440 



THE AMERlCAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



killed, and during the past spring 

 there was scarcely a leaf or stem of it 

 to be seen. But the ground was 

 covered with seed, thanks to the dili- 

 gence of the honey-bee (which is 

 about the only insect that visits the 

 flowers of the clover), and the spring 

 being favorable for the growtli of the 

 grasses, there has been an extraordi- 

 nary setting of the young plants of 

 the white clover, and now sheep and 

 cattle and horses are relishing in the 

 great abundance of it. But it will 

 not bloom till another year, when the 

 bees will again be on hand to fertilize 

 the flowers that the seed may be de- 

 veloped against a possible and similar 

 emergency. There is nothing more 

 certain than that the stock-raiser who 

 strikes at tlie lioney-bee, strikes at 

 his best friend. 

 New Philadelphia,©* Oliio. 



Connecticut Farmer. 



ftueenless Colonies in the Spring. 



U. L. .JEFFREY. 



The active cause of queenlessness 

 is a continued opening of the hive and 

 over-hauling the combs to find out the 

 condition of the bees. The over-haul- 

 ing of the combs at any time between 

 October and the latter part of May, 

 unless it is warm working weather, 

 puts the bees into a kind of panic, 

 and a natural instinct of the worker 

 bees to protect their queen, makes 

 them cluster around her. The fright- 

 ening of the rest will frighten her, 

 and the more the workers are fright- 

 ened, the closer they cluster on the 

 queen and hug her, the greater is the 

 danger of her being smothered, and 

 if not smothered, she is so greatly 

 frightened and over-heated as to 

 make her barren in the future. 



The same over-hauling causes the 

 bees to fill themselves with honey 

 more than is needed for subsistence, 

 resulting in an uimatural formation 

 of excrement, and as a bee cannot 

 discharge it unless it can fly, the over- 

 loading of the intestines produces a 

 weakness, and diarrhea is the result. 



At each opening of the hive, quite 

 a number of bees fly out never to re- 

 turn, and at each opening the popula- 

 tion is continually becoming less, till 

 only a mere handful is left from the 

 once populous colony. And as each 

 opening causes an unnecessary gorg- 

 ing of the bees with stores, be it 

 syrup or honey, instead of only one 

 pound a month being consumed from 

 October till April, they will be forced 

 to use from 2 to 4 pounds in the same 

 time, f'areful experiments show that 

 a fair-sized colony, if left alone from 

 Nov. lo until May. will only consume 

 about oj^ to 6 pounds of stores in that 

 time, while, if disturbed, they use 

 from 12 to 20 pounds, besides in other 

 ways suffering harm. If the hives 

 are where continual passing jars 

 them, it will be likely to do harm, 

 especially if the weather is such as to 

 keep the bees from flying. 



The disturbing of the bees also pro- 

 vokes breeding, which, if carried on 

 to any extent, is almost sure to be the 

 cause of destruction, uidess the 



weather should be suitable for brood- 

 rearing; then success is the conse- 

 quence instead of utter failure. 



Although the above are very com- 

 mon causes, there are others that are 

 not under tlie control of the apiarist, 

 and from which many die, but the 

 above are always the result of smart, 

 self-contident ignorance. Bees in box- 

 hives never are troubled that way; 

 but those in frame-hives are. You 

 connot over-haul the box-hive, as you 

 can the frame-hive. 



Washington Depot,^ Conn. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



A Standing-Frame Hive. 



J. H. ANDRE. 



On page 330 I mentioned a new hive 

 which I intended to give a trial. I 

 find that the description was incor- 

 rect, and now I wish to rectify the 

 mistake. 



To make the hive, mitre togther a 

 box 16x16, inside measure, by ll)^ 

 inches deep, cut a rabbet on the in- 

 side, all around, % of an inch down, 

 and ^2 "1 an inch wide for frame-rests; 

 if tins are put in the rabbet needs to 

 be deeper. Groove the hive in the 

 centre at the top on all the sides % of 

 an inch wide by J^-inch in the side of 

 the hive, and 2 inches down the hive, 

 for a cross to rest in, which should be 

 made of good, stiff timber lialved to- 

 gether in the centre. From the lower 

 part of the groove for the cross-rest, 

 run the groove y by I4' of an inch to 

 the bottom of the hive on all sides for 

 division-boards ; this will leave four 

 spaces to hang in frames 7 13-16x7 13-16 

 inches square. As the frames are an 

 odd size, they are not kept in stock, 

 but can be easily made from strips hi 

 of an inch wide, running a part of 

 them over asaw.tocutagroove for the 

 foundation guide. Cut the top-piece 

 of the frames S^ inches in length, 

 the side-pieces ]i)% inches, and lower 

 pieces 7, and nail them so the frame 

 will be 7x10 inches, inside measure. 



