386 



and decided she was not on them. Then 

 I proceeded to look carefully in the 

 brood chamber, among the bees which 

 run off the combs while lifting them out, 

 and as I was carefully watching for her 

 appearance I caught a glimpse of her as 

 she flew out of the hive and went very 

 high in the air, out of sight. I replaced 

 the combs and left the hive open as long 

 as I dared to, on account of robbing, 

 which is a common occurrence if proper 

 care is not taken in manipulating a hive 

 at this season of the year. But my 

 queen failed to return. In 2 or 3 days I 

 opened this hive again, and found queen 

 cells being constructed quite exten- 

 sively, which was good proof of their 

 being queenless at that time of year. 



The following day, after reading Mr. 

 Argo's letter, I had occasion to open a 

 nucleus which I had used for hatching 

 a queen cell from a very choice Italian 

 queen. The nucleus contained a queen 

 about 3 weeks old, and laying nicely. 

 I opened them about 4 o'clock in the 

 afternoon, intending to cage the queen 

 and introduce her to a full colony. In 

 opening them, I used no smoke, as there 

 were but few bees in the nucleus, and 

 these were very quiet and easy to ma- 

 nipulate as a general rule. I opened 

 the hive with more than usual care, not 

 to excite the bees on account of not 

 using smoke to quiet them. The first 

 frame I took up contained the queen 

 and a few bees. I had hardly lifted the 

 frame from the brood chamber, when 

 the young lady took to her wings and 

 fled for parts unknown. Xo bees seem- 

 ing to follow her, I then placed the 

 frame back in in the hive, and stepped 

 back 2 or 3 paces, leaving the hive 

 open as when the queen left, and 

 was as careful as possible to dis- 

 turb nothing to change the appear- 

 ance of the hive or its surroundings. 

 I remained there till it began to grow 

 dark and all the bees in the yard stopped 

 flying, being anxious for the return of 

 my absconding queen ; which, through 

 some mistake as I suppose, forgot to 

 put in an appearance. This is the sec- 

 ond time I have had similar experience 

 of queens flying from the combs, cind 

 in each case she failed to return. 



I have now arrived at the conclusion 

 that queens (especially in my apiary) 

 have lost their wonderful power of in- 

 stinct to return to the same place they 

 leave ; or that these are exceptions to 

 the general rule. I think, to say the 

 least, a queen with a wing clipped or 

 securely fastened in a cage till the win- 

 dows and doors in a room can be se- 

 curely closed, to safely admit of the 

 operation of clipping, would be worth 

 several on the wing that have from 



any cause been let loose to fly in 

 the open air without a sw r arm to accom- 

 pany them. I should be happy to learn 

 through the Bee Journal if others 

 have been so unfortunate as to have 

 similar experience in queens flying 

 away, and still more happy to learn the 

 cause and also the remedy. 



I have now about 100 colonies of bees 

 (mostly natives), in the Bristol hive, 

 containing 12 frames 9}<jxl2 inches in- 

 side measure. 



The season thus far in Vermont, on 

 account of the very dry weather, is the 

 poorest we have seen for many years. 

 Bee-keepers on an average throughout 

 the State will not realize Ji' of their 

 usual honey crop, consequently will not 

 more than "be able to supply the home 

 trade. 



Rutland, Vt. 



[The two cases mentioned are excep- 

 tions to the rule. By placing the frame 

 back in the hive, and yourself stepping 

 off 2 or 3 paces, you removed the most 

 prominent objects " marked " by the 

 queen, which had probably quickly and 

 effectively made her observations.-ED.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Where Honey Comes From— No. 5. 



WM. TRELEASE. 



The glands of the cow-pea described 

 in the June number produce, as was 

 there stated, a sweet secretion readily 

 collected by bees and other insects. In 

 the South bees obtain much honey from 

 the cotton plant, and, as I learn from 

 Prof. A. J. Cook, this is generally be- 

 lieved to come from the flowers. In a 

 certain sense this is true, for although 

 active nectar glands exist on the lower 

 surface of the leaves, their secretion is 

 gathered chiefly by ants, and seldom if 

 ever by bees. But in a constant study 

 of cotton plants for several months, I 

 failed to see a half dozen hive bees en- 

 ter the flowers, to which thousands were 

 seen to fly ; yet the flowers are entered 

 by other wasp-like insects, and hence 

 must possess some attraction. An ex- 

 amination shows that there is a very 

 insignificant quantity of nectar within 

 the corolla, which, from attracting only 

 certain classes of insects, may be sus- 

 pected of possessing a flavor distasteful 

 to other insects. Outside the corolla, 

 however, there are— in all except the 

 early flowers— 6 large and active glands ; 

 3 at the base of the calyx, in the sin- 

 uses between the 3 large bracts that 

 form the involucre or ruffle, and one on 



