 14 in N0.2. From that 

 time the brood from the cross queen was 

 nursed by the gentle bees of No. 14; and 

 as soon as there were enough of those 

 yellow fellows to set up shop they were 

 ready to defend it against man or beast; 

 and, as time rolled on, the once gentle 

 blacks were found following their exam- 

 ple, and often stung me. 



Colony No. 2 was the cross Italian to 

 which had been given the gentle black 

 quaen. .\s her bees began to hatch and 



mingle with the yellow ones, they were 

 inclined to fly up, and often stung 

 when handled; and some might think 

 it due to being nursed by the cross bees, 

 as the}' were stirred up nearh^ every day 

 while caring for the brood, but, hold on 

 now, I took out a frame of this brood 

 just before it hatched, and put it in a col- 

 ony of Albinos, the gentlest bees I ever 

 saw, and when that brood hatched, the 

 bees were very gentle and showed all the 

 old-time traits of their strain. Being 

 nursed by those cross bees did not effect 

 them /;/ the least. 



I am satisfied that the color and general 

 characteristics of a bee are not influenced 

 by the nurse bees. I am also satisfied 

 that the longevity and usefulness of a bee 

 is greatly influenced by the nurse bees. 

 I have made only a few experiments in 

 this line, but I will give them, hoping 

 others will try them next season. 



SOME COLONIES POOR NURSES. 



I have often noticed that some colonies 

 alvvaj's have an abundance \>f eggs, yet 

 never seem to have much brood, nor 

 to get along very well; so, last May I se- 

 lected two such colonies, and took a comb 

 containing such eggs from each, and put 

 them in a good colony. 



The eggs in one soon hatched, and, 

 later, were sealed; while the others were 

 nearly all worthless. In one case the 

 queen seemed at fault, while in the other 

 it was lack of proper care on the part of 

 the nurse-bees. Both of the colonies had 

 plenty of honey and pollen, and plenty 

 more in the fruit bloom which was open 

 at that time. 



The larvie in some colonies will be 

 literally swimming in food, while in others 

 it is apparently in a starving condition. 



Colony No. 28 is one where the larviE is 

 always well fed, while No. 11 is just the 

 opposite, both are black bees. 



Two frames of drawn comb were placed 

 in No. 2 (Italians) on May 14, and as soon 

 as about equally well filled with eggs, 

 they were put, one in No. 28, the other in 

 No. II, and while I could not figure very 

 closely on the lime, I think I am safe in 



