Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-11-10
MOTHER BEES, NOT QUEENS.

Il
a Bee Master says the Queen Is the
One Real Subject.
There are no queens, properly SO
called. in bee ltfe." said the bee mas.
ter Of Plcasantville, N. j. There
are hundreds of hives in my garden,
and there isn't queen in any OF
them.
"If you keep fairly close watch on
the progress of any particular hive,
1t is very easy to see how the old
false idea got into general use. At
first glance bee colony looks very
much. like kingdom. and the single
large bee that all the others pay
court to and attend so carefully
seems very like queen.
1.-THE mother bee seems, on the
face OF 1t, miracle Of intelligence
and foresight While as far as you
know all other creatures In the world
bring forth their young of both sexes
haphazard, this can lay male or fe
male eggs apparently at will. You
watch her going from comb to comb.
and the eggs she drops In the small
cells hatch out females and those
she puts in the larger cells are al
ways males or drones.
More than that, she seems always
to know the exact condition OF the
hive and to be able to limit her
egg laying according to its need or
otherwise of population; for either
you see her filling only few cells
each day in little patch Of comb
that can be covered with the palm
of your hand or she goes to work on
a gigantic scale and in twenty-foul
hours produces eggs that weigh more
than twice as much as her whole
body.
"Then," he goes ON in Van Nor
denis Magazine, Ito cap all, as the
honey season draws on to its height
you are forced to think that the
queen has conceived and is carrying
through scheme for the good of her
subjects that would do credit to the
wisest ruler ever born in human pur.
pie.
Every day of summer sunshine
has brought thousands of young bees
into life. The hive is getting over
crowded, Sooner or later one OF two
things must happen either the in.
crease of population must be checked
or a great party must be formed to
leave the old home and go out to es-
tablish another.
Then it is that the mother bee
seems to prove beyond doubt her
wisdom and queenliness. She decides
for the emigration, but as a leader
must be found for the party and none
is at hand she forms the resolve to
lead it herself.
IA new ruler for the old realm
must be provided to take her place
when she has gone forever. and now
you see party of bees set to work
on something that fairly beggars
your curiosity.
"At first it looks exactly like an
acorn cup in wax hanging from the
under edge of the comb. Perhaps the
next time you look the cup has grown
to twice its original size and now you
see 1t is half full OF glistening
white jelly
1.-The next time, maybe, you open
tho hive the accord has been added to
the cup, the queen cell is sealed over
and finished, and about week later
i there comes out full grown queen
boo twice the size of the ordinary
worker and quite different in shape
/, and often different in color.
] IF the mother bee really brought
all this about queen would not be
good enough name for her. but the
truth is throughout all the wonder
workings of the hive the queen is
little more than an instrument, q
kind of an automaton, merely doing
what the workers compel her to do
"rhey are the real ,queens in the
hive and the mother bee is the one
and only. subject. The birth of a
queen is simply question OF where
the eggs are laid.
Thousands and thousands OF
worker eggs are laid in a hive dur
ing the season, and each of those
could be made into a queen If the
workers chose; but the worker egg
is laid in a small cell and the larva
is bred on bare minimum of food
at the least possible cost in time
trouble and space to the hive, while
when new queen in wanted a cell
as big as your finger top is built and
the larva is stuffed like prize pig
through all its Ave days Of active life