90 



T-mm MMMRicMPi mmm j©^ri«mi*. 



The cellar is arranged with two 

 doors. I open one of them, and enter 

 the cellar-way ; I then close it, and 

 open the second one, which opens into 

 the cellar. 



As this cellar cost me only $60, I 

 think that I have a cheap one. When 

 I first began to work in the shop over 

 the bees, I was afraid that the noise 

 would annoy them, but as the hives do 

 not touch the frame of the building, 

 they do not receive any jars. Thej' are 

 placed on scaffolds built from the 

 ground up. The average temperature 

 of the cellar is 4riP, and I have no 

 trouble to keep this temperature. 



New Paris, O. 



CAN BEES HEAR? 



The Various Sounds IMade by 

 tlie Bees. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY i COUNTRY BEE. 



The editor of the American Bee 

 Journal cannot be expected to be a 

 perfect encyclopedia of bee-literature, 

 with each phrase, and phase, of the 

 various ideas of all the writers labeled 

 and indexed for reference, everj- time 

 he looks over a manuscript ; therefore 

 it is not surprising that the article on 

 page 39, entitled, "Do Bees Hear," 

 by Mr. C. E. Woodward, should have 

 found its way into the Bee Journal. 



Permit me to make quotations from 

 an article by Mr. G. B. Peters. Council 

 Bend, Ark., as it appears in the " A B 

 C of Bee-Culture," on the subject of 

 swarming, of which that on page 39 is 

 an exact copy: 



" I will remind the reader here that 

 bees have different sounds to accom- 

 plish different ends. The onlj- natural 

 sound of bees on the wing is that pro- 

 duced by the returning laborer when 

 she comes, at even, laden with spoils 

 collected from some tiowerj- field. Who 

 has not been chai'med by such indu.s- 

 trious energy, as those mellow tones 

 died in the entrance of the hive ? 



" The shrill note of the pugnacious 

 defender of the hive is familiar to 

 every child. The sharp sound of bees 

 just beginning to lead out a swarm, 

 heralds its advent to the apiarist, and 

 is very different from the two former 

 sounds. 



" The coarse bass roaring of the 

 swarm before it begins to cluster is 

 heard only when they are in search of 

 the queen, and is kept up by both 

 workers and drones ; then follows the 

 sharp cutting sound as they begin to 

 cluster, to call the colony together, 

 which is well known to the bee-keeper 

 as the signal of congregating. 



" Then tlie shrill hissing sound of 

 the escort that leads them to the woods 



blends with the roar of the rear part 

 of the swarm, making a strange com- 

 pound heard only from absconding 

 bees. Then, again, in that ' happy 

 hour,' when they have found a house, 

 we hear the happy hum made by a 

 peculiar position of body, and indicat- 

 ing peace and contentment. 



"Also a sound of distress, when an- 

 nojjed by smoke or enemies, rings 

 through the hive, and no wail of 

 misery from anj* other insect tribe can 

 equal it. Finally we have the venti- 

 lating sound at the entrance and all 

 through the hive, which, in hot 

 weather, may be heard quite a distance. 



" All these different sounds are in- 

 stinctivelj' associated with certain pur- 

 poses, and the movements of the queen 

 are genei-allj' governed by them. She 

 thus follows certain pounds as do the 

 whole colonj'. She never leads the 

 swarm, but is attracted by the roaring 

 mass." 



Earlier in the article I find "Queen, 

 workers, drones all take wing, rise 

 high in the air, and abandon old home, 

 kin, and everything forever." Also, 

 "I noticed a revolving lot of bees in 

 each, about five feet through, leading 

 the van with a hissing sound." 



[By comparing the article written 

 by Mr. Peters, with that on page 39, it 

 is very evident that Mr. Woodward 

 has copied seven out of his nine pai-a- 

 graphs bodily without credit, and has 

 imposed on us. It is a clear case of 

 inexcusable plagiarism. — Ed.] 



ODORS AND BEES. 



Arc Bees Attraeled More by 

 Smell liiaii Sislit? 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY MRS. M. B. CHADDOCK. 



In Prof. Cook's letter about the car- 

 dinal flower (on page 926 of Glean- 

 ings), he says: "All our botanists be- 

 lieve that odor and color in flowers are 



developed peculiarities We see, 



then, why man}' showy flowers, like 

 this cardinal bloom, and the Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant, attract bees and 

 other insects without odor." 



But do we see it ? Is there any 

 flower with nectar in its heart, that is 

 odorless ? I do not know of anj', but I 

 am, of course, unacquainted with the 

 plants named. If the flowers are odor- 

 less, the honej' must be odorless as 

 well. Did anybody ever smell any 

 odorless honey ? 



Then I want to ask, does a field of 

 red clover have a stronger smell than a 

 field of white clover ? The fragrance 



of acres of white clover is ethereal, de- 

 lightful and refined ; that of the red 

 clover is stronger and coarser. How 

 does Prof. Cook know that the bees 

 are attracted to the red clover field by 

 color? He admits that the bees ai'e 

 drawn to the white clover by odor, 

 and if the red clover has a stronger 

 odor, what is to hinder them from 

 being influenced by it ? 



But do the bees generally pass the 

 red clover by ? Do they not "roar" 

 over it (at times, when there is no 

 honey in other flowei-s), alight on the 

 blossoms, and run their tongues into 

 the separate tubes of the blossoms ? 

 and will they not keep on doing this 

 until experience teaches them that they 

 can get nothing ? They smell the 

 nectar, and are wild to get it, but 

 cannot. 



On page 627, of Gleanings, Prof. 

 Cook says : " Note the three broad 

 petals. They not onlj' say ' come,' by 

 their bright hues, but by the restful 

 footstool which they offer the weary 

 bees." 



Bees care not one whit for "foot 

 stools " — they mean business, pure and 

 simple, and do not hunt around for 

 "footstools." When eagerly reaching 

 for nectar, tliey hang on the tassel 

 like blossoms of flowers, and roar over 

 the maples and box-elders that offer 

 them no footstool at all. A man cling- 

 ing with his hands and feet to a sheaf 

 of wheat suspended in mid-air, would 

 have just the same kind of a " foot^ 

 stool " that bees have on the maple 

 blossoms. 



That bees are attracted almost wholly 

 by odor seems to me to be too plain a 

 proposition to need proof. Once I put 

 some lioney in the cellar-way — a small 

 landing in the darkest corner of the 

 cellar— and the bees went through a 

 crack about half an inch in the thick 

 cellar wall, and carried away the 

 honey. The cellar was full of bees, 

 and they went and came in a regular 

 stream. Did the}' smell that honey ? 



In the winter time I keep my empty 

 hives and hives that are partly filled 

 with honej', up-slairs in the "ghost- 

 haunted chamber," or, as we generally 

 speak of it, "the long room." The 

 windows and doors of that room are 

 always to be kept shut. But once the 

 door (opening into another room) was 

 left ajar, and the bees coming in 

 through the bed-room windows, found 

 the honey, and began carrying it away. 



Again, when I used to " render out" 

 beeswax, the bees always smelled it, 

 and came swarming around the doors 

 and windows, butting their heads 

 against the screens. 



To-day I tried a scientific experi- 

 ment. (I have just as much right to 

 try scientific experiments as Prof. 



