ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS BEEKEEPING LIBRARY NEWLY WRITTEN TIROUGHOUT, MYSTERIES OF BEHEH-KEHEPING EXPLAINED. CONTAINING THE RESULT oF THIRTY-FIVE YEARs’ EXPERIENOE, AND DIREOTIONS FOR USING THE MOV- ABLE COMB AND BOX-HIVE, TOGETHER WITH THE MOST APPROVED METHODS OF PROPAGATING THE ITALIAN BEE, BY M. QUINBY, PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPER. NEW STEREOTYPED AND ILLUSTRATED EDITION. NEW-YORK : ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY. 1866. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by M. QUINBY, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. CONTENTS. ———~0« CHAPTER IL. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS it Description of yucen. 7 Age of queen. ..... 18 19 19 CHAPTER II PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING.—22 Innperfectly understood..............+- R When they begin te rear brood........ 22 How small colonies begin aoe BO Different i in large families +2 23 sates 24 When the eggs hatch Rough treatment Time before the young bee commences labor.. Terms applied to young Time from the egg to mature queen.. When drones are reared.... MIV OR sieerieats ter ett ois csina saytacdarde nants 83 When queens and drones are destroy- ed before swarming... 3d Queen leaves with the first Swarm.. .. 35 What becomes of the bees when no SWATM isSUeS...... 6. ee cece eee 35 When a young queen takes the place Of ChE O1d ONE) csncserivemnoraemeonaes When large numb Short cells usually taken for rearing MOAN cs ssshvsitescauienardatskocsona 35 queens.... . Theory relative to drones. . 36 When the queen leaves to meet the Mr, Wagner's Theory..... . 39 ATONE .:2cccisisis sg sis larcla WiNoiaiaiescipMeaigfited Sahn gi: 29 Mr. Harbison’s Theory........ 40 Number of eggs that a queen will lay. 30 CHAPTER III HIVES.—46 Satisfaction in having no patent ..... 4G Suspended hive.. ke No difficulty in obtaining certificates Inclined bottom “poard. and premiums ...,....... +47 Dividing hive.......... Hives furnished for trial. Changeable hive...... Necessities of the bees.. Great discovery for patentvenders, Principles of different hives...... Chamber hive .............. Ventilating hive....... % Moth proof hive. Non-Swarmer. Common box htve., Iv CONTENTS, Proper size of Dive........0.ccccseeeeeee 58 Movable comb lL-ive....... Directions for making box hive...,.,.. 61 | Some of its advantages... Top of hive not fastened....... ase BR Movable comb hive as use: Best surplus boxes, ........ .. Directions for making boxes.. .. 638 Directions for making.. Gulde COMD ss .caiciis catacendansemewacane Straw hive for wintering bees. B Observatory hive......... sermseeenscece US CHAPTER LY. BEE PASTURAGE.—%6 Substitute for pollen Buckwheat, si sscsesscaaeassiecemmemesses 89 Substitute for honey.... Do bees injure the grain ?..... wien BD. Manner of packing pollen.. Bees necessary to insure a crop. - 90 Two kinds of pollen stored in one cell 92 No test of the presence of a queen..... 93 Bee-bread seldom packed in drone cells 94 Flowers that yield first pollen First honey.............088 Fruit flowers important. ted raspberry a favorit -.. 80 Manner of discharging pollen, wee OF Honey from red Clover...........e.eeeee 80 Discharging honey....... es diaoreteta tonya 94 Catnip one of the best honey yiclding Some cells contain honey for daily use 95 Combs constructed as needed.......... 96 Best season for honey..... .....eeeseee 96 How many stocks may be kept. 7 Hoke Principal sources of honey...... . 9 Honey-dew....... .... ne Distance a bee will go for honey.......100 Unusual secretion .. CHAPTER V. THE APIARY.—100 Location Best cover . -107 Location marked.... . . 102 Bee-house unprofitable és 107 Should not be moved. -102. Some will have them .... ...... 107 Space between stands. -103 Hives should be of different colors. ...107 Small mattersiss wiscvscased- secsamsevde 103 Replacing queens.. Cheap stand ..ccsnasumseriartieae ouciescc 10! Several bee-houses....... Disadvantage of standing too high... .105 CHAPTER VIL ROBBING.—113 err 113 First indications............... -1145 Remedies..... 115 Equalization, -6 Battles CHAPTER VIL FEEDING,—122 Manner of feeding Object in feeding. . eee lQT Destitute colonies sometimes desert...124 Promiscuous feeding unprofitable..,.. 129 When they must be fed...............08 124 Not understood ..... Difficulty in deciding.. ‘Weak colonies in danger. .... ‘When to look out for robbers... . 126 CONTENTS, Vv CHAPTER VIII DESTRUCTION OF THE MOTH WORM—120 Bome in best stocks. Fear of the bee...... How destroyed........... Moth proof hive not made....... Box for WYeN.......6:,.ccee cues oaniraaets +185 CHAPTER IX. PUTTING ON AND TAKING OFF BOXES.—135 Must not be put on too early.......... 135 Making holes after the hive isfull .. . Boxes may be too casy of access .... A better way. Advantage of glags- boxes, When to take off...... .... How to get rid of the bees Bees not disposed to ating. . To secure honey from worms The way the worms get in.. Remedy CHAPTER X SWARMING.—146 Knowledge necessary... When swarming commences. Indications ..........0.46 Care in examining hives. Preparations for swarming When swarms issue Which bees issue....... The old queen leaves Hives should be ready....... Immediate indications of a swarm Swarm clusters How to do it it All should be made to. ente Carry to the stand......... Pat in movable comb hiye. Shade important... Clustering bushes Loss by flight.... ‘ Nothing but bees necessary in a hive. .163 Do they select a home before swarm- ANG? wicioadis cainemeasin Pentraiestams aie wate 164 How far will they go > citmasuaateneen ase 164 One first swarm has bees enough....... 165 How to keep separate Cannot be stopped when parts are on +» 167 +e 166 First swarms choose good weather....17 Exceptions........ .. soragbansunene seta After-swarms., Their size ..... When expected Piping of the Queen . Variation in time of issuing How after-swarms issue.. Number of queens.............. Do not always choose good Weather. 179 Go farther before alighting,............ 179 Propriety of returning........... -. 180 Moth worm troubles small colonies. . 181 CHAPTER XI ARTIFICIAL SWARMS,—185 Perplexities........ ol 8S Work well... 186 Do it in season «186 First experience 186 How to make artificial swarms. Manner of placing the stands ‘ Queen-cell, to introduce.... ....... Operations with movable combs easy.191 One division will make drone comb. ..191 Too many drone combs for profit..... Honey made in boxes in the hive...... Boxes transferred and finished on an- VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIL LOSS OF QUEENS.—195 When lost by swarms.. Drone-comb...... Speculations .... Disputed question........ A multitude of drones needed When the loss occurs..... Bei Time of leaving varies.. .... Indication of los3 Mark date of swarm. Other remedics.... .......06+ ri Indications of loss in early spring.....203 CHAPTER XIIL PRUNING.—205 +205 +6205 Difficulty in driving in cool weather. ..207 Seldom necessary. Best time. Little risk of stings Frequent pruning not recommended. .209 CHAPTER XIV. DISEASED BROOD.—210 sen esareonee 210 210 What is it?....... Italians less affected Where found. When first discovered.... Description....... axe Remedies attempted . ... Supposed cause... How it spreads. Examination... Assumed knowledge ... CHAPTER XV. ANGER OF BEES,—221 Causes of irritability How they make an attack..... Never irritable when after Honey. Smoker described.. ae Italians less docile. . ea 2223 + 223 QL Bee-charms unreliable Sting Does its los: prove fatal 2 ? Protection....... asa ys MNemedies for stings..... ae CHAPTER XVI ENEMIES OF BEES.—228 Rats and mice............ eisdielossie) . A word for King-bird,.... Chickens will eat drones. Cat-bird acqaltted.. Black wasp.. .... Ants—a word in their favor a ae Both: Worms sometimes work in centre of COMD ovsanedaemeaiioraaaienier z 237 Bees mutilated by webs. 30 Bees fastened in the cells 20 B38 Different appearance in old stocks. ..239 Worms grow larger when undisturbed,.240 Freezing destroys them...... Extermination of the moth Seldom exempt in ordinary manage- ment CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVIL WAX.—25 What is it?.... seecesceeee How it is obtained..... os » 216 Commencement of a comb. PAT Jrooked combs.......... jtraight combs a yaantity of honey taken by aswarm., .250 Making drone-cells. ......0.05 Some wax wasted... Water necegsary., ..... Cells uniform in size... Melting of combs...........66 CHAPTER XVIIL PROPOLIS.—256 How obtained..............006 How discharged.............. + 256 +256 New swarms sometimes use wax in- stead... 7 5 More abundant: in August... CHAPTFR XIX. TRANSFERRING.—250 Preparation.. Time when... How to doit.... +0209 Keep brood together.......sssceseeee «260 Caution....... atin dMawweihejeltis eee ee es R62 CHAPTER XX SAGACITY OF BEES.—268 Too marvellous.................seeeeeee 263 Instances of sagacity.........0.....005 264 No part of the hive inaccessible...... 265 + We should be content with facts.......266 CHAPTER XXI. SELECTING COLONIES FOR WINTER.—266 First care., . 3 Strong colonies inclined to rob. Requisites of good stocks..... Disadvantage to kill bees..... Cause of poor colonies varies in differ- ent sections..... aiciaiaidibate weivitedncerminns Poor stocks may be united When it is not best.............. * Two swarms united, eat less then when separate ........cceneee spats stein etaabaleatesd 270 Season to operate Paralyzing bees.. Description of fumigatior «27h How to operate........cccceccessereeeee 272 How bees were wintered in a sear city of honey..... $7 BWneeu ek sme ea wlan 274 Advantage of transferring.... od Uniting comb, honey, and bees.. When it is best to feed.......... weenie ea RTO CHAPTER XXIL STRAINING HONEY AND WAX.—279 Removing combs How to strain .. Metheglln and vinegar Making wax.............. Quantity wasted Large quantities... CHAPTER XXIIL WINTERING BEES.—284 Feeding refuse honey.. ........... 1.5 Different methods.......... ....eeee 284 Warmth requisite . ....... 0. ceee 284 Blze of cOlONY.... cece eee cece eee 235 Setting out.............00 A building for the purpose.. Room in dwelling house Vu Promotion of warmth.. Moisture............ Causes of starving Dysentery.. Water ad Natives of a warm climate. Warm room. Cellar preferred. CONTENTS. Burying bees..... Straw hives . Philosophy Straw top. 3 CHAPTER XXIV. THE ITALIAN OR LIGURIAN BEE—308 Reputation Importers Superiority When first obtained. -810 Sill 312 Peculiarities... Longer lived ... Robbing..... B13 Disposition 314 Swarming. 