318 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



THE FINEST SWAKIfl OF BEES IN TEX- 

 AS. 



AND WHAT BECAME OF IT. 



^pS^N the 10th of May, I had 2 large swarms of Ital- 

 WM ian bees which came out at the same time, 

 and all settled together, so I did not know 

 what else to do but to let them all go together. I 

 got my table and placed it under the tree on which 

 they had settled, which was a small peach tree. In 

 order that I might save one of the queens, I got a 

 sheet and spread it on the table, so I might be bet- 

 ter able to see the queens. I placed the hive on the 

 table with the frames all in order, and the quilts on, 

 so I could force them in at the entrance. I then 

 shook them down on the table and watched for the 

 queens. I caught one and caged her. Then, after 

 taking her away I drove all the bees all in together. 

 I think there must have been % bushel of bees. I 

 felt sure that I had the finest colony of bees in Tex- 

 as, and had taken particular pains to get them to 

 stay. I gave them two cards of brood in all stages, 

 with plenty of honey, and thought they would do 

 big things, as there was plenty of honey coming in. 

 As I thought they would perhaps not have room, 

 I opened up the upper story, so as to give them fair 

 play, and placed them on their stand, and to my sur- 

 prise, in about 2 hours, they came out and started 

 for the timber, which was not very far off. I fol- 

 lowed them, throwing clods of dirt at them, but they 

 were determined to go. I followed them about 3 i of 

 a mile, until they got above the timber, and were 

 going so fast I could not keep up; so I bid them 

 farewell, or at least they bid me good moraine 1 , as 

 they thought they might go farther and fare better. 

 So I changed my course for home very much wor- 

 ried, and a little "down in the mouth," but not in 

 Blasted Hopes, "by a long shot." When I reached 

 home, I opened the hive and found a few young bees 

 crawling about, that had hatched out of the brood I 

 gave them. 



Now, Mr. Root, you don't know how bad I felt 

 for those fatherless and motherless bees, and, be- 

 hold! the worst of all was, they had uncapped the 

 last cell of honey, and cleaned it up, robbed their 

 own brood, and left them to starve. I just thought, 

 if I had hold of the old lady that led them off, I 

 would crop her wings well. I then made an artifi- 

 cial swarm, and turned the queen that I had cap- 

 tured loose, and now I have a fine colony after all. 

 What made them leave? H. D. Heath. 



Sherman, Tex., June 2, 1880. 



I think I should have divided so large a 

 swarm, friend H., but, with the two frames 

 of brood you gave them. I should hardly 

 have supposed they would decamp. Did 

 you move them far enough from the place 

 where they clustered? See friend Peter's re- 

 marks in regard to losing swarms, at the 

 conclusion of the subject of swarming in the 

 ABC. Very large swarms are always lia- 

 ble to swarm out at almost any time. 



►♦♦♦< 



ARE BEES ABLE TO "STRAIN" THE 

 WATER FROM NEW HONEY? 



IN reply to Mr. Thomson's strictures in June 

 No., p. 270, 1 have to say that I expressed my 

 views in the April No., and he has expressed 

 7i is in the June No. We find no fault with him, and 

 I trust he reciprocates. We have observed all the 

 phenomena to which he alludes in the latter part of 



his article, and admit the falling of the spray. Per- 

 haps it is nearly pure water; as pure as ordinary 

 river water. We admit that it comes from the bees 

 while passing over. Thus far we think alike; but 

 our conclusions differ. The premises are the same 

 in both cases, and we both "reason from what we 

 know," and then diverge. Mr. Thomson sees an un- 

 demonstrated lilter through which the water he 

 poured on his sugar was finding its way. Call it an 

 excreting gland. Such glands do exist in our own 

 bodies, and they may exist in the bee, and for the 

 especial purpose under consideration. Mr. Root, 

 please hunt them up after you are through your 

 hurry. "Find out how the bees separate the water." 

 He has reached his conclusion, now, Mr. Root, prove 

 it for him. Now I don't propose to risk my "old 

 hat" in this matter. I would accept the apples by 

 way of compromise, when our friend feels that he 

 has jumped at aconclusion without logical premises. 

 We present our case this way: Bees eat, digest, and 

 expel the excrementitious matter while on the wing. 

 This is the healthy, natural way of purgation. After 

 bees have been confined for four or five months to 

 their hives, the excrement becomes thickened, and 

 when they are removed to their summer stand, on a 

 warm, sunny day, the condensed, colored spray 

 comes fast and thick, until it may be caught upon a 

 white sheet or dry board. 



Now the more muscular exertion an animal makes, 

 the more solid matter it must absorb to keep in re- 

 pair the muscular fiber consumed in the exertion. 

 When an animal is fed an excess of water with its 

 food, that water is "filtered" through kidneys and 

 skin. Some animal 3 have no kidneys, and, in such 

 cases, other organs are employed in expelling the 

 water through the alimentary canal. Such an- 

 imals have watery stools when in a normal state. 

 Now when bees at hard labor must drink a quart of 

 water for the sake of "two table-spoonfuls of sugar," 

 we feel warranted in expecting "plenty of spray 

 falling." Jesse Oken. 



La Porte City, Iowa, June, 18S0. 



I also, like friend Thompson, have noticed that 

 bees expel water when working on thin syrup, but 

 am unable to say whether or not they do really con- 

 dense the syrup, or separate the water, from it. I 

 have noticed that they do the same thing when work- 

 ing on pure water. 1 have a large tub for watering 

 my bees, with a piece of rag carpet thrown over it. 

 The bees alight on the wet carpet, and are in no dan- 

 ger of being drowned. During dry spells, they will 

 literally cover the tub, and I have often been asked, 

 "What are you feeding your bees?" When told, 

 "Water," they look surprised, and say they did not 

 know bees used so much water. 



Now, if any of your readers are watering their 

 bees, and would like to see them expel water, let 

 them seat themselves some evening before sundown, 

 so as to have the bees fly between them and the sun, 

 and, if they havebees enough carrying water, they 

 will see a continual shower of water dropping from 

 them. The question now comes, "what are they do- 

 ing?" or is it only that they have too large a load, 

 and discharge part of it? I think so. 



Jos. M. Brooks. 



Columbus, Ind., June 7, 1880. 



I am inclined to think the bees can sepa- 

 rate the water from the sugar, in the manner 

 mentioned, but I can not "cipher out" why 

 they should drink pure water only to expel 

 it immediately. I too, have seen them do it. 



