JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
344 
[ October 13, 1881. 
The worker, after passing about three days and a half in the egg, 
is hatched—a small white worm, grub, or maggot—and is called 
larva (a Latin word signifying a mask, for the bee is concealed or 
hidden in that state). It remains in this state about five days, and 
then the bees seal the cell over ; the larva then spins around itself 
a silken covering, called a cocoon, which occupies about thirty-six 
hours. In this third stage it is called a nympha, pupa, or chrysalis, 
in which state it remains until the twenty-first day, counting from 
the time the egg was laid, when it emerges from the cell a perfect 
working bee, and is called an imago. 
The cocoon left behind forms a lining to the cell, and for this 
reason it is best not to use the same breeding comb too long, for each 
cocoon left behind imperceptibly, but not the less really, diminishes 
the size of the cell for its future occupant, and prevents the bees 
from attaining their full development of size. 
When the weather is cool or the colony weak, the development is 
retarded to a greater or less extent—the heat should be above 70° 
Fahr. for the best results. Both the workers and the drones on 
emerging from the cells are rather helpless, and are soft, downy, and 
light in colour. 
The workers and drones spin complete cocoons, enclosing them¬ 
selves perfectly, but queens enclose only the head, thorax, and first 
ring of the abdomen—evidently to provide for the means of being 
destroyed by a rival queen before emerging from the cell, should it 
become desirable to do so. 
In the contemplation of this exceedingly interesting subject is 
found much food for thought and meditation ; and for instructive 
lessons none can rival the marvellous transformations that insect 
life undergoes in its processes of development ! The repulsive 
maggot of to-day may to-morrow be the active little fly, visiting leaf 
and flower in merry and sportive mood ! The repugnant caterpillar 
of to-day may to-morrow, as a chrysalis, be decked with green and 
gold, awaiting its speedy transformation to the butterfly, of brilliant 
tints and gorgeous beauty. 
This is not a whit more wonderful than are the transformations 
from the egg to the tiny larva, from the larva to the pupa, and from 
the pupa to the fully developed honey bee, with its wondrous in¬ 
stincts and marvellous habits ! The student never ceases to wonder 
and admire as he turns over leaf after leaf of the “ book of Nature ” 
devoted to this interesting insect. Indeed, there is a fascination 
about the apiary that is truly indescribable; but even that richly 
rewards the apiarist for all the time and labour bestowed upon it. 
Every scientific bee-keeper is an enthusiast. The wonderful economy 
of the bee hive, from its very nature, presents to the thoughtful 
student both admiration and delight at every step ! 
CRUDE HONEY AND OTHER QUESTIONS. 
If there are still some people unconvinced that bees make honey 
from the crude material found in flowers, and would like to have 
the question (if it is a question) settled, I would feel obliged if 
they would state what evidence would be considered satisfactory. 
I have both crude and perfect honey taken from my own hives in 
the house at the present time, and everybody that examines them 
needs no more evidence. If any society of bee-keepers, or any 
three persons competent to know the difference between perfect and 
imperfect honey, would like to see them, I will send them by post if 
they request me to do so. Since the introduction and use of the 
“American Slinger” in taking honey from combs, the fact that 
crude honey is very imperfect and will not keep cannot be too 
widely known, for wherever the Slinger is used the imperfect honey 
is first cast out, being more watery. In other respects the question 
has been considered of little practical importance, and few bee¬ 
keepers care to know whether honey is swallowed once or twice 
before it is stored up by bees. 
Another question of no great practical importance has, like that 
of crude honey, received little attention from bee-keepers—viz., the 
question of late breeding. If queens continue to lay for a month 
or two later in autumn than is usual, do they commence to lay in the 
following spring as early as the queens that had ceased to lay some 
weeks sooner? Is a certain amount of rest necessary? In July 
some seasons queens stop laying, or otherwise the bees decline to 
set their eggs. In other seasons bees continue to breed till Sep¬ 
tember. This is easily understood and explained; but it is the 
length of the time of rest or cessation of egg-laying that is the 
question before us. It is a question difficult to solve satisfactorily. 
Only one more question will be mooted now. In bee battles 
every bee stung speedily dies. Hoes the bee that gives the fatal 
probe die too ? in stinging another bee does it lose its sting ? 
