408 



GLEANI]^GIS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dkc. 



let the blame for unprofitable queens slip off 

 their shoulders; on the contrary, I think 

 they had better make up their minds to ren- 

 der a full equivalent for all the money they 

 receive. If a queen proves a drone layer be- 

 fore the purchaser can receive any benefit 

 from her, I think another should be sent. 

 Of course. I cannot give a rule for settling 

 all such matters, but I would most earnestly 

 advise that you all try to do as you would be 

 done by, and be each one readij to bear a lit- 

 tle more than your share of such losses as 

 may come up. Try to feel for each other, 

 and beware of that great besetting sin of all 

 mankind, selfishness. It is certainly one of 

 my gi-eat besetting sins, if I do not look out. 



Well, queens not only turn suddenly to 

 drone layers, but they sometimes produce 

 about an equal number of each kind of eggs. 

 In all these cases, where the queen lays 

 drone eggs when she evidently intended to 

 lay worker eggs, they are in worker cells; 

 also the number of eggs laid, usually, rapid- 

 ly decreases. The bees, as well as queen, 

 begin to think, evidently, that something is 

 wrong ; queen cells are soon started, and af- 

 ter the young queen is hatched, she becomes 

 fertile, and begins to help her mother. All 

 hands evidently think that any kind of a 

 queen is better than no queen, hence a queen 

 is seldom dragged out of the hive, as a work- 

 er bee is, because she is ailing. 



Very early in the spring, or late in the fall, 

 01* at any time when forage is not abundant, 

 a queen Will pass right by drone cells, tak- 

 ing no notice of them. I have often tried to 

 get eggs in drone cells by feeding, and cah 

 but conclude that the queen knows When an 

 egg will ])roduce a drone, and knows just 

 what "wires to pnll" to have every egg laid 

 in a drone cell produce a drone. I think it 

 very likely the workers have something to 

 do with this matter, but I have never been 

 able to nuike out by what means they signi- 

 fy to the queen that some eggs in drone cells, 

 or even queen cells, would be desirable. 

 Tliere seems to be a constant understanding 

 in tiie hive, as to what is going to be done 

 next, and consequently there is no clashing. 

 I wish, my friends, the human family could 

 understand each other as well. In our api- 

 ary, there seems to be, in strong stocks, a 

 kind of understanding that eggs shall be laid 

 in drone cells about the last of March, and 

 we, therefore, have drones some time in 

 April, ready for the first queens that may, 

 by any accident, make their appearance. 

 Those who insist that there are only one 

 kind of eggs can satisfy themselves easily, 



by cutting out a piece of comb, eggs and all, 

 from either a drone or worker cell, and set- 

 ting it in the bottom of a cell of the other 

 kind. They will get a drone in a worker 

 cell, or a worker in a drone cell. Again ; if 

 you give a young laying queen a hive sup- 

 plied only with drone combs, she will rear 

 worker brood in these drone cells. The 

 mouth of the cells will be contracted with 

 wax, as mentioned in h()Np:y comk. 



When they get ready to swarm, they build 

 shallow (pieen cells, and the queen then lays 

 a worker egg in these queen cells. Although 

 I never saw her lay an egg in a queen cell, 

 I am satisfied that she does it, from the way 

 in which it is put in. Like the rest of the 

 eggs, it is fastened to the center of the bot- 

 tom of the cell, by one of its ends, and I sup- 

 pose, when first deposited, it is covered with 

 a sort of glutinous matter that makes it stick 

 firmly, where it first touches. I know tliat 

 bees have the skill to remove both eggs and 

 larvie, for I have several times known of 

 their taking eggs and brood to an old dry 

 comb, when no queen was present in the 

 hive. Occasionally, a queen is found that 

 will never lay at all ; again, queens that laid 

 eggs, which never hatched into larvae, have 

 been several times reported. One such was 

 sent me this past summer. She was a re- 

 markably fine and large queen, but while be- 

 ing introduced, she fiew away and has not 

 come back yet. 



After having told you thus much of the 

 faults and imperfections of qtieens, I would 

 add, for their credit, that when once proper- 

 ly installed in a sti'ong colony, they are about 

 as safe property as anything I know of, for 

 in the great majority of cases, they live and 

 thrive for years. I have never heard of any 

 disease among queens, and while a worker 

 lives only a few months, they often live 3 or 

 4 years. One that was imported from Italy 

 by Dadant, furnished us brood and eggs for 

 queen rearing, for four summers. I then 

 sold her for :5?2.00, and she died in being sent 

 less than 50 miles. She was very large and 

 heavy, and probably, being so old, could not 

 cling to the sides of the cage like a younger 

 one. I have never heard of queens being 

 troubled with anything but an Italian para- 

 site, and these quickly disappeared Avhen 

 they were introduced into our own apiaries. 

 See ENEMIES or bees. 



LOSS OF QUEEN. 



It is a very important matter, to be able to 

 know at once, when a queen is lost. During 

 the months of May and June, the loss of a 

 queen from the hive a single day will inake 



