694 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I shake out nearly all the adhering 

 bees, and I certainly do not want the 

 cases any wider and heavier. 1 would 

 rather have the surplus honey in ■'> of 

 the lighter and narrower cases thati 

 in 4 of the wider and heavier ones. 

 Bees more promptly linisli the outside 

 sections in the narrower eases. I 

 speak from years of experience with 

 both sizes. 



There is one more point of wliich I 

 wish to speak. Messrs. Dadant & 

 Son argue from the basis that large 

 brood -chambers will prevent swarm- 

 ing, and that such prevention is 

 profitable. I grant that any practical 

 system of manipulation, or style of 

 hive, that will totally prevent all 

 swarming, is of great value ; because 

 it obviates the necessity of watching 

 for swarms, and our apiaries may 

 safely be left alone ; but it is an ad- 

 mitted fact that in nearly all locali- 

 ties swarming cannot be so prevented, 

 and in very many apiaries (my own 

 included), large brood-chambers have 

 scarcely any tendency to prevent in- 

 crease of colonies. JNIake the hives 

 with brood-chambers as large as you 

 please, and our petted Italians will 

 swarm and re-swarni. 



Messrs. Dadant & Son theorize very 

 nicely regarding the great number of 

 bees that large hives will turn out, 

 but their theory does not accord with 

 my theory or practice. For the past 

 three years I have had in my yard a 

 considerable number of colonies in 

 hives varying in size from the little, 

 flat Bingham (equal to (i Langstroth 

 combs) up to a brood-chamber having 

 19 American (12x12) frames. I had 50 

 colonies in hives having brood-cham- 

 bers of the latter size. Nearly or 

 quite all of these swarmed, and I 

 could not see that they cast any 

 larger swarms than did colonies in 

 hives with a capacity of only (J Lang- 

 '■lrr>tl' frames. Neither did tiiey pro- 

 duce any more surplus honey, reckoned 

 in dollars and cents. I managed tlie 

 large brood-chambers for extracted 

 honey, and the small ones for comb 

 honey. 



I do not see any profit to be gained 

 by any system that discourages 

 swarming, unless it completely pre- 

 vents it so that we can leave the 

 apiary alone when we so desire. 



During the past season I used for 

 producing comi) honey II brood-cham- 

 bers with s combs, o inches deep and 

 17 inches long, after the swarming 

 time ; that is, swarms were put into 

 these hives. From them I obtaine<I 

 the largest aggregate yield of comb 

 honey that I liave ever had. Those 

 colonics are now strong and in tirst- 

 class condition. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant's italicized declar- 

 ation will be disproven by almost 

 every practical comb-honey producer 

 of any considerable experience. It is 

 based upon the old error that the capi- 

 tal is vested in the egg-layer— tlie 

 queen. I wish to present the follow- 

 ing in opposition to Mr. l)"s axiom, 

 and the futine experience of bee- 

 keepers may decide who was correct: 



1. Our capital is vested in the combs, 

 hive and field, almost wholly, and not 

 in the queen. 



2. If hives are used whose breeding 

 room is adapted to the maximum lay- 

 ing capacity of differentqueens, there 

 will be idle capital invested in the 

 combs and hives occupied by all colo- 

 nies but the one having this most 

 prolific queen. 



3. If hives are employed whose 

 breeding room is adapted to the 

 minimum capacity of normal queens, 

 all the capital will be employed with- 

 out any special and tedious manipu- 

 lation. 



4. Practically, queens cost nothing ; 

 their eggs cost almost nothing ; and 

 they are of value only as we need 

 them to put into activity the capital 

 vested in combs and hives. This 

 capital can be kept most active with 

 the least exertion on the part of the 

 apiarist, when the bee-keeper has 

 the maximum number of queens to 

 the minimum number of combs. 



In the above I have had reference 

 to the prolificness of queens, as com- 

 pared with each other, and the capital 

 furnished them. Regarding their pro- 

 lificness at different times of the year, 

 the apiarist should endeavor to take 

 advantage of that, whenever by so 

 doing he is enabled to produce bees at 

 such a time as will crowd the hives 

 with workers when they will be 

 profitable to us. In doing this the 

 bee-keeper does not lose sight of the 

 advantages of economizing in both 

 capital and labor. 



