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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



near a certain barnyard, and a crow was 

 in the habit of coming and sitting- on a dead 

 limb at its summit. Looking down one day 

 he observed that the barnyard fowls were 

 in the habit of putting either the right or 

 the left foot forward, when, with a zigzag 

 motion of both feet, they would make the 

 litter fly in every direction, while scratch- 

 ing for their food. But the crow had read 

 in scientific books that, to be successful, 

 scratching should be done by putting both 

 feet forward at the same time, when, with 

 a kicking of the feet backward, both at the 

 same time, effective work could be done, 

 and the barnyard fowl that thought other- 

 wise was incapable of deducting satisfac- 

 tory conclusions. And this he proceeded to 

 tell the fowl day by day from his lofty 

 perch, but never ventured to come down and 

 test the thing with these common fowl. Re- 

 sults: Baskets full of eggs for the farmer's 

 wife, with four small crow eggs in a brush- 

 nest up out of reach in a tall tree. 



Arthur C, I extend to you a cordial invi- 

 tation to come down from your high perch 

 of what ive must do, and "scratch" with 

 us common bee-keepers ; and we will not 

 limit you to the way you must "scratch," 

 either. If you wish to scratch according to 

 the "latest accepted beliefs on breeding, on 

 development, and on heredity," all right, 

 so long as you only do something besides 

 finding fault with the "scratching" we are 

 doing. And when you have "scratched" 

 along your line for thirty years, and have 

 found out, by conclusive proofs and success- 

 ful results, that there is more "money" in 

 your plan than in ours, we will gratefully 

 acknowledge the great help you have been 

 in lifting bee-keeping up to a higher plane 

 than it ever enjoyed before. 



CAUSKS OF BALLING AT THE ENTRANCE. 



What is the cause of bees balling queens 

 at the entrance of a hive? The hive is all 

 right. Subscriber. 



[There are several causes that might 

 contribute to this result. First, a virgin 

 queen from some other hive may attempt to 

 get into the wrong hive. The sentinels will 

 seize her, and more bees grab her, until a 

 ball is formed. If she is not released by 

 the bee-keeper she will, in all probability, 

 be killed. Sometimes such a virgin suc- 

 ceeds in getting into the hive. If the old 

 queen -mother is beginning to fail, the bees 

 may take up with the young one and kill 

 the old one. In that event they will chase 

 their own kin and blood until she becomes 

 frightened and tries to escape. They may 

 grab her at the entrance, ball her, and 

 finally kill her. But the rule is that the 

 new comer is the one that is destroyed. 



Again, it will happen that the bees, with- 

 out any apparent cause, will ball and kill 

 their own queen. Of course, there is a 

 cause, but not one that we can discover. 

 She may be balled inside of the hive, or she 

 may be balled out in the air near the en- 

 trance, depending on whether she attempt- 

 ed to escape while they were chasing her. 



Still again, a newly introduced queen 

 maj'^ be found balled at the entrance. She 

 will emerge from her cage, and apparently 

 every thing will be all right; but should 

 she show a little fear, and begin to run, in 

 all probability the bees will grab for her, 

 and sometimes they catch and ball her just 

 before or after she gets out. 



Nine times out of ten, however, the balls 

 at the entrance are occasioned by a virgin 

 returning from her wedding-flight going 

 into the wrong entrance. If the old queen- 

 mother is to be killed, they will do the job 

 inside of the hive, where they can do it up 

 to the young "queen's taste." — Ed.] 



BEES THAT ARE GENTLE, BUT ATTACK 

 FARM HORSES. 



My bees seem possessed with an evil spir- 

 it. They are in chaff hives, and are very 

 strong colonies. I can do as I wish in 

 handling them. They seem to be gentle 

 and all right in that respect. But woe be 

 to horse or cow that they can get at. They 

 will go 40 rods away from a hive to sting 

 my horses. The latter have been stung so 

 many times that, if they hear a bee hum, 

 they are wild with fright. The first time 

 was last September, when they stung the 

 horses, and many times this spring. What 

 can I do? Do you think the bees come from 

 all the colonies or only one? I have been 

 very careful about leaving honey about. 

 No robbing, to my knowledge, going on. 

 No bees are near me. I wish to plow, and 

 my neighbor also, ten or twelve rods away 

 from my hives; but as soon as you take a 

 team into the lot the bees will attack them. 

 What, in your opinion, has caused this 

 state of affairs? 



I hate to destroy them, but they are very 

 dangerous as they are. There are nine col- 

 onies of the bees. W. W. Loveland. 



Aurora Sta., O., May 17. 



[The probabilities are that one colony of 

 bees is causing- all the trouble that you men- 

 tion. If j'ou could possibly ascertain which 

 one it is, j'ou would do well to move it to 

 some other local itj'. There are some bees 

 that are very easy to handle, but inclined 

 to attack animals, especially sweaty horses. 

 The switching of the tail and the general 

 odor have a tendencj^ to irritate. It is very 

 diiificult to tell from which colony the cross 

 bees come; but when they offer an attack, 

 get the horses out of the way as soon as 

 possible, then you yourself get down out of 

 sight and watch to see which way they go, 

 and to which hive they return. 



Any bees are liable to attack horses that 

 may be passing back and forth in their line 

 of flight, and it might be advisable, if you 



