1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



621 



many ways we may notice a variation in their 

 dispositions. 



The above may seem foreign to bees; but I 

 have alluded to it to show that there is a varia- 

 tion in temperament among the same species in 

 the animal kingdom. 



Let us now go to the apiary. There are two 

 colonies, apparently just alike. We know they 

 are "very nearly alike so far as strength and the 

 amount of stores they have is concerned ; and 

 the one colony might be expected to do just as 

 the other does, yet the one colony is storing 

 honey quite rapidly while the other one is doing 

 very little. Here are two colonies very much 

 alike, that we gave supers to at the same time. 

 The one has the super half filled, and is work- 

 ing nicely, while the other has not even begun. 

 Here is a colony that builds very straight even 

 combs, while some of the others build crooked, 

 bulged, and uneven combs, although their con- 

 ditions are very much alike. Over there is a 

 colony that will not accept a queen, but will 

 kill queens as fast as you introduce them, and 

 insist upon rearing one of their own so long as 

 there is a shadow of a chance — that is, as long 

 as they have any unsealed larvae to rear one 

 from. No matter if the larva is several days too 

 old, they insist on having one of their own rear- 

 ing. Their nearest neighbor may be a colony 

 that will accept a queen by merely taking away 

 their own and giving them another, say twenty- 

 four hours later. One colony will cast a swarm 

 before the hive is more than two-thirds full of 

 brood and honey, while others will wait several 

 days after their hive is chock full. 



To what, then, can we attribute this differ- 

 ence? Where all are in the same apiary it can 

 not be laid at the door of location, for the re- 

 sources of one colony are available alike to all 

 that are of sufficient strength to send a full 

 working force to the field. 



We are forced to the conclusion that there is 

 a vast difference in the dispositions of different 

 colonies, or, perhaps, we might say, a particular 

 individuality peculiar to each colony. When 

 we consider, then, the different climates to 

 which bees are subjected, the difference in the 

 flora, and the difference in the time of year that 

 the main honey crop is gathered in different 

 parts of the world, is it to be wondered at that 

 all bees in all places do not act alike? Is it sur- 

 prising that a hive and a particular system of 

 management that work well in one part of the 

 country are failures in another and widely sep- 

 arated location? Is it strange that we have 

 not, can not at present, and, perhaps, never 

 will, all agree on any particular size or shape of 

 hive or any particular system of management? 



I could continue further in this line; but as 

 my article is becoming long I will try to come 

 to the point which I started to bring out. Can 

 we not, perhaps by studying the nature and 

 particular characteristics of each colony, be en- 

 abled to manage them with greater success and 



profit? Would it not often be better to yield to 

 the particular whims of a colony, or at least 

 compromise matters, than to undertake to make 

 them do altogether according to our ways of 

 thinking, when our way may be in direct oppo- 

 sition to what is the height of their ambition or 

 desire ? 



Probably ihere are few if any bee-keepers, 

 who use modern hives, that have not at some 

 time tried to prevent a colony from swarming, 

 and by so doing caused them to sulk until the 

 honey- harvest was past, and thus obtained 

 nothing from a colony that, by proper manage- 

 ment (that is, by humoring them in their desire 

 to multiply, and replenish the earth), might 

 have been induced to store considerable surplus 

 honey. 



In my mind there is no doubt that some colo- 

 nies will build comb much more readily than 

 others. To put such at storing honey to be ex- 

 tracted, and those that are disinclined to build 

 comb at work in the sections, would certainly 

 be a mistake; and yet how many of us pay any 

 attention to this in putting on the surplus re- 

 ceptacles ? 



The above is a subject which I do not recol- 

 lect having seen discussed in any of the bee- 

 papers, and I feel that I have made only a fee- 

 ble effort; but if it should call forth thought 

 and advice from some of the leading lights in 

 bee culture, it may be of use to the fraternity. 



Bluflfton, Mo. 



[This article is clear and logical, and the 

 writer draws some very practical conclusions. 

 One in particular is. vielding to the whims of 

 particular colonies. — Ed.] 



WHY SHOULD THERE BE SUCH A VARIETY 

 OF OPINIONS ? 



BEES ON STBAWBERKY-BLOSSOMS; HAVE THEY 

 BEEN KNOWN TO INJURE THE FRUIT ITSELF ? 

 HONEY-DEW AS A WINTER FEED FOR OUT- 

 DOORS AND INDOORS, AND THE DIFFERENCE 

 IN RESULTS. 



By W. S. Fultz. 



In the conirovesy just now going on in the 

 various bee and agricultural journals, it is as- 

 serted by some that bees do not work on straw- 

 berries while in bloom, and by others that they 

 do. While I never knew the bees to work on 

 strawberry bloom at any time during 22 years' 

 experience as a fruit- grower, yet I am not pre- 

 pared to assert that they do not so work. In 

 my location bees usually find honey from other 

 sources just at the time strawberries are in 

 bloom; and as there is little or no honey in 

 strawberry bloom they are not going to leave 

 better pasture to forage on that which is poorer. 



In other localities it is probable that, just at 

 the time the strawberries are blooming, there 

 is no other source from which the bees can get 

 a living, and they then resort to the strawber- 

 ries. When this country was first settled, and 



