1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



41 



Here, seeing that they rose above the tops of the 

 tallest pines, keeping straight on, he desisted and 

 leturned. 



And here, I suppose, my already too long story 

 Dalurally ends. But there is a circumstance con- 

 nected therewith which I wish to mention because 

 I don't understand it. On looking into the old 

 hire in the afternoon, I found, to my amazement, 

 on the comb of uncapped brood put in in the 

 morning, no less than six queen-cells started. 

 All contained eggs but one, and in this was a 

 plump little larva swimming in royal jelly. We 

 at once concluded (perhaps erroneously) that vsre 

 had not overlooked a queen-cell — that there was 

 DO queen in the hive. Without looking further, 

 we took away their fine beginnings and returned 

 them one of the combs I had hung in the box in 

 the morning, on which was one queen-cell intact. 

 (By the way, despite the elopement of my swarm 

 I determined not to yield the point of having two 

 colonies. I put our nucleus of a swarm with their 

 queen and their remaining comb, minus its queen- 

 cells, into the deserted but furnished hive. I 

 contracted the space properly, and with a little 

 help in the shape of capped brood, and most excel- 

 lent work on their part, they have become a very 

 fine young colony indeed.) Next morning I 

 observed a dead queen lying at the entrance ot 

 the old hive. Looking into the hive in some 

 alarm, I found a very lively young queen. 



Now, what puzzles me is this ; if those bees 

 had a queen, why, reduced in numbers as they 

 were, did they start a queen-cell? If they had 

 DO queen where did the dead queen come from ? 



Another (to me) curious circumstance connected 

 •with the queen of this hive, occurred a week 

 later. Opening the hive to search for eggs, we 

 espied her youthful majesty hurrying about in a 

 Tcry unqueenly way, without a guard, at the 

 same time piping vigorously ! 



I thought this never occurred except when her 

 royal highness was upon the war path. 



Cyula Linswick. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



"Progressive Bee-Oultnre" — A Criticism. 



I received, nearly a year ago, the following 

 letter : 



Hawesville, April 26, 1872. 



Dear Sir — I mail you with this a copy of a 

 pamphlet I have just issued, entitled " Progressive 

 Bee-Culture." Please read it carefully, and give 

 me your opinion of the theories advanced. Very 

 likely you will disagree with me on some points, 

 l)ut as careful an observer as you seem to be, 

 cannot fail to verify much that is in it. I have 

 read your articles in bee culture, on hives, with 

 much interest, and would be pleased if you would 

 criticise the new idea in the same journal, or in 

 the A. B. Journal. Yours, etc., 



(Signed.) D. L. Adair. 



The ideas expressed by Mr. Adair in this 

 pamphlet were indeed so different from mine in 

 several respects ; they seemed to me so new, so 

 eccentric, that I made up my mind to examine 

 them closely, and compare them with my old 



observations and some recent experiences, in 

 order to decide whether they are correct as well 

 as new. This is why my answer was delayed. 

 Here is the result of this work : 

 Bees not endowed with reason; (p. 2.) 



Mr. Adair says that bees are not endowed with 

 reason ; " they cannot be educated ; they act 

 according to the laws which govern matter, 

 which are as unvarying as the laws governing 

 the mathematical sciences; as the lightning 

 descending from the clouds selects the metal 

 rod." 



One day I took a queen from a nucleus where 

 she was beginning to lay. That queen had gone 

 out several times before she met a drone. It was 

 in the fall. I put her in a cage, which I placed 

 in the hive in which I intended to introduce her. 

 Two days after I opened the hive, as I wanted to 

 see whether the bees would accept her. I took 

 the queen out. She was scared, flew off, and 

 after having whirled around once or twice above 

 my head she disappeared. Thinking she had 

 gone back to the spot where the nucleus used to 

 be, I went there immediately, and I found her in 

 search of the nucleus I had taken off and united 

 with others. I tried to catch her, and, as I 

 could not succeed, I brought a small empty hive, 

 like the one in which she had been raised ; but 

 she had again disappeared. I thought she was 

 lost; but no! Not finding the nucleus in its 

 place she had returned to the hive, in which 

 I had intended to introduce her. I found her on 

 the bottom-board of the hive, surrounded by the 

 bees, and she soon entered the hive. 



Is that a mechanical act, like that of lightning 

 descending on the metal rod ? And can Mr. 

 Adair deny that there is in it: 1. An act of 

 remembrance, that prompted the queen to return 

 to her former abode ? 2. An act of reflection, 

 since having not found the nucleus in its place 

 the queen returned to the hive ? 3. As a conse- 

 quence of the others, an act of reasoning on the 

 part of this queen ? 

 Bees cannot be educated. 



Undoubtedly they cannot be taught to read or 

 write ; to know good from evil ; but we can, in a 

 certain measure, in accordance with their intel- 

 lectual capacity, increase or diminish their pro- 

 pensities for such or such a thing. For instance, 

 we can modify or augment their anger and robbing 

 propensities, etc. 



If, in the spring, you open a hive frequently, 

 employing the greatest care in handling the bees, 

 so as not to excite them, you will notice that this 

 hive becomes more tractable every day ; the 

 young bees becoming accustomed to being visited 

 and handled. If, on the contrary, you act roughly 

 with them, they become crosser all the time. 

 This fact is recognized by all bee-keepers. 



Several years ago, I had an Italian colony, 

 whose bees became inveterate robbers. I had 

 brought to my apiary about forty colonies, in 

 boxes or gums, that were old and cracked on every 

 side. It took a constant overseeing to prevent 

 and stop robbing. One day, as I had brought 

 home ten colonies and had left for another load, 

 this Italian colony. No. 18, began to rob in a 

 furious manner. I stopped them on my return, 



