394 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



it is hard to cut very much of that, the best 

 way you can fix it. Better have a horse, or 

 a shiall enf>iiie. Foot powers are very handy 

 for odd jobs. 



I*ei'laiiaiiig to See Cultiire. 



[We respectfully solicit the aid of our friends in 

 conducting- this department, and would consider it a 

 favor to have them send us all circulars that have a 

 deceptive appearance. The greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to pi'event injustice being done 

 any one.] 



MR. AND NOT MRS. COTTON AT THE HEAD. 



BOME years ago, I was in Maine, and while there, 

 I met Mr. Cotton, of West Gorham, and had 

 . _- some conversation with him about his bees. 

 Soon after, I saw a letter in the Portland Transcript 

 complaining of Mr. Cotton for getting $15.00 for 

 bees and a queen sent too late to be of any use to 

 the purchaser. Later, I saw Mrs. Cotton's name in 

 the bee journal, and supposed her husband was 

 dead, and that she was carrying on the business. 

 In the fall of 1876, 1 was called to Maine on business, 

 and while there, I met a friend who lived near Cot- 

 ton, who told me that Cotton was receiving consid- 

 erable money by mail, using his wife's name to 

 attract attention. So you see it is not a woman who 

 demands showing up, but her husband. J. G. S. 

 Detroit, Mich., Nov. llth, 1878. 



FERTII.1ZATION ll^lTlNlsSSED, NON- 

 SWARMING QUEENS, FEKTI1,1ZA- 



TION IN CONFlNEMEI\'J-, ETC. 



A FULL, ACCOUNT, AT LENGTH, OF HOW FERTILIZA- 

 TION TAKES PLACE. 



^EfpjVERYTHING came to hand all right. Much 

 Sp 11 obliged to you for the honey knife. My friend 

 <!!^r^ likes the paper very much. 



Seeing you have a mint of patience with scrib- 

 blers, I would like to answer or satisfy Mr. Peters, 

 In July Gleanings, with regard to the ollice of 

 drones. I really don't know what becomes of the 

 coloring matter he speaks of, but know that drones 

 have nothing to do with it. I have one Italian 

 queen, 2 years old, who has never raised a drone, but 

 she is very prolific in raising workers, which are 

 perfect in all their labors in the hive, with the ex- 

 ception of queen cells; they look more like drone 

 cells, only protruding a little farther. I never saw 

 but two drones in that hive, and I think they came 

 from some other quarter, for I put in a whole card 

 of empty drone cells, but I never could see any 

 brood. The bees would bring the honey down on 

 that card to about the same distance as on the oth- 

 ers, and the balance stood empty; so I concluded, so 

 far as the work inside is concerned, that thev get 

 along without his presence. Three of her progeny 

 nre of the same "turn of mind;" they produce no 

 drones, while one which met with a black drone 

 seems to think plenty of drones are essential. 



While drones are the subject on hand, I will add 

 that I had the privilege of seeing her majesty and 

 his honor meet in the open air, which settles in my 

 mind another fact; viz., that confined fertilization 

 will not do; for the queen must be on the wing, at a 

 good fast rate, or she could not detach herself from 

 the drone. When I saw this thing take place, the 

 circumstances were these: 



After a good many second swarms had come off, 

 we had several days of very foggy, cold, damp 

 weather, when, all of a sudden, it cleared up warm 

 and iJleasant. making swarming lively. One of my 

 second swarms lit about 30 or 40 yards from the api- 

 ary. After iiicking out a couple of e.vtra queens 

 trom It, I was attracted by an unusual noise over- 

 neaa, and looking around, saw two large objects af- 

 ter a bee; I concluded it must be the bee hawk we 

 read of, but as I came near the objects, I soon dis- 

 covered my mistake, and also discovered that a 

 drone on the wing is an active fellow. 



I saw as many as 4 queens flving, 5 drones after 

 one, -3 after another, and so on, down to one drone. 

 1 concluded to watch him; so I got right on his line 



of flight, for they flew back and forth between this 

 swarm and the apiarj-, probably attracted by the 

 noise of the swarm. It was a luckj' move, for just 

 as he came up he struck her so close to me that I 

 reached out and picked him up; for he dropped, 

 seemingly unable to fly, and minus the instrument 

 that did the deed. 



Then I watched the 2 drones, for they were still 

 flying, although higher up, say 10 feet, in the air, 

 and saw the same performance about 20 feet off; 1 

 found him in the same condition as the first. The 

 first flew about 5 feet from the ground. 



This destroys the old theory of the meetings being 

 away up somewhere between us and the moon, or so 

 high that nebodj- ever saw it. Hence my conclusion 

 about confined fertilization. 



Anyone wishing any further particulars, I will be 

 pleased to answer. J. N. Gilchrist. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., Aug. 5, 1878. 



Many thanks, friend G. I felt sure \ve 

 should Anally liave the phenomena fully 

 described, as' you have given it to us. As 

 you described your non-swanning queens 

 tirst, which, by the way, is something worthy 

 of careful tliought, since such queens could 

 easily be made to perpetuate this peculiar- 

 ity, it seems you have not attached any 

 great importance to your observations. The 

 description you give, coincides exactly with 

 the facts that have been collecting all the 

 past season, and have been drawing us 

 nearer and nearer to the full knowledge of 

 the manner of the event as you describe 

 it. I would not be too hasty in deciding 

 about fertilization in continenient, for it 

 may be possible for the insects to take wing 

 enough, even in a small cage, to succeed 

 now and then, as the account in the Nov. 

 Magwzine would seem to indicate. Why 

 Mr. H. succeeded with almost precisely the 

 same arrangement that I and hundreds of 

 others tried in vain is more than I can tell. 

 His plan of hatching (jueens in wirecloth 

 boxes, over the top of a hive, was given in 

 Sept. Gleanings for 1873; but, while it 

 might succeed during the very hottest part 

 of oiu' summer weatlier, I soon gave notice 

 that it was a very precarious method in- 

 deed. In spite of the thickest woolen cloth 

 covering, a single cool night would often 

 injure, if not spoil, the whole lot of cells. 

 Nothing but the lamp nursery, or some- 

 thing equivalent, can answer the purjiose 

 of the heat of the natvu-al brood nest. The 

 plan has been several times revived since 

 I tirst described it, but always dropped 

 again. 



T5BE ABC SCHOI..VIJ TEIAX GRE^V SO 

 FASI-. 



now HE introduces QUEENS IN AVI.NTER. 



^^OUR postals are both received; alsothequeen, 

 )tr bj- express, came all right. I have taken out 

 ^^ a queen from one of my swarms, and intend 

 to introduce the Italian to-day. I shall keep the 

 black queen until I find how the Italian is received. 

 I am a thousand times obliged to you for the queen, 

 and think you give me more credit on my letter 

 than I deserve. I was willing to pay for the queen, 

 but, never mind; I shall want a dozen of them in the 

 spring; also rubber gloves, an extractor, an atomi- 

 zer, and any amount of fdn., and shall know where 

 to buy. 



Our editor stood by when I took the queen from 

 the express olHce, and it was a great curiosity to 

 him; he never heard of bees being sent by mail or 

 express, and questioned me all about it. I send you 

 a copy of this week's Issue of his paper; see includ- 

 ed in ink marks what he says. 



The weather was so cold when I received the 

 queen that I could do nothing, I thought. Ice stood 