315 Hive crowded weather. Remedy .. Purity to be secured.. Variation in color of queens.... ...... 319 _ Finding queen........... Susceptible of improvement........... Neighbors join in purchasing queens Mix three miles distant...... Colony to furnish drones,... Method of Italianizing a whole apiar: Artificial queens....... How to rear them How to obtain bees for rearing queens.325 Black bees as nurses + 826 Best time to obtain broo: Introduction of queen. . Italianizing the box-hive . Test of the presence of the queen. Transporting queen.......... ...... CHAPTER XXV. PURCHASING STOCKS AND TRANSPORTING BEES,—333 333 - 336 Qualification for an apiarian...... Luck Purchase the best..............-. Avoid diseased stocks, Old ones not objectionable. Transporting bees. CHAPTER XXVL CONCLUSION.—340 PREFACE. One who for thirty-five consecutive years has succeed- ed in keeping bees, and has been able, most of that time, to count his stocks by hundreds, can hardly fail to furnish something from his experience, that will be bene- ficial and interesting to others; and he will doubtless be pardoned for attempting to teach those who may desire to avail themselves of his knowledge, and thus avoid the tedious process of acquiring it for themselves. Twelve years ago the author explained some of the “Mysteries of Bee-keeping,” to the public. The simple, practical and comprehensible instructions given, have met with abundant favor among old practical bee-keepers, and interested thousands who are now keeping bees with de- cided success. The greater number of bees kept, the increased quantity and improved appearance of the honey in our markets, encourage the belief that many who have at present no adequate conception of the immense annual waste of this delicious production, may yet be induced to make an ef- fort to save a still greater proportion of it. It will not be pretended that such immense numbers of bees may be kept in any particular section of the United States, as are reported to prosper in some parts of Europe, (2000 hives to the square mile,) but no one will deny that hun- dreds of. thousands of stock might be profitably added to the present amount. It has been estimated that on an average, every acre will produce its pound of honey. New York alone contains 30,000,000 acres. Shall we suffer this enormous loss of the gifts of a beneficient Crea x : PREFACE. tor, without an effort to secure to ourselves and the com- munity, so valuable and vast a treasure? All that is necessary, is sufficient encouragement and knowledge of the subject. Enough has already been done to show that the estimate is sufficiently near the truth to be taken as a base for fu- ture calculations. An area of a few square miles in the writer’s vicinity, has, in some favorable seasons, furnished for market over 20,000 lbs. surplus honey. Had a propor- tional quantity been collected in all other places in the United States, we could count the proceeds by millions of dollars instead of a few hundreds or thousands. The author does not offer this improved edition because he supposes that people would be unable to keep bees without it, but with the hope that those who are already doing well, may do better. .A person who wishes to make the most possible from his bees can hardly afford to dis- pense with the benefit of any experience that will aid him. The instructions found in the periodicals of the day are often not to be depended upon. A score of bee-keepers, each of limited experience, will give as many different methods, and an editor equally inexperienced, is usually unable to discriminate between them. The simplest di- rections of a reliable practical bee-keeper who studies the science with an honest enthusiasm, are invaluable to the tyro in apiarian knowledge. To benefit the largest possible class, the author has en- deavored to be practical rather than scientific, and has aimed at no elegance of style or diction, preferring that the merit of the book should lie in its simplicity and reliability. M. QUINBY, St. Johnsville, N. ¥., April, 1865. ILLUSTRATIONS. Queen Bees cssceasca’ pee nhaanseatamange ct cebseaee sutoniibeitannmeeans Regard of the Worker for the use Worker Bee.........+eeeeeees meee vette SwNe aT SaGamee Ries Drone Bee...... issih isiaterenpsersare siaip nia eee Dalnmtenstameleiiaa wie, les a vesttiontnaases wale Brood from a Drone Queen in Worker Cells... ; Comb showing the different shape of Cells, when an atlempt is made i raise Queens from Drone Brood. .... ins Zaps gia babishnkeiornsta ye doabonnehene aieisterss: eee eaimeioaal BO. OvariesiOf thé QueEDs.vcesc seein caas cxcKiedeiiew ne eameemamedianies a Pal cields ein . 41 Roof........- xesoag ee severe aiagilase, Pisperaci aetesatersts Ou ealejesateee Scateae eres yoina ealeelenste 65 Simp!e movable Comb Hive « 5 seen Movable Frame......e0scceeeeceerencrccees sais Sata os base Wire braces to support Frames ............eeseeeeee ES sso ieisrvioee os a letesntieee 70 Honey Board......- & BBWwARE Hees eelese eager . Straw Hive for Winter... .....seeeee ae iialy Rasials Bee House swine csaitcveeenan . sieves anesiauaaaes aves wacces Bee HO ase iinsies wie cies bis cis Se ole eed Bipejstsine ne dao awe west Bee House....... Hives arranged in a hedge............ Meeiies ay aiee eral sie SGOSS mine RRA wees POGUE Pitcssetacriinaricnee garages nag inerseay a Worm Gallery in the Comb........... Moth-Worm........--sseeeeeeeceseree vee Tool for killing Worms Cluster of Queen Cells..... 0.06 .-.. 00 ceeeeeee Bag for Hiving Bees..............-ss cress vtaw econ Frames to hold Boxes inside the Hive. .........--.-s+e00- sae: dis win asedindener 192 Tools for Pruning ; Bee Hat ...... wnusienis Bee Moth... ccccacccccvcccccncrene csp smesesenesesesase pres near anes seer sreeeeuaod Worm Gallery removed from the Comb........... shaleigie plasiinrarisieis saieernnaeeeead Cocoons of the Moth Worm......... Cal piaiesid erase wadiaeie sien ase Beare Abdomen of the Bee, enlarged, showing the scales of Wax........0.+ Transferred Combs........+2.+008 aoapane aes a sisiaeshceetea iia; Laigle aialavete eee sae 261 Fumigator..... uietalofatd o'e s6js\ais sia ecgsoleyat atWie, she) Wraiecaieibie atata Ge Mia eisipie Orn ale Motoin eidinia aisle com ene Comb ¢éontaining Brood from which to raise Queens........- see eeveeceee 06323 No. 34 Inserted in a Comb ready for the rearing box..,.......+ gassiajeairive tele Oe Queen Cells made on such COMD.....-seseeeseeeeeseee sens weabawieesaneae sae B20 CHAPTER ILI INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Every prosperous swarm or family of bees must con- tain one queen, several thousand workers, and part of the year, a few hundred drones. DESCRIPTION OF QUEEN. The Queen is the mother of the entire colony. Her only duty seems to be to lay eggs, of which she sometimes deposits two thousand in twenty-four hours. In shape, she resembles the worker more than the drone, but is longer than either, and like the worker possesses a sting, but will not use it upon anything below royalty. Her color upon the upper side is darker than that of the others; the two posterior legs and under side are of a bright copper color. In some of them a yellow stripe nearly encircles the ab- domen at the joints. All the colors are bright and glossy, and she has but little of the down or hair that is seen on the drones and workers. Different queens vary much Fig. 1.—QUEEN. in’ color, some being much darker than others. A still greater variation is presented in the Italian queens, most of which are of a rich golden color, while a few are even darker than the usual shade of the natives. For the first few days after leaving the cell her size is much less than after she has assumed her maternal duties. She seldom, perhaps never, leaves the hive, except when leading out a swarm, and when but a few days old to mect the drone for the purpose of fecundation. 18 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. AGE OF QUEENS—THEIR OFFICE. The average age attained by the queen is about three years. The idea that the queen governs the colony, and directs all their operations, is probably totally erroneous. They manifest a certain regard and affection for her, how- Fig. 2.—REGARD OF THE WORKERS FOR THE QUEEN. ever, and a half dozen or so may often be seen gathered around her, as shown in the accompanying cut. They will, when destitute of a queen, continue their labors with as much system and regularity, as when one is present, although she is necessary to insure their permanent prosperity. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 19 WORKERS, All labor devolves on the Workers. These are provided with a sac or bag for gathering honey, and basket-like cavities on their posterior legs in which to pack the pollen of the flowers in little pellets for carrying it home to the hive. They range the fields for honey and pollen, secrete wax, construct combs, prepare food to nurse the young, bring water, obtain propolis to seal up all Fig 3.worxer. crevices and flaws about the hive, stand guard to keep out intruders, ete. Huber and some others divide the workers into classes, such as wax-workers, pollen-gatherers, nurses, etc., but it is very difficult to believe that any such distinctions exist. For the defence of their treasures and themselves, they are provided with a sting and a virulent poison, but will not use it when abroad, if unmolested; they volunteer an at- tack only when near the hive. They are all females with undeveloped organs of generation, yet they possess enough of the maternal instinct to make them good nurses for the brood of the real mother. For nearly two weeks after the young worker emerges from its cell, it is almost exclusive- ly engaged within the hive; thereafter, it assists in collect- ing stores. AGE OF THE WORKER. Its age varies from one to eight months, according to the season in which it is hatched. In the busiest season it lives but a few weeks, but when hatched at the beginning of cool weather, its life is extended several months, DRONES, The Drones are the males; their bodies are large and clumsy, and without the symmetry of the queen and worker. Their buzzing when on-the wing is loud, and different from 20 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. that of the workers. They have no sting, and may be taken in the fingers with impunity. They scem to be of the least valuable class in the bee community; they assist sometimes, in keeping up the necessary animal heat in the hive; but one only, out of thousands, is ac: tually serviceable in fecundating the queen The number reared depends upon the Fig. 4—pRoxE. strength of the colony, and the stores on hand or being collected. AGE OF DRONES. Whenever a scarcity of honey occurs, they are all des- troyed. Thus their lite is very precarious, being sometimes limited to a few hours, or extended to a few days, weeks or months; but averaging much less than that of the workers. PREPARATIONS FOR SWARMING. In the spring and early part of summer, when nearly all the combs are empty, and food is abundant, the becs rear brood more extensively than at any other period. The hive soon becomes crowded with bees, and royal cells are constructed, in which to raise queens. When some of these young queens are sufficiently advanced to be sealed over, the old one, and the greater part of the workers, leave for a new location, (termed swarming,) leaving those remaining to maintain the prosperity of the hive. They soon collect in a cluster, and if put into an empty hive, commence anew their labors, constructing combs, rearing brood, and storing honey, to be abandoned the following year, as before. THE NATURE OF BEES SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD. We should fully understand that the nature of the bee, found under any circumstances, climate, or condition, is the same. Instincts first implanted by the Creator, have INTRODUOTORY REMARKS. 