26 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



account of excessive rain ; notwith- 

 standing, enougli came in all the time 

 to keep up breeding, and I had leisure 

 to experiment and observe a great 

 deal. That summer I spent hours and 

 days studying the habits of queens, 

 especially as pertains to mating. I 

 kept a number of nuclei from whicli 

 queens v^'ere making their wedding 

 trips daily ; and I had virgin queens in 

 confinement, experimenting in search 

 of a method to mate them while in 

 confinement. 



The results of my observations were 

 about as follows : The mating of vir- 

 gin queens, on the average, takes 

 place on the seventh day of their age ; 

 they begin to lay eggs "on the nhith 

 day, and the average number of trips 

 they take in the open air in search of 

 a mate is three. The average length 

 of time of their absence when out on 

 a successful wedding trip is 21 min- 

 utes. They never make less than 3 

 trips, and "I have seen a few cases 

 where they left the hive 7 or 8 times, 

 and in one case, 16 times. These facts 

 were drawn from observation taken 

 at a time when drones were abundant. 



A virgin queen will continue to fly 

 in search of a male until she is 18 

 days old ; and if she fails to mate, 

 she will ever afterwards be a drone- 

 layer. A few queens— perhaps 2 per 

 cent, of them— meet the male more 

 than once, but never seek a mate 

 after they begin to lay. The lengthy, 

 slender princess makes more frequent 

 trips in tlie air when under the wed- 

 ding-impulse than do her more portly 

 sisters, and she generally produces 

 the most active workers. 



When a queen meets the male bee 

 she never tears away his generative 

 organs as we have been carelessly in- 

 formed by those who get their infor- 

 mation otherwise than in a practical 

 way. It would require the combined 

 strength of hundreds of queens to 

 dislodge the male organ. The queen 

 only bears away the frail inner lining 

 of the organ which requires the least 

 possible force to detach it from its 

 place. This appendage nature seems 

 to have provided to enable the queen 

 to utilize a larger quantity of the 

 spermatic fluid in the act of fecunda- 

 tion. 



The above observations lead me to 

 suspect that the cases related by Mr. 

 Wright and Mr. Connley were both, 

 in fact, failures. 



Christiansburg, ^ Ky. 



For the Atnericun Bee .loumaL 



Which way should Bee-Hives front? 



IlEV. M. MAHIN, D. D. 



It is generally recommended to 

 place hives so that they will front 

 east, southeast or south, and stories 

 are told of the great advantage to be 

 derived from such a position. For 

 summer-lime, the principal supposed 

 advantage is, that the morning sun 

 will shine upon the entrance of the 

 hive, and tempt the bees out to the 

 fields in the early morning, and thus 

 prolong the hours of labor, and cor- 

 respondingly increase the product; 

 but this advantage is only hypothet- 



ical. It has no real basis of fact. 

 Ordinarily there is nothing to be 

 gained by the bees being out in the 

 early morning. Sometimes there is. 

 It depends on the habit of the flowers 

 that tiiey are working on. The most 

 of our surplus is obtained from white 

 clover, and that does not yield honey 

 until the sun gets well up in the 

 morning. There are other flowers 

 that yield honey only when the air is 

 moist and not very hot. Buckwheat 

 belongs to this class ; and when it is 

 in bloom, the bees must be out early 

 or they will derive little benefit from 

 it. 



But I have observed that the posi- 

 tion of the hive has little or nothing 

 to do with the time they begin to fly, 

 except in cool weather when it is bet- 

 ter for them to remain quietly at 

 home. They find out at what time in 

 the day sweets are to be found ; and 

 when the time comes, tliey will be out 

 and at work without regard to sun- 

 shine at the entrance of the hive. A 

 few years ago the woods % of a mile 

 south of my house was infested with 

 myriads of beech-bark lice, and under 

 them the leaves and grass were sticky 

 with the so-called honey-dew. Of 

 course this could only be appropriated 

 when diluted with dew, and in the 

 mornings my bees were out in force 

 long before the sun was up. I could 

 hear the roar of their flight before it 

 was light enough for me to see them. 

 As soon as the dew dried up, they 

 ceased to fly in that direction, and, as 

 there was but little forage except the 

 so-called honey-dew, they were com- 

 paratively quiet for the rest of the 

 day. 



