1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



741 



small, hardly visible, and the bees always go- 

 ing from my sight so quickly. 



The next bee that came was loaded quite a 

 little heavier. This time there was no mistake 

 — the load of pollen was there. The bee carry- 

 ing it also hit the little round entrance with in- 

 fallible accuracy. I mention these observa- 

 tions because some one might say, " A strange 

 bee strayed accidentally found the hive." Tak- 

 ing into consideration that all my other hives 

 have their entrance on a level with the bottom- 

 board, and full width of the hives, it would 

 seem reasonable to suppose any stray bee would 

 drop down on the alighting-board and try to 

 find admittance there; but although 1 watched 

 quite a few more bees coming in loaded with 

 pollen more or less, every one seemed to know 

 just where the entrance was. 



At sundown that day an examination was 

 made. It showed that considerable work had 

 been done to match the combs. Some honey 

 had been changed to different places. The 

 most surprising feature was the presence of un- 

 sealed larvie. The small amount of open brood 

 contained in one of the combs at the time of 

 forming the colony on the ~!5th of June had not 

 suffered, but had seemingly been cared for all 

 right. A subsequent experiment along this line 

 did not turn out so well. A colony having cast 

 a prime swarm on the 2()th of June was stripped 

 from all its bees July 1st. The brood-combs 

 were treated in precisely the same manner as in 

 the other case, and on the third day I found a! 1 

 open brood perished. Why this difference, I am 

 not fully prepared to say. 



Our basswood-honey season opened on the 

 morning of July 1st. My little experimental 

 colony sent out its workers as regular as any 

 other colony in the yard, they bringing both 

 honey and pollen. No bee was at this time 

 quite six days old. On examining the colony 

 on the evening of this day, much new honey 

 could be seen which dropped from the combs 

 when held in a horizontal position. 



From this time on no marked difference could 

 be noticed between this or any other colony, ex- 

 cept, of course, in strength. A queen was now 

 introduced, and I should have liked to make 

 further observations, the bees all being black 

 and the queen an Italian; but, as it happened, 

 she proved a drone-layer, was removed later, 

 and one of Root's tested queens substituted. On 

 the 2.5th of July she commenced to lay, and she 

 soon tilled the combs nicely. Now some of the 

 bees are about !."> days old, and many of them 

 may be seen bringine in pollen, the honey sea- 

 son being at an end. 



It was not only curiosity that prompted me 

 to make my experiment, but 1 think the ques- 

 tion has a bearing upon the practical side of 

 our pursuit. If a bee can not be induced to go 

 out in search of food before 18 days of age, then 

 we shall have to be all the more careful when 



forming new colonies and nuclei so that enough 

 field-bees may be present to conduct the busi- 

 ness. 



I confess I have often worried over this mat- 

 ter, even in case of practicing the Heddon meth- 

 od of prevention of after-swarms, etc. 



Naples, N. Y., Aug. 30. 



[Friend G., the above brings to mind quite 

 vividly some experiments of my own made years 

 ago; and my decision, so far as I can remember 

 now, agreed very exactly with what you say. 

 When I first commenced with the Italian bees I 

 was a good deal disappointed to see yellow bees 

 all through the hive and all over the combs, but 

 none out gathering honey or pollen. A little 

 later they would be out in golden showers while 

 taking their playspeil; but even then the honey 

 and pollen seemed to be all gathered by the or- 

 dinary black bees. I began to be almost disap- 

 pointed, thinking the Italians were pretty to 

 look at, but that they were not going to be good 

 for work. After the young bees were about 

 three weeks old, however, then they began to 

 get down to regular field work that satisfied 

 me. Later on. in forming nuclei under about the 

 conditions you mention, I discovered that young 

 Italians could gather both honey and pollen if 

 they were absolutely obliged to do so ; and I 

 found that, under the stimulus of necessity, they 

 would go out into the fields almost two weeks 

 sooner than they did usually where there are 

 plenty of veterans in the hive. By referring to 

 the last part of the subject " Age of Bees," in 

 the ABC book, you will see that the statement 

 there agrees very exactly with the results of 

 your experiments. — A. I. R.] 



A LETTER FROM JAMAICA. 



FROM AN OLD FRIEND AND SUBSCKIBER OF 

 GLEANINGS. 



By H. O. Burnet. 



Friend Root: — I do not suppose that you re- 

 member that, when you were at Avon Park, at 

 the nursery, during your Florida travels, when 

 you and friend Keck were leaving, I told you I 

 was tired of being frozen out in Florida, and in- 

 tended to go to Jamaica, where frost and cold 

 are unknown, and where flowers and bees can 

 luxuriate in the warm sunshine the year round. 

 Well, we are here — wife, son, and self, and are 

 very well pleased with the wondrous beauty of 

 this lovely tropic island. 



You may not know that the word '" Jamaica" 

 means the " land of woods and waters," and, I 

 might say, of caves as well ; and knowing your 

 interest in such matters I am sure you would 

 enjoy a vacation spent in visiting the many 

 lovely springs, waterfalls, and caves, as well as 

 the four botanic gardens in various parts of the 

 island. It seems strange that wh should find 

 the climate even pleasanter than that of Flori- 

 da, but so it is. The mercury at our place has 

 not been above 80°, and, in fact, reached that 

 point only once in the past two months. But 

 when wo consider the small size of the island — 

 144 miles long and only 49 wide at the widest 

 point — also the mountainous character of most 

 of the island, and the constant northeast trade- 



