1907. J 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



225 



instance probably months of depreda- 

 tions on their hard-earned stores went 

 serenely on without any effort to stop 

 it. The average number of bees in 

 a healthy hive is about sixty thou- 

 sand, yet I venture to believe that 

 eighty per cent in one year come to 

 an untimely end. 



Again, on bright days during the 

 winter they will issue forth. No mat- 

 ter if the snow is on the ground and 

 the air is chilly, if only the sun shines 



of safety, away they would go and 

 soon return for a fresh supply. 



The oft-repeated praise of the ten- 

 der solicitude of the nurse and doctor 

 tees seem in striking contrast with the 

 callous movements of healthy bees 

 who pass by their dead or wounded 

 sisters \yithout the slightest notice, but 

 will quickly remove them if work is 

 impeded, taking no end of trouble to 

 pick the body up, fly some distance 

 and then drop it. A single bee may 



they will fly around. I have seen be seen tugging and nulling, the rest 



working merrily on, taking no notice 

 whatever nor giving assistance ; yet 

 in the hive comb 'building every one 

 helps his neighbor in building a cell. 

 The same thing applies to a bee strug- 

 gling in a spider's web. The strength 



them on these occasions fly for a few 

 moments and then drop helplessly on 

 the snow, and after a time, for a 

 space of a few yards around the hive, 

 they lie so thick that the snow is 

 hidden. On these occasions the bee- 



keeper will often lose from fifty to of a union of twelve bees flying with 



""' savage force against the fragile web 

 would at once set a prisoner free ; 

 yet, while they are indifferent to their 

 comrade's trouble, if a youpg terrier 

 pup ventures within a yard or so of 

 the hive, a dozen bees are on him 

 like a flash, and with unerring judg- 

 ment they know his tender spots. 



Many minor things might be men- 

 tioned to show that the honey bee 

 is not only stupid, but more so than 

 the average insect with which it 

 comes in contact, although it is ad- 

 mittedly a wonderful creature in 

 many ways. If it were not for its 

 sweet and toothsome honey, we 

 should have no more respect and af- 

 fection for it than for the common 

 hornet. 



one hundred thousand bees. The 

 question may well be asked, "Why 

 does the bee not know, not have in- 

 stinct enough to know, that the tem- 

 perature is lower than he can bear?" 

 Some bee-keepers say they would die 

 anyhow; but that is no reason, for 

 in summer they fan to keep cool, and 

 in winter fan to keep warm, and they 

 would succeed in weathering the win- 

 ter's cold if they kept in their hive. 

 Another instance may be mentioned 

 of what I call bee stupidity. I had 

 about a pint of sour honey which had 

 run from the unsealed combs, and 

 placed it in a flat plate before the 

 hives for the bees to remake. In ten 

 minutes the first bee got on the plate, 

 took a few sips and left. Shortly 

 after others followed. In the space 

 of twenty minutes I counted eighteen 

 ants and nine flies — two of the large 

 bluebottle variety, the remainder be- 

 ing different kinds of small wasps — 

 and forty hive bees. I had been care- 

 ful to place small chips of wood for 

 the bees to alight on while floating 

 in the sticky mass, yet every one of 

 the forty b.ees floundered in up to 

 their eyes in the , liquid sweet. On 

 removing three of the live ones to 

 the edge of the plate they promptly 

 struggled back, refusing the oppor- 

 tunity to crawl through the grass to 

 clear their bodies and get their wings 

 dry to enable them to carry their 

 honey to the hive. On the other 



BEES DEPOSITING NECTAR IN 

 THE HIVE. 



I 



Nature Fakers of Beedom. 



A. C. MILLER. 



N THE AMERICAN BEE JOUR- 

 NAL for September, Mr. G. M. 

 Doolittle takes three columns to 

 say that field bees never deposit their 

 load of nectar in the cells, but turn 

 them all over to the field bees. The 

 essence of the article lies in the fol- 

 lt)wing quotation: "I have stood, sat 

 and lain by the side of an observa- 

 tion hive for minutes and hours, till 



these will count into days, and I never 

 hand, the flies and ants carefully stood yet saw a single bee coming in from 

 on the edge of the honey — the ants the fields with a load of nectar, de- 

 in a perfect row, equally distant from posit the same in the cells of the 

 each other, with not even their feet comb. The loaded field bee seeks out 

 soiled; but when gorged to the limit a young bee — one less than sixteen 



