AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



327 



Wavelets of News. 



Thing's Worth Remembering. 



Do not be frightened if you find con- 

 siderable of a brownish powder dropped 

 on the floor board of your hives under 

 the combs. It is the chippings that the 

 bees throw down when they uncap the 

 honey. 



If the snow covers up your hives, I do 

 not know that I would dig them out. At 

 least not as long as there is no thaw, 

 and the snow is in its naturally loose 

 condition. If It thaws and then freezes, 

 closing the entrance with ice, then it is 

 better cleaned out. 



A space under frames in Winter — even 

 as much as 2 inches — is growing in 

 favor. It is good out or in doors. It 

 keeps the entrances from being clogged, 

 and seems to be a benefit otherwise, per- 

 haps allowing the bees better air. 



The Winter entrance should always be 

 as large as in Summer. Mine in the 

 cellar are about four times as large as 

 in Summer. That gives plenty of 

 chance for the moisture and impure air 

 to pass out and pure air to come in. — C. 

 C. MiLLEK, in the National Stockman. 



Bees as Messengers. 



Where will the imagination of inquir- 

 ing thinkers ever stop ? We already 

 had carrier pigeons, swallows as harbin- 

 gers, now we have bees and wasps as 

 messengers. A bee-keeper of the Gir- 

 onde, M. Teynac, formed the idea of 

 ascertaining whether insects might not 

 be capable of performing, within a small 

 radius, what bees do at a great distance, 

 namely, carry messages. Experiments 

 are always interesting. 



Numerous observations have estab- 

 lished the fact that if bees are enclosed 

 in a box, or other receptacle, and carried 

 to a distance of from two to three miles 

 from the hive, and of the bees which 

 have regained their liberty, will soon 

 take flight in the direction of their hive. 

 Those more rapid than the rest will 

 traverse the intervening space in 20 or 

 25 minutes, which corresponds to a 

 speed of about 8 miles an hour. 



Starting from this fact, M. Teynac 

 has led the way in the introduction of 

 carrier bees. Suppose the owner wishes 

 to initiate intercommunication with a 

 person several miles off. He will first 

 send him a small hive for conveying the 

 bees. It is a box with a cover of wire 



netting, provided on one side with small 

 holes that can be closed with a hinged 

 lid. The bees are put in through these 

 holes. The little box is so light that it 

 can be sent by post. On reaching their 

 destination, the insects are set free in a 

 room provided with honey for their use. 

 While the bee is regaling itself, a min- 

 ute dispatch, prepared beforehand, is 

 fixed on its thorax. This dispatch is a 

 light and short leaf of paper, split with 

 a chisel, so as to form two feet, which 

 are coated with isinglass. 



The bee is seized, and the paper ap- 

 plied quickly, so that the glue touches 

 neither the head nor the wings. After 

 this the insect is set at liberty, and it 

 unhesitatingly sets off in a direct line 

 towards its former domicile. There it 

 meets with an unexpected obstacle. In 

 front of the doorway of each hive a 

 small tin box has been placed, which is 

 pierced on one side with holes just large 

 enpugh to allov^ a single bee to pass 

 through. But the latter, embarrassed by 

 the dispatch which it bears on its back, 

 like a rigid wing, makes unavailing 

 efforts to pass through. It is obliged to 

 wait until it is relieved of its burden. In 

 this way M. Teynac has several times 

 successfully experimented. — British Bee 

 Journal. 



CJonTention I^otices. 



UTAH.— The Utah Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will hold its annual convention in Salt Lake 

 City, Utah, on April 7, 1899. 



John C. Swaner, Sec. 



Salt Lake City, Utah. 



COLORADO.— The Spring meeting of the 

 Colorado State Bee-Keepers' Association will 

 be held in Golden, Colo., on April 21, 1892. 

 B. B. PoRTEK, Pres. 



H. Knight, Sec. Littleton, Colo. 



TEXAS.— The 14th annual meeting of the 

 Texas State Bee-Keepers' Association will be 

 held at Greenville. Hunt Co., Tex., on Wednes- 

 day and Thursday. April 6 and 7, 1892. All 

 interested are invited. A. H. Jones, Sec. 



Golden, Wood Co., Tex. 



PENNSYLVANIA.- The tenth semi-annual 

 meeting of the Susquehanna Co. Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will be held at BuUard's Hotel in 

 Brooklyn. Pa., on Thursday, May 5, 1892, at 

 10 a.m. All are cordially invited. 



Harford, Pa. H. M. Seeley, Sec. 



The latest edition of " Bees and Honey " 

 is received. It is a gem in literature, and I 

 consider it the finest work on the subject 

 extant. The portraits are alone worth the 

 money. The magnificent engravings are 

 the wonder of the old-time bee-keeper. — S. 

 J. Youngman, Lakeview, Mich. 



