522 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1919 



HEADS OF GRAIN T PppO TDrFFERENT FIELDS 



Young Queen The strangest and 



Leaves Bees and most remarkable bee 



Brood to Return behavior which ever 



Home. came under my ob- 



servation was witness- 

 ed in 1915. In going thru one of our colo- 

 nies, we found that the bees had reared a 

 young queen and she was laying on the same 

 comb with her mother. The old queen ap- 

 peared to us to be as good as ever and, the 

 colony being unusually strong, we decided to 

 divide it. We took three frames of brood 

 with the young queen and j)ut them on a 

 new stand about 25 feet away from the 

 parent colony. Three daj's later we looked 

 into this new hive and found that the bees 

 had deserted the brood and what honey 

 was present. My partner, Mr. Marzian, 

 and I stood and looked at each other for a 

 moment, wondering what had happened or 

 why those bees had absconded. He then sug- 

 gested that we look at the parent colony, 

 and see if those bees had gone back home 

 with the young queen. Upon opening the 

 old hive we found the young queen again on 

 the same comb with her mother. Now did 

 the young queen lead those bees back home 

 or did she follow the bees back home? She 

 had but recently mated, and it is possible 

 that she remembered the location of the old 

 hive and further knew that her mother was 

 failing and that she was needed at the old 

 home. We tried the experiment again, but 

 this time clipped the young queen, and of 

 course the new colony remained and built 

 up. The old colony now built queen-cells 

 and in due time another young queen was 

 laying, working right along with her mother 

 and both queens were usually found on the 

 same comb. It being late in the season, we 

 left both queens and hoped that the old 

 queen might live thru the winter, but in the 

 spring the old queen was missing. 



I have never read of a case like the above, 

 that is, of a young queen returning to the 

 old parent colony after being put on a new 

 stand with plenty of bees, brood, and honey. 

 Has such a case been observed or reported 

 by any one else? Earl C. Walker. 



New Albany, Ind. 



Reaction of Bees There is not the slight- 



to Colors. est doubt that honey- 



bees will sting black 

 more than white, as has been and can easily 

 be shown again experimentally. Let any 

 reader dress himself wholly in white, includ- 

 ing gloves, veil, and hat; and, after binding 

 a wide black band around either arm, open 

 a hive and violently shake the frames. He 

 will at once receive overwhelming evidence 

 that the bees will sting black more than 

 white, for the black band will be covered 

 with angry bees while on the white portions 

 of his clothing there will be very few bees. 



(For further experiments see Gleanings, Oct. 

 1, 191?), page 687.) According to my ob- 

 servations black or German bees do sting a 

 Vjlack veil more than thej^ do a white one. 



This veil is made of white tulle with a square of 

 black silk tulle inserted for the face, giving the 

 visional features of a black veil. Not only do the 

 bees sting this veil less than a black one but also 

 since white reflects heat while black absorbs it, this 

 veil is much cooler and is a decided improvement on 

 the black veil. 



and it is largely my practice to wear a white 

 veil, altho such a veil is more difficult to see 

 thru. 



Bees also sting red more than they do 

 white, as was well known to the beekeepers 

 of the Middle Ages according to Edwards' 

 "Lore of the Honey-bee." I find by experi- 

 ment that this statement is entirely correct. 

 If Frisch of Munich is right and honeybees 

 are color-blind to red and can not, therefore, 

 distinguish it from black, then it is entirely 

 natural that they should react to red in the 

 same manner as to black. But I am com- 

 pelled to add that I am not entirely convinc- 

 ed that bees can not see red as a color. 



John H. Lovell. 



Waldoboro, ]\lnine. 



Uses Large Can This year I have clean- 



For Sterilizing. ed several hundred 



frames, leaving the 

 wires in. Here is the way I do it: I bought 

 a second-hand galvanized oil can large 

 enough to set a hive into. In this can I 

 placed some supports upon which the frames 



