1907.] 



see the robbers. Then go back with 

 the memory of rob'bers, and the real- 

 ization of the results of robbing, and 

 then go about devising means for 

 more complete protection as well as 

 to gather the material for its con- 

 struction. 



Chasworth, California. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 133 



INJURY OF FRUIT BY BEES? 



D 



HOW THE QUEEN "KNOWS." 



DR. C. C. MILLER. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEP- 

 ER has the following: 

 "If there is drone comb in 

 the supers the queen is almost sure to 

 go up" says Dr. C. C. Miiller. I would 

 like to ask him how she knows it is 

 there? To help 'him answer I will 

 whisper to him that the queen in- the 

 course of her rambles visits in the 

 course of a few days pretty nearly 

 every nook and corner of the hive. 



(M.) 



Admitting the rambling character 

 of the queen, Brother M., don't you 

 think she 'has advance agents to pre- 

 pare for her coming? I've sometimes 

 seen empty drone cells in sections, and 

 also outside of the brood-nest in the 

 brood-chamber, apparently ready for 

 the coming of the queen. Certainly 

 looks as if the workers had a say in 

 the matter, doesn't it? And don't 

 you think it possible that the queen 

 knows about those empty cells only 

 because a deputation of bees formally 

 notified her? 



The American Bee-Keeper, if I un- 

 derstand it correctly, holds that al- 

 though a colony of bees may accom- 

 plish a lot of work, each bee, as an 

 individual, instead of being a pattern 

 of industry, is rather inclined to lazi- 

 ness. According to that, when a bee 

 is among the posies out from under 

 its mother's eye, one would expect to 

 see it do a lot of loafing; yet I have 

 been in the habit of thinking that any 

 bee was a sick bee when not in active 

 motion away from the hive. 



Marengo, 111. 



If you know when you are well ofif, 

 better protect yourself pretty good 

 before re-'opening the entrance of bees 

 that have been moved some distance, 

 as they sometimes seem to be right on 

 their "metal." 



W. R. GILBERT. 



URING the fruiting months that 

 hardy annual, "The Bees, In- 

 juring Fruit," comes up, and 

 many non-observing persons put 

 the blame for the work of the fly, 

 wasp, and ants down to the credit of 

 the hardw'orking bee. This would be 

 all right if the work done was merit- 

 orious instead of being mischievous. 

 I have always contended that the bee 

 is the greatest friend that the fruit 

 grower has, and that the nearer the 

 orchard to the apiary the heavier the 

 crop of fruit. Such teing the case I 

 am glad to quote the official experi- 

 ments that have been carried out on 

 the Canadian experimental farms to 

 test the accuracy of the allegations as 

 to bees injuring sound fruit. 



Experiments were made with ripe 

 fruit of four different kinds, peaches, 

 pears, plums and grapes, exposed in 

 different places in or near the experi- 

 mental farm apiary where it was easi- 

 ly accessible to the bees. The fruit 

 was exposed in three different condi- 

 tions: I. Whole, without any treat- 

 ment; 2. Whole, after having been 

 dipped in honey; 3. Punctured in sev- 

 eral places with the blade of a pen- 

 knife. Four colonies were selected 

 for this experiment, all of about equal 

 strength, each in a hive upon which 

 was placed a super divided in the mid- 

 dle by a partition. From two of the 

 hives the honey had been all removed, 

 in the two remaining hives five frames 

 were left, each having considerable 

 brood with honey around it. In each 

 of the four hives, the whole specimens 

 of fruit not dipped in honey were hung 

 within three empty frames, tied to- 

 gether as a rack; the w'hole specimens 

 of fruit dipped in honey were placed 

 in one compartment of the super, and 

 the punctured specimens were placed 

 in the other. The bees began to work 

 at once upon both the dipped and the 

 punctured fruit; the former was 

 cleaned thoroughly of honey during 

 the first night; upon the punctured 

 fruit the bees clustered thickly, suck- 

 ing the juice through the puctures as 

 long as they could o'btain any liquid. 

 At the end of six days the fruit was all 

 carefully examined. The sound fruit 

 was still uninjured in any way; the 



