JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



May 12, 1863. ] 



again after circling round and round in the air in the vain attempt 

 to discover their lost treasures. Ultimately they entered the hive 

 and clustered over the brood-combs; but Btill the doorway 

 presented a scene of confusion, whilst within a dense knot of 

 would-be regicides clung to the queen-CBge with bull-dog-like 

 tenacity, striving by every means in their power to wreak fell 

 vengeance on its unoffending tenant. During two days did this 

 regieidal mania rage with unabated virulence ; but on the third 

 day it had so much subsided that I ventured on the release of 

 the royal prisoner. Even then it was too soon, for though well 

 received at first she was soon afterwards imprisoned by the 

 hostile bees. Having effected her release, I was compelled once 

 more to ensconce her in the queen-cage, whence twenty-four 

 hours afterwards (four days from the commencement of her 

 incarceration) I had the pleasure of liberating her and finding 

 her well received by her heretofore-rebellious subjects. 



The immediate effect of the mischance which I have above 

 related, was to convert a pure Ligurian into apparently a 

 perfectly black colonv, since the Italians almost without ex- 

 ception stuck to their 'new colours ; but I think the hive rather 

 gained in population than otherwise. Before dispatching it to 

 Renfrewshire, the Ligurian element had again asserted itself, 

 whilst the queen laying eggs in abundance gave prom' se of that 

 prosperity which I trust may await the hive in ita new locality. 

 — A Deyonshiee Bee-eeeper. 



353 



THE BEST ASPECT FOB. BEES. 



In reply to Mr. Fox on the aspect for bees, I beg to state 

 that from my experience in different places in the west of Scot- 

 land, I have' always found hives facing from south-east to due 

 north the best. At this moment I have hives standing in all 

 directions, and those facing the north are a long way a-head of 

 those facing the south, although the former were weak in autumn 

 compared to the latter, and lighter in weight. They were later 

 in commencing work in spring ; but they are now sure to be the 

 first at work and last to stop : hence their progress. As for the 

 quarter that mOBt rain comes I do not mind that. Wind is a 

 greater enemy to them than rain, ao that I always try to avoid 

 the high winds. From south-west to north-west are the points 

 that the higher winds come from in this quarter. Of course, I 

 speak as if they stood in an open plain, and refer only to where 

 I have had experience, and it teaches me to avoid the tempting 

 rays of the sun in spring, and its burning heat in summer. As 

 a proof, in 1861 and 1862, hives facing the north were the only 

 ones that swarmed with me. — A Lanarkshire Bee-keeeeb. 



The second was a young one which they reared to supply her 

 place, but as Bhe could not become fertilised at that early season 

 owing to the absence of droneB she ultimately met the same fate 

 aB her mother. We have ourselves lost several valuable stocks 

 this spring from the same cause, but we are utterly unable to 

 assign a reason or prescribe a remedy for this suicidal conduct 

 on the part of the bees. Although we have never seen it noticed 

 in any English work on the subject, this phenomenon has not 

 escaped the keen eyes of German observers. Dzierzon says that 

 when a queen is found outside the " brood nest," she is always 

 in danger of her life from the stings of the workers, and he 

 accounts for these frequent regicides during an unfavourable 

 spring on this hypothesis. We cannot say that we deem his 

 theory in this respect altogether satisfactory ; but we know of no 

 better. The fact is, it is a recently-observed, mysterious, and 

 very unsatisfactory chapter in the natural history of the honey 

 bee, which it may be long ere we are able fully to unravel.] 



QUEENS DESTROYED BY THEIR OWN- 

 WORKERS. 



I obtained a Btrong hive of bees in the autumn of 1861. In 

 May, 1862, it threw off a strong swarm. Both stocks destroyed 

 their drones in the first week of July. In February of this year 

 both hiveB seemed in good condition, and on fine warm days 

 were busy in collecting pollen from crocuses and the shrubby 

 veronicas. One day I found a queen stupefied on the ground 

 beneath the parent hive. On warming it in my hand it partly 

 revived, and entered into the hive, but was expelled again and 

 soon died. The bees, however, continued to work and carry in 

 pollen, but after two or three weeks no increase in their numbers 

 took place. About the end of March I observed a young queen 

 come out and fly away. She returned in about ten minutes. 

