385 



American Hee Journal 



thus damaged, and if it is an expensive, 

 select queen, the bee-keeper believes 

 he has been cheated, while it was the 

 fault of the unsatisfactory method. 



Mr. Miller does not believe in the 

 odor theory, but I think that with it we 

 may explain all, and without it many 

 things cannot find a satisfactory expla- 

 nation. He says that he found in his 

 apiary, after a heavy honey-flow, that 

 the bees of different hives had mingled 

 to a considerable degree. I think that 

 this experienee proves nothing. On 

 the contrary, while there was a dearth, 

 the bees did not mingle, of course, be- 

 cause in times of dearth the bees are 

 exceedingly vigilant, and do not allow 

 the intrusion of a foreign bee, which 

 they must absolutely recognize by 

 smell, or any other emanation of the 

 organ which doubtless lies in the 

 feeler. Possibly this sense of recogni- 

 tion may be quite another for which 

 we may have no analogon. But be it 

 in the sense of smell or any other irra- 

 diation, there must be something, and 

 if we call it smell (without preoccupa- 

 tion to the kind of sense), we have at 

 all events a good hypothesis which 

 may e.xplain a great many of the phe- 

 nomena in bee-life. 



On the other hand, when there is a 

 good honey-flow the bees have no time 

 to watch the entrance, nor is this a 

 necessity, as the bees do not rob at 

 such times. We know that if our at- 

 tention is not directed on some object 

 we may not perceive it, though our 

 senses accept the impression. If I go 

 through a street without paying atten- 

 tion to the scriptures of the sign- 

 boards, I may read them without the 

 impression penetrating to my mind. 

 So the bees, occupied thoroughly with 

 honey seeking, pay no attention to the 

 objects on tlie alighting-board. Other- 

 wise how would we explain what I saw 

 some days ago. 



A queen was full of lice. I gave her 

 a little tobacco smoke and cleaned her. 

 When I put her in the midst of the 

 bees on a brood comb she immediately 

 was attacked and balled. Another 

 queen of mine was killed when I had 

 marked her with color on the back. 

 Certainly it was the foreign smell 

 which caused the bees to attack their 

 own queen. A great number of similar 

 examples could be given. I maintain 

 that, until now, tliere is no stringent 

 proof against the smell theory ; nor has 

 there been given a better hypothesis 

 for explaining the above mentioned 

 facts. 



How, then, are we to explain the bad 

 success of the cage method ? We 

 know that the bees practice different 

 occupations according to their age; 

 the youngest bees are caring for the 

 eggs, and every bee-keeper has seen 

 how those young bees are going in all 

 directions when we take out the comb. 

 On the capped brood we find older 

 bees, which are collecting forces for 

 the coming flight. On the periphery 

 outwardly of the pollen-garland, we 

 find the old, malign, suspicious bees 

 always snuffing treachery. They sel- 



dom, or never more, find their way into 

 the broodnest, with which they have 

 nothing to do. The place of the queen 

 is in the midst of the youngest bees ; 

 that make a circle around her and 

 give her the necessary feed. Unhap- 

 pily the cage is placed, as a rule, into 

 the district of the old bees, and if the 

 queen is released, she has at first to 

 pass them before arriving in the cen- 

 ter. In times of a good honey-flow 

 there is no danger. The old bees are 

 in the field, and are in good humor, but 

 woe to her in times of dearth when 

 she is released and her smell is not 

 sympathetic to the guardians. 



With the direct method of introduc- 

 ing, the peripheric bees on the board 

 are intimidated by the smoke; there- 

 fore, the (jueen may pass those ill-tem- 

 pered guardians and penetrate to her 

 kingdom, the center, where there is no 

 longer any danger. The young bees 

 willingly accept her majesty, and their 

 tranquility will calm also the older 

 bees. There is no doubt that there ex- 

 ists a profound concert between all 

 bees of a hive. If there is harmony in 

 the center, each bee of periphery 

 knows it, and needs not convince her- 

 self by proper investigation. 



Therefore, I recommed by full con- 

 viction the new method of Arthur C. 

 Miller, especially for queens reared in 

 the same apiary. For valuable queens 

 coming by mail, I could not advise to 

 adopt this process. Here the only nb- 

 soliite/y sure method, which gives a suc- 

 cess of 100 percent, even for virgins, is 

 the szL'arm method, which is carried 

 out as follows ; 



You make from one or more colonies 

 by brushing off the bees, a good swarm, 

 and place them into a swarm-hox. 

 The queen has been placed before into 

 a tube of wire, closed at one end with 

 a cork; at the other end with good 

 beecandy. Immediately the swarm is 

 put in an absolutely dark, quiet place 

 (cellar), and fed near the place of the 



queen with honey-water, .'\fter 2 to 24 

 hours the swarm is put into the hive as 

 an ordinary swarm. The method is, as 



1 said, absolutely sure, if you have not 

 brushed into the box another queen, 

 and it has the enormous advantage 

 that such a colony will work with all 

 the intensity and zeal of a swarm. 



For introducing a valuable queen 

 into a dequeened colony, one may pro- 

 ceed as follows : Brush the bees from 



2 or 3 brood-combs of the colony into 

 a swarm-box as before. Place the box 

 above the colony, but not connected 

 with it. After 2 days remove the cover 

 of the box and place it in an empty 

 super just above the brood nest of the 

 colony. Gladly the bees of the hive 

 will join the little swarm and thus ac- 

 cept the queen, which will soon de- 

 scend to the hive. 



Zug, Switzerland. 



Bees and Odors 



BY D. M. MACDONALD. 



THE sense of smell in bees, wher- 

 ever we may choose to locate the 

 organ, is extra acute, as all who 

 spend a good part of their time 

 in an apiary acknowledge. The 

 balmy airs of spring blowing over a 

 bed of violets gladdens our olfactory 

 organs; much more does a field of 

 white clover, a stretch of heather, a 

 wood of basswood, or a plot of alfalfa 

 prove attractive to the denizens of an 

 apiary. Odor, wafted to them by the 

 prevailing wind, carries miles away the 

 information that there is the source of 

 forage. 



Let unprotected honey or syrup be 

 exposed and soon will a large array 

 be attracted. Let a poorly pro- 

 tected set of combs in a queenless or 

 weak colony be scented, and how 

 quickly will a robbing boom be estab- 

 lished. Fxtracting in the open is im- 



Apiary OF J. B. HoLLOPETER, AT I'ENTZ. PA.— (See " Repor IS and Experiences." 



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