Aug. 23, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



535 



with our subject, "Influence of color," etc., I will make 

 mention of here, as it is very interesting : 



Watching^ a single bee he found it would get its fill of 

 honey in 2'2 minutes. In 3'i minutes it had made the home 

 trip, had unloaded and returned. On the whole, it made 7U 

 trips in seven hours. All bees observed were markt with 

 oil color on the thorax ; every other bee a different color. 

 Thus he was enabled to distinguish between the different 

 bees, and to note their individual behavior to the colors and 

 otherwise. The different bees behaved differently in many 

 ways. Finally an average was taken. In this way the 

 conclusions arrived at had some foundation. It would have 

 led too far to give these experiments in detail, and for that 

 reason I have only briefly mentioned them. It will seem to 

 me they prove more than Prof. Gale's observations. 



Color exercises a pleasurable observation upon the 

 human eye, and why not upon the eye of the bee ? Prof. 

 G. says, in the beginning of his address, " As a rule, incon- 

 spicuous flowers are wind-lovers, and those of gaudy tints 

 are insect-lovers." It would be reasonable to suppose that 

 the color was given these latter flowers so as to attract the 

 bees and insects. Of course, that does not yet prove that 

 one color may have more attraction than another. I leave 

 the reader to draw his conclusion. — Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture. Ontario Co., N. Y. 



■ A A A A A . 



The "Old Reliable" seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Richards, Ohio. 



IMPORTAlSrCE OF AN EARLY FORCE OF FIELD-BEES. 



Naturally I feel interested in the further report of B. J. 

 Chrysostora, page 412. The teaching seems to be that a 

 tremendous force of field-bees in a colony will get surplus 

 any time of year when the weather is good. Many of us 

 failed to find this out — perhaps mainly because we never 

 had that force of field-bees except in what we called " the 

 season." 



HIVING SWARMS ON FULL COMBS OF HONBY. 



F. Greiner (page 414) speaks of hiving a swarm on solid 

 combs of honey as if it were good practice. Without posi- 

 tive knowledge as to how it would work, I nevertheless 

 should consider it quite risky, especially in a heavy honey- 

 flow. A swarm wants elbow-room, and a chance to build 

 lots of comb, and rear lots of young brood, all of which 

 would be cut ofi^ by solid combs of honey. It is also unsafe 

 to hive a swarm on any honey at all in /amine times. Put 

 in the honey at nightfall, and then they have time before 

 morn to get over the disposition to fill up and " light out " 

 immediately. 



CAKE IN HAVING OTHER ANIMALS AROUND BEES. 



L. G. Blair, page 430, gives us one of the most instruc- 

 tive talks we have ever had about bees stinging animals. 

 It's rather singular how many people incline to drive right 

 into the midst of swarming bees. A little of the John 

 Bullish assertion of " my rights," I fear. If so, the punish- 

 ment looks rather over-sized for the crime. It doesn't 

 always pay to claim all our rights — either from bees or 

 Boers. That was a curious circumstance that the tips of 

 the horses' ears came off. Probably stings were very 

 numerous on the ears. 



Don't tie an animal and go off and leave it anywhere 

 near bees. Bees come in reach, animal snuffs and thrashes 

 at it. Bee gets dander up, dashes back to the hive, and 

 with excited noise and tearing around induces two or three 

 more to follow it in an attack on the beast. All divide their 

 time between the beast and the hive — worrying the beast 

 awhile and drumming for recruits awhile. Naturally after 

 the first few dozen have enlisted, the thing grows with 



startling rapidity — until nearly every idle old bee about the 

 hive is out and singing, " Hurrah for the sound of a can- 

 non 1" Were the beast loose it would generally stop this 

 cumulative process at an early stage by running away. 

 Comparatively few, even of bee-men, seem to comprehend 

 just Ziozf bees get into a distant scrimmage in such great 

 nunfters. I specially commend the above to their attention, 

 hoping it may lead to more care in hitching horses. 



YELLOW SWEET CLOVER. 

 Yellow sweet clover — what a pity it didn't come before 

 the white instead of afterward ! The public will now say. 

 All sweet clover coons look alike to us. I am not familiar 

 with the yellow variety, but my idea is that, on account of 

 its smaller size, it does not block up territory so nobody can 

 pass. I judge also from what I hear that it is less self- 

 assertive in forcing itself in (except perhaps in wet soils), 

 and that is an improvement, from the public's point of 

 view. That it is four weeks earlier than the white variety, 

 and quits off before the season is over, are points I had not 

 in mind previously. Likely both kinds are more or less 

 progressive in adapting themselves to locations. This year 

 I find the white kind more troublesome as a weed in the 

 garden than heretofore. Page 417. 



THOSE ARTICLES ON ROBBING. 



Mr. Doolittle's robbing article, page 418, may profitably 

 be read after Mr. Davenport's on page 405, and between the 

 two the reader will get things about right — and be cured of 

 any incipient itch to go and scatter coals over his straw- 

 stack, which he may have contracted from the former 

 article. 



DUMMY SWARM-CATCHERS. 



To have nothing near by on which a swarm could 

 alight except dummy bushes set up in holes in the ground — 

 why, that might almost be called the poetry of taking 

 swarms. But that is a poetry which most of us who are on 

 old homesteads can not indulge in. The work of renovat- 

 ing the dummies as often as they get dry would be tedious. 

 Say, Mr. Hobbs, set your dummies in tubs of rich earth, 

 and make some morning-glory vines green them up for 

 you. With a year or two to grow in, I judge that a young 

 maple or willow a dozen feet high, but cut back to six feet, 

 and transferred to a tub, would make a nice, portable, 

 prairie swarm-catcher. Page 419. 



York's Honey Calendar for ipoo is a 16-page pamph- 

 let especially gotten up to create a demand for honey among 

 should-be consumers. The forepart was written by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, and is devoted to general information concern- 

 ing honey. The latter part consists of recipes for use in 

 cooking and as a medicine. It will be found to be a very 

 effective helper in working up a home market for honey. 

 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample 

 free ; 25 copies for 30 cents ; SO for 50 cents ; 100 for 90 

 cents ; 250 for $2.00 ; 500 for $3.50. For 25 cents extra we 

 will print your name and address on the front page, when 

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



Belgian Hare Breeding is the title of a pamphlet just 

 publisht, containing 10 chapters on " Breeding the Belgian 

 Hare." Price, 25 cents, postpaid. It covers the subjects of 

 Breeding, Feeding, Houses and Hutches, Diseases, Methods 

 of Serving for the Table, etc. It is a practical and helpful 

 treatise for the amateur breeder. (See Prof. Cook's article 

 on page 292.) For sale at the office of the American Bee 

 Journal. For $1.10 we will send the Bee Journal for a year 

 and the 32-page pamphlet on "Belgian Hare Breeding." 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 



the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 



Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 



thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 



Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 



furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 



for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 



sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 



Bee Journal at $1.00. 



.*-»-*^ 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a pretty song in sheet 

 music size, written by J. C. Wallenmeyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The regular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at 20 cents each, as 

 long as they last. Better order at once, if you want a copy 

 of this song. 



