AUGUST 1, 1915 



time the camera man was eateliiiiti the wliole 

 performance. But a couple of Ihe boys 

 were stung-, but not bad enough (o cause 

 any trouble — two sting-s in all being the 

 number received. 



'i'he average beeman should be warnoil 

 against this kind of performance. Where 

 one is immune to sting's and understands 

 Ihe job. tliere is not nuich danger; but look 

 out for the tirst time. 



Temper of a Colony of Bees Dependent 

 on Loealitv and Environment as well 

 as ^ eather Conditions 



Dii> you ever notice that bees in an open 

 yard, without shade or shrubbery, are apt 

 to be Grosser, almost invariably, than the 

 same bees or the same strain of bees located 

 in a grove, orchard, or in any position where 

 there is low shrubbery sufficiently high to 

 screen one hive from the other? When the 

 Te.xas shipment of bees arrived at Medina 

 we plai-ed them partly in the home yard 

 with its grapevine trellises, and partly in 

 oui' oulyards, most of which have no shade. 

 Tt was veiy noticeable that the Texas bees 

 were much crosser at the outyards where 

 even- hive is exposed to plain \iew than 

 the same bees (or strain of bees rather) 

 ?t the home yard screened by the grapevine 

 trellises. These vines Avere anywhere from 

 ihe to seven feet high, and about four feet 

 wide, and they stand immediately back of 

 or on the south side of the hive. If the 

 operator happens to sti'ike a cross colony, 

 thr- bees that have offered attack soon lose 

 track of him because he is screened by vines 

 out of their sight when working the other 

 hives. On the other hand, if the operator 

 happens to stir up the bees at an outyard 

 wheie the view is unobstructed at every hive, 

 those same bees will follow him about until 

 he finishes his work at the yard. They will 

 attract other bees, with the result that he 

 will receive more stingy than he will from 

 the same strain of bees at the home yard 

 tliat lose sight of the operator as soon as 

 the hive is closed. 



Our grapevine-troUis a])iary affords a 

 screen and protection to our boys in a way 

 ihat ^ve do not have at the outyards; and 

 even when those outyards are in groves or 

 orchards, the bees are not quite as easily 

 handled as those in the hoTie yard where 

 every hive is screened behind a trellis of 

 grapevines. 



.-\t the ordinary yard it is practically im- 

 jmssible to find a better spot to afford pro- 

 tection than these yards screened by low 

 shrubberv or bv an orchard. In locating: 



yards it is better to place the entrances a.s 

 far as possible f)'om a cultivated field. A 

 si)iui of horses switching their tails may 

 obstruct the tlight of the bees, finis causing 

 trouble; so we are obliged at times to se- 

 lect an open spot of ground where every 

 hive is \isible from every other hive. The 

 ideal location for any yard is a spot not 

 near the general highway, remote from cul- 

 tivated fields, with individual screens for 

 each hive in the form of vines or low shrub- 

 bery which will cast its leaves during the 

 cold part of the year, so that the warm rays 

 of sunshine will be available when they are 

 most needed, and become shut off during the 

 middle hours of the day in hot weather when 

 thev are a detriment. 



Permit me fo add that Ernest submitted 

 the above fo Jue before it was put in type, 

 knowing what 1 had in mind when I plan- 

 ned a hexagonal apiary with a grapevine 

 for shade on a small ti-ellis for each hive, 

 sometliing like forty years ago. At the 

 same time, I experimented with different 

 kinds of grapevines, and found the Con- 

 cord less trouble to train as I wanted it 

 than any other variety. Most other vines 

 require too much pruning and cliY)ping to 

 keep them within bounds. It is gratifying 

 to know that my convictions at the time 

 ha>'e been "proved out." — A. I. R. 



Why Bees Work on One Species of 

 Flower at a Time, and Neglect all 

 Others ; an Interesting Study 



On page 510 of our July 1st issue we 

 spoke of that big field of yellow sweet clo- 

 ver near the home apiaiy. We went over 

 to see it a great many times. The low and 

 contented hum of the bees, thousands and 

 thousands of them as they went through 

 (he blossoms, was something worth seeing 

 and hearing. But all through that sweet 

 clover there was alsike. foi' bofli were sown 

 togethei'. 



We noticed tliat the bees that worked on 

 yellow sweet clover paid no attention to 

 the aLsike. This same fondness for the 

 same species of blossoms has been noticed 

 in all the bee-journals for years back; but 

 long, long before the observation was made 

 in (he bee-papers, Darwin, following Aris- 

 totle, had called attention to the same re- 

 ma I'kable specialiping on the part of the 

 bees. 



One day Ave spent nearly an hour to see 

 if we could detect a single bee that would 

 go from sAveet clover to alsike or from al- 

 sike to sweet clover; but not once did we 

 notice a single case. 



