THE AMERICA_N BEE JUURNAL. 



535 



killed. I have always found that 

 queens which are hatched in strong, 

 vigorous colonies, are much the best ; 

 hence it will be readily seen that all 

 the colonies into which I attempted 

 to introduce the virgin queens, were 

 strong and vigorous, having been rob- 

 bed of their queen only a short time ; 

 and in some instances they were al- 

 lowed to remain queenless from one 

 to three days before the young queens 

 were given them. Those virgin queens 

 were reared in strong colonies, and 

 then the cells cut out and properly 

 placed in a queen-nursery in strong 

 colonies, for hatching. 



To my certain knowledge I have 

 never had but one virgin queen ac- 

 cepted and fertilized when introduced 

 as above described ; and this one case 

 was accomplished in one of my apiar- 

 ies in Ohio, in 18S3. In this instance 

 the queen was not long lived, the bees 

 having superseded her before she was 

 60 days old. 



Can any one explain why it is that 

 virgin queens cannot be safely and 

 surely introduced into other than the 

 colonies in which they are hatched, 

 and become fertilized V For those 

 who may try it, I predict a failure at 

 least 85 times out of 100. 



Battle Ground, ND Ind. 



For ttie American Bee Journal. 



Bees Working on Red Clover. 



W. M. CHAPEL, (2.5—52). 



My bees are partly black and partly 

 hybrid-Italians. I began the season 

 ■with 25 colonies in box-hives, and in- 

 creased them to 52. I have secured 

 only ]00 pounds of surplus comb 

 honey. The season has been very 

 poor in tliis vicinity, and bees have 

 not done much. It will be difficult 

 for some of them to gather enough 

 honey to winter on. 



I have heard a great deal said about 

 bees working on red clover, but I 

 thought it to be mostly advertising 

 material. The other day I was cross- 

 ing a tield of red clover (second crop) 

 in full bloom, and to my surprise I 

 found my bees working on it by the 

 thousands. I examined more closely 

 and found about three-fourths of 

 them gathering honey, and the balance 

 pollen. The honey gatherers would 

 run their heads into the petal and 

 crowd it down until they split the 

 blossom and secured the nectar. 



I went to my apiary and found my 

 bees falling like snow-flakes in front 

 of every hive, while underneath this 

 falling mass there shot out from every 

 hive a stream at lightning speed. 

 More than two-thirds of these return- 

 ing laden with the sweets of the field, 

 would fall on the alighting-board and 

 on the ground. I watched the bees 

 in their fliglit, and found them com- 

 ing and going like an oceanic tide, to 

 and from the southeast, which is in 

 the direction of the red clover. 



I immediately repaired to the buck- 

 wheat lot (about three acres), to the 

 northeast 'M) or 40 rods, and found 

 only a few scattering bees lurking on 

 the blossoms. 



It was about noon, and this was 

 continued through the afternoon. I 

 then and there concluded that I, as 

 well as other folks, had bees that 

 would work on red clover. 



Kingston,© Wis., Aug. 17, 1885. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Have Bees the Sense of Hearing? 



C. TnEILMANN. 



I have seen this question discussed 

 in the bee-papers, nearly drawing the 

 conclusion that bees cannot hear ; but 

 my experiments this summer have 

 convinced me that bees can hear. 



Last June I received a queen from 

 a breeder in Massachusetts, which, on 

 arrival, I put into a wire-cage and in- 

 troduced her into a full colony ; after 

 24 hours I let her loose, but the bees 

 " balled " her. After re-caging her 

 another 24 hours, I let her loose again 

 and shut the hive quietly ; five hours 

 after I lifted off the section-case, one 

 end of which I placed on the cap, and 

 the other end rested on the rim of the 

 hive 2 inches lower than the tops of 

 the frames, the cap resting on the 

 ground back of the hive. I then pro- 

 ceeded to look for the queen. I ex- 

 amined all the frames, but could not 

 tind her. I repeated it again, and 

 when I lifted out the last frame, I 

 noticed a rapid movement of the bees 

 running over the frames and back 

 wall of the hive under the case. Im- 

 mediately the thought struck me that 

 the queen was about the case, and I 

 told my little student, who stood by, 

 to see if she was not under the case. 

