1878 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



369 



the product of the milky food when allowed 

 to stand, as I have suggested, is a question 

 to be decided. The bees when rearing 

 queens, furnish this food in profusion, and I 

 have seen, during the swarming time, single 

 combs that contained a good spoonful, de- 

 posited, of course, in queen cells. Here is 

 (juite an miexphn-ed region that I wish the 

 A Vi V. class woidd work up, and report 

 upon. 



WHAT DOES THE <iUEEN DO WHILE SEALED 



Candidly, I do not know very much about 

 it, although I have opened cells at every 

 stage after they were sealed, until they were 

 ready to hatch. One day after being sealed, 

 they are simply an ordinary larva, although 

 rather larger than worker larvie of the same 

 age; after two or three days, a head begins 

 gradually to be ''mapped out,'' if that is the 

 proper expression, and later, some legs are 

 seen folded up; last of all, a delicate pair of 

 wings come from somewhere, I hardly know 

 how. Two days before hatching, I have tak- 

 en them out of the cell, and had them ma- 

 ture into perfect queens, by simply keeping 

 them in a warm place. I have also taken 

 them out of the cell before they were ma- 

 ture, held the white, still, corpse like form 

 in my hand while I admired it as long as I 

 chose, then put it back, waxed up the cell 

 by warming a bit of wax in my fingers, and 

 had it hatch out three days after, as nice a 

 queen as any. Mr. Langstroth mentions 

 having seen the whole operaticm by i)lacing 

 a thin glass tube, open at both ends, into the 

 cell, so as to have it enclose the queen, the 

 bees being allowed to cap it as usual. If I 

 am correct, this experiment was first made 

 by Iluber. With several such glass queen 

 cells, and a lamp nursery, I presume the 

 whole oper.ition could be watched from be- 

 ginning to end. Who will be first to do this, 

 and give us a history of the changes? 



DAVIS' TRANSPOSITION PROCESS. 



In the month of August, 1874, after I had 

 discovered how to send larvae for queen rear- 

 ing, safely by mail, for short distances, our 

 friend, J. 1^. Davis, of Delhi, Ingham Co., 

 Mich., wrote that he should get a large num- 

 ber of queens from the piece I sent him, for 

 he Avas going to remove the larvue from the 

 cells and i)lace them in queen cells already 

 started in his hives ; of course, removing the 

 original larva? first. I caught at the idea at 

 once, and went to some hives of hybrids that 

 liad persisted in tearing down all the cells 

 given them, and building others from their 

 own brood, and removed the larvae from all i 



the cells, substituting larva? from the im- 

 ported queen in its stead. I used a quill 

 toothpick, for making the transposition. 

 Almost every cell was built out and capped, 

 just as well as if they had kept their own 

 black stock. In due time, I had as nice a 

 lot of fine yellow queens as I ever reared. 

 We have practiced this method, almost ev- 

 ery year since. 



Mr. Davis described his invention in the 

 Sept. No. of Gleanings, for 1874, and it 

 has been commented on and suggestions 

 added, in almost every volume since. From 

 letters received from other parties, it seems 

 that he may not have been the first person 

 to make the discovery that larvai could be 

 thus safely transposed, but as he was the 

 first one who made the discovery known to 

 tlie public, and put it into practical and prof- 

 itable use, he certainly deserves all credit 

 and honor for his discovery, and a vote of 

 thanks for generously giving it to the world 

 at once, without any thought of reserving it 

 for his own private benefit, as he might have 

 done. 



During the past season, we have used a 

 tiny silver spocm, made on purpose for re- 

 moving the larva^', and as much of the milky 

 food along M'ith it, as is possible. I need 

 Irardly caution you that these small larvie 

 are very tender and delicate, and will hardly 

 bear so much as a touch, without injury. 



what BEC03IES OF THE QUEEN AFTER SHE 

 GETS OUT OF THE CELL? 



I am glad to say, that I can tell you, by 

 personal observation, pretty nearly what a 

 queen does, after she pushes open that 

 hinged door, that I told you of, and which 

 ycni will find illustrated under the head of 

 QUEEN REARING. She generally begins to 

 put her head into the cells until she finds 

 one containing unsealed honey, from which 

 she takes a sup that, at least, indicates that 

 she likes that kind of provision. May I di- 

 gress eiiough here to ask, if it does not al- 

 most seem proper to say that she remembers 

 where honey is to be had V She never exist- 

 ed before, it is true, but are you sure she 

 does not remember at all what her mother 

 and grandmother did ages and ages before 

 her? It may be as well to say she does it by 

 instinct, but I confess that term hardly sat- 

 isfies 7ne. 



After she has had her supper, she begins 

 to crawl about, partly to enjoy using tlie long 

 strong legs God has given lier, and perhaps, 

 because she "remembers" that it is her allot- 

 ted task to tear down the remaining (jueen 

 cells, if such there are. If other queens have 



