October, 1910. 



AiiK>rican ^ec Journal j 



there came a night so cold tliat tlie 

 mercury went down to only ,'i.") degrees 

 above zero, so that a temperature of 

 but 40 appeared between tlie two combs 

 right opposite the brood in the little 

 cluster. I expected that the brood, es- 

 pecially the one and two days old 

 larvK. would all be dead, but, to my 

 surprise, when it came warm enough 

 so I could look the next day, all the 

 brood was as prosperous between those 

 two combs as was the case with large 

 colonies. I said to the 200 bees, "You 

 little rascals, tell me how you did it ?" 

 But neither the bees nor the queen 

 could give me a satisfactory reply. So 

 I am still puzzling myself over this 

 matter. Have any of the readers of 

 the American Bee Journal a satisfac- 

 factory answer ? 



And right here comes another item : 

 Not long ago, in conversation with a 

 bee-keeper, he said " bees seem to pos- 

 sess the power to retard the develop- 

 ment of both eggs and larvae, as also 

 to hasten this process." I felt like say- 

 ing, " Which may be true or it may not 

 be true." 



That the development of young bees 

 is greatly retarded at times, and accel- 

 erated at others, no close observer will 

 deny; but the question in doubt is 

 whether the bees have the power of 

 thus hastening or retarding the devel- 

 opment, or is it the condition or state 

 of things over which they have no con- 

 trol ? 1 believe that the egg is changed 

 into a larva when the egg is " ripe," 

 only as it is touched by the pabulum 

 from the nurse-bees, and thus far con- 

 sider that the bees have perfect control 

 over the hatching of the eggs ; but 

 further than this, I think that the time 

 of year, temperature, etc., have more to 

 do with the matter than the bees. A 

 term of extreme heat for 10 days to 2 

 weeks will so hasten development that 

 I have known perfect young bees to 

 emerge in about 19 days, while very 

 cool or cold weather so retards this 

 development that several cases of 

 worker-bees being in the cell for 23 

 and 24 days have come under my no- 

 tice. But to be fair, I must state that 

 in all cases of such development it has 

 come in the fall or the year of after 

 Sept. 1st, at which time the bees pass 

 into a less active mood than is the case 

 during May, June, July and August. 



How my attention came to be called 

 to this matter was through the time of 

 the queen emerging from queen-cells 

 placed in a queen-nursery, the same 

 being put in place of a frame in an 

 upper story over a strong colony. Such 

 cells would not hatch regularly after 

 Sept. 1st, the time varying from the 

 usual 16 days up to 24, and in one or 

 two instances still longer or not at all. 

 On looking for the trouble, I found by 

 observation that the brood in the 

 combs on either side of this nursery 

 was as tardy of development as were 

 the queens. From this I came to the 

 conclusion that there were times when 

 through the sluggishness of the bees 

 they really did have something to do 

 with the matter; but in all times of 

 activity in the hive I doubt very much 

 about their being able of their own 

 ct7//-power to change matters very 

 much along this line. 



I now come to the last puzzle which 

 is, how the bees are able to keep the 



inside of the hive as coo! as 98 degrees 

 in time of extreme heat; for, as I said 

 near the commencement, with experi- 

 ments conducted with a self-register- 

 ing thermometer, and that on some of 

 the hottest days did I ever know of a 

 temperature greater than 98 degrees F. 

 inside of the brood-nest. How the 

 bees can keep down the temperature of 

 the hive is more than I can see. I am 

 told it is done by ventilation through a 

 row of bees standing at the inside of 

 the entrance, and another row on the 

 outside, when, with the fanning of their 

 wings a current of air is driven even to 

 the remotest part of the hive, thus 

 keeping the inside of the hive at the 

 right temperature for the prosperity of 

 the brood. But mind you, in one of 

 my experiments with the thermometer, 

 the temperature in the shade was only 

 2 degrees lower than that registered in 

 the brood-nest, while this hive, inside 

 of which the thermometer was placed, 

 stood right in the " blazing sun," which 

 gave a temperature of 127 degrees by 

 another thermometer placed on the 

 hive. Then that very same day I had 

 proven that anima! life inside a hive 

 with no bees could not exist on ac- 

 count of the heat, as (for the time be- 

 ing) I had thoughtlessly placed a sit- 

 ting hen, which I wished to break of 

 that trouble, inside such a hive which 

 was in the sun. Much to my astonish- 

 ment, when I went after the hen an 

 hour or so later, I found her dead and 

 nearly roasted. 



