78 



GLEAN^INGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Feb. 



spendin,Q: great sums of money in newspaper 

 advertising, tliey would ratlier give llie 

 watcli at a very low price to some one who 

 would and could make known tlieir good 

 qualities, as I have done. And this would 

 enable me to pay handsomely the friends 

 Avho work among their neighbors for the up- 

 building of our journal. Therefore I give a 

 watch to everybody who sends me live new 

 subscril^ers at a dollar each. You may say 

 those who subscribe for live years don't ex- 

 tend our subscription list. Perhaps not ; 

 but in our business I am using borrowed 

 capital, more or less, on v/hicli I pay some- 

 times as high as 8 per cent. Five dollars in 

 advance would be equal to the use of that 

 whole amount for 2i years. If you will 

 figure it u]) at compound interest, you will 

 see that I get club price for the journal, and 

 pay for the watch too, making a mutual 

 saving to both our subscribers and myself, 

 over the plan of sul^scribing every year. I 

 might add, that the five-year plan was origi- 

 nated by one of the friends, and was not of 

 my own getting up at all. Now, friend R., 

 is there any thing^wrong in employing our 

 bee-meu to introduce Gleanings, "in place 

 of ne\vspa))er advertising agents, who neither 

 know nor care about bees or their owners? 



• m *» » «i^ 



CAN BEES HEAR, ETC.? 



SOME GOOD IDEAS ON THE MATTER. 



IRIEND ROOT:— Will you allow me to make a 

 comment on an article in Gr-EANINQS some 

 ^■^ months ago about bees being dull in eight, 

 and deaf? The following is from the Lihrary of Uni- 

 i^ersal Knowledge: "Bees, like other hymenopterous 

 insects, are extremely well provided with organs of 

 sight, and evidently possess that sense in very great 

 perfection. la the front of the head they have two 

 large eyes, the surface of each consisting of many 

 hexagonal plates, which perhaps may not unaptly 

 be likened to the object-glasses of so many tele- 

 scopes; and the faculty which these insects certain- 

 ly possess, of returning in a direct line to their hive 

 or nest, from the utmost distances of their wander- 

 ings, has been, with greatest probability, ascribed 

 to their power of sight. But besides these large 

 eyes, they have, like the rest of the hymenopterous 

 order, three small eyes on the very top of their 

 heads, which are supposed to be intended to give a 

 defensive vision upward from the cups of flowers. 

 They are evidently, however, possessed of organs 

 which enable them to guide their movements in the 

 dark as well as in the light — at least in the nest or 

 hive; and this power is generally ascribed to the 

 antenna3 which are sometimes supposed to bo not 

 merelj' delicate organs of touch, but organs of hear- 

 ing, or of some special sense unknown to us. It is 

 certain, that the social bees have some means of 

 communicating with each other by means of their 

 antenuie; and that they avail themselves of these 

 organs, both for the ordinary operations of the af- 

 fairs of the hive, and for recognition of each other. 

 There can be no doubt that bees possess, in a very 

 high degree, the sense of smell; and their posses- 

 sion of the sense of taste and hearing is almost 

 equally unquestionable." Geo. L. King. 



Berlin Center, Mahoning Co., O., Jan. 5, 1883. 



AN IMPUOVEITIENT ON THE SHEPARD 

 SWAKMING-BOX. 



^J^RIEND S., as you remember, puts a pole 

 f^ through the center, and then the box must be 

 carried up the tree, if the bees are high, 

 and this makes its use somewhat inconvenient. 

 With my improvement, the bees may be removed 

 while standing on the ground, and a ladder is not 

 needed. Make the swarming-box according to 

 f .lend Shepard's description; viz., 8x8x16, and then, 

 instead of putting a hole through it, use a frame 

 made as follows: Take two pieces of some light and 

 Arm wood, St inches long, 3 inches wide, and I inch 

 thick; also two pieces II inches long and 3 wide, and 

 mortise the ends of the one Into the ends of the 34- 

 inch pieces, and the other 9 inches from this toward 

 the center. In the middle of the end-piece cut a 

 square hole in the center for the pole (which will 

 keep it from turning), and bore a hole in the second. 



SHEPAHD-JONKS SWAKMING-BOX. 



Then fasten the swarming-box with two screws or 

 small bolts at the other end of the frame (which will 

 allow it to turn freely), about 6 inches from the top 

 of the box. You can now raise this box as you 

 please, and it will always be in the position needed 

 in order to receive the bees when they are shaken 

 down with another pole, to which a hook has been 

 attached. It is a very convenient arrangement, es- 

 pecially for the lady bee-keepers. 



Rev. L. S. Jones. 



Sonora, Muskingum Co., O., Dee. U, 1881. 



Very good, friend J. ; but as I understand 

 the matter, the Shepard swarming-box need 

 not be kept right side up. Our bees will at 

 once crawl right up into the holes in the 

 box, and cluster inside, no matter which 

 side up it is presented to the clustering 

 swarm, and we therefore need never think 

 of climbing trees when we have a pole long 

 enough to reach them. What has been the 

 experience of others in regard to swarming- 

 boxes V 



CAIilFORMA ITEMS BV GAIiliUP. 



f HAVE just been on a trip to Ventura county, 

 visiting the bee-keepers in that vicinitj'. I had 

 not seen my bees since last June, and I found 

 them in splendid condition; have sold out to Mr. 

 James Mclntyre, a young gentleman from Ontario, 

 Canada, who is bound to try bee-kf-eping in Califor- 

 nia. Bees are in far better condition in Ventura 

 county than they are in Los Angeles county, with but 

 very few exceptions, so far as I know. I had the 

 pleasure of meeting Mr. Given, of Hoopeston, III. 

 He is stopping in Los Angeles City among the orange 



