1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



59 



York, has a picture of a silk or milk-weed flower, 

 also a bee magnified with the pollen of the milk- 

 weed adhering to his legs, which is worth ex- 

 amining. There is an article in the Cincinnati 

 Times, No. 33, July 25th, 1872, stating that two 

 apiarians of Utah deny it to be the pollen of the 

 milk-weed, and recommend us not to destroy the 

 weed. They say they have found it on the legs 

 of young bee that have never left the hive. 

 This can all be, and yet the milk-weed pollen be 

 the cause of the trouble. My bees work lots of 

 it off their legs during the night, which if a 

 young bee comes in contact with, will also cling 

 to its legs. I have caught some bees which 

 others were dragging out of the hive, and took 

 a pin and cleaned their legs of the pollen, theu let 

 them in, and they were unmolested. Mr. Editor, 

 enclosed please find some of the pollen of the 

 silk or milk- weed that my bees have worked off 

 their legs and thrown out ; perhaps it is old 

 to you ; if so cast it away without a look. 



Trouble No. 5. My honey plant spoken of in 

 the A. B. J., of October, 1871, p. 87, played off 

 on me this year, or I was mistaken last year 

 abont its blooming early. I wrote my article 

 August 10th, 1871, and said it was in bloom long 

 ago. This year I watched it closely, and it only 

 commenced blooming about the 1st of August. 

 Last year wasan earlierspring and harvest, which 

 may account for its being also earlier. It is 

 therefore rather late to fit in between spring and 

 fall pasturage. 



Trouble No. 6. I can't come within ten feet 

 of Gallup and Hosmer. I have Langstroth and 

 Gallup hives, weigh them every evening on as 

 true a scale as can be bought. During clover 

 and bass wood, the highest I ever received was 

 eight pounds. Quinby says, p. 84, '3k pounds 

 is the greatest weight he has ever had, but I 

 suppose Quinby did not extract at the time he 

 wrote his book, he can no doubt do better now 

 with the extractor. I did perhaps not extract 

 as often as I should have done. INext year, if I 

 live and keep my health, and my bees live and 

 keep their health, I intend to extract one hive 

 very close, but keeping them strong, and test 

 the truth of some of those large yields of honey. 

 To my mind, at least, bees will work as much for 

 me as any other person. Bee-pasturage will make 

 some difference in different localities, I am 

 aware of this, but I have white clover, linden or 

 basswood, cherry, peach, apple, raspberry, gol- 

 den rod, and lots of other fall flowers, the names 

 of which are unknown to me. Swarming was 

 very scarce with us this year. I had one on the 

 15th of July. Reuben Hale, my neighbor, had 

 one on the 27th. William Markle had three. I 

 do not consider this an excellent year. Cold and 

 late spring, wet summer, with cold nights, is in 

 my opinion not so good for bees, yet I cannot 

 complain of it being a poor season. Good will 

 to the Editor and all his readers. 



A Miller but not a Moth Miller. 



Duncan's Mills, Fulton Co., 111., Aug., 1872. 



Italian bees are not so much disposed to rob, 

 or so liable to be robbed as black bees. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Song of the Queen. 



It is a long time since it was discovered that a 

 queen could sing. Many of the readers of the 

 A. B. J., have heard the song of the young 

 queen the night before swarming. It is generally 

 believed that when the young queen is hatched", 

 the workers prevent her from emerging from off" 

 the cell until the departure of the old queen, and 

 that she shows her impatience by this plaintive 

 song. 



This is not always the case, for I have actually 

 seen a queen out of the cell in the act of singing. 

 It happened in this wise. I was opening a pure 

 Italian stock, that had swarmed on the day pre- 

 ceding, for the purpose of removing the capped 

 queen cells which the hive might contain. I 

 found in one of the frames a queen cell, from 

 which a queen had just hatched, and almost at 

 the same instant, I heard the song of a queen on 

 the frame that I was holding. I turned the 

 frame over and over several times, but in vain. 

 All at once the song began again, and I caught 

 the queen in the act. 



She was standing on the comb, perfectly still. 

 When sinking her abdomen was slightly dis- 

 tended. What was the cause of her complaint 

 I am unable to tell ; and after stating the fact I 

 will retire and let others explain. 



The season here has been very poor. Harvest 

 lasted only from the 18th to 30th of June. Ex- 

 tra stocks harvested from 50 to 70 lbs. box honey. 

 Average 15 lbs. per colony. 



My father started for Italy, on July 9th. He 

 will be back by the 10th of September with 

 more queens than have ever been imported into 

 this country before. Indeed American Bee 

 keepers must be very foolish to spend so much 

 money for such a humbug as the Italian bee. 

 What do you think of it, Mr. Native ? 



C. P .Dadant. 



Hamilton, 111, July 12, 1872. 



When the queen-bee is forcibly taken away 

 from the hive, the bees which are near her at 

 the time do not appear sensible of her absence, 

 and the labors of the hive are carried on as usual 

 for a time. It is seldom before the lapse of 

 an hour that the working-bees begin to manifest 

 any symptoms of uneasiness. They are then 

 observed to quit the larva? which they had been 

 feeding, and to run about in great agitation to 

 and fro ; and on meeting with such of their 

 companions as are not yet aware of the disaster 

 which has befallen them, communicate the in- 

 telligence by crossing their antennas and strik- 

 ing lightly with them. The bees which receive 

 the news, become in their turn agitated, and 

 spread the alarm further. All the inhabitants 

 now rush forward, eagerly seeking their lost 

 queen. But finding search useless, they appear 

 to become resigned to their misfortune, the tu- 

 mult subsides, and if there are worker eggs or 

 young larvse in the cells, preparations are made 

 to supply the loss by raising a new queen, and 

 the usual labors of the hive are resumed. 