21 come unimpaired through millions of generations to the present day, and will continue unchanged. To gratify our acquisitiveness, we have forced them to labor under every disadvantage ; yes, we have compelled them to sacrifice their industry, their prosperity, and even their lives, but they have never yielded their instincts. We may destroy life, but cannot improve or change their na- ture; the laws that govern them are fixed and immutable, Spring returns to its annual task, dissolves the frost and warms into life nature’s dormant powers. Flowers, with a smile of joy expand their delicate petals in grateful thanks, while the stamens sustain upon their tapering points the anthers covered with the fertilizing pollen, and the pistil springs from a cup of liquid nectar, and the delicious fragrance imparted to every breeze, invites the bee as with a thousand tongues to the sumptuous ban- quet. She does not need any stimulus from man as an inducement to partake of the feast;- without his aid she visits each cup of wasting swectness, and secures the tiny drop, while the superabundant farina, dislodged from the nodding anthers, covers her body to be brushed together and kneaded into bread. All she requires at the hand of man, is a suitable storehouse for her treasures. Industry isa part of bee nature. If, when their tenement is supplied with all things necessary to take them safely through the winter, and there is no necessity for continued labor, we furnish them additional room, they assiduously toil to fill it up. Rather than to pass their time in idleness, during a bounteous yield of honey, they will sometimes deposit their surplus in combs outside of the hive, or under the stand. This inherent industry lies at the foundation of all the advantages in bee-keeping, consequently our hives must be constructed with this end in view; but at the same time we must not interfere with other require- ments of their nature. Their peculiar traits mentioned in 22 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. this chapter, will be more fully discussed in different parts of this work, as appears to be called for, where proof will be offered to sustain the positions here assumed, which are as yet mere assertions. CHAPTER II. PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. IMPERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD. Comparatively few people have a very definite idea of the time and manner of rearing brood. Many persons who have kept bees for years have bestowed so little attention upon this point that they are unable to tell at what time they commence, how they progress, or when they cease. They have an idea that one swarm, and occasionally two or three, is reared sometime in June, or the early part of summer, and this comprises their whole knowledge of the subject. Whether the drones deposit the eggs, or some of the workers are females, and each raises one or two, or the “king bee” is a common parent of the eggs, is quite beyond their ability to decide. It is hardly necessary to inform observing apiarians that the queen is the mother of the whole family. WHEN THEY BEGIN TO REAR BROOD. The period at which she commences depositing eggs probably depends on the strength of the colony, amount of honey on hand, etc., and not upon the time when gath- ering food begins. Strong colonies frequently begin to rear brood by Christmas. When sweeping out the litter under the hives as early as the first of March, young bees may often be found under the best stocks. Observa- PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING, 23 tion shows that there is but little time when our best colonies have no brood—seldom more than two months. Yet stocks when very weak do not commence until warm weather. It seems that a certain degree of warmth is necessary to perfect the brood, and this a small family ran not generate. HOW BREEDING IS DONE IN SMALL COLONIES, Ina small family, the first eggs are deposited in the centre of the cluster of bees; it may not be in the centre of the hive in all cases, but the middle of the cluster wherever it chances to be located, is the warmest place. Here the queen will commence; a space not larger than a dollar is first used, and the cells exactly opposite on the same comb are next occupied. If there is sufficient warmth in the hive, produced either by warm weather or generated by the bees, she will then fill a spot on the adjoining combs corresponding with the first, but not quite as large. The circle of eggs in the first comb is then enlarged, and more added to the next, and so on, continuing to spread, and keeping the distance from the center to the outside of the space occupied by eggs about equal on all sides, until they oceupy the entire surface of the comb. Long before the outer edge is occupied, the first eggs deposited are ma- tured, and the queen returns to the centre and uses these cells again, but she is not as particular this time to fill so many in exact order as at first, though with the Italian queen the brood is always very compact. This is the gen- eral process with small families. I have removed the bees from such in all stages of breeding, and have always found their proceedings as described. THE PROCESS DIFFERENT IN LARGE FAMILIES. In very large families their proceedings are different. As any part of the cluster of bees is warm enough for 24 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING, breeding, there is less necessity for economizing heat, and confining all the eggs to one small spot, and some unoccu- pied cells will be found among the brood, and a few will contain honey and bee-bread. But in the breeding season, a circle of cells, an inch or two wide, containing bee- bread, borders the sheets of comb containing brood. As bee-bread is probably the principal food of the young bee, it is thus very convenient. LAYING. When pollen is abundant, and the swarm is in prosper- ous condition, they soon reach the outside sheets of comb with the brood. At this period, when the hive is about full, and the queen is forced to the outside combs to find a place for her eggs, it is interesting to witness her opera- tions in a glass hive. I have seen her several times in one day on a piece of comb next the glass. The light has no immediate effect upon her, as she will quictly continue about her duty, not the least embarrassed by curious eyes at the window. I have frequently lifted out a comb on which an Italian queen was engaged in laying, without interrupting her in the least. Before depositing an egg she enters the cell head first, probably to ascertain if it is in proper condition, as a cell part filled with bee-bread or honey is never used. When a cell is ready to receive the egg, on withdrawing her head, she immediately curves her abdomen, and inserts it. After a few seconds she leaves the cell, when an egg may be seen attached by one end to ‘the bottom. It is about one-sixteenth of an inch in length, slightly curved, very small, nearly uniform the whole length, abruptly rounded at the ends, semi-transparent, and cov- ered with a very thin and delicate coat, which will often break at the slightest touch. tw or PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING, WHEN THE EGGS IATCH. After the egg has been in“the cell about three days, a small white worm may be seen coiled in the bottom, sur- rounded by a milk-like substance, which, without doubt, isits food. How this food is prepared is mere conjecture. The supposition is that is chiefly composed of pollen; this is strongly indicated by the quantity which accumulates in hives that lose their queen and rear no brood—that is, when a requisite number of workers is left. The workers may be seen entering the cell every few minutes, probably to supply this food. When the comb in the glass hive is new and white, these operations can be seen more distinct- ly than when it is old and dark. In about sfx days after the worm hatches, it is sealed . over with a convex waxen lid. It is now hidden from our- sight for about twelve days, when it bites off the cover, and comes forth a perfect bee. The period from the egg to the perfect bee varies from twenty to twenty-four days, averaging about twenty-one for workers, and twenty-four for drones. The temperature of the hive will vary some- what with the atmosphere; it is also governed by the number of bees. A low temperature probably retards the development, while a high one facilitates it. ROUGH TREATMENT OF THE YOUNG BEES. There have been some amusing accounts of the assiduous attentions given to the young bee when it first emerges from the cell. It is said that ‘they lick it all over, feed it with honey,” etc., as if wonderfully pleased with their acquisition. If any one expects to see any thing of this kind, he must watch a little closer than have. I have seen hundreds when biting their way out, and instead of care or attention, they often receive rather rough treat- ment. The workers intent on other matters, will some- - times come in contact with one part way out of the cell, 2 26 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. with force sufficient to almost dislocate its neck, yet they do not stop to see if