244 



August, 1 90S. 



American l^ae Journal 



'Beedotiv^ ^ 

 foiled T>own^^ 



Getting Bees Out of Extracting 

 Supers. 



Elias E. Coveyou gives this plan in 

 the Bee-Keepers' Review : 



"If the day promises to be sunny and 

 warm, I begin taking off the supers 

 in the morning. As I use plain, flat 

 covers, I can set the supers on top of 

 the brood-chambers, on the covers, piling 

 up the supers 3 or 4 high, placing a 

 cover on the top of each pile. The su- 

 pers remain there in the sun until it is 

 time to begin extracting in the after- 

 noon. What bees are left in the supers 

 will be glad to fly out at the first oppor- 

 tunity, and I always raise the covers a 

 few minutes before carrying in the su- 

 pers. I find this plan a great saving 

 of time, as I can begin taking off the 

 supers earlier in the day, continue work 

 later at night, and get along with less 

 help." 



Nothing is said about whether any 

 bees are got out of the supers before 

 they are piled up, but the probability 

 is that in some way at least part of them 

 are got rid of before the supers are 

 piled up. The important kink in the 

 affair aside from keeping the honey 

 warm is that when the bees are im- 

 prisoned in the pile they become un- 

 easy, and when the cover is removed 

 they are glad to leave of their own 

 accord. 



Getting Combs Built to Bottom- 

 Bars. 



Here is a plan given by W. S. Ponder 

 in Gleanings that will appeal to some : 



"To accomplish this I cut a good comb 

 lengthwise into strips about 7^ inch 

 wide, using a sharp, ihin-bladed knife. 

 I then lay a comb on its side and trim 

 off about !4 inch from the bottom, and 

 then insert one of the strips and place 

 it in the second story of the hive dur- 

 ing a honey-flow, and within 24 hours 

 the work is completed. On this plan 

 I have a stock of combs that are more 

 beautiful than any wired combs I have 

 ever seen." 



Proportion of Comb to Extracted 

 Honey. 



A Stray Straw in Gleanings is as fol- 

 lows : 



"I think I've heard it said that, under 

 some conditions, as much comb as ex- 

 tracted honey can be produced. I don't 

 see how that can be if the bees have 

 no comb to build for the extracted. Say 

 that it lakes a pound of comb to con- 

 tain 20 lbs. of honey, or 5 lbs. of comb 

 for icx) ll)s. of honey. If it takes 10 

 lbs. of honey to make one of wax it 

 takes 50 of honey to make that 5 lbs. of 

 wax. So 150 lbs. of honey must be gath- 

 ered for 100 lbs. of comb honey. If 

 these figures be correct, there can in no 

 case be less than 50 percent more ex- 



IIMCU'.I ill, 111 ciiili. i'.. lie sure, it may 

 take less than 10 lbs. of honey to make 

 a pound of wax ; but even if it takes 

 only 5 lbs. of honey for one of wax, 

 that still makes 25 percent more of ex- 

 tracted than comb. Then it must not 

 be forgotten that it takes bees to se- 

 crete the wax and to build the comb. 

 If bees are released from this duty in 

 the extracting-super it means a greater 

 number of bees in the field. Don't tell 

 me that bees won't go afield before 16 

 days old. I've seen them do it ifrider 

 stress when only .s days old, and I don't 

 believe a bee will loaf around doing 

 nothing until 16 days old if there is no 

 housework for her to do, and she can 

 find work in the field." 



To this it should be added that it is 

 no unusual thing that a weak colony will 

 do some work in extracting-combs when 

 it would do absolutely nothing in sec- 

 tions. 



How Bees Distinguish Color. 



T have been accused of being like the 

 fellow from Missouri, "You got to .show 

 me.'' T do not like to jump at con- 

 clusions, but enjoy giving a good fair 

 test before believing it. I have some- 

 times been amused by a long argument 

 as to just how certain things ought to 

 turn out : but when you try them they 

 just won't work. The trouble with too 

 many theories is. that the theorist does 

 not take into consideration all the cir- 

 cumstances. T had the pleasure of try- 

 ing an experiment the other day that 

 gave, as I think, conclusive results. 

