302 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 



We also find on exhibition three styles of smokers, 

 and we consider them all good. We also And four 

 styles of uncappiufi-knives on exhibition. We con- 

 sider them all good and have no preferences. There 

 is also a good display of books devoted to beekeep- 

 ing, on exhibition; this we are much pleased to see. 



Aspiuwall & Treadwell also exhibit a wax-extract- 

 or which we consider very good, and the best on ex- 

 hibition. We also find on exhibition several 

 honey - extractors, among which is a reversible 

 extractor, which we consider very good for a 

 business run on a large scale; but for our use, 

 the smaller extractors on exhibition we consider 

 equally good, and will answer our purpose fully as 

 well. We also find on exhibition two styles of comb 

 foundation (flat and natural base), and we pro- 

 nounce the natural base preferable for all pur- 

 poses. 



There is also on exhibition a photograph of some 

 of our prominent bee-keepers, presented by Mr. 

 Tuttle. We considei it nicely gotten up, and. as far 

 as we know the likenesses, they are very good, and 

 we think that Mr. Tuttle deserves a great deal of 

 commendation. All of which your committee re- 

 spectfully submits. K. B.vcon, ) 



Ira. Bakber, VCom. 



1. L. SCOFIELD, ) 



Pine Plains, N. Y. G. H. Knickerbocker. 



BUMBLE-BEES, AGAIN. 



REMINISCENCES ANIJ OBSERVATIONS FROM G. M. 

 DOOLITTLE. 



TT is a very rare thing that 1 read any article in 

 1^ our bee-papers with more interest than I had 

 ^l in reading the one about bumble-bees, on page 

 -^ 181 of Gleanings, written by Prof. Cook. 

 When a boy there was no other one thing so 

 interesting to me in all the realm of nature as was 

 a nest of bumble-bees. I have watched them for 

 hours in admiration and curiosity, as well as to 

 spend hours in the " fun " (as all boys think it is) of 

 trying to out-general the little fellows, to get the 

 bit of precious nectar which the nest might contain. 

 My regret now is, that this " fun " was often "death 

 to the bees." I indorse all that Prof. Cook says of 

 these bees, and would especially recommend to 

 every reader what he says about encouraging the 

 study of them and other insects. To encourage 

 such study I want to tell the readers of Gleanings 

 something -about these bees, in addition to what 

 Prof . Cook told us; and 1 desire that the professor 

 and all shall carefully experiment the coming sea- 

 son to see whether T am right or not. Prof. Cook 

 told us that the queen bumble-bee is the only one 

 which lived over winter. This 1 am sure is right; 

 but the point I wished to know most about was 

 where and in what state did she pass the winter. 

 Bro. Clarke will say. " hibernation," iind 1 guess he 

 is correct. But where? Well, until some one 

 proves differently, I say in the earth. This I al- 

 ways believed, as in early boyhood I saw them com- 

 ing out of the ground or from under a sod in spring 

 when planting potatoes; but I was not so snie 

 about it as I was ten years ago this spring. Ten 

 years ago last fall I built my shop, and about 

 one-fourth of the floor-space was left uncovered 

 so as to set my steam-engine directly on the 

 ground. ()ne warm day the next May, while at 

 work in the shop with closed doors, T heard a bum- 

 ble-bee trying to fly down by the engine; and upon 



going there it rose from near a little round hole in 

 the ground, and flew to a window. At night I had 

 three bumble-bees on the windows, and at no time 

 had any of the doors or windows of the shop been 

 left open during the days and weeks previous. 

 Since then 1 have never found a bumble-bee in the 

 shop except when I knew it came In at the door or 

 window. 



To digress a little. One season there was a nest 

 of hornets under one of the bottom-boards of a hive 

 of bees which sat on the ground. These hornets 

 became so populous that they went and came nearly 

 as fast as the bees from the hive. In October the 

 hornets made no appearance at their entrance-hole, 

 so the fore part of November 1 set the hive off the 

 bottom-board and lifted said board up to see what 

 kind of a home my friends had had. 1 found they 

 had dug away and carried off the soil so that a hole 

 had been excavated as large as a peck measure, 

 and down in this hung their combs, almost without 

 the usual paper outside seen on thern when built 

 on trees, buildings, etc., as they usually are. But 

 the most interesting part of it to me was, that, 

 down in the deepest part of the hole, was about a 

 teacupful of queen hornets in such a state of hiber- 

 nation that 1 could handle them at pleasure with- 

 out the least signs of life. I looked at them occa- 

 sionally all winter and early spring, when one day 

 in May I saw a queen hornet; and upon going to 

 my nest at this time all were gone. To return: 



It is only the young queens of the bumble-bees 

 that live over the winter, according to my observa- 

 tion, the mother dying of old age about the time 

 young queens become fertilized. Prof. Cook says 

 the bumble-bee queen lajs her eggs on amass of 

 pollen. I And she covers her eggs with pollen, so 

 that each egg is surrounded by pollen; and when 

 the larva hatches it eats itself out of this pollen, 

 when the cell is formed, as ho says. Of these eggs, 

 only five to eight are at first laid (usually six), all of 

 which are the small workers spoken of by the pro- 

 fessor. Just previous to the hatching of these 

 first workers, more eggs are inclosed in pollen; and, 

 if all is prosperous, still others, till into August, 

 and all of these eggs hatch out the larger-sized 

 workers spoken of by the older writers. They are 

 not the drones nor the (lueens, friend Cook, as they 

 will soon show you by defending the nest, for the 

 young queens never make any defense, except in 

 the spring. Next, the eggs are laid for the drones, 

 and then for the queens. The number laid seems 

 to lie governed by the strength of the little colony. 

 Sometimes not over two or three of each, and again 

 from 2U to .5(1. 



In this locality there are at least six different vari- 

 eties of these bf-es. A smallish bee, about the size 

 of a cranberry, with a bright lemon-colored abdo- 

 men tipped with black, which appears first in 

 spring, and always, as far as I have observed, build 

 their nest in the ground. These are the ones which 

 sing so sweetly while working on roses. Next a 

 smaller kind having an abdomen of lemon and red. 

 There is another very nearly like this last, except 

 that the color is lemon and black. Then we have 

 one about one-third larger than the first, whose ab- 

 domen is of a rusty orange color. These last three 

 always, as fur as I have ever seen, take an old 

 mouse-nest top of the ground for their home. Next 

 we have a bee about the size of the last, whose ab- 

 domen is nearly white, always called "white-backed 

 bees" here, and for stinging qualities they are 



