The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-14
| APIARY DEPARTMENT !
MANY QUEEN|ES?
This Was One of Questions
Asked Superintendent Priddy.
Bee Industry Coming Into Own,
Say Exhibitors.
BIG FAMILY IN GLASS HOUSE
Secrets of Bee Existence I'm.
known to Most Persons.
Honey, Strained and Granulat-
ed, Also on Display.
CBy Our WouId-Bee Expert.)


How many queens in a bunch OF
bees?''
This was among the countless ques-
lions that were asked of j. w. Priddy,
superintendent of the apiary depart
ment, even on he first afternoon OF
Topekas great free fair, when the
rain was threatening all the time and
after The downpour of the morning
that might have been considered OF
sufficient proportions to keep visitors
away from the fair grounds. But
many of them were there and they
congregated in the old agricultural
building that has so many interesting
exhibits IN it, and in one corner of
which is the display of the bees and
their products.
The question quoted above was
asked by an apparently city-bred
woman as she threw few stares at
little glass house in which a colony
of bees were attending strictly to their
own business. In this glass mouse
that a little stone would nave oemol-
ished, but which was impervious TO
the stares of an inquisitive female OF
the species, there was brood comp
or the shell of one, in the cells
of which the queen bee lays her eggs
1t takes about three days Tor THESE
eggs to hatch, and you may believe II
or not, in every we'll regulated bee
household, as all of them are, there
are nurse bees to see that the newiy
Matched larvae are properly Ieu:
Their sustenance is real iactlc nu u
which is secreted in a portion or the
alimentary canal of the nurse bees
All the larvae are fed with this milk
for three days, when the bees lnteno-
ed to become workers and drones are
given a substance Familiarity known as
bee-bread. But the larvae-and this
perhaps is one of the most interesting
features of the reproduction OF bees
and the development of their me
the larvae which are to make queens
are fed turnout their whole groW ss
ing period with this Tactic fluid
from the nurse bees; substance,
which. on account of its being the
sole nourishment of the queen not
only during her period OF develop
ment but likewise turnout her whoie
existence, is commonly called royal
jelly
But to get back to the question of
said city lady that she asked OF MT
Priddy How many queens in punch
of bees?'' and his reply, which was as
follows:
1.-The queen bee goes or works on
the theory that no house is large
enough for two women
And then Mr.. Priddy proceeded to
locate and point out the queen bee
that was living with her apparently
everybody could see thru, but which
nevertheless concealed so many Sc
crets of bee life from the multitude
of prying eyes that haven't had time
vet to read even an elementary book
on insect life.
The queen bee, of course, looks her
part, as almost everything else that
is either animate or inanimate on this
earth does. Her waistline is little
smaller and more delicate than are
those of her ladies-in-waiting, her
worker bees and her nurse bees that
feed her on nothing but royal jelly
from the instant of her birth until her
death. Her body is longer and trim
mer, with curves that are finer and
more shapely. Indeed. in comparison
with any or all of the many members
of her family, she looks the queen
she is.
Enough about the queen bee, tho.
She is essential TO the life of a colony
of bees and the reproduction of other