The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1849-04-14
From the Scientific Amt
The Honey Bee.

g Where can we find SO great source OF proht,
without money and without price, as the little
honey bee affords; yet we do not avail ourselves OF
her labors 10 the hundredth part the extent that
We might And what is equally strange, no man
in this country has ever thrown ray Of light, COM
paratively speaking, on this subject through the
press 1t is terra cognita 10 all, save the tradl'
tionary whims and notions in regard to the man.
agement ofths insect, that have passed down from
the days of Aristotle and Pliny (who were apia'-
ians in their day) to the present time. ,.... .
y. The relation of the queen to the family and facts
pertaining to her, are, perhaps, the most wonder
full Of any branch Of the subject. 1t is probably
pretty well known, that every association OF bees
is composed of one queen, from 5OcO to lO'ooo
scorkers, generally; and some 900 drones The
queen is the governess of the whole family, and
is the alpha and omega-the prime mover-the all
in all of every community. She produces all the
eggs amounting to $4,000 annually in some cases.
The most singular feature pertaining TO royalty IS
the manner in which queens are produced. Inc
same egg that produces aworker, will also produce
queen, larger and differing entirely in her orr
panic structure from a worker. There are only
two kinds OF eggs laid by the queen, viz those
that produce workers and those that produce
drones. In the spring about the beginning OF May
the first measures are taken to produce young
queens 10 go OF with swarms The hrst thing
done is to construct several royal cells. which are
always made 10 hang vertically; whereas. all other
p 4 Ill, an
shape of royal cell and its size is nearer to that
of a peanut, with one end open, and the nut ex'
tracted, than any thing else that it can be llkened
10. When these cells are partly constructed, the
cog is laid therein, and afterwards the cell IS conf
rleted As soon as the egg bursts its integument,
and the larua or grub appears, the workers pro-
vide different food for it, from that fed TO other
Iarva. and which has been termed "royal jelly.
The grub is fed with this jelly for the space oi
four days, when the cell is sealed over by the
,vorkers. and the grub then enters the pupa or
schyysalis state, in which it remains about fWe'0e
days, and then emerges from its prison perfect
queen! This is no hypothesis, or visionary theo-
~: but truth truly demonstrated. Now, the
same egg, if placed in worker cell, would have
produced only worker. AS proof positive OF
this allegation, I will state what have many
t;mes done with my own hands, and beheld the
result with my own eyes. have taken piece
of comb that contained nothing but 'oorker'eggs'
from hives where II was out OF the question tha'
there could be any want, or probability OF raising
queens, and have placed such piece OF comb IN
an empty hive-then forced bees enough into said
hive TO make a respectable family, every one OF
which were Uorkers, and the workers at once
commenced building few royal cells (they build
several to be sure Of raising one queen,) and placed
The worker eggs therein and at the end Of sixteen
days have witnessed perfect queens issue there
from. This fact have tested great many times
in the formation of artificial swarms, and it is up
oa this basis that this valuable discovery, the ar
of producing swarms at pleasure, rests T.. b
sMINER.j -ii 4. ,.lsgs,s s..s4.s. ,.F.,a H.,