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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



■which, if there was nothing to take from it the 

 carbon, would destroy them. There are no 

 plants to do it ; but we find in the hive several 

 things that may answer the purpose. The 

 comi), it is well known, is at first pure white, 

 but first turns yellow and then dark, and as it 

 gets older becomes perfectly black. Something 

 must produce this effect. May it not be this 

 very carbon that it absorbs that colors it ? It 

 is further known that the older the comb the 

 heavier it gets. This is not only true of the 

 comb in the middle of the hive where the breed- 

 ing is done, but moi'e so at the top where honey 

 is stored. It may be said that carboiiic acid is 

 heavier than the other air and therefore settles 

 below. We have shown that it first rises, from 

 being heated and thus rarifled. 



The honey may also absorb the carbon. 

 New honey and old honey are very different 

 things in taste and color. So may the bee-bread 

 and also the propolis. 



The fact being established that bees can live 

 without fresh air, we can only account for it 

 upon some such reasoning. 



But this would not be enough. Bees cannot 

 live without water. Here we are not so much 

 in the dark. We have shown that oxygen and 

 hydrogen are united in the course of breathing, 

 and thrown out as vapor. This is condensed 

 on the solid sides of honey, and on the vacant 

 comb and sides and top of the hive, which are 

 dense and cold, and remains there hanging in 

 globules or runs down in drops among the bees. 

 Thus they are always furnished with water. It 

 is also a wise provision, that it only so accumu- 

 lates in cold weather. In warm weather there 

 is a class of bees that are called ''fanners" or 

 "ventilating bees" that keep a constant circula- 

 tion of dry fresh air. 



It has often been wondered at that bees 

 should plaster the solid sides and top of their 

 hive with propolis. In some very old hives I 

 have seen it nearly a quarter of an inch thick. 

 The wood being porous would absorb the mois- 

 ture, and they wax it to make it solid and a 

 better condenser. May it not be also to absorb 

 carbon? D. L. Adaiii. 



Hawbsville, Kt., Jan., 1868. 



Smart Bees. 



One of my neighbors had an old hive of bees 

 that last season threw off'three swarms, two large 

 swarms and one small one. The last swarm, 

 after working two or three months, and ma- 

 king considerable comb, but not much honey, 

 swarmed out one pleasant day in the fall, 

 well knowing that they did not have sufficient 

 honey to winter on, and returned again to the 

 parent hive. Who can beat that? — E. W. B. in 

 Country Oentleman. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee Hunting. 



Dt^Pollen gathered by the bses from Centau- 

 rea, (blue bottle), is white ; that from white 

 clover, is dark cream color ; that from buck- 

 wheat, bright yellow; and that from Esparsctte 

 or Spanish clover, is brown. 



Mr. Editor : — Is it possible for one to have 

 bee on the brain ? I have been engaged in the 

 culture of the honey bee for twenty years, and 

 have many pleasant recollections concerning 

 them — so much so, that my family sometimes 

 tell me that I have got the bee on the brain. 

 But this I am not disposed to consider serious, 

 unless the sting of my pet should chance to re- 

 main. Even then I should not mind it much, 

 as I do not experience any harm therefrom. 



I always considered it a very pleasant and 

 agreeable recreation to hunt the bee. To look 

 them out, and trace them to some large giant in 

 the forest, requires at times considerable skill 

 and sharp-sightedness. I have found them 

 varying as to height, from on the ground to one 

 hundred and thirty feet from terra firma I 

 I have never given up the hunt until found, if 

 there was any show at all. It is a harmless, 

 but not always profitable recreation. Of late 

 years I usually take them down in the lag. 



I propose to give an account of my short 

 experience in hunting bees on the James, in 

 Virginia. I came there rather late in the fall, 

 remaining in the State until about the middle of 

 July. In looking around I soon ascertained 

 that there were very few swarms there, except 

 in their natural wild state. When getting 

 some sweet gum in the month of November, I 

 noticed the bees gathering the gum as they usu- 

 ally gather pollen. From that source I obtain- 

 ed several lines ; but did not find the swarms 

 at that time, as I had no honey, and it was late 

 in the season and rather cool. I concluded to 

 let them rest till spring. In the month of 

 March I noticed bees at work on an apricot tree 

 in blossom. I watched them as they were 

 gathering pollen. From this source I obtained 

 five different lines, of which I resolved to find 

 most or all of them. You maybe assured I was 

 on tiptoe, and almost went into ecstacies. 

 Now for the result. Without honey I took one 

 line, and with careful looking found it in an 

 oak limb about twenty feet high, about a mile 

 and a half distant. Now for number two. 

 After a pleasant search of about three hours, I 

 found them about three-fourths of a mile dis- 

 tant, in a stump of an oak tree cut several yeara 

 before. The stump was not more than three 

 feet high ; and the swarm as fine a one as I 

 ever found at that time of year. After a search 

 of about half a day, I found number three in an 

 oak tree, about eight feet from the ground. It 

 was a fair swarm. Perhaps if you had seen me 

 at this time, Mr. Editor, you might might have 

 thought that I had bee on the brain, though you 

 woufd never have said so. So excuse me, and 

 bear with me a little longer. Number four 

 crossed the river, and as I had no boat I made 

 no effort to find them. I followed the line of 

 number five about half a mile, and found them 

 in a green oak stump about four feet high, 

 which had been cut perhaps two years before. 

 This was a fair swarm. 



From another source I obtained another line, 

 starting from near the same plase as the others, 



