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91 



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Cook has.) I was hanging the clothes 

 on the line, whicli is out near the bee- 

 hives, and I thought of what Prof. 

 Cook said about the cardinal flowers. 

 I said to myself, "All these red aprons 

 and under-flannels must be as con- 

 spicuous as the cardinal flower," and I 

 waited and watched to see if the bees 

 that were flying about would alight on 

 them. I watched for about ten min- 

 utes, and only one bee alighted on the 

 clothes, and it did not pretend to use 

 its tongue. Then I came into the 

 house, took a saucer of honey and 

 placed it down among the dead grass, 

 and twisted the tops of the grass over 

 it like an Indian te-pee ; and as I went 

 back and forth, I watched to see if the 

 bees would find it soon. In a few 

 minutes I saw half-a-dozen bees flying 

 about it. In half an hour they were 

 "roaring" over it, and had carried 

 tlio honey away, leaving the comb dry. 



In "The Physiology of the Honey- 

 Bee " we read : "17. Bat the celebrated 

 Darwin was mistaken in saying that 

 the colorless blossoms which he names 

 obscure blossoms, are scarcely visited 

 by insects, while the most highly col- 

 ored blossoms are very fondly visited 

 bj" the bees. (Gaston Bouvier, 'Les 

 Nectaries,' Paris, 1879.) 18. For, al- 

 though color attracts bees, it is only 

 one of the means used by nature to 

 bring them in contact with flowers. 

 The smell of honey is certainl}' the 

 main attraction, and this attraction is so 

 powerful, that frequently, at day-break 

 in the summer, the bees will be found 

 in full flight, gathering the honey 

 which has been secreted in the night, 

 when nothing on the preceding even- 

 ing could have predicted such a crop. 

 This happens, especially, wheu there 

 is a production of hoae3'-dew after a 

 storm. We ha\e even known bees to 

 gather honey from tulip trees (Lirio- 

 dcndron tulipifera) on very clear moon- 

 light nights." 



If the above quotation proves any- 

 thing, it proves that odor is a much 

 more important factor than color. 



Again, on page 7U1 of the American 

 Bee Journal for 1888, where the edi- 

 tor of the British Bee Journal reviews 

 Prof. Cook's " Manual of the Apiar}-," 

 he says : " Although their sense of 

 color is very keen, our author (Prof. 

 Cook) believes ' more has been made 

 of this matter of color than truth will 

 warrant.' We think so, too, and be- 

 lieve the experiments of Sir John Lub- 

 bock go to prove, not that bees prefer 

 one color to another, but that they can 

 be accustomed to recognize a certain 

 color." 



So, then. Prof. Cook says that 

 " more has been made of this matter 

 of color than the truth will warrant" — 

 and to this sentiment I say, " Amen !" 



Vermont, Ills. 



SEASON OF 1888. 



A Large Crop of Fall Honey 

 Seen red. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY JNO. A. THORNTON. 



When the spring of 1888 opened, my 

 colonies were in average to good con- 

 dition, and continued to increase in 

 bees till the time for white clover to 

 bloom, when all were in good condi- 

 tion to gather a large surplus ; but 

 there was no nectar in the clover that 

 did bloom. The bees had the swarm- 

 ing fever about this time, which was 

 caused by honey-dew gathered from 

 the oak leaves and some other source. 

 It was of very dark color, and not fit 

 for use except for daily food for the 

 bees. From this source there was 

 1,200 pounds of surplus taken, about 

 July 15, from the surplus departments, 

 which I am saving for spring feeding. 



About Aug. 1, the yield commenced 

 from what is commonly called "smart- 

 weed," and honey continued to be 

 gathered up till Sept. 20, when my 

 crop of honey of the season was all 

 gathered. It amounted to 4,500 

 pounds in one pound sections, and 

 3,500 pounds of extracted hone}', 

 which I have been able, on account of 

 the absence of an}' clover honey, to 

 sell at about the same price as I could 

 have sold clover honey. In color it 

 would compare favorably with clover 

 honey. 



I began the season with 150 colonies, 

 and increa.sed them to 200 colonies. 

 They were in two apiaries five miles 

 apart. One apiary had only 25 colo- 

 nies in the spring, and cast nearly 40 

 swarms through the summer, which 

 caused a great amount of work in 

 uniting and keeping down so much in- 

 crease. As it was, the apiary was only 

 increased to 49 colonies, and the 

 amount of surplus vvas 1,500 pounds 

 from this apiary. 



The homo, apiary did not swarm 

 quite so much, though nearly 100 

 swarms issued from May 8 till Sept. 5. 



The method of keeping down in- 

 crease mostly practiced was, to hive 

 the swarm on the old stand, remove 

 the old stand only to one side for three 

 or four days, wlien the hatched bees 

 were shaken off in front of the new 

 hive and swarm, and the combs and 

 brood were put on the hives of colo- 

 nies worked for extracted honey. 



The prospects for 1889 could not be 

 better, as all idle ground and pasture 

 land have a good crop of white clover 

 from the seed, as well as a large 

 amount of the common red clover, 

 sown on account of the drouth killing 

 all that was sown in 1887. 



Lima, Ills., Jan. 14, 1889. 



WINTERING. 



Tlie Passage-Ways l»cl\vccn the 

 Hives in tiic Cellar. 



Written for the Farmers' Review 



BY MRS. L. C. AXTELL. 



The 200 colonics that we have in the 

 cellar are arranged in rows three hives 

 higli. The rows are all wide enough 

 apart so that we can go between them 

 and sweep out the dead bees once in 

 two or three weeks. It is very un- 

 healthy to so arrange the bees that 

 they cannot be swept out, and lie all 

 winter on the cellar bottom and mold, 

 as ours did for the first few years that 

 we kept bees. Before spring the cel- 

 lar snndled very badh', and when the 

 hives were carried out in the spring, 

 sometimes there would be bushels of 

 dead bees, when there were 100 to 150 

 colonies in the cellai'. Now the cellar 

 smells pure, and when I take a light 

 down, I can see the round balls of bees 

 cluster clear down upon the bottom- 

 board, as the fronts of all the hives 

 ai-e raised an inch. 



It is a prettj' sight to see the golden 

 beauties all snugly tucked up in a tight 

 cluster. I feel almost constrained to 

 thrust in my hand and pat them — 

 perhaps I would, if it were not for dis- 

 turbing them. 



The past throe years have been hard 

 on bees ; those who liked to feed bees 

 had the chance to do so to their heart's 

 content. But few bees have lived that 

 were not fed, even in the midsummer 

 time. 



Last summer we found some of our 

 colonies clear out of food. The last 

 of August they began to gather honey, 

 and for about 3 weeks they stored it 

 very fast, filled up their hives nicely 

 for winter, and s'^me of the strongest 

 colonies stored some surplus ; but bees 

 late in the fall will not carry their 

 honey above into surplus receptacles, 

 until their Ijrood-combs are heavily la- 

 den — first witli brood and then with 

 honej' — and then, as fast as the brood 

 hatches out, tliey fill the cells with the 

 honey, until, for want of room, they 

 carry the remaining nectar up above 

 into the surplus receptacles. Our 200 

 colonies produced about 800 or 1,000 

 pounds of surplus honey last fall, be- 

 sides plenty for winter stores. 



Roseville, Ills. 



A Favor3il»Ie Word from any of our 

 readers, who speak from experience, has 

 more weight with their friends than any- 

 thing we might say. Every one of our 

 readers can lend us a helping hand, in this 

 way, without much trouble, and at the same 

 time help to scatter apicultural knowledge 

 and promote the welfare of our pursuit. 