Can the bees keep down such a heat 

 by ventilation, when the air outside is 

 apparently as warm as it is inside ? 

 May they not have some other means 

 of doing it ? I have been told that the 

 bees do this by the evaporation of the 

 nectar brought in from the fields, as 

 the converting of nectar into honey 

 causes a vapor, which carries ofT the 

 heat very rapidly. But this idea failed 

 to hold good in this case, as the time 

 was between basswood and buckwheat, 

 when nectar was so scarce that I was 

 in trouble from the bees robbing. 



Who of the readers of the American 

 Bee Journal are enough interested to 

 help in the solving of these matters ? 



Borodino, N. Y. 



An Experiment With Hornets 



DY G. C. GREINER. 



From observation it would seem that 

 hornets, generally called "yellow jack- 

 ets," have their ups and downs in win- 

 tering, the same as bees. At least they 

 are more numerous in some seasons 

 than they are in others, but whether 

 this is caused by the difference in win- 

 tering, or some other cause, I can not 

 say. Last summer they were uncom- 

 monly numerous during the honey sea- 

 son. Wherever a little honey was left 

 exposed they would appear in regular 

 sw-arms to take possession, and even 

 when hives were being opened they 

 could be seen circling around among 

 the bees trying to find an entrance. 



One morning, while walking through 

 the yard, I noticed at the entrance of 

 one of the hives quite a commotion, 

 caused mainly by these yellow fellows. 

 They were going in and out at one end 

 of the entrance in regular strings, while 



at the same time bees were guarding 

 the other part of the opening. My 

 curiosity being aroused, I opened the 

 hive very carefully and found the out- 

 side comb on the side next to the hive- 

 wall completely covered with hornets. 



To investigate the case a little closer, 

 I began to remove this comb, but be- 

 fore I had it drawn half way out of the 

 hive, the whole set of marauders was 

 in the air. They seemed to be fright- 

 ened at my interference and took wing 

 at the first stir of the comb. While the 

 inside of the comb was in normal con- 

 dition, covered with bees like any comb 

 drawn from the center of an average 

 colony, the outside, where these hor- 

 nets had been feasting, looked very 

 much like a comb that had been robbed 

 by bees. 



To explain the case, which otherwise 

 might seem a little unusual, I will state 

 that this colony was not in normal 

 condition. To make room for a num- 

 ber of laying queens, I had made some 

 divisions, placing one-half of a colony 

 in an empty hive and giving the new 

 queen to the queenless half. To help 

 fill out the hives, I had also given each 

 half one comb of honey, which was 

 placed on the outside of the other 

 combs next to the hive-wall. The hive 

 in question had been moved to a new- 

 stand and many of the flying bees had 

 returned to the old home. This left 

 the inserted comb of honey somewhat 

 unprotected, and our friends, the snoop- 

 ing hornets, had found the treasure. 



Now comes the amusing part of the 

 story: Examining the other half of 

 the divided colony, I found their comb 

 of honey well covered with bees, and 

 to try the experiment, although I had 

 no idea what the outcome would be, 

 I quietly exchanged these two combs. 

 As long as I was moving about the 

 hornets kept at proper distance, but the 

 air was full of them, and as soon as I 

 had restored everything to its former 

 condition and had retreated to a safe 

 place of observation, the fun began in 

 earnest. 



In less than a minute the yellow 

 crowd began to circle closer and closer 

 around the entrance until some of the 

 most daring made the dash for the 

 supposed feast. But their surprise was 

 complete; the first one had hardly en- 

 tered when it came tumbling out with 

 ■i or 4 bees dangling from its extremi- 

 ties. The second one received the 

 same treatment, and the next fared no 

 better, and in less time than it takes to 

 tell it, half a dozen fierce wrestling 

 matches were in progress on the 

 alighting-board. 



Being very busy at that time, I did 

 not remain until the end of the contest, 

 but I staid there long enough to sat- 

 isfy myself that no more hornets were 

 admitted into that hive. Later, when 

 passing the place, I found everything 

 quiet and in normal condition. 



In connection with the foregoing in- 

 cident a few more interesting points 

 might be mentioned. 



First, no hornets were killed or in 

 any noticeable way disabled by the 

 bees. After tumbling around for a few 

 minutes, they always freed themselves 

 from the grasp of the bees and disap- 

 peared in the air, none the worse, 

 seemingly, for the combat. 



Second, no particular harm is done 