 It has been claimed that bees dislike 

 black, and will sting anv thing black 

 much quicker than anv thing of a dif- 

 ferent color. I have believed this also, 

 as I thought the bees were crosser with 

 me when I had on black clothes. 

 The following experiment removed all 

 doubts in my mind. 



I was out among the bees when out 

 came a black dog belonging to one of 

 the neighbors. In a minute, out came 

 a brown do.e from another neighbor. 

 I was dressed in gray. Now T thought 

 I would see which dog the bees would 

 sting more. This seemed a little cruel. 

 but I thoucht that, as long as I took mv 

 chances with the other dogs, and we all 

 had an even break, there would be no 

 kick coming, T called the dogs in front 

 of a hive and began to bark at them 

 and play with them. We all jumped 

 and tore around in front of the en- 

 trance at a great rate. I kept a little 

 nearer to the hive so as to sec that the 

 dogs got a fair deal. In a moment some 

 of the bees began to lodge in the black 

 fur of the dog, and stick there like 

 cockle burrs. They went clear around me 

 and the brown dog. At last one got Rex 

 (the black dog) where the hair was 

 short — i. e., on the nose. He withdrew 

 to the brush to sneeze a little. I had 



determined to give three trials, then 

 count up all the stings, average it up. 

 and see just what percent madder a 

 bee got at a black object than it did at 

 brown or gray. 



Rex subjected himself to this second 

 test with more or less reluctance; but 

 hy dint of hard coaxing and barking 

 1 induced him to forget the past and 

 have another romp. We kept getting 

 Hearer and nearer to a hive of doubt- 

 ful repute when I called a halt long 

 enough to give the hive a little jar. 

 Then I jumped in front with the other 

 dogs, and began to jump around with 

 them, .^.t least a dozen bees took a 

 bee-line for Rex and got next to his 

 feelings at the very first dash. Rex 

 never said a word, but turned around 

 and skeedaddled for home. He never 

 thought to yelp. His mental capacity 

 was occupied in the discussion of two 

 important points— first, how he might 

 mseit space between himself and that 

 hive; and, second, how this might be 

 accomplished without occupying too 

 much time. I did not know exactly 

 what to call that test, the color line 

 or the race problem. Rex arrived at 

 the door a little ahead of time, and 

 never stopped to knock, but smashed 

 against it. It was shut, but it opened 

 with a bang as Rex came against it. 

 In he went, and crawled under the 

 kitchen table. This was the second 

 trial. The black dog had all the stings, 

 and the brown dog and I had none. 

 The third trial — well, that never came 

 ofT Re.x positively refused to subject 

 liimself to further experiment, even in 

 the interest of science. I do not con- 

 sider him sentimental. 



I thought some of continuing the ex- 

 periment between the brown dog and 

 myself, but — well, it was getting late, 

 and we might both look black to them, 

 and then there might have been some 

 cranky old maids among them that were 

 color-blind and lacked proper discrimi- 

 nation; and if any of them should 

 show me any discourtesy I would have 

 to say "stung;" so, all things taken into 

 consideration, I concluded to be satis- 

 fied with the results as the3- stood. — 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



More Experience with Caucasians. 



Perhaps because of their reputation 

 for great gentleness, there seems to be 

 more than usual anxiety to know the 

 character of Caucasians in other re- 

 spects. Reports have been contradic- 

 tory, and so far Caucasians are in the 

 experimental stage, hi most cases re- 

 ports have not been based on large num- 

 bers, and one can hardly tell as well 

 from a very few colonies what any par- 

 ticular kind of hees will do as one can 

 from a larger lumiber. The- A. I. Root 

 Co. have had these bees in larger num- 

 ber than in most other cases, and in ■ 

 Gleanings is given i.. ,'• tail a very in- 

 teresting account of experience with 

 these Caucasians in comparison with 

 Italians, which has all the appearance of 

 being given with great candor by a dis- 

 interested observer. It is as follows : 



When wc established our south yard last 

 fall, wc placed in it all of our Caucasian colo- 

 nies and their crosses, as we thought it bctlei- 

 to have them remote from our main breeding- 

 yard at Medina, where we arc rearing exclu- 

 sively Italians. This made in all between 35 