any harm is done, or to beg pardon. The little sufferer, after this rude lesson, scrambles back as soon as possible out of the way, enlarges the prison door a little, and again attempts to emerge, with perhaps the same result; a dozen trials are often made before it suc- ceeds. When it does leave, it seems like a stranger in a multitude, with no friend to counsel, or mother to direct. It wanders about uncared for and unheeded, and rarely finds one sufficiently benevolent to bestow even the neces- saries of life. It is generally forced to learn the important lesson of looking out for itself, the day it leaves the cradle. A cell containing honey is sought for, where its immediate wants are all supplied. sy TIME BEFORE THE YOUNG BEE COMMENCES LABOR. Some have said that it would leave the hive for honey on the day it left the cell. Since the introduction of the Italian, we can determine this point very accurately by noting the day when the first one hatches, and also when the first one comes home loaded. It is seldom less than seven, and quite often fourteen days before they are thus seen. Some tell us, too, that after the bees seal over the cells containing the larvee, ‘‘ they immediately commence spinning their cocoons, which takes just about thirty-six hours.” I think it very likely, but cannot imagine how it was determined. I do not possess optical acuteness to look into one of these cells after it is sealed over. Sup- pose we drive away the bees and open the cell to examine the interior: the little insect stops its labor in a moment, probably disturbed by the air and light. Inever could detect one at work. Suppose we open these cells every hour after sealing, can we tell any thing about their pro- gress by the appearance of these cocoons, or even tell when they are finished? The thickness of a dozen would PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 27 not exceed that of common writing paper. It would be interesting to know how these particulars were ascertained, or whether they are simply surmises. When the bee leaves the cell, a cocoon remains, and that is about all we know concerning it. TERMS APPLIED TO YOUNG BEES. The young bee when it first leaves the egg, is termed a grub, maggot, worm, or larva ; from this state it changes to the shape of the perfect bee, which is said to be three days after finishing the cocoon. From the time of this change, till it is ready to leave the cell, the terms nymph, pupa, and chrysalis, are applied. The lid of the drone cell is rather more convex than that of the worker, and when removed by the young bee in working its way out, is left nearly perfect, being cut off around the edges; a coat or lining of silk keeps it whole. The covering of the worker cell is mostly wax, and is pretty well cut to pieces by the time the bee gets out. The covering to the queen cell is like that of the drone cell, but of greater diameter, and thicker, being lined with a little more silk. TIME FROM THE EGG TO THE MATURE QUEEN. The time in which an egg originally destined for a queen will mature, will not vary much from sixteen days ; but when larve that are started as workers, are taken, there will often be a variation. All of the three kinds of bees remain in the egg form three or four days; then in the grub form for five or six, partaking of food, after which they are sealed up. When bees are deprived of a queen, and have mear:s to rear another, they select such brood as will produce one in the shortest time. Give them a piece of comb containing eggs just laid, some two or three days old, larvee just hatched, and some vary- ing in age from one to five days, and the first cells made 28 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. will probably be over the larvee about four days old, and in ten days a queen will have matured. To insure the possession of a queen, they may afterwards begin several others, perhaps use some of the eggs, or some that were eggs when the comb was given them ; but if the first queen hatches, she makes it her business to destroy all immature ones. SIMILARITY OF QUEEN AND WORKER EGGS. The fact that queens raised in this way seem to possess all the requisites of those raised in swarming hives, indi- cates that the eggs laid in worker and queen cells are all alike. It also gives rise to the idea with many modern writers, that all eggs for both queens and workers are laid in worker cells, and transferred to queen cells when wanted there. The antipathy of one queen towards another, al- though an immature one, and her own offspring, is thought sufficient to prevent her depositing eggs in these cells. Now, without sufficient evidence to be able to deny this positively, I must content myself with merely expressing a disbelief. I would like to say that I do not believe that the bees ever remove an egg or larva from a worker to a queen cell. For several years I have raised queens artifi- cially by the hundred, in small queen boxes. In nearly all the boxes, there would be some queen cells in that stage of progress when it would be supposed that such transfer would be desirable. I have watched diligently and never yet discovered it. Whenever a queen has been raised, the egg or larva was in the cell when given to the bees, and the workers always changed or enlarged a common cell to a queen cell. The shape of the cell depends on the position of the comb from which it is made; if from a comb with cells of ordinary length, they are enlarged, lengthened, and turned downward. If the cells are not very deep, or are near the lower edge of the comb where there is abundant room to turn them down, . PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 29 the enlargement and change of direction will be made very soon after they decide upon making a queen of it. SHORT CELLS USUALLY TAKEN FOR REARING QUEENS, In swarming hives, whenever the bees decide on rearing queens, cells that are short like those on the lower edge of comb not completed, or on the side, seem to be preferred, and quite a number are often built close together. Mr. Harbison has, I understand, patented the manner of introducing the piece of comb containing brood from which queens are to be reared. It is simply to place the comb with brood in a horizontal position, thus bringing the cell vertical, and save the bees the trouble of making a crooked cell. The young bee thus stands on its head like a young queen, during this period of its existence. He does not claim that this makés it a queen, but that from the same number of eggs, more queens will be raised. I have watched such combs with considerable interest, when side by side with a piece of comb placed the other way, with abundant room directly underside, without dis- covering that a larger number of queens was produced, or that théwere any larger or better. WHEN THE QUEEN LEAVES THE HIVE TO MEET THE DRONE. In about six days after the queen has left her cell, if no competitors are in the way, she leaves the hive to meet the drone. I presume that it does not make much differ- ence whether she has been reared in a large swarming hive, or in a small box particularly designed for rearing queens. The meeting takes place high in the air. Very few have ever pretended that they have witnessed the connection. A few years ago, I saw a statement naming two individuals who had witnessed it. As one of them was a perfect stranger to me, perhaps I ought to qualify my opinion, and say that it 7s possible ; but the other one 30 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. I happen to know is not perfectly reliable in all things, and if the truth in this case, is to be established upon Azs testimony, I fear it will lack support. The queen upon her return, frequently bears evident marks of her connection with the drone, and usually be- gins to lay in two days afterwards, and continues through- out the season, unless some special interruption occurs. NUMBER OF EGGS THAT A QUEEN WILL LAY. The number of eggs that she will lay in twenty-four hours, is a subject on which all writers do not yet agree, probably owing to the fact that the number varies from one or two hundred to three thousand, Take a queen that has been reared in a small box, and she will soon fill all the combs after she begins, and when there is no occasion for laying many, there ‘are less deposited. She remains small in size, and seems to adapt herself, partially at least, to the necessities of the colony ; but this same queen, | in- troduced to a strong colony with suitable combs, in a honey season, will, in less than a week, greatly increase in size, so as hardly to be recognized, and will deposit two or three thousand eggs daily. This statement@when first heard, is received with a very large margin by almost every one: “the thing seems impossible ;” and yet a little patient observation convinces the most skeptical. I have had a colony in an observatory hive, where every egg de- posited could be seen. Visitors have frequently counted the eggs as deposited, for ten or fifteen minutes, and all have estimated the number laid in twenty-four hours to be over three thousand. Mr. Harbison says: “ During the past season I worked a number of queens to their full ca- pacity for producing eggs, in strong colonies, by frequently changing combs from which brood had just emerged in artificial swarms where the queen had not yet become fer- tile, for combs stocked with eggs and larve, stimulating PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. bl them constantly by keeping them well supplied with food, when honey abroad became scarce. I put two of these combs, being about twelve inches wide, by fifteen or six- teen deep, into a strong colony, where the queen was very prolific. Over two-thirds of the cells were empty. when put in, and within four or five days they were all stocked with eggs, except a few that were stored with pollen. This was by no means a single occurrence. It was repeated again, and again, making at least 10,000 eggs laid in four or five days.” A person desirous of approximating to the number or eggs deposited, without being able to actually count them, can make an estimate as follows. It will satisfy him that a queen is the mother: If we examine a thrifty stock in the height of the breeding season we shall find the combs filled with brood, amounting frequently to three-quarters of all in the hive, By observing the number of cells to the square inch, it is easy to get the number to the square foot, then multiply this by the’number of the combs in a hive, and we shall have the whole number of cells. For