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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 1 



been kept in by a spell of bad weather, at 

 which time they are simply marking their 

 locality anew) and settle down, then come 

 out again in the same way, you may conclude 

 that, in a very short time, a swarm will 

 emerge — often within a few minutes; but 

 sometimes an hour or two may elapse unless 

 a sudden change of the weather occurs to 



firevent. which, of course, will delay it till 

 avorable weather. At the yard at Barring- 

 ton a few days ago two colonies which I had 

 predicted, from outward indications, were 

 liable to swarm, came out in a drizzling rain, 

 and we hived them while it was raining. 

 This act of flying in front of the hive is often 

 repeated several times; and when it occurs 

 in quick succession, put your ear to the hive 

 and you will be likely to hear an unnatural 

 uproar all through the hive, which imme- 

 diately precedes the grand rush. 



MEMORY OF PLACE IN BEES. 



I was very much interested in articles un- 

 der head of "Are Bees Reflex Machines?" 

 and especially in that of July 1, "Memory of 

 Place irt Bees." Observation and experi- 

 ence in the bee-yard have taught me many 

 things which have a direct bearing upon the 

 matter of orientation; hence the special in- 

 terest in the subject under discussion. It is 

 a well-known fact that, when bees swarm, if 

 the queen does not follow they ordinarily re- 

 turn to the parent hive, or, in other words, 

 to the old stand; yet it is easy to deceive 

 them, if the parent hive is the end one in a 

 row, by putting an empty hive at the end 

 beside it, into which they will go, although 

 tleir own hive stands not a foot away. 

 Their memory recognizes the end hive as 

 theirs. So it is with bees returning from the 

 field to an end hive in a row. If another is 

 placed at the end beside it they will persis- 

 tently try to enter the end one. An experi- 

 ment of this kind was made less than three 

 weeks ago at a yard where a young apiarist 

 was being instructed in the management of 

 bees. They were flying freely, and in less 

 than five minutes the front of the hive and 

 alighting-board was covered with bees trying 

 to enter the wrong hive, while theirs was 

 not 18 inches away. Again, who has not 

 tried the experiment with bees that have 

 had the habit of using one end of the en- 

 trance to the hive of forcing them to use the 

 other end, and watched their persistency in 

 trying to enter at the old place? All this 

 seems to be the result of memory purely. 

 Practical bee-keepers, however, have learn- 

 ed that, by confining them for a short time, 

 say three days, they forget their past loca- 

 ■ tion — hence the ability to do many things in 

 the manipulation of the hive which otherwise 

 m'ght be impossible to accomplish. 



I am convinced, from watching bees in my 

 own yard, that where hives are put in rows, 

 and near each other, and where there are 

 no trees, shrubs, or other landmarks to mark 

 location, there is much more mixing than is 

 generally supposed — especially if bees are 

 of the same strain, and more particularly 

 with young bees that have not clearly mark- 

 ed their location, and that many valuable 



young queens are lost in this way. I say of 

 the same strain; for my bees, being Italians, 

 no black bee would be permitted on the 

 alighting- board for a minute. The same is 

 true of feeding outside. It has been a com- 

 mon thing for me to feed outside; and the 

 Italians mingle together without the least 

 trouble; but let a black bee from a neigh- 

 bor's yard alight among them and he, she, 

 or it is pounced upon instantly. 



CAUCASIANS REAR MORE DRONES BECAUSE 



THE ORDINARY WORKER-CELLS ARE TOO 



LARGE FOR THEM. 



In the June 1st issue you refer to Cauca- 

 sians as great drone-producers, which seems 

 to be a common complaint. I have had 

 some experience with them; and while I can 

 not say that I am an ardent admirer, yet I 

 think we ought to "give the Devil his due," 

 or, in other words, these bees. You know 

 they are smaller than the ordinary bees we 

 are accustomed to, and. as a matter of course, 

 use smaller worker-cells for brood rearing; 

 and when you force them on to foundation 

 with but slightly if any smaller cells than 

 their drone cells, it is most natural that they 

 should produce a large number of drones. 

 Either give them proper foundation or let 

 them build their own comb without interfer- 

 ence, for then you are in a situation to judge 

 them in this particular. 



Evanston, 111., July 15. 



[The publication of that very interesting 

 series of articles entitled "Are Bees Reflex 

 Machines?" by Dr. von Buttel-Reepen, did 

 not evoke the discussion that was expected. 

 We consider this one of the most valuable 

 contributions on practical apiculture that has 

 ever been given; possibly the title itself led 

 the average reader to believe that the series 

 related to some abstruse scientific observa- 

 tions that were beyond the comprehension 

 of the ordinary lay mind. This was far from 

 the fact. The discussions are easily within 

 'the grasp of any one, and now that we have 

 the work in book form many of our readers 

 would do well to read it consecutivt ly. But- 

 tel-Reepen explains many of the phenomena 

 that occur in the bee-yard; ana these ex- 

 planations will show the producer how to 

 make more dollars out of his bees, for, un- 

 derstanding their nature, he is better fitted 

 to make them serve him. Mr. Whitney, Dr. 

 Miller, and a few others seemed to appre- 

 ciate it at its real value. 



Regarding the Caucasians, we doubt very 

 much whether they are any smaller than or- 

 dinary Italians. At one time the statement 

 was made that the Carniolans were larger. 

 Looks are deceiving. As a matter of fact, 

 the three races appear to pass the zinc ex- 

 cluders with equal facility. We doubt, 

 therefore, if our correspondent is right in 

 concluding that Caucasi ms would build more 

 drone comb because combs from worker 

 foundation are too large. If we understand 

 correctly, Caucasians in their natural habi- 

 tat, on their own virgin combs, run exct ss- 

 ively to drones — much more so than Italians. 

 —Ed.] 