Hang in 4 frames in one space, the 

 inside one middling close to the cross, 

 and shove the inner ends close up, 

 with the side of the frame against the 

 side of the cross ; tliis gives a bee- 

 passage between the outer ends of 

 the frames and the hive, and also 

 avoids too much space under the 

 cross-pieces. Now hang in 4 frames 

 in another space with the sides of the 

 framtstothe ends of the others, and 

 just far enough from the ends of the 

 other frames to leave a passage for 

 tlie bees when the frame is well filled 

 witli honey ; tliis will leave one-half 

 warm and one-liaU cold frames. Nail 

 on strips 2 inches wide and % <i'i inch 

 tliick, 1 inch from the top of .the hive, 

 for a cover-rest. They may be from 

 6 to 8 inches high, and" the top made of 

 matched lumber, the grooves being 

 well tilled with paint when put to- 

 gether. The bottom is made of 

 matched boards 2 feet long, the ends 

 of the centre pieces being cut down 

 to the tongue of matching before put- 

 ting them together, H or 9 inches in 

 length and one foot wide, for an en- 

 trance to the hive. 



The cases may be made for 4 rows 

 of sections, 4x4}^ inches, outside, by 

 using thin lumber, with the exception 

 of two of the side pieces. Sections 

 that are a little longer than wide, 

 look very much better than square 

 ones. 



I have made four of these hives, 

 and I like them for the following 

 reasons: 1. The brood-chamber is in 

 good shape. 2. The bees can get to 

 any part of the liive from the centre ; 



1 believe they vvill winter better in 

 them for that reason. 3. The frames 

 are small, easy to handle, and in 

 building up weak colonies a frame 

 may be gotten nearly all brood or all 

 honey, as required. 4. The frames 

 need no wiring, and a weak colony 

 may be confined on 4 of the frames, 

 and be in a neat, compact shape in- 

 stead of being strung out in a bad 

 shape, as they are when confined on 



2 or 3 Langstroth frames. * 



Some might want more frames, and 

 perhaps it would be as well to put in 

 5 in opposite corners of the hive. I 

 would like to have some one try this 

 hive this season, and then report. 



Lockwood,9 N. Y. 



British Bee .Journal. 



The Mental Life of the Bee. 



DR. DONHOFF. 



There are actions of animals wliich 

 depend upon acquired ideas. Ideas 

 are retained as with men of collective 

 impressions. The retained ideas ap- 

 pear sliarper, and more like mental 

 impressions, than the ideas which are 

 retained by men from mental impres- 

 sions. If a hive stands among many 

 of similar appearance, the bee re- 

 turning from the field finds her own 

 hive again. The bees that swarm 

 retain the scent of the queen, that 

 runs about freely in the hive and col- 

 lect around her. I gave to a magpie, 

 within half an hour, 12 coins and 

 pieces of bread, which she hid in the 

 most different places of the garden 

 and field, and concealed with earth, 

 or with a leaf and earth. Some places 

 I marked by sticking in a bit of wood. 

 On the next following days coins, as 

 well as pieces of bread, were gone. 



The swallows, which migrate to 

 Egypt, and sometimes lo the neigh- 

 borhood of the equator, come back 

 again to the place where they were 

 born. A farmer at Dinslaken, not far 

 from Orsoy, has accustomed a night- 

 ingale to come into his room and eat 

 at the table where he sits. Last year 

 it returned again for the third time. 

 The animals could not come back 

 again if there was not still, after half 

 a year, present to their minds the 

 picture of the country, which im- 

 pressed itself upon them on the home 

 journey. The ideas of animals are 

 associated according to the same law 

 of similarity as the ideas of men. 

 The bee, which returns from the field 

 and sees the hives, associates with 

 one of them the picture and position 

 of the hive which was impressed upon 

 it at its first outward flight ; it recog- 

 nizes the identity between its idea and 

 one of the hives which it sees, and 



