906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



manner of constructing queen, drone, and 

 even worker cells. I could relate many in- 

 stances showing- the cunning- of the honey- 

 bee if I had the time and space. These 

 things I have observed in my own apiary, 

 and I doubt not that all old bee-keepers can 

 say the same. This being true, why should 

 we not credit the honey-bee with at least a 

 small amount of progressive knowledge 

 which is being handed down little by little 

 from generation to generation, and not say 

 it is simply instinct, and that the first 

 honey-bee on earth (which perhaps had a 

 nest in a hollow tree in the garden of Eden) 

 knew as much as our best strains of the 

 present day? I think it would be but fair 

 to give them the advantage of a doubt, and 

 investigate in other directions. I hope that 

 those who have time and opportunity will 

 examine and ascertain, if possible, if these 

 red-clover bees may not have some way of 

 pressing the deep delicate flower-tubes 

 close around their tongues, making it air- 

 tight below, then raising the nectar to their 

 honey-sacs by suction, or, by pressing the 

 lower part of the soft pliable tube, force the 

 honey up to the surface so it will be in 

 reach of the shortest tongues. 



In the Bee-keeper's Guide, Prof. Cook, 

 after describing the physiology of bees' 

 tongues, says, " The bee then can take nec- 

 tar in three different ways: First, rapidly, 

 when sipping from flowers containing much 

 nectar by the large channels formed by ap- 

 proximating its maxilla? and labial palpi; 

 secondly, slowly from deep tubular flowers, 

 when it sips through the central rod; and, 

 thirdly, it may lap from a smeared surface 

 because of the slitted ligula." So does it 

 not seem reasonable, with their extra brain 

 power and their many wonderful appen- 

 dages, they should be able to contrive some 

 way to obtain the coveted sweet from the 

 red-clover blossoms, especially those which 

 have been bred for many generations in a 

 country where red clover is extensively 

 grown? I do not doubt that there are many 

 red-clover bees in the East, where they 

 have had such excellent opportunities to be- 

 come acquainted with the mode of obtain- 

 ing it; but in many parts of the United 

 States red clover does not succeed well, and 

 in such localities I should hardly expect 

 red-clover bees. 



Swanton. Neb. 



[I should question very much whether the 

 bees with short tongues, even if they could 

 make an air-tight connection with the flow- 

 er-tube, could suck all the honey out. From 

 a mechanical point of view the feat would 

 be impossible unless there could be a vent 

 at the bottom by which the 15 pounds of air 

 pressure outside of the tube could be exert- 

 ed to force the nectar up to and within reach 

 of the bees' tongues. Perhaps the matter 

 may be better explained if I illustrate it in 

 this way : Suppose we have a bottle half 

 full of water. Through the cork we insert 

 a little pump, the suction of which is above 

 the surface of the water. Now, if we work 



that pump, the water, of course, will not 

 come up. But suppose we insert the suc- 

 tion of the pump into the water, there will 

 very soon be a partial vacuum. When the 

 air pressure in the bottle is not sufficient to 

 force the water up the suction pump, it will 

 fail to draw water. 



Of course, it is true that bees have a very 

 large brain compared with that of other in- 

 sects; and we know, too, from experience, 

 that they exhibit wonderful sagacity at 

 times; but I do not know any way by which 

 bees could use their brains in getting honey 

 from red clover unless those same bees in 

 some way puncture or tear away the base 

 of the flower so that they can reach the nec- 

 tar. Experiments and a great amount of 

 testimony so far goes to show that bees do 

 not cut or bite open either the skins of fruit 

 or the delicate tissue composing the base of 

 the flower-tubes. — Ed.'] 



A BEE-YARD AMONG THE HILLS IN INDIANA. 



I live in town, and have my bees near the 

 edge of the corporation, between the forks 

 of the White Water River. I started with 

 11 colonies, which wintered well in a cellar 

 last year; in the spring I bought 10 three- 

 frame nuclei, each with a queen, in the 

 South, shipped to me by express. I also 

 got 7 stands of common bees of a man at a 



THE WHITE WATER VALLEY APIARY. 



sale. They were in old shaky stands, and 

 I transferred them to Root's Dovetailed 

 hives. With the 10 three-frame nuclei and 

 the 11 stands I had, I have increased my 

 apiary to 36 colonies. Each colony has a 

 thoroughbred golden Italian queen, and two 

 of them have a leather-colored queen, which 