example, a piece of worker comb one inch square contains about fifty cells, including those on both sides. At this rate, a piece twelve inches square contains over 7000. Sup- pose a hive contains eight such combs, and that 120 square inches of éach comb are used for brood, we have eight times 120 square inches of brood—960—fifty to the square inch would multiply into 48,000 cells. One or two of these combs would contain cells for drones, which are a little larger, and the number would be thus somewhat reduced. Also some might be empty, the young bee having just left them, and a few here and there might be occupied with bee- bread or honey. Admitting the necessary deduction to be one quarter, we would have left 36,000 cells actually occu- pied at one time with brood in various stages of develop- ment ! We must remember that the time from the egg to 82 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. the mature bee, is not over twenty-five days at most; hence all that are in the cells now, must have been put there by the queen within the last twenty-five days! This gives an average of nearly 1500 per day! , It is common to find estimates that a single female will lay from 70,000 to 100,000 in a season. One says 90,000 in three months ; most writers are apt to confound the number matured with the number laid. Let the number laid be what it may, thousands are never perfected. During the spring months, in medium and small stocks where the bees can protect but few combs with animal heat, I have often found cells containing a plurality of eggs, two, three, and occasionally four in one cell. These supernumeraries must be removed, and may frequently be found in the dust on the bottom board.* Another portion of eggs is wasted whenever a supply of their food fails. If we remove the bees from a stock dur- ing a scarcity, when the hive is light, we will be very likely to find hundreds of eggs in the cells and only very few ad- vancing from that stage toward maturity. I have thus found it in autumn, in July, sometimes the first of June, and in fact, at any time when the maturing of the brood would be likely to exhaust their stores, and endanger the supply of the family. Now instead of the fertility of the queen being greater in the spring and first of summer than at other times, as we are often told, I would suggest that a greater abundance of food at this season, and a greater number of empty cells, may be the reason that more bees are matured. * This is a good test of the presence of a queen. Sweep off the board clean, and look a day or two after, for these eggs. Take care that antsor mice have no chance to get them; they are as fond of eggs for breakfiust as any one, and might deceive you by removing the eggs. When any eggs or immature bees are found, no further proof of the presence of a queen is needed. PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 33 WHEN DRONES ARE REARED. Whenever the hive is well supplied with honey and bees, eggs are deposited in the drone cells. WHEN QUEENS ARE REARED IN SWARMING IIVES, Also, at the proper season, when the hive becomes crowded with bees, and honey is plenty, the preparations for young queens commence. As the first step towards swarming, from one to twenty royal cells are begun, and when about half completed, the queen (if the conditions continue favorable,) will deposit eggs in them.* These are glued fast by one end like those for the workers. When hatched, the little worm is supplied with a superabun- dance of food; this appears from the fact that I have frequently found a quantity remaining in the cell after the queen had left. The consistence of this substance is about like cream, the color some lighter, or just tinged with yel- low. If it were thin like water, or-even honey, I cannot imagine how it could be made to stay in the upper end of an inverted cell of that size, in such quantities as are put in. Sometimes a cell of this kind will contain this food, and no worm to feed upon it. I surmise that the bees have compounded more than their present necessities re- quire, and stored it there to have it ready ; also, that being there, all might know for whom it was designed. The taste is said to be “more pungent,” than that of the food given to the worker, and the difference in food is assumed to change the bee from a worker to a queen. It can not be the shape of the cell, because I have known queens to be raised in cells that could not be distinguished from worker cells, by ordinary observers. *I do not assert this positively. All my observations indicate it, yet I have never seen her in the act. Q* 34 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. WHEN QUEENS AND DRONES ARE DESTROYED BEFORE SWARMING. If from any cause, honey fails so far as to make the ex- istence of a swarm in any way hazardous, the preparations are abandoned, and these young queens destroyed, in all stages from the egg to maturity. When an occurrence like this takes place, the drones next fall victims to the failure of honey. A brief existence only is theirs; such as are perfect, are destroyed without mercy, and those in the chrysalis state are often dragged out and sacrificed to the necessities of the colony. Such as are allowed to hatch, instead of being fed and protected as they would be if honey were abundant, are permitted while yet weak from the effects of hunger, to wander from the hive, and fall to the earth by hundreds.* These results attend only a scarcity in the early part of the season. The massacre of July and September is quite different. The drones then have age and strength ; an effort is apparently first made by the workers to drive them out without proceeding to extremes; they are ha- rassed sometimes for several days, the workers feigning only to sting, but very few are dispatched in that way; yet there is evidence proving beyond doubt that the sting is sometimes used. Hundreds will often be collected to- gether in a compact body at the bottom of the hive; this mutual protection affording a few hours’ respite from their tormenters, who do not cease to worry them. In a few days they are gone, and it is difficult to tell what has be- come of them. If the hive is well supplied with honey in September, some of the drones have a longer lease of life given them. JI have seen them as late as December. When the best hives are poorly supplied with stores, the bees will rear no drones the ensuing spring, until the *The destruction of drones at this time does not prove that there will not be any swarms, as some have asserted; but it shows that there isa scarcity of honey, and that swarming is put off indefinitely. if not altogether. PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 35 flowers yield a good supply. I have known one or two years in which no drones appeared before the last of June; at other times, thousands are matured by the first of May. THE OLD QUEEN LEAVES WITIE THE FIRST SWARM. The old queen leaves with the first swarm, and as soon as cells are ready in the new hive, she deposits her eggs: in them, at first for workers, the number corresponding with the supply of honey and size of the swarm. When the supply of honey fails before the time for leaving the old stock, she will remain there, and continue laying through- out the season. WHAT BECOMES OF THE BEES WHEN NO SWARM ISSUES. As many bees die or are lost during their excursions, as are replaced by the young ones. In fact they often di- minish in number rather than increase; so that by the next spring a hive that has cast no swarm is no better for a stock, than one from which a swarm has issued. We are apt to be deceived by bees clustering outside, towards the latter end of the season, and suppose it hardly possi- ble for them to get in, when in fact it may be caused by hot weather, full stores, ete. WHEN A YOUNG QUEEN TAKES THE PLACE OF THE OLD ONE. In ordinary circumstances when a swarm has left a stock, the oldest of the young queens is ready to emerge from her cell in about seven or eight days; if no second swarm is sent out she will take her mother’s place, and begin to lay eggs in about eight days. Two or three weeks is all the time in the whole summer in which eggs can not be found in all prosperous hives. NUMBER OF DRONES. The relative. number of drones and workers, when the latter are most numerous, doubtless depends on the size 36 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. of the hive. When a swarm is just hived, the first cells constructed are of the size for workers. If the hive be very small, and bees numerous, it may be filled before they are fully aware of it, and but few drone cells be built ; consequently but few drones can be raised. If the hive be large, considerable honey will be stored, and cells for storing honey are usually of the size intended for drones, and these will be made as soon as the requisite number for workers is provided. It is said that more drone cells are made when the queen is quite old. An abundant yield of honey during the process of filling a large hive, would also cause a greater proportion of these cells to be built. The amount of drone brood being gov- erned by the same cause, is also a strong argument against large hives, as affording room for too many of these cells, where an unnecessary number of drones might be reared, thus causing a useless expenditure of honey, ete. THEORIES RELATIVE TO DRONES. It is now determined that an egg deposited by an ordina- ry queen, in a drone cell, becomes a drone, and ina worker cell, a worker, I know that theories differing very ma- terially from the foregoing, are advanced by nearly all writers. One says: “In spring the queen lays about two thousand eggs of males, resumes it again in August, but during the rest of the intervals she exclusively lays worker eggs. The queen must be at least eleven months old be- fore she begins to lay the eggs of males.” Dr. Bevan says, ‘the great laying of drone eggs usually commences about the end of April.” All these theories are at fault. It is proved beyond dispute that drone eggs are laid at all seasons whenever the condition of the hive will warrant it. But there are those who have investigated farther, and who give us another theory : that the eggs for the two kinds of bees are produced separately, and that the queen PHYSIOLOGY AND BRIEEDING. 