 On another fine day I observed this take place twice, the 

 working bees taking no notice of her. The first week in April I 

 found her one morning dead before the hive. The bees were not 

 working, but running in and out in confusion even till late in 

 the evening. This was continued the next day, and two or 

 three hundred were scattered about dead. Since then the bees 

 Bre quiet, decrease in numbers, and only work for a short time 

 in the middle of the day, seldom before twelve o'clock, or after 

 three. There is no confusion, they only appear lazy, and have 

 no young ones. They carry in a little pollen. The other hive 

 is doing well, as drones appeared on the first of May, and it is 

 very strong. I presume I shall lose the hive, but shall be glad 

 of an explanation, and whether anything could have been done. 

 They did not want food.— J. R. 



[The first queen which you discovered on the ground in a 

 stupefied state, had, doubtless, been stung by her own workers. 



LIGURIAN BEES DO SUCK THE RED CLOVER. 



With regard to the query propounded in your columns as to 

 whether the Ligurian bees suck the common red clover, on 

 observation it will be found that this may be answered in the 

 affirmative, at least in bo far as my observations have gone. 

 During last summer there were two fields adjoining my apiary : 

 one of pasture containing a little white clover, and another of 

 hay, containing white clover, red clover, and Alsike clover (Tri- 

 foliumhybridum). This variety, which has been largely sown in 

 Berwickshire of late years, has a close resemblance to red clover 

 both in stalks and flowers, the petals, however, being all tipped 

 with white, and probably not quite so deep as those of the red, 

 but much longer than in the white clover. 



During the wet ungenial weather which we had last summer, 

 I noticed that whenever the bees could get abroad they invari- 

 ably took to the hay field ; and wishing to solve the question as 

 to which of the three varieties they gave the preference to, on 

 observation I perceived, contrary to my preconceived opinion, 

 that they were working most anxiously on the Alsike and red 

 clovers, leaving the white clover almost untouched. 



However, it must not be inferred from this that the preference 

 would be given to either red or Alsike in ordinary circumstances, 

 as it is a well-known fact that in most seasons they decidedly 

 prefer to luxuriate in the pasture fields of white clover when 

 within reach in preference to the others ; and we can account 

 for their somewhat anomalous proceedings on the supposition 

 of the white clover being opener and shorter in the flower- 

 petals than the other varieties, consequently the nectarous 

 juices were the more readily washed-out by the daily drenching 

 rains which we had during the last summer, whilst the others 

 retained part of theirs, and the Ligurians found it possible to 

 extract these juices when favoured with a few hours of sunshine. 

 -J. S. 



DRONE-BREEDING QUEENS. 



Subsequent to the date of my last communication on the 

 "Mortality of Hives," wherein I expressed my belief in the 

 practical worthlessness of drone-breeeding queens, I find from a 

 report of a meeting of German bee-keepers held at Potsdam, as 

 inserted by Mr. Woodbury at page 270, that one of the subjects 

 discussed at that meeting was this very question "Of what 

 practical value is a drone-breeding queen in the spring ?" and 

 that an almost unanimous decision was apparently come to in 

 the negative — namely that such a queen has for the " rational 

 bee-keeper no value whatever." Now though this verdict of 

 the German bee-keepers practically coincides with my own viewB 

 on the subject, yet considering that these same apiarians are not 

 alwayB infallible in their opinions more than myself, I am much 

 pleased to find that Mr. Woodbury is himself endeavouring to 

 work out a solution of the problem by instituting, in the 

 novel form he indicates in No. 109, a fresh inquiry into the 

 subject. If he should be successful in establishing the affirmative 

 of this proposition, " Are drone-breeding queens of any use to 

 the apiarian in spring or not ?" then he will at all events have 

 the honour of upsetting the general belief among bee-keepers on 

 the subject; and as the point is an interesting one, it is to be 

 hoped that he will not fail to report the results of his present 

 experiments. 



Assuming the doctrine of parthenogenesis to be true, and 

 viewing the subject in that light, there can of course be no 



