138 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



June. 



pollen, and disappeared entirely with 

 the end of that bloom. One point that 

 made this more noticeable was that 

 the blossoming of this vine is a mova- 

 ble period, varying with the season 

 from December to March, and even 

 April, remaining in bloom from four 

 to six weeks. I have discussed this 

 trouble with several physicians and all 

 of them say it is undoubtedly jessa- 

 mine poisoning, having almost the same 

 action upon the bee as the poison ex- 

 tracted from the root of the vine has 

 upon the human system- 



A few years ago a bee-keeper from 

 another section on going into my 

 apiary at this season of the year, re- 

 marked at once, "I see you have paraly- 

 sis," but on a closer examination said 

 he was mistaken, it was certainly not 

 paralysis, with which disease he was 

 acquainted. It is bad enough, how- 

 ever, while it lasts, as it keeps 'the 

 colonies from building up during that 

 time, by destroying the young bees 

 needed to replace the old ones which 

 are wearing out. 



This spring my bees suffered more 

 than usual, owing to an extra heavy 

 bloom of jessamine at a time when 

 there was li'ttle else for them to work 

 upon. 



I suppose the queens are so seldom 

 effected from the fact that they are fed 

 by the bees and in the preparation of 

 the food the poisonous qualities are 

 eliminated, while the young bees, upon 

 hatching, help themselves to the raw 

 nectar and pollen, and sufifer accord- 

 ingly, r have a friend some ten miles 

 distant, whose bees suffer somewhat 

 from this source, but not nearly so 

 much as mine, from the fact that his 

 locality is freer of jessamine, and I 

 suppose a location could be selected 

 in which it would cut no figure- 



This appears to be a case where na- 

 ture fails to protect the insect from 

 self-injury. Instinct, as we term it, 

 seems to be lacking here. I believe 

 honey from some sources is said to be 

 poisonous to man, but whether it is at 

 the same time poisonous to the bees 

 I have never seen stated. Possibly 

 jessamine honey would prove poison- 

 ous if we obtained it, but it comes at 

 a time when it is all consumed for 

 breeding purposes. 



Holly Hill, Fla., March 20, 1903. 



LANGUAGE OF THE BEE HIVE. 



La Inttrpretation of S:me of the Most Important of the 

 Signs and Signals Used by Honey-Bees in Communi- 

 cating With Each Other.— A Better Understaid- 

 iag of the Language of the Bee Should 

 Eelp in Manip'.;lation. 



(Swarthmore.) 



COME, let us go to the hives and 

 study the language of our bees. 

 'Tis true they do not talk in 

 English tongue; yet they speak as 

 plainly as humans, and if we would 

 but listen we could understand. 



Let us approach this hive. See, 

 there stand the guards, ever alert. I 

 will place my hand close down by the 

 entrance. Do they not plainly say, by 

 their movement and sudden stand, 

 "take care now!" They certainly do. 

 Bees are fair, they never attack with- 

 out first giving warning — but we must 

 understand the words. What is this 

 warning? It is a sharp, quick snap of 

 the wings and a sudden stand about, 

 face to the enemj-. If we insist upon 

 further intrusion, what then? A bee 

 or 'two will perhaps dive at us but real- 

 ly not with the deliberate intention of 

 stinging but more to investigate — man 

 is usually the first to declare war, not 

 the bee. She will perhaps light upon 

 the clothing and, if \ve are quiet, will 

 find nothing to be particularly alarmed 

 at. She will crawl about a bit and at 

 last return to her place by the guards 

 with the message, quite plainly spoken, 

 ''no danger." Now let us fight those 

 same bees; what say they now when re- 

 turning to the entrance? As quick as 

 a flash they return, hug close to the 

 opening and shriek their note of 

 "alarm" which instantly brings to view 

 a phalanx of fully aroused and well 

 armed men ready for any attack. They 

 seldom attack at once, however. We 

 must make further advances- Bees are 

 never offensive, on the contrary they 

 are entirely defensive; and defend they 

 will to the very last of their mature 

 members, heroically — at the expense of 

 life itself- 



A puff of smoke will change the tone 

 of "warning" very quickly to one of 

 "fright." We all know the sudden 

 "s-h-r-r-r" of a colony smoked una- 

 wares; and then the quiet tone of "sub- 

 mission," and later the combined move- 



