98 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1919 



HEADS OF GRAIN W^^- DIFFERENT FIELDS 



Can Bees Hear? A. I. Boot, page 739, 



Possibly, Yes. asks this question. 



This is something that 

 I have often thought of myself, because a 

 few years ago I had a little exj^erience that 

 almost convinced me that bees can hear, but 

 yet I do not know. One evening after sun- 

 down in the midst of the honey flow I had 

 ground my scythe, and in walking along in 

 front, of a row of hives there was a post 

 about 10 feet from the entrances of a few 

 hives. When I got to the post I hit, it a 

 light blow with the blade, which gave a 

 bell-like sound, when out shot a few dozen 

 bees from several hives close by. I repeated 

 the act several times, and it always had the 

 same effect on the bees. Did the bees, hear 

 it or feel it? They surely did not see it. 

 It seems to me that some of our old-time 

 beekeepers like A. I. E. himself, and Dr. 

 Miller, who have, perhaps, worn out several 

 of their wives' dishpans in their early days 

 of beekeeping in calling back runaway 

 swarms that were nearly out of sight, should 

 surely be able to give us some light on the 

 subject. If bees could hear 40 years ago, 

 they surely can do so yet. Who knows? 

 I believe bees can and do hear. 



Dakota, 111. A. A. Augenstein. 



I should like to relate an experience we 

 had two summers ago. There were a few 

 half-grown pigs in a pen a few rods from 

 an apiary of 200 colonies. Occasionally a 

 pig would get out; and in catching and 

 lifting him back over the fence there would 

 be some good sharp squealing. Whenever 

 this happened when the bees were flying 

 well overhead, scores of them would come 

 at us so furiously that we were obliged to 

 hurry operations or take a severe stinging 

 before we could get away. The bees would 

 come for rods, fast and mad, directly for us. 

 It was not the motions we made that caused 

 it, for we tried it. It happened fully half 

 a dozen times before we fixed the fence. 

 Do not the bees hear the piping of young 

 queens. F. W. Lesser. 



East Syracuse, N. Y. 



A. I. Eoot revives the old question: "Can 

 Bees Hear?" It seems to me that such a 

 question could be easily answered by any 

 apiculturist who has at one time or another 

 noticed what happens when by accident a 

 bee is pinched on top of the frames and 

 in the vicinity of other bees. The injured 

 bee gives a "war whoop," followed by an 

 immediate rushing of bees to that spot. 

 Could the bees have seen such an accident? 

 No; nor could they have felt it. What 

 then called them to the assistance of the in- 

 jured member? Simply the sound of dis- 

 tress. There are numerous other bee be- 

 haviors that can be accounted for only by 

 sound. For instance, how would the guards 



at the entrance obtain help, if they could 

 not make others hear and understand the 

 vibrations of their wings? There is no more 

 conclusive proof of the presence of a sense 

 of hearing in bees than the fact that they 

 can distinguish and will follow different 

 sounds, unless it be the positive discovery 

 of the ears themselves. 



Lawrence F. Bellman. 

 Ft. Atkinson, Wis. 



A Homemade In an old-fashioned 



Extractor. milk-can cut a six-inch 



hole in the bottom. 

 To the edges of this attach with solder 

 about an inch of the top part of the funnel. 

 Then punch four holes in the lower edge of 

 the funnel and attach a cheesecloth strainer. 

 If the can is not deep enough to take the 

 frames, attach a band of iron to the top. 

 Next make a frame of wood and wire at- 

 tached to the shaft and held in place at the 

 bottom with a strip of iron with a hole in 

 thei center. In this frame the extracting- 

 siipers as well as section boxes slide in and 



A homemade honey-extractor. 



out easily. A couple of old gears will com- 

 plete the outfit as shown in the picture. The 

 old can was given to me. I had on hand 

 the old pieces of iron, solder, etc., so the 

 whole affair, including paint, cost but $1.69. 



The standard is simply but solidly built. 

 Any size of dish may be used underneath 

 by sliding a board thru the different cleats 

 at the sides of the legs. 



My honey crop totaled 226 pounds this 

 season, about half of which was extracted. 



Center Eutland, Vt. E. L. Palmer. 



Objects Strongly to The article by J. F. 

 That Treatment. Kight, appearing in 



the January issue, 

 raises a question that should be ventilated. 

 There are altogether too many beekeepers 

 who now try to cure American foul brood 

 in that way. At the beginning of my bee- 