'those who use microscopes in their investigation may soon settle 
this question. The sting of the honey bee is barbed, and, generally 
speaking, sticks when used in stinging animals, and carries with ic 
the venom bag. I have thought that in bee battles and bee and 
drone massacres the conquering bees did not lose their stings, and 
this appeared to me to be a singular phenomenon and wise arrange¬ 
ment, but my convictions may have been formed on insufficient 
evidence. In the massacre of drones worker bees are not found 
among the dead. Unsuccessful attempts have been often made to 
unite swarms of nearly equal strength, and the loss of whole 
swarms has resulted. In such unsuccessful attempts the loss of life 
has been enormous, but we have not noticed that the victorious 
bees suffered much from their victories.—A. Pettigrew, Bomdon, 
Cheshire. 
DRIVING AND UNITING BEES. 
It is a long time ago I last wrote you accounts of my experience 
in bee-keeping. I have been a wanderer since I broke up my 
apiary in Hertfordshire, but I have now begun to get some stocks 
together again in this place. So much has been done of late 
years to disseminate the knowledge of scientific bee-keeping, and 
so many converts have been made, that any information on the 
subject is now sought out, and when found gratefully digested, by 
hundreds of readers who a few years ago had looked upon a bee 
as an interesting insect perhaps, but a creature to be kept away 
at as great a distance as possible. 
This is a country with many bee-keepers—in fact, there are few 
cottagers scattered about the forests, which stretch away from 
Horsham to within a short distance of Tunbridge Wells, who do 
not keep bees ; but they are nearly all kept on the old dome¬ 
shaped sleep and brimstone-pit system. Here and there are intel¬ 
ligent men who are becoming alive to the errors of the old school, 
and have already begun to walk in the new road of success and 
profit; but they are only a very small minority, and any number 
of bees can be had for a trifling bribe and the trouble of driving. 
I have just rescued eight such stocks and united them in bar- 
frame hives. All but one skep were driven with the usual ease 
and success ; and it is about this skep I wish to say a few words, 
as something may be gleaned from my remarks to assist others 
who may meet with a similar difficulty, and may explain to a 
novice what would surely puzzle him if he met with such a case 
at the outset of his attempts at driving. 
The skep in question belonged to a friend’s gardener. I had 
promised to drive out the bees and to put the owner into the way 
of feeding up the rescued swarm. It was a prime swarm of the 
current season and very heavy. I gave the usual puff of smoke, 
turned up the skep after a few minutes, and sprinkled well with 
thin syrup ; after a short interval fixed the empty skep over the 
stock, which was stood in a zinc pail, and began to drive the bees 
out. From the first I noticed a reluctance to run, but after some 
amount of tapping I got a goodly number to go up ; still, I could 
hear and see lots of bees far down in the dome among the combs, 
and I could not get nearly all to come up either by tapping, 
blowing, or by the use of smoke. I began to look for a reason, 
and on examining the combs found that there was only drone 
brood. A drone crawled out from its cell while I looked, and 
scattered here and there were other drone cells capped or with 
drone hatching. There was only one solution now of the difficulty— 
the hive was either queenless or about to become queenless ; and I 
ventured the opinion to those looking on, my friend among the 
number, that the queen was still alive but too feeble to run up, 
and therefore a certain number of faithful subjects were bro^ 1 - ^ 
smoke and what to them must have been lik" OQr fCT'at.° 
rather than desert their dying queer < ^obbera from ‘the’ other 
hive were now becoming tro ;: ' oie and l advised thc removal 
of the stock to a — re secure spot . 1 p]aced the bees j had 
riveq stand and took the skep into a building. Near 
the window I cut out carefully comb after comb until I found, as 
I expected, the old queen and a bunch of bee 3 in the centre of the 
hive top. She was so feeble that she could not turn herself up 
when on her back, nor could she crawl up the side of the hive. I 
therefore killed her, and in the evening joined the bees to the 
other stock. The bees were exceedingly quiet, and the spectators 
gained, as they said, more knowledge of bees through this little 
difficulty than they would have done otherwise. Should any of 
your readers meet with similar reluctance on the part of the bees 
to leave their skep when driving it may perhaps be similarly 
accounted for.—F. H. P., Cvowborough, Sussex. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Boulton & Paul, Norwich .—Illustrated List of Aviaries, Log Ken¬ 
nels, (j'C. 
The Lawson Seed Nursery Company, Edinburgh and London.— 
Catalogue of Trees and Shrubs. 
T. C. Schimidt, Erfurt .—Catalogue of Immortelles, Dried Grasses, and 
Bouquet Papers. 
H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, Kent .—Catalogue of Winter-flowering 
Plants and Bulbs. 
Robert Mack <fc Son, Catterick Bridge, Yorkshire .—Catalogues of 
General Nursery Stock and Roses. 
