242 



THE BKE-KEEFERS' REVIEW. 



THE GENERAL ROUND- UP. 



One of the little things worth noting, but 

 seldom in print, is spokt-n by Doolittle in 

 the American Bee Journal, page 240. A 

 weak colony when opened has a peculiar 

 buzz which proclaims it as weak without the 

 need of witlidrawiug a frame. They feel a 

 sort of panic, perhaps, which they would not 

 feel if there were thousands more below to 

 fall back upon. Mr. D. thinks this a sure 

 test. I have noticed the same ; but it never 

 occured to me that weak hees always betray- 

 ed their scanty numbers by this whirr ? 

 And would not a colony three times as strong 

 make practically the same sound if queen- 

 Next let us listen to Abbott on the ancient 

 chestnut, Can bees hear ? 



" Vibrations with ub do not ' cause sound,' but 

 THEY ARE SOUND, and any animal that can * dis- 

 criminate between vibrations ' can hear with all 

 tliat this term implies." A. B. J., 254. 



I guess this is on the right side of the 

 fence, but I am not sure that the logic is cor- 

 rect. Who can tell exactly where the line 

 runs between perceiving vibrations by the 

 sense of touch and perceiving vibrations by 

 the sense of hearing ? The man who can is 

 wanted in our camp, but I doubt whether he 

 will ever arrive. 



"(iive plenty of air to your bees, but do not 

 by upward ventilation give your bees to the air, 

 Dr. A. S. MartiQ A. B. J.. 279, 



That has been my doctrine all along— but 

 I'm getting weak in the knees— liable to fall 

 down and worship the upward ventilation 

 image most any time. 



And how's this for ventilation and out 



door wintering ? Hives on inch blocks, 



mercury minus 40% place in Canada (>.') miles 



north of the Vermont line, person Gallup in 



his boyhood. Always came through tip top, 



except when they got out of honey. A. B. 



J., 294. 



Henry S. Evans tried a dozen colonics 



with queens caged and the cage morticed in- 

 to a comb. The cells that were built were 

 destroyed, and of course there coula be no 

 swarming except from the skipping of cells. 

 The queens were only kept caged about two 

 weeks, and they seemed all right ; but on be- 

 ing released every one disappeared without 

 laying an egg. The colonies were not 

 chosen at random, but each colony when it 

 swarmed was put through the above course 

 of sprouts to compel it to stay in the old 

 hive. A. B. J., 279. Takes a pretty good 

 player to play against a contrary colony of 

 bees and win. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown says that bees con- 

 sumed much less honey than usual last win- 

 ter in the south. This was because the win- 

 ter was extra severe and so kept them more 

 quiet than usual. A. B. J., 298. By the 

 way, I beg pardon for not chronicling Dr. 

 Brown's induction as department editor in 

 time to be able to do so without blushing. 



" I very much fear that many of the queens 

 whicli have been sold for Carniolane were noth- 

 ing but German bees pure and simple. * * * 

 T think it just as easy to tell a Carniolan bee 

 frr)m a blnck as it is to tell a liorse from a mule. 



* * * I do not see how one can possibly take 

 one for the other." Sub-editor Abbott in A. B. 

 J., 302. 



That's the way to talk it— provided the 

 facts justify. 



Friend W. W. M'Neil (page 312 A. B. J.) 

 thinks he has whistled swarms out in imitat- 

 ing the call of the queen. First we know he 

 will be whistling the mortgage off from 

 somebody's farm. But perhaps we can not 

 so well afford to poke fun at what he says 

 about the avant couriers of a swarm. He 

 says they hurriedly scramble over the other 

 bees, and make a peculiar zeeping not heard 

 at any other time. I have never noticed 

 this : but I am aware that it might occur 

 half the time and yet escape my notice. 



In Rhode Island, a year ago last March, a 

 colony of bees immensely strong was taken 

 out of a gate post. They entered at the top 

 and went down. W^onder if this plenty of 

 fresh air from the top had anything to do 

 with their extra condition. A. B. J., ;U8. 



In Gleanings, PI->('>, we have a case of pro- 

 voking slovenliness. We do not want to 

 have the like come in style in our leading 

 journals, whatever we may have to tolerate 

 in a Pub. Doc. The pollen-carrying legs of 

 six different species of bees are set before 

 us for comparison (good idea), but not a 

 word to tell us which is which, or even the 

 names of the six species illustrated. 



With the last swarm that issues Doolittle 

 has counted twelve or more queens. Glean- 

 ings, 48.f). But I wonder if Mr. D., usually 

 so correct, is not K. O. when he intimates 

 that the bouncing first swarm which often 

 comes out when a queen is superseded about 

 June 1st is us^ially called an after-swarm. 

 In my records and writings I do not call it 

 so ; and I doubt if the majority do. There 

 is a practical bar to such usage, in that dur- 

 ing the piping times of general swarming it 

 would often be iuu>ossil)le to tell whether 

 the seven pound cluster you were taking 



