106 



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what I saw ; their facailty of reason is 

 very large, which can plainly be seen 

 by the following incident : 



One day while examining my hives, 

 I saw a spider lodged in the corner of 

 a hive, spinning its net. One bee flew 

 in front of the hive to fight the spider, 

 but the spider finally succeeded in 

 spinning its web and trapping the 

 bee in it ; and while the bee was strug- 

 gling for liberty, three other bees 

 came to its assistance, and flew all at 

 one time unitedly at the web, at least 

 20 times, to liberate the entangled bee. 



I am sorry that I did not wait for 

 the result, as I liberated the bee from 

 the web myself. I have no doubt but 

 what they would have accomplished 

 their object, broken the web, and freed 

 their imprisoned companion. 



Bees are the most wonderful insects 

 that God ever made. Not one lives to 

 be more than one ^ear old, except the 

 queen ; yet just look at their industry 

 in laying up treasures for the rising 

 generations, as well as for themselves, 

 coming home doublj- loaded when the 

 flowers bloom, from sunrise to sunset,, 

 and often by moonlight ; what in- 

 genuity is exhibited in sipping honey 

 from flowers, anil in manufacturing 

 wax to build their store-house to store 

 their rich .treasures ; in making cells, 

 which they so wonderfully construct ; 

 while in others, tlie queen will deposit 

 her eggs, and still others are used to 

 store pollen to feed the rising genera- 

 tion ; in building queen and drone cells 

 at the proper time ; in hindering 

 queens from killing each other, when 

 it is not best ; in getting rid of drones 

 when not wanted ; and what a grand 

 sight it is to see them swarm ! 



How wonderfully and skillfully God 

 has made the little bees to gather such 

 luxuries for man. 



Cheviot, N. Y. 



PASSAGE-"WAYS. 



^Vinter Passagc.Ways Tiiruiigii 

 the CoiiibH are Unnecessary. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Not long ago a neighbor bee-keeper 

 called, asking if he might see how I 

 made passage-ways for the bees 

 through the combs, so that the bSes 

 miglit not be caught by each cold snap 

 during the winter, on the outside of 

 the combs, away from the cluster, as 

 the bees were contracted in the cluster 

 so as to keep up the warmth necessary 

 for the colony to pass through each 

 cold spell. 



I told him that I never, of late years, 

 made such passage-ways, for I did not 

 think them at all necessary. As it may 



seem to some that I was just a little 

 " ofl'the ti'ack " in so replying, I will 

 give a few of the reasons why I think 

 as I do, as well as some of my obser- 

 vations along this line. 



As fall approaches, if we examine a 

 colony of bees, we will find that the 

 activity manifested during spring and 

 summer in the interior of the hive, be- 

 comes less and less, so that by the 

 middle of October, in this latitude, all 

 brood-rearing has ceased, and the bees 

 have become partially dormant ; still, 

 so far, they have not packed them- 

 selves away in a snug cluster, or com- 

 pact shape for winter. 



Every opportunity given by a ^varm 

 day is improved to void the feces, so 

 that the bees may be prepared for a 

 long cold spell, when such occurs. As 

 the weather grows colder, and the bees 

 contract their clustei', many packing 

 themselves away in the cells until the 

 smallest possible space is occupied bj' 

 tjhem, and thus the requisite warmth 

 is secured to keep them alive, when 

 the mercury sinks below zero. 



All are well aware that in this con- 

 traction of the bees (at certain times), 

 many of them are left singly or in 

 little clusters of from five to ten, which 

 do not recede with the main cluster, 

 and thus are chilled where they are, 

 and if the weather becomes cold 

 enough, they are frozen, thus losing to 

 the cluster that number of bees. Some 

 claim that this loss is going on all 

 winter after each warm spell occurred, 

 where large frames are used, and saj' 

 a reason why bees seemingly win- 

 tered so much better in box-hives years 

 ago, was because with box-hives, cross- 

 sticks were used in the center of the 

 hives, which caused holes or passage- 

 waj's through the combs in the centre of 

 each, while with a large movabh'-frame 

 no cross-sticks could be used, as was 

 the case with box-hives, and hence no 

 holes were left as there were in those 

 days ; thus compelling the bees to pass 

 over and around the combs of cold 

 honey to keep pace with the receding 

 cluster, instead of passing through the 

 centre of the combs to the next range, 

 which was more nearly filled with bees. 

 In thus passing around after each 

 warm spell, many bees become stifi"ened 

 and are cauglit by the cold, wliich 

 might have been saved if holes were 

 provided in the centre of the combs for 

 them to pass through. This evidentlj' 

 was the argunu'ntused years ago, when 

 the T.angstroth frame and others were 

 provitled with a shaving bent to form 

 a circle an inch or so in diameter, 

 whicli was suspended from the top-bar 

 hj' means of a little strip of tin, sup- 

 posing tliat this would efl'ectually 

 secure a passage-way for the bees. 

 However, but a short time elapsed be- 

 fore it became apparent that during a 



good yield of honey this shaving would 

 be filled with comb and honey, thus 

 making the combs as they were before, 

 as far as passage-ways were concerned, 

 while the combs were much damaged 

 by the plan, to «hat thej- would have 

 been had they been built whole. 



However, I used to be one who con- 

 sidered these holes necessary, and 

 after failing with the shaving, I next 

 practiced cutting holes through the 

 combs, each fall, which would be filled 

 up the following summer, so that when 

 winter approached, the process had to 

 be repeated. 



This taking out all of the combs each 

 fall was quite a job, and when some 

 one suggested that a hole might be 

 bored through one side of the hive, and 

 a square stick made sharp at the end, 

 slowly wormed through the combs to 

 the opposite side, so as to make a hole 

 through each without danger of killing 

 any bees, I was not long in adopting 

 that process. 



If holes were to be made through 

 the combs, the above is the best plan I 

 know of ; but it soon became apparent 

 to me that Ahe reason assigned as the 

 cause of the death of the bees was not 

 the real trouble, for while making 

 holes one fall, I found little clusters of 

 chilled bees betwepn the combs just 

 outside of the cluster, and also in the 

 sections of a hive, which happened to 

 be left on after the rest had been taken 

 ott'; these same chilled bees being on 

 the combs right above the entrance to 

 the sections, and only a little way ofl', 

 and in a direct line with the cluster 

 below. 



Later on I found the bees would 

 stay and die within I of an inch of the 

 holes which I had made, when it would 

 appear that tliej' could have passed 

 through these passages ju^ as well as 

 not. This opened my eyes, and upon 

 carefully noting the facts which came 

 under my observation, I discovered 

 that when the weather was cool, cloudy 

 aiul rainy for several weeks before it 

 was severely cold, so that the bees had 

 no chance to tly, this loss was appar- 

 ently much greater than when a clear, 

 warm day occurred so that the bees 

 had a good fliglit immediately before a 

 severe cold spell. 



By the number of bees that were 

 found on boards and such places, dull 

 and quite stupid after such a fine day,- 

 I concluded that these were the ver)- 

 same bees that would have died by not 

 following the cluster, had not a warm 

 day occurred for them to leave the 

 hive to die ; hence I say that the loss 

 was apparently greater when no such 

 day occurred, for the bees that were 

 found out around on the boards and 

 grass after a warm daj', represented 

 the same bees which gave me so much 

 uneasiness upon finding them dead in 