The contraction method, varied to 

 suit location, wijl accomi)lish this 

 desired end. The only fault con- 

 nected with this method is the neces- 

 sity of heretofore having added 

 manipulation ; but my last season's 

 experiments have enabled me to en- 

 joy all of its advantages, at the same 

 time reducing the labor to almost 

 nothing. 



No doubt Mr. Dadant "te confident 

 that he is right; I feel sure that I too 

 am right. Possibly the difference in 

 climate, and our education in practi- 

 cal apiculture, may partially account 

 for our individual preferences and 

 success. 



While the question must be de- 

 cided by the practical experience of 

 the future, our present friendly dis- 

 cussion will not have been in vain — 

 for none of us have yet learned it all, 

 much is still unknown. 



Dowagiac, ? Mich. 



Baltimore Iiist. 



Have Bees a Language ? 



H. LAKE. 



Bees have a language well under- 

 stood by themselves, and pretty well 

 known by any bee-keeper of any ex- 

 tensive experience. 



The himi of contentment; the hum 

 »f trouble; the httm of peace; the 

 hum of defense ; the hum of plenty; 

 the buzz of starvation ; the roar of 

 grief; the hum of joy ; the buzz of 

 the heavy laden ; the cry of pain ; and 

 the music of their " distilling " hours 

 are well understood by the watchful 

 bee-keeper. The cry of pain from 

 a bee within hearing of the hive will 

 affect the wholj colony. I have often 



taken bees into a honey-room and 

 allowed them to fill themselves with 

 honey, and then open the windows a 

 little and allow them to go into their 

 hive. In a short time they would re- 

 turn, and before many minutes the 

 whole colony seemed to be made 

 aware of the booty at hand, and upon 

 closing the window hundreds col- 

 lected, buzzing terribly to gain ad- 

 mittance. 



To test the sagacity of Italian bees, 

 I caused a block of honey to be broken 

 on the sill of a window; in less than 

 three minutes the first bee made its 

 appearance, it made three trips before 

 a companion came with it, and within 

 ten minutes over twenty were feeding 

 on it. I then closed the window and 

 formed a small opening in one cor- 

 ner of the pane ; every bee came 

 through that opening upon the table 

 on which the honey now laid, and 

 their number increased ; the honey 

 was next taken into a passage-way 

 connecting with an adjoining room ; 

 here, too, the bees followed, and had 

 to pass under the door. The honey 

 was next placed in a dark closet, 

 made tight, except a small opening 

 near the lock, and here they found it 

 as readily as in the open room and 

 communicated it to the others, and 

 for an hour a steady stream of bees 

 was pouring forth from the hive to 

 the honey, while other colonies w'ithiu 

 20 feet were quiet. The experiment 

 was tried in August, when no honey 

 was coming In. 



A year ago one of ray assistants 

 went to a neighboring apiarist to re- 

 move the surplus honey, which was 

 taken into a dark cellar. The ad- 

 joining cellar was lighted by a win- 

 dow that had a small piece broken 

 out of one pane, scarcely large enough 

 to admit the passage of more than one 

 bee at a time. The owner, upon 

 going to the cellar in order to get 

 some marketing products the next 

 morning, discovered a bee or two 

 going through this opening, but think- 

 ing no harm could come from it, went 

 to market, leaving, as he supposed, 

 his honey safe. Imagine his surprise 

 upon his return to find a cloud of bees 

 on the window and his honey gone ; 

 one or two had bf en left in the boxes 

 when carried to Ihe cellar, that had 

 found a way of escape through the 

 broken pane, and communicated where 

 their hidden treasure was. 



An early writer in an English paper 

 thus alludes to a similar occurrence 

 under his observation: "A few 

 pounds of honey was taken from a 

 hive about six miles from London, 

 and placed in a closet under lock and 

 key. The windows of the room hav- 

 ing been left open, the bees gained 

 admission, and entering the closet 

 under the door, removed the whole of 

 the honey. The cells of wax were 

 left entire and the honey was con- 

 veyed to the central division of the 

 hive, where it was safely deposited 

 during the day. It is evilent that 

 spies must have been employed to 

 observe where the honey was placed, 

 and that as soon as the information 

 was communicated to the hive, the 

 colony took this vigorous measure 

 for the recovery of the slnlen property. 



