25i 



GLEAXIXGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



Aro. 



while inserting queen cell. etc. He Las al- 

 so hung an all metal screw driver on one of 

 the posts, as you see. and a stout screw driv- 

 er is a very handy tool in an apiary, as most 

 of you have probably experienced. 



FKOZO: THE EGG, TO THE BEE. 



OUR engraver has been amusing himself, 

 by seeing how clearly he could por- 

 — tfav tlie emlnvo bee. at different ases. 



1 3 i -3 7 lo 1> 

 The figiues underneath are intended to 

 represent the age in days. First is the egg 

 just as it is laid : next the larva just after^il: 

 has broken the egg shell on the third day. 

 During the fourth "and tifth days, they groV 

 very rapidly, but ii is dithcult to tix any ])re- 

 cise mark, in regard to the size. On the 7th 

 day. the larva has sti-aightened himself out. 

 and the worker bees have capped him over. 

 I have made a pretty accurate exY»eriment 

 on this point, and it was just G days and 7 

 hoius after the tirst egg was laid, when they 

 got it completely capped over. Just v.-heh 

 they begin to haA e legs and eyes. I do not 

 know : but I have foimd that the winjs are 

 about the last part of the work. The bees 

 leave them bareheaded, sometimes, after 

 they get to be about 16 or 17 days old. If t 

 am correct, they never cap over these bare- 

 headed bees, biit let them hatch out. with- 

 out ha\ing any capping to gnaw off. We 

 are all of us too ignorant, by far. on this 

 matter, and I suggest that we set to work 

 and investiciate the matter thoroughly. The 

 eggs of the common fowl have been "broken, 

 and drawings made of the embryo, every 

 day from the tirst to the 21st. Can we not 

 doas much for the science of apicultin-eV I 

 A\ill give So.<X> to the pei-son who sends me 

 the best set of drawings of the embryo bee. 

 during tlie 21 days from the egg to the bee. 

 with accomi)anyi"ng notes. 



FASTE>~r\G THE FOX. i:, T3JZ vHAJtES. 



lUE friend. A. L. Foreman, of White 

 Hall. nis.. who discovered the use of 

 starch for moistening the rolls Avhile 



rolling fdn.. has sent us a sample of what he 



calls 



FORE3IA2f"S EUREKA FDX. FASTENER. 



The wheel is made of some hard wood, 

 cherry or apple for instance, and is nearly 

 i of an inch thick, bv about U inches in di- 



ameter. The haniUe is about -5 inches long. 

 A sheet of f(ba. is to be laid against the coiiil) 

 guide or toj) bar. as you see tit. and then the 

 wheel, after being dipi>ed in honey, is to be 

 rolled over it. so lis to press the wax tirmly 

 into the dry wood. A straight edge is used 

 to nm the wheel against, that it may be 

 guided just where we want it. The princi- 

 pal objection that now presents itself to me 

 is that the wlieel cannot be run close up on 

 the cornei-s of the I'dn. Friend F. remedies 

 this, by attaching the fdn. to the top bar. 

 before the fi^ame is nailed up. I hardly 

 think this plan will be liked generally. It 

 might answer nicely for section boxes, but 

 when we consider the difficulty of getting 

 the sheets exactly in the centre of the top 

 bar, I think I should consider the grooAing 

 rather preferable. 



-««>-•«« «:>^ 



yi\' AFTOJIATIC SAVARmiXG HOBBY. 



SOME WOXDERFUL JuSD UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS. 



HIS spring, I fLsed up 3 decoy hives— discarded 

 ■ hives of :J.3iO cubic inches. I tacked bass- 

 wood bark around the entrance, put in some 

 nice white comb starters, and fastened :i in the forks 

 of leafy trees, and one near the top of a ledge of 

 rf rocks: all were near the apiary, one only 16 ft. 

 from the house. On. and before, the 2Tth of June. 

 bees were fljing- in and out the latter hive. That 



evening I brought from neighbor T 's a new 



swarra of that day. Early uext morning. I shook 

 them in front of their permanent hive. They took 

 wing, went stmight to the tree and entered the de- 

 coy hive. As theirqueen was clipped they returned. 

 I think they had selected the hive before (''» swarm- 

 ing, had reconsidf^red on being hived, then on being 

 disturbed, decided to carry out their first plan. 



I began to wonder how the other hives were get- 

 ting along, went to the other tree, and lo! a swarm 

 of blacks had been working there for 2 or 3 days. 

 It was a small swarm of less than a quart. To-day, 

 vou can count a dozen bees In and around the first 

 hive. 1 think they ai-e not "hunting water." 



Oliver Foster. 



M*. Vernon. Iowa. July 8th, ISTS. 



I was just ready to swing my hat. at the 

 success of the above, when the following 

 came to hand. The writer almost ought 

 to be put in the "•Growlery."' 



For months, I have threatened to "put my foot" on 

 your scheme for stealing bees. What you are trjing 

 to get into, in your part of the world, has. for many 

 years, in puritanical Mass.. been stamped as a /it /?.*!/ 

 "and a fraud. If there is a disreputable man in 

 community who would steal, if he could legally, he 

 is sure to "stick up his hives all through the woods, 

 and thus entice and coax bees— not to light, but to 

 decamp. Every honorable bee-keeper in this section 

 who discovers "a hive thus exposed, even though it 

 is in the owner's words, makes it a point to smash 

 thnt hive before he lenves it. This is done openly 

 and defiantly, and all the^ people say amen. Such 

 traps are hunted for, by organizel bands, as wild 

 beasts might be on the frontier. The practice is an 

 unmitigated fraud and the greatest drawback upon 

 honest bee-keepers. EveiT swarm of bees that ever 

 left me has followed directly into siich hives, placed 

 there purposely, by thieves, to steal my bees. But 

 for them, my bees would not have left. I. and all 

 others, however, make a practice of setting a guard 

 "over the hive until night and then appropriate it. 



Hopin? that this method of stealing bees will be 

 rf^prohated bv S[\ honest men. and especially in 

 GLE.ixiNOS. I am M. H. A. Evans. 



Granitesville. Mass.. July 4th. 1ST8. 



Xow, Friend E.. I do not know but you 

 Avill think me a haidened sinner, but the 

 fact is that I am much more interested in 

 hearing vou state that the plan really suc- 

 ceeds, tlian I arn alarmed at the injustice 

 that mav be done unv one. If anv one de- 



