OCTOBER 1, 1913 



A subearth air intake at least ten inches in 

 <iiameter should reach from a point 100 feet 

 or more on the west or windward side, and 

 enter at the bottom. 



The spaces between joists above the cellar 

 should be filled with dry sawdust or other 

 suitable insulating material. The cellar for 

 100 colonies should be 16 x 20. and 7V2 feet 

 deep. 



Will it pay to build such a cellar? A 

 good concrete cellar of this size, jjroperly 

 constructed, will cost approximately $300. 

 One man can put in 100 colonies in half a 

 day. and take them out in the spring in 

 about the same time. The cost of wintering- 

 would then be something like this: 



Interest on investment at 6 per cent $18.00 



Labor, putting in and taking out 3.00 



"Winter losses, 1 per cent 5.00 



Depreciation of cellar. 00.00 



Depreciation of hives 00.00 



Consnmption of stores, 15 lbs. at 6 cts 90.00 



Total, 100 colonies 1116.00 



Cost per colony 1.16 



Xow figure the same items when bees are 

 packed outside, counting interest and de- 

 preciation on outer cases, and remembering 

 that the consumption of stores will be about 

 double. 



It would seem that a careful considera- 

 tion of these items will show that it is much 

 more economical to put money into good 

 standard hives and a good cellar than to ex- 

 pend it for thin outer casing-s or double- 

 w^alled affairs with the consequent addition- 

 al labor, depreciation, consumption of 

 stores, and losses of colonies. 



Valparaiso. Ind. 



♦-•-•^ 



THE COLOR SENSE OF BEES 



A Series of Interesting Experiments Showing that 



Angry Bees will Sting Black More than they 



will White; Bees Not Reflex Machines 



BY JOHN H. LOVELL. 



Mr. A. C. Miller's recent article. July J 3. 

 p. 487. on the relation of bees to black, 

 seems to invite a reply. No doubt the sense 

 of smell is well developed in bees. Al- 

 tliough it has not yet been shown to be bet- 

 ter than the visual sense. Forel and others 

 have held the contrary. Certain odors bees 

 find pleasing, others offensive. Cases where 

 irritated bees sting objects because of their 

 disagreeable smell may be at once dismissed. 

 Some time ago Dr. C. C. Miller quoted the 

 editor of the IrisJi Bee Journal to the effect 

 that persons not cleanly in their clothing 

 are often badly stung. Such discrimination 

 is certainly to the credit of the bees. 



" Bees like black." asserts Mr. Miller. 

 Lubbock and Herman Muller both claimed 



that bees prefen-ed blue to other hues; but 

 there are to-day few if any naturalists 

 who believe that bees find an esthetic plea- 

 sure in blue coloration. Black is produced 

 by the absorption of all the rays of light. 

 There are none reflected to give pleasure or 

 pain. Life is dependent upon light ; and an 

 animal or j^lant placed in absolute darkness 

 will soon perish. The ten'ible sufferings of 

 wnvicts confined in the dark cell have been 

 graphically described by Charles Reade in 

 " It is Xever Too Late to Mend." It would 

 seem to be impossible to imagine how a 

 piece of black cloth or a black box could 

 give pleasure to any animal. There never 

 has been furnished, nor does Miller furnish, 

 nor do I believe there ever will be furnished, 

 a jot of evidence that bees like black. 



I do not believe that bees are reflex ma- 

 chines. Tliey possess at least a small 

 amount of intelligence, defining intelli- 

 gence in its beginning's in the words of 

 Forel and others as the power of associat- 

 ing different sense impressions and in- 

 stinctively making simple inferences. Bees 

 observe and learn from experience, wliich 

 they subsequently remember. I can not foi- 

 a moment suppose that Mr. Miller believes 

 that the fact that black bees are not stung 

 to death by Italians, or that black insects be- 

 longing to other families are not attacked by 

 bees, is evidence that they either like or dis- 

 like black. Huxley, after perpetrating in 

 his letters a pun or an ambiguous joke, not 

 infrequently followed it bv the parenthesis 

 "(Xow, that is a "goak"")." Mr. Miller 

 should have labeled the above statement " a 

 goak." Usually, probably always, bees do 

 not sting a black object unless it irritates or 

 annoys them. A hive of gentle bees man- 

 aged on the let-alone plan will liardly sting 

 any thing. 



The illustrations of black hogs and cows 

 jiastured near apiaries are not pertinent. 

 The hives were fenced around with wire 

 netting, and the animals could not come 

 near enough to do any injury-. Very likely 

 they did receive some stings at first; but the 

 bees speedily learned that there was no oc- 

 casion for them to sacrifice their lives. A 

 friend of mine keeps his hives, wliich are 

 surrounded by a wire netting not over two 

 feet high, in his hen-yard. "When I last in- 

 spected them there were hens close to the 

 netting; but neither hens nor bees paid any 

 attention or manifested any fear of each 

 other. It will be remembered that I hold that 

 honey-bees neither like nor dislike black; 

 but that, when angered, they will sting ani- 

 mals and human beings which are wholly or 

 liartially covered with black much more 

 than they would if they were clothed in 

 white, because they are more clearly seen. 