37 knows when each kind is ready, and the workers know it also. The fact that all eggs laid in drone cells will produce drones and nothing else, is to be accounted for. There is no possibility of setting this aside. The attempt to rear a er eae it queens from such has so utterly failed with my- self and others, that we have no longer any hope y of success. The reason ’ undoubtedly is, that eggs laid in drone cells are not impregnated, Queens with faulty wings, or otherwise unable to fly Ki = out to meet the drones, ig. 5.\—BROOD FROM A DRONE QUEEN % IN WORKER CELLS. or such as are raised late in the season, when no drones exist, are certain to prove drone layers; every egg they deposit, whether in worker or drone cells, produces a drone. I have frequently, since obtaining the Italian, reared queens intentionally late in the season, that I may have drone-laying queens for the purpose of raising early drones. Such failed to meet the drones, and were drone layers in cgnsequence.* When- ever the brood of the fertile workers has matured, it has proved to be drones.t No one will pretend that these *A drone queen, when laying in worker cells, does it more irregularly, or the bees do not nurse all that are laid. About half the cells are sealed over after being lengthened at least one-third. Ithas been recommended to “destroy such a queen and substitute another; and as the combs are worthless, destroy them, and let the bees build new.” Ihave found these combs as good as new ones, and would advise retaining them. +I never witnessed the phenomenon of a fertile worker until after I had been raising Italian queens in the small rearing boxes for sometime. I had used clean drone comb in several of them, and in some that had been without a queen a long time, I discovered eggs in the cells. Some contained as many as six, put in rather uningeniously, asif it were the work ofa novice. Some were sticking 38 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. have become impregnated. All this indicates, if it does not prove conclusively, that all drone eggs are unimpreg- nated. There is still another indication that they are not impregnated. The Italian queen that has met the native drone, and brings forth a mixed progeny of workers— half Italian and half native—will produce just as pure drones as her mother, or one that has never met the drone. Does not this militate against any theory that the vivify- ing influence is incorporated with the egg in its formation? on the side, half way to the bottom, and others were on different parts of the bottom. Some of the cells contained larve pretty well advanced, and that eventually matured into apparently perfect drones. A day or two after, on tak- ing out a comb, I found a worker in the very act of laying. Her abdomen was inserted its whole length, her head, thorax, and wings being all that was visible ofherbody. She was not disturbed at all by the removal of the comb, but con- tinued the important operation of deposiling an egg, the gravity of her counte- nance indicating that she considered herself the important personage of the colony \\ . y Ser... con LT Oe TI S aS i ot £GOCS: . (COOK! C c re al 7, 0 etn a uy] ye 17 Fig. 6.—COMB SHOWING THE DIFFERENT SHAPE OF CELLS WHEN AN AT- TEMPT IS MADE TO RAISE A QUEEN FROM DRONE BROOD. by being elevated to the dignity of becoming the mother of a drone. I found that the length of time required by her to deposit an egg was three or four times greater than that usually occupied by a queen. A day or two after, I caught three dignified matrons at one time engaged in this all important and not-to-be deferred business, and afterwards observed several others thus occupied. [ noticed that the phenomenon was usually produced by keeping the little colony PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 39 This principle is of immense value to all who would Itali- anize their apiaries. To account for their not being impregnated, especially those laid by a perfect queen, Mr. Langstroth says: MR. WAGNER'S THEORY. “My friend, Mr. Samuel Wagner, of York, Pa., has ad- vanced a highly ingenious theory, which accounts for all the facts, without admitting that the queen has any special knowledge or will on the subject. He supposes that when she deposits her eggs in the worker cells, her body is slightly compressed by their sides, thus causing the eggs as they pass the spermatheca to receive its vivifying influ- ence. On the contrary, when she is laying in drone cells, as this compression can not take place, the mouth of the spermatheca is kept closed, and the eggs are necessarily unfecundated.” Mr. Harbison replies that he has no faith in this “very plausible theory,” and thinks that “facts, further experience and observation, will. demonstrate its fallacy.” It appears that it is easier for him.to pull down than to build up, because, after showing the weakness of some days longer without a queen, and that they must be provided with plenty of drone cells. I never knew them to lay in worker cells. The instinct that prompts the desire to preserve the colony from destruction, inspires efforts to which nature will not grant success. They even endeavor to rear queens from these eggs, on some occasions. The great wonder is, why a worker should lay atall. The only solution that I can offer at present is, that the knowledge of, or grief at the loss of their mother, changes the internal structure of a mature bee, and develops eggs sufficiently vitalized to hatch drones.: The theory that worker layers were raised near a queen cell, and by accident were fed a little royal pap, will not explain it at all. These workers were taken from a colony that had never raised a queen, and they probably never thought of depositing an egg so long as the queen was present. If this great anxiety for the mother was any less, they might sometimes neglect to avail themselves of the means of provid- ing one, when they had the power. The phenomenon of other insects than the bee, producing young without direct impregnation may be witnessed in the aphis, (Plant louse.) Not only one, but several generations of females, are brought forth in succession, Towards the end of the season a few males are produced, which continue the species for a few months longer. ° 40 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. this theory, he offers one, that, to me, appears still more fallacious, and still more beset with difficulties. He states as objections to Mr. Wagner’s theory, first : “‘ that the ab- domen of the queen, where the sac is situated, is so small, that when thrust even to the bottom of the worker’s cell, it cannot be sufficiently compr essed to impregnate the egg as represented, in passing its mouth.’ Again: “ When the old queen is hived with a swarm, she commences lay- ing eggs as cells are ready, and often lays in worker cells when only one-eighth of an inch high. Is it possible that the abdomen of the queen receives any pressure from the sides of the cells whilst in the act of thrusting her ovipos- itor into the cell to deposit the egg?” We goes back to the theory of periodical drone-egg laying, not to the ex- tent of limiting it to two periods in the season, but to certain periods. He says, in substance (I condense his remarks on this point), that he thinks it highly probable that the queen knows that an egg in a drone cell will bring forth a drone; knows when it is proper to raise drones, ete. Who ever saw eggs laid in drone cells in mid-winter or early in spring, until nearly time for swarming? Yet all strong stocks raise brood from January until summer. He has “ cut holes in a worker comb and inserted corres- ponding pieces of drone comb which remained empty while all around would be filled with worker brood, etc., proving that no drone eggs are laid until the general simultaneous laying of all strong colonies. He gives us his concluding theory which I quote at length. MR. ITARBISON’S THEORY. “ At present, 1 shall content myself with believing that a sufficient portion of the seminal fluid to cause the egg to germinate, is incorporated with it in its formation. The eggs to produce drones or males are generated in, or pro- duced from one side or branch of the ovaries, and those PILTYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 41 producing females from the other side. We find that the ovaries are separated into two equal parts, (according to Swammerdam, after whom Langstroth copies,) having no connection whatever, except that the contents of each branch is discharged through the common oviduct or pas- sage. Over the outlets of the passages or oviducts open- ing from each of these divisions into the main channel. or common oviduct, the queen has full control, and fully understands that eggs from the one division will produce drones, and from the other, workers; and the anomaly of drone-laying queens arises from the imperfect development of that Dare of ovaries which produces eggs for workers.” Let us see what there is in support of the two theories. He believes that there is enough seminal fluid to cause the egg to generate, incorporated with it in its formation. Yet in another place he admits that the queen is provided with a receptacle for the male ele- ment, and doubts that any eggs are ever hatched that are not impregnated di- rect, in the following lan- guage. “ That this is true, permit me at present to doubt ; its assumptions are too extravagant, and so far from harmonizing with Fig, 1—ov anizs or Tue queen. ll animated nature, with which I am in any way conversant, etc.” He should remember that we start with some facts not in harmony with any thing “with which we are conver- 42 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. sant.” Where in the whole round of animated nature is there a female producing hundreds of thousands of eges in a life time? We have heard of a kind of ant that ex- ceeds even this, but we are not familiar with it. In ani- mated nature, as far as our observation extends, eggs are usually produced in series of dozens or hundreds, and the male is met for each brood. A female may produce one brood or more, but the queen will, under some circum- stances, continue an uninterrupted series from January to October. One impregnation is operative for a life time. Is there not wisdom in thus economizing the vital fluid, and using it only when necessary ? But eggs of some animals are impregnated after their formation, even after they are discharged, as is the case with those of most kinds of fish, frogs, etc. The providing of the sac or receptacle of the queen, is an admirable dis- play of the wisdom of the Creator, in adapting means to ends. Mr. Harbison’s supposition that because the ovaries of the queen are separated into two equal parts, that when the queen produces only drones, one