 "Yes," said he, "she is there, and 

 the bees are running to her." By this 

 time there was quite a little cluster 

 of bees around her, hanging down 

 about 3 inches, with the queen on the 

 lower end. The sight of this caused 

 me to fear that I might lose my $3 

 queen, and I wanted to catch her, but 

 at that moment she flew away. 



The next day I looked for her in the 

 hive, but could not find her. I im- 

 mediately gave the colony a frame 

 with ripe queen-cells, and three days 

 afterward a swarm issued from that 

 hive, which my student hived in the 

 usual way ; but when I came to the 

 apiary towards evening, I found only 

 a handful of bees in the new hive, and 

 some of them still going back to their 

 old home. The next day I was going 

 to put another swarm with the little 

 cluster, but.I first looked to see what 

 kind of a queen they had, and to my 

 surprise I found that $3 queen. 



Now, if bees cannot hear, by what 

 way did these bees find the queen un- 

 der the case V They surely could not 

 see her from any part of the hive, and 

 if it was the scent, as some authori- 

 ties claim it to be, it surely would 

 have kept the swarm with her, after 

 being tliree more days with her in the 

 old hive, from the time they found 

 h'er under the case. In this instance 

 it is evident that this queen called the 

 bees by voice. 



About two weeks after this occur- 

 rence, 2 swarms united, and my stu- 

 dent hived them as they were. In the 

 evening I came to the apiary and 



found one of the queens " balled " un- 

 der the entrance. I caged her, and 

 looked for the other, and found her 

 on the first frame. I lifted her from 

 the hive, all surrounded or imprisoned 

 by a lot of bees. Having the frame 

 in my hands about 3 feet from the 

 tops of the frames in the hive, the 

 bees that held her lirst let her have 

 liberty to crawl about, and at that 

 moment the bees in the hive came 

 running up through the frames in 

 every direction, looking upward, and 

 formed in a cluster in the centre of 

 the hive 6 inches high, endeavoring to 

 reach the frame in my hand. I am 

 sure that the bees in the hive could 

 not see the queen in the position I 

 held lier on tlie frame, and any scent 

 from her could not reach the colony 

 so soon. I leave this case to the read- 

 ers, to judge by what way this queen 

 called the bees to come to her. 



I have one more thought to advance 

 in favor of this question : After 

 swarming, when the first young queen 

 is hatclied and crawls about the hive, 

 we do not hear any piping until the 

 next queen hatches and is trying to 

 emerge ; then the first one hunts up 

 dry, empty cells, grabs them with her 

 mouth and feet, violently moves her 

 head and wings, whereby she pro- 

 duces that piping sound which is im- 

 mediately answered by the one yet 

 held in the cell by the bees. Is this 

 not good evidence that bees can hearV 

 Or can any of our bee-authorities ex- 

 plain it otherwise ¥ Notwithstanding 

 that bees can hear, I have for the past 

 five years laid aside pans, bells, and 

 triangles, winch I had in use for 12 

 years at swarming time. 



Theilmanton,o, Minn. 



Tot tbe American Bee Journal- 

 Eight or Ten Frame Hives 1 



C. p. DADANT. 



On page 486 Mr. Ileddon says that 

 " ' Critic ' is not looking at apiculture 

 in its broadest sense." I think that 

 when Mr. Heddon is informed that 

 " Critic " and the writer of this arti- 

 cle are one and the same person, he 

 will withdraw this opinion. 



I do not at all agree with Mr. Hed- 

 don on the ten-frame hive; I quit 

 making it 10 or 12 years ago, for a 

 larger one, although I have about 100 

 ten-frame Langstroth hives in use 

 yet. If Mr. Heddon were here I 

 would have him ask the opinion of a 

 host of laborers, farmers, and bee- 

 keepers around us. Who for years 

 have used, or have seen in use, both 

 the ten-frame Langstroth and a larger 

 hive ; and every man would tell him 

 that the larger hive always gives the 

 most honey on the average, and the 

 least trouble. 



Mr. Heddon seems to think that it 

 is preferable to have 5 eight-frame 

 hives to 4 ten frame ones. I think — 

 nay I know that the profit is much 

 less, and the manipulations more. 

 The bees will swarm more in an eight- 

 frame hive, because three-fourths of 

 the queens have too little room for 

 breeding ; hence more labor, more 



