524 



June 21, 1906 



American Hee Journal 



attached to two or more frames, in which latter case it will 

 be impossible to handle the bees without first transferring 

 them. 



But about the worst snag a beginner can run up against 

 is a queenless colony. If there are many bees standing 

 around on the alighting-board, and apparently doing noth- 

 ing in particular but killing time ; and if the field-bees are 

 working indifferently and carrying in small loads of pollen, 

 or none at all, when other colonies are working well ; and 

 if lhe bees in the hive are cross and irritable, it would be 

 well for the beginner to give that hive the go-by, and select 

 one where the bees are going in and out with such a rush 

 that they have no time to notice him or anything else ; and 

 where any bee that shows an inclination to loaf on the 

 front do6rstep gets knocked off his feet by the " field 

 gang ;" and where the loads of pollen going in are so big 

 that he wonders how in the world the bees manage to make 

 them stick on, anyway. A colony like that is worth the 

 money you pay for it.— E. G. H., in Farmers' Advocate. 



Tomfoolery About Bees 



What tomfoolery is often published in the name of 

 science appears strikingly from the following clipped from 

 the Mail and Empire : 



Bees Obet Orders. 



Id a communication to the Academy of Science, the celebrated 

 naturalist, M. Bonnier, makes some interesting observations on the 

 habits of bees. In the afternoon when they are collecting water from 

 the leaves of aquatic plants, he says they will not touch honey offered 

 to them on these leaves, or on floats of various colors. But if honey 

 is offered to them in the morning in a similar way, it is carried off. 

 He explains this as arising from the strictness with which they obey 

 orders. If they are sent out for water they will not 6tay to gather 

 honey. 



Uee-Keepin 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 

 Honey and Pollen from Blackberry 



From the large number of bees [working on blackberry 

 blossoms it must be that much nectar is secured from them. 

 For only a small proportion of the bees are found laden 

 with pollen. A careless observer might easily take the 

 pollen for that gathered from white clover, as it has much 

 the same appearance, only lighter in color. 



Queenless Colonies in Spring and Later 



Early in the spring it is not worth while to coax along 

 a queenless colony ; better break it up, distributing the 

 combs and bees where they will do most good. But later on, 

 when queens are in the height of laying, it is not a hard 

 thing to keep a queenless colony going, and even building 

 up quite as rapidly as if it had a queen. No use to let a 

 hiveful of queenless bees remain idle when they can just as 

 well be rearing a lot of brood. The same applies to a col- 

 ony with a young queen which is not yet laying. 



Go to a strong colony, and draw from it 2 frames of 

 brood, by preference those not the most mature, but the 

 frames well filled in place of the frames taken away. Put 

 in this strong colony 2 empty combs, and let them be placed 

 in the center. The 2 frames of brood are, of course, to be 

 given to the queenless colony. A week later you will find 

 the 2 combs in the strong colony filled with eggs and young 

 larv;t. Take them out, putting in their place 2 other empty 

 combs, and give the eggs and brood to your queenless col- 

 ony. You will see that these frames of eggs and very 

 young brood have as yet cost the bees very little. The 



greater part of the feeding is done by the queenless bees. 

 You can keep this going just as loner as there is room in the 

 queenless colony for more brood, and it will thus be kept 

 strong, and you will have just so many more bees than you 

 would have had if you had given no brood to the queenless 



colony. 



^m i ^ 



Wild drape and Other Bloom 



Wild grapes are quite plentiful in this locality, and are 

 of considerable importance to the bees. This 25th of May 

 the bees are very busy on them, getting both honey and 

 pollen, the latter being of a rather light greenish yellow. 

 Apples have gone out of bloom, a single clover bloom may 

 be found here and there, but it will be 10 days or so before 

 clover bloom will count for much, so the grape-bloom does 

 an important service by helping to keep brood-rearing a- 

 going. It's a delight to the eye, on driving along the coun- 

 try roads, to see rod after rod of the wire fences festooned 

 with the wild grape, and when in bloom the delicate but 

 delightfully penetrating perfume makes one think of the 

 odors of " Araby the blest." 



Pollen-Gathering and Temperature 



May 28 the mercury stood 37 above zero at 6 a.m. When 

 it got up to 47 a stray bee here and there could be seen fly- 

 ing at some of the hives. At SO degrees, with a raw north 

 wind, all colonies were astir, but none of the returning bees 

 carried pollen. At 52 degrees (8:40 a.m.), a very few bees 

 were bringing small loadsof pollen. At 58 degrees (11 a.m.), 

 full loads of pollen were going in, but the proportion of 

 pollen-carriers was not up to the usual mark, and not more 

 than half the fielders seemed at work. Half an hour later a 

 full proportion were carrying pollen, dropping off again at 

 noon. But that day didn't at any time become warmer than 

 60 degrees, and a full force of fielders were not at work till 

 3 days later, when the weather again became reasonable. 



Hive-Entrances in Winter and Spring 



In the spring our bees have an entrance only an inch 

 square. About May 24, after some very warm days, it 

 seemed too bad to close them up so tight, and a few were 

 opened up, especially of the stronger colonies to which a 

 second story had been given. Then came a cold spell when 

 for a whole day (May 27) the mercury never got higher than 

 44 degrees above zero, and we were glad we hadn't opened 

 up any more. In no case had the bees been hanging out, 

 and it is doubtful that they needed more than the one 

 square inch for an entrance. True, they began, in some 

 cases where second stories had not yet been given, to build 

 combs down below the bottom-bars in the 2-inch space, but 

 the waste of that comb (which was of course cut away, and 

 a second story given) was not so bad as would have been 

 the waste of heat with a big entrance. 



It is very important to have all cracks closed up tight 

 early in the season, so as to favor brood-rearing, but what 

 with old covers and old hives it is not always as easy as one 

 would wish to keep all snug. It is easy, however, to keep a 

 small entrance, and a few cracks at the top will do no harm 

 if the entrance is small enough, the only requirement being 

 that the entrance be large enough for the passage of the 

 bees. A hole an inch square allows free passage for a 

 pretty strong colony. 



Some one may object that a colony needs a larger en- 

 trance than an inch square in winter, thinking that of 

 course they need a larger entrance when it gets warmer in 

 the spring. But in winter they're so nearly dormant that 

 they do nothing to change the air, and in spring they'll stir 

 up and change the air whenever it is needed. 



Handy Tool-HoldeP. — We find we are short of the 

 part of this Tool-Holder which has on it the cogs or ratchet 

 by which the blade is raised or lowered when grinding. We 

 need to have some castings made of that part. If any one 

 of our readers who has one of these Tool-Holders will 

 kindly write us, so we can learn who it is, we will consider 

 it a very great favor. Address the office of the American 

 Bee Journal. 