side is imper- fectly developed, does not enlighten us much, even if we admit it. I see no reason why the side in which the drone eggs are formed, should not sometimes be imperfectly do- veloped as well as the other, and we occasionally have a queen that lays no drone eggs; such a case has never been reported, to my knowledge. That she “fully understands that eggs from one division will produce drones, and the other, workers,” I can not comprehend any better than that she would understand equally well when a drone egg was about to be laid, if they were all formed in one mass. If drone and worker eggs were separated in two divisions, it would seem that the mass of each would be proportion- ate in size to the quantity laid of each; but they are represented as alike in size. Perhaps no one would dis- pute it if I snould say that hundreds of one kind are laid PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 43 to one of the other, on an average. Mr. H. says that a queen will lay none but worker eggs from January until about the swarming time, when simultaneously all queens in strong colonies lay drone eggs. Is one division idle all this time? A queen in a weak colony, with but little honey, may be kept all summer without raising a drone; they are frequently so kept. What becomes of the divi- sion of drone eggs all this time? If it were natural for her to deposit them at a particular season, like the putting forth of buds and leaves, then the queens of small families should produce drones accerding to the season, and not according to the condition of the family. That the queen knows any thing about the kind of eggs she is depositing, is, to me, very doubtful. One circum- stance witnessed by myself, has a strong bearing on this subject. A colony in a glass hive had remained quite small up to the middle of June. One outside sheet of comb was three-fourths worker cells. For several days I had observed the bees cutting off the cells in which they had stored honey the previous season, for the purpose of rearing brood. I soon discovered eggs in both worker and drone cells. Shortly after, on opening the door, I found the queen engaged in laying eggs in the drone cells. Nearly every one already contained an egg. Most of these she examined, but did not use them. Six or eight, only, appeared to be unoccupied, and in each of them she imme- diately deposited an egg. After depositing the last one in the drone cells, she continued to search for more empty cells, and in doing so, she passed, apparently by accident, upon the worker cells, where she found a dozen or more empty, in each of which, without hesitation, she laid an egg. The whole time occupied was not more than thirty minutes. Each produced according to the cell used, drones in drone cells, and workers in worker cells. It is hardly worth while to tell me that she knew her series of drone 44 PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. eggs was exhausted just when she laid the last one in the drone cell, because I should at once inquire why she ex- amined so many of those cells, if she did not intend to use them, had they been empty. It will require very positive evidence to convince me that those worker cells did not receive the identical eggs that would have been placed in drone cells had they not been pre-occupied. But can we account for the impregnation of some, and the non-impregnation of other eggs laid by the same queen in the space of half an hour, aside from the theory of Mr. Wagner? Among the objections raised to this by Mr. H., the strongest appears to be that the eggs laid in cells one-cighth of an inch deep, are just as sure to pro- duce workers as those laid in deeper ones. It is consid- ered by some persons as entirely fatal to the whole theory. For myself, I feel very reluctant to admit that it affects it in the least, yet I must acknowledge that it is somewhat obscured by the circumstances. I very much hope that something explanatory will yet be discovered, because if it is rejected, there are so many things favoring this theory that will have to be otherwise explained, that the task will be very heavy. It is possible that when we have an arrangement by which we can wit- ness the depositing of these‘eggs in such shallow cells, we shall discover something that will shed more light upon the subject. It may be, that, just at the moment of the passage of the egg, or the act of laying, the contents of the abdomen are crowded downward, and it enlarges suffi- ciently to touch the sides of a cell only one-eighth of an inch deep. When I first saw the smallest queen that I ever raised, whose body was even smaller than a worker’s, it occurred to meat once that if she ever laid, it would be a test of this principle. Her body being small it could not of course be compresssed like others, and a large portion of her progeny PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING. 45 would prove to be drones in worker cells. The result was just what was .expected—one half were drones. (This queen was lost on introducing her into a full colony.) I have noticed, and no doubt others who have raised queens in the small boxes also have, that from the first eggs that the queen deposits, before her body is enlarged by the accumulation of eggs, there are many drones, even in the worker cells. There are two sides to this question. The queen’ either knows when she is about to lay drone eggs, or she does not. Ifit is admitted that she does, another question im- mediately arises, do the workers know it also? When- ever the condition of the colony is such that drones may be wanted, we find them preparing for them. If they have no cells made, and there is room in the hive, they construct them ; if they are made, they cut them down, if they had been used for honey, and otherwise prepare them for the eggs. Do they do this because the queen has im- parted to them the knowledge of her wants just then, or is it the result of common instinct? The hive, at such times, is sufficiently populous for the bees to cover the comb and maintain the requisite heat. They are getting a sup- ply of honey from the flowers, and simultaneously all good stocks rear drones. The stimulus of obtaining the honey seems adequate to produce the result. It isnot necessary that the honey should be obtained from the flowers at the time. Sometimes it may have been stored the previous year, or a large quantity may have been fed, and then strong colonies will rear drones a month in advance of the season. We can stimulate a strong colony to rear drones throughout the season, even as late as October, by keeping up sufficient warmth, and a liberal supply of food. Ihave frequently raised Italian drones out of the honey yielding season, when the natives were mostly destroyed, for the purpose of serving queens reared out of season. There 46 TIVES. is then much less risk of their meeting the black drone. There is still another theory of this matter of sex, offered by Mr. E. Kirby, but as I am unable to comprehend it fully, I will not undertake to explain it to others. Twelve years ago I dismissed this knotty subject with this remark, “JI shall leave this matter for the present, hoping that something conclusive may occur in my exper- iments, or those of others. At present I am inclined to think that the eggs are all alike, but am not fully satisfied.” Since then we have advanced somewhat, in theories at least. We have facts pointing very clearly to the con- clusion that eggs producing drones are not impregnated. By patient perseverance, I trust that there will yet be more light thrown upon this interesting subject. I am aware that this matter is of but little interest to many readers, and J am advised to adhere to the plain and practical, and avoid speculative topics. I shall endeavor to do so generally, but this is, to me, of such special in- terest, that I could not well avoid devoting a little more attention to it than will be agreeable to all. CHAPTER III. HIVES. SATISFACTION IN HAVING NO PATENT. There is a satisfaction, in being able to express my views on a subject involving so many conflicting interests, and feel that no one can accuse me of selfish motives. I have kept clear of all interest in the patent swindles of the day, and have refused tempting bribes for a simple endorsement of some particular “pattern bee-hive.” I have refrained on principle from inflicting another patent IVES. 47 on the community, whereby I doubtless could have made some hundreds of dollars ; for all the different methods of constructing a bee hive are by no means exhausted, neither is the race of credulous bee-keepers extinct. I have put myself in antagonism with the patent-vender, have endured his abuse, his sneering ridicule, and un- founded accusations. For what? Certainly not in the hope of any pecuniary reward. It is said that he who causes two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before, is a public benefactor. So it may be said of the man, who even indirectly, aids in saving a portion of the inestimable sweetness now wasted on the air, for want of proper means to secure it, J have ever been anxious to advance apiarian science, and promote the interest of the apiarian, and if I succeed in ever so small a degree I shall feel amply rewarded. How can a man judge of the requisites of a bee-hive, unless he is thoroughly versed in the natural history of bees? Not one in a hundred of those spreading patent hives broadcast over the land, is capable of giving an in- telligent opinion concerning the habits and requirements of bees. A patent is based upon some peculiarity of con- struction, by which some real or fancied convenience is obtained, and thenceforth that convenience is proclaimed to be the one thing needful for a bee-hive, although it may supplant other and more desirable qualities, if it does not induce some positive evils. NO DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING CERTIFICATES AND PREMIUMS. There is no difficulty in getting certificates of the enor- mous quantities of honey produced by each particular hive. With few exceptions, all patent-venders are provided with them, as well as with “premiums” for “ best bee-hive,” received at allthe Town, County, and State Fairs, through- out the country. A premium from our Fair Committees 48 HIVES. is no longer a recommendation,—every thing is recommend- ed as well as patented; and when a man comes along who has nothing to offer in favor of his hive, further than the unprecedented amount of honey secured by it, and a fa- vorable notice from a stupid