89 



thing to do with this. No. 3 seemed to gather more honey and to be in 

 a more normal condition than Nos. 1 and 2. No. 3 had a full frame of 

 brood nearly ready to seal at the expiration of the experiment. August 

 15, 28 per cent of the bees in No. 1 had wax scales, while none of No. 

 2 that were examined had wax scales. The experiment commenced 

 August 11. The bees of each colony were fed 21 pounds of honey. 

 The experiment lasted ten days. 



iSt 



Weight of bees August 11 



Total weight August 11, 7 p. m 

 Total weight August 22, 7 a. m 



Gain iu weight in ten days 



Total amount of feed, given 



Weight of honey extracted Am 



Loss in honey fed 



Gain in weight in ten days 



Wax secreted by Xo. 1 



Pollen in combs at end 



Total weight removed at close 



Apparent^deiiciency due to scales 



(Tain in weight of Xo. 2 over Xo. 1 8 pounds. 



Xo. 1. 



Xo. 



Pounds. 



6i 

 35 

 46 

 11 

 21 



9 

 12 

 11 



nii 

 h 



10i 



Pounds. 

 H 



43 

 62 

 19 

 21 

 16* 

 ±h 

 19 



n 



18 

 1 



Xo. 3. 



Pounds. 



«ij 



20| 

 21 

 18 

 3 

 20| 



t4 



22 



11 



* Ounces. t Weight of young brood and pollen. 



11 J : 8 = 16 : x, or about 11 pounds honey to 1 pound of wax. 



This experiment gives 11 pounds of honey as the amount necessary 

 to secrete 1 pound of wax. Huber decided, as the result of careful ex- 

 perimentation, upon 20 pouuds as the amount, while Yiallon and Hasty 

 concluded that the amount was less even than we have found in the 

 above. Of course, in such experiments there will be errors, as from the 

 conditions the colony is not kept in an absolutely normal condition. 

 No brood-rearing should be allowed, and so virgin queens were given to 

 colonies. Whether the bees work with less vigor physically or physio- 

 logically when a laying queen is replaced by a virgin, I can not say. 



We thought over the experiment a long time and concluded on the 

 above as the nearest approach to the normal of any plan we could de- 

 cide upon. 



The results from colony No. 3, which was normal, show that the error 

 was not great. A repetition will add correctness to the experiment. 

 We shall hope to repeat it another year. We believe the results are 

 not very wide of the truth in actually normal conditions. 



DO WORKER BEES FEED THE DRONES? 



Several times in the past we have tried experiments to determine 

 Avhether the worker bees fed the drones, as they do the queen and 

 larvae, the albuminous portion of their food. We know that drones are 

 great honey- consumers. It is reasonable to suppose that they are 

 equally great consumers of the albuminous food or bee bread. There 

 is little or no doubt that the upper head glands of the younger worker 

 bees secrete the liquid that digests the pollen. These glands are 

 large and turgid in the young or nurse bees, shrunken and inactive in 