I have known my bees to go in one 

 direction in the forenoon, and in the 

 opposite direction in the afternoon, 

 the pasturage being different in the 

 two directions, river bottom west, and 

 upland east. All this proves that 

 bees very soon learn not only where, 

 but at what time in the day, stores 

 are the most abundant, and the time 

 when the sunlight shines upon the 

 entrance of the hive has very little to 

 do with their work. 



But there are other considerations 

 of much more importance than this. 

 We want to consult the comfort of 

 the bees during the hot weather of 

 summer. It will require but a mo- 

 ment's consideration to perceive that 

 this can best he secured by facing the 

 hive squarely to the north. If sun- 

 shine on the front in the early morn- 

 ing is desirable, it is secured in this 

 way, as in summer the sun rises north 

 of east, and in the early morning the 

 north frontage has all the advantage 

 of the east or southeast. But it is 

 during the noon heat that the princi- 

 pal advantage of this position is ex- 

 perienced. While working on white 

 clover, the principal amount of nectar 

 is brought in in the hours between 9 

 a. m. and 3 p. m. ; and any one can 

 perceive the disadvantage to the bees 

 of having the hot, summer sun shin- 

 ing down upon the alighting-board, 

 making it so hot that a bee will be 

 almost scorched by remaining upon it 

 for a moment ; and the comfort of 

 having the entrance on the shady 

 side of the hive. Any one who will 



observe two hives otherwise alike, 

 one facing north and the other south, 

 on a hot summer day, will have oc- 

 ular demonstration of the difference. 



Then, if a broad board is set up 

 against the back of the hive, or better 

 still, if two or three boards be nailed 

 or battened together, inakine a screen 

 3 or 4 feet square, be so placed, the 

 comfort of the bees is secured to the 

 largest extent. Thus placed, with 

 proper ventilation, and plenty of 

 room for brood and honey, and the 

 probability of the issuing of a swarm 

 is very small, as I have demonstrated 

 by years of experience and observa- 

 tion. 



I had hives in the same yard facing 

 in all directions, and I have found 

 those facing north to be among the 

 most productive. 



But how about the winter ? If I 

 could conveniently change the posi- 

 tion of my hives, i would have them 

 front north in summer and south in 

 winter. At least twice during severe 

 and disastrous winters I have had 

 hives fronting in both directions, and 

 I have found the smallest percentage 

 of loss in those fronting to the south. 

 Hike to have tlie sun shine directly 

 into the entrance of the hive in win- 

 ter. The principal advantage of the 

 southern exposure in winter is, prob- 

 ably, owing to the fact that the sun 

 melts the snow and ice that would 

 otherwise prevent the proper ventila- 

 tion of the hive. If that can be se- 

 cured in any other way, there will, 

 perhaps, be no difference. 



AVliere one has but a single row of 

 hives, and room to move them 8 or 10 

 feet back and forth, tliey can be 

 faced about without the least trouble. 

 If they front to the north, and it is 

 desired to have them front south, 

 move them a few feet north, and so 

 place them that the front will be to- 

 wards the old position. Very little 

 confusion among the bees will result. 

 But with 6 or 7 rows of hives 6 to 8 

 feet apart, this cannot be done. As 

 my hives stand in six rows not more 

 than 8 feet apart, the only way to turn 

 them would be to do it a little at a 

 time ; and that is too much trouble. 

 So I leave them fronting to the north, 

 and see to it that the entrances are 

 kept well open. I used to close the 

 entrances to not more than an inch, 

 and I always had moldy combs in the 

 spring ; I now leave the entrances 

 open full size, and have no moldy 

 combs. 



If my doctrine in regard to the 

 proper direction in which to place the 

 front of the hive for the summer is 

 regarded by any as heresy, all I have 

 to say is, try it and see : and I am 

 very sure that whoever will do so will 

 be convinced that it is the lietter way. 



My bees had a splendid fly this week 

 and they are in better condition than 

 I dared to hope. 



New Castle,ot Ind., Jan. 1, 1885. 



1^ At the World's Exposition, let 

 it be understood, says Dr. Brown, that 

 "all exhibits of colonies of bees and 

 bee manipulations will only be during 

 the week of the Convention. Supplies 

 can be exhibited any time during the 

 Exposition." 