committee, I feel very much like dismissing him without ceremony ; it is evident he has chosen a sorry vocation. HIVES FURNISHED FOR TRIAL. I have, during my bee-keeping experience, received a score or two of patent hives, with the right to use, anda request that I would give them a trial. Some patentees were no doubt sincere in the belief that I would find their hive the “ne plus ultra” of all contrivances, while others, less honest, were evidently only seeking a word of commenda- tion, which would go far towards establishing their hum- bug in the confidence of the easily deluded public. It is often unpleasant to refuse so simple a favor as a trial of a hive, but although furnished gratis, there are seldom good points enough about them to make it worth the trouble; and further, it is not desirable to have many different pat- terns in one yard. None but the experienced can realize the importance of this last consideration, especially where movable combs are used. Besides, many of these hives are a positive damage to the bee-keeper. I think it will be an easy matter to show that when one desirable point has been gained by a departure from simplicity, it is usually attended by a corresponding evil. NECESSITIES OF THE BEES. All variations from the simple box are for the benefit of man, not of the bees. The wants of the bee are few and simple. fill 48 Fig. 16,—BEE HOUSE. holding but three hives, fronting in three different direc- tions, as in fig. 15. Tet it be closely boarded on the north 112 THE APIARY. side, or so as to break off the prevailing wind, with a roof over the whole. It will be seen that the three hives set very compactly, yet the entrances are some distance apart, and so dissimi- lar that the young queens would seldom make a mistake in entering. In a place where there is little or no wind, a hive may be added on the fourth side. Such bee-houses, tastefully built, would be quite ornamental. A hexagonal shape might be a little more graceful, yet it would increase the liability of losing the queens. For a more elaborate style, an octagon would be suitable, to which a second story might be added, giving room for sixteen hives, as seen in fig. 16, on the preceding page. In grounds where the bees would annoy the family, or visitors, they may be surrounded by a hedge of shrubbery or vines. Enclose a plot of the desired area, of any shape the fancy may dictate. Should a circle be chosen, I can easily imagine that a> small, slender tree in the centre, would greatly assist the bees in finding the hives. The hedge may be evergreens, vines, or any small shrub of suitable growth. Grape vines are very appropriate, being of quick growth, and combining ornament with profit. Openings should be left at proper distances for the hives, which should be set in such a mauner that the front is on the inside, and the body of the hive on the outside of the hedge. The hedge should be dense, but as narrow as possible. One arrangement is shown in fig. 17. Operations with the hives can be performed on the out- side, thus avoiding the attacks of the bees at work, which are more liable to be troublesome than those whieb leave the hive when it is opened. This hedge can be trained in an arch over the top of the hives, but should not be allowed to attain any great height, compelling the bees to ‘ rise over it. The fronts of the hives should be of different colors, as before mentioned, but the color of the other ROBBING. 113 parts may be uniform, if desired. Proper openings should be left for the operator to pass within, when necessary. Fig. 17.—HIVES ARRANGED IN A HEDGE. Those who consider the appearance of the hive unsightly, may set an outer hedge, a few feet from the first, which will effectually screen them from observation. CHAPTER VI. ROBBING. NOT UNDERSTOOD. Robbing is often a source of loss to the careless apiarian. It is frequent in spring, and at any time in warm weather, when there is a scarcity of honey. It is very annoying, and is sometimes a source of contention among neighbors, 4 ROBBING. when perhaps neither is to blame, farther than for igno- rance. The person keeping the most bees, must expect to be held accountable for all the losses in the neighborhood, whether they occur from mismanagement, or want of management, and if he escapes without being charged with those lost by hundreds of other causes, he ought to be thankful. It is often thought if a person has but one stock, and another has ten, that the ten will combine to plunder the one. This conclusion is not warranted by facts. I can discover no collusion between different families of the same apiary. It is true that when one col- ony finds another weak and defenceless, possessing treasures, they have no conscientious scruples about carrying off the last particle, notwithstanding they revel in abundance at home; and it is most frequently the case that the strong- est colonies are most given to this despicable habit. The hurry and bustle attending the plunder, seldom escapes the notice of other hives, and when one hive in the yard has been robbed, perhaps two-thirds or all of the others have participated in the offense. It is common to hear remarks like this, “I had a first rate hive of bees,” (when, in fact, he had not looked at them, particularly, for a month, and knew nothing or their real condition)—“ and Mr. A’s bees began to rob them.” I tried every thing to stop it; moved them sev- eral times to prevent their finding the hive, but it did no good; the first I knew they were all gone—bees, honey and all! The bees all joined the robbers.” Now, the fact is, that not one good colony in fifty will ever be robbed, if let alone; that is, if the entrance is properly protected. Moving the hive was enough to ruin it; bees were lost at every change, until nothing was left but honey to tempt the robbers; whereas, if left on its stand, it might have escaped. The injury done by robbers is sometimes like that done ROBBING. 115 by worms, and usually following some preceding weakness of the colony. Not one strong colony in a hundred will be attacked and plundered at the first onset. DIFFICULTY IN DECIDING. Probably but few bee-keepers are able to decide at once when bees are robbing. It requires the closest scrutiny to decide. There is nothing about the apiary more difficult to determine ; nothing in which one is more likely to be deceived. It is generally supposed, when a number are fighting outside, that it is conclusive that they are also robbing, which is seldom the case. On the contrary, a show of resistance indicates a strong colony, and that they are disposed to defend their treasures. A very weak colony of Italians will often make a spirited resistance. I have no fears for a stock that has courage to repel an attack. The greatest danger is with those weak colonies incapable of opposition. In seasons of scarcity, all good stocks maintain sentinels about the entrance, whose duty it appears to be to examine every bee that attempts to enter. If it isa member of the community, it is allowed to pass; if not, it is arrested on the spot. It would seem that a password was requisite for admittance, for no soon- er does a stranger endeavor to enter, than it is known. The absence of proper credentials is evidence enough to convict it. Each bee is a qualified jurist, judge, and exe- cutioner. There is no delay, no waiting for witnesses for the defence. The more a bee attempts to escape, unless it is by chance successful, the more certain is the execution of the sentence. How strange bees are known to be such, is yet undetermined, probably by the scent. WEAK COLONIES IN DANGER. It is the duty of every bee-keeper who expects to suc- ceed, to know which his weak stocks are. An examina- 116 ROBBING. tion can be made on some cool morning, by turning the hive bottom up, and allowing the sun to shine among the combs. The number of inhabitants is thus easily seen. “When weak, close the entrance till there is just room for one bee to pass at once. WHEN TO LOOK OUT FOR ROBBERS. A little after noon, on the first pleasant day, at any time before honey is obtained plentifully, look out for robbers. To get to robbing, bees must be first tempted, and render- ed furious. A dish of refuse honey left near them is some- times sufficient to set them at work; also an insufficient supply, when fed. After they have once commenced, it takes an astonishing quantity to satiate their appetite. They seem to be perfectly intoxicated, and reckless of danger, venturing into certain destruction. I have known a few instances where good colonies were so reduced by fighting while. robbing, that they in turn fell a prey to similar marauders. Thave for several years kept hundreds of stocks away from home, where I could seldom see them. YetIseldom lose a stock by robbing. Isimply keep the entrance closed, leaving, during spring, a passage for the bees at work. It is true, I have lost a few, when the other bees took the honey, but they would have been lost in any case. A great many apiarians raise their hives an inch from the board, early in spring.” They seem to disregard the op- portunity it gives robbers to enter on every side. It is like setting the door of your dwelling open, to tempt the thief, and then complaining of the consequences. Let it be understood, then, that all good stocks, under ordinary circumstances, will take care of themselves; Nature has provided means of defence, with instinct to direct its use. Non-resistance may do for highly cultivat- ed intellect in man, but not here. There is a prevalent ROBBING. 117 opinion that robbers often go to a neighboring hive, kill off the bees first, and then take possession of the spoils. I have never yet discovered one fact to corroborate this, although I have watched very closely. Whenever bees- have lost all their stores, at a period when nothing was to be obtained from flowers, it is evident that they must soon starve, and disappear in a few days. This would naturally give rise to the supposition that they had been killed by the robbers. FIRST INDICATION. I will now describe the appearance of a weak hive that is being robbed, and show, that without timely interfer- ence, the result will be a total loss to the colony. Each robber, when leaving the hive, instead of flying in a direct line to its home, will turn its head towards the hive to mark the spot, that it may return for another load, in the same manner that they do when leaving their own hive for the first time in the spring. The first time the young bees leave home, they mark their location by the same process.