156 



THE AMERICAN BEE j6URNAL. 



Do not our readers agree that we are 

 excusable in feeling much hesitancy in 

 .accepting Adair's reasoning? see page 129 

 Bee Breathing ; and shall we clip Queens 

 Wings"? page 137. The former seemed to 

 us to be only the reviving of an exploded 

 theory so palpably erroneous as to| require 

 no other notice than to simply call it 

 "folly". Prof. Cook has our sincere 

 thanks for coming forward at a most op- 

 portune moment, and giving such support 

 to our position, as could only be furnished 

 by a skilled Entymologist. With pleasure 

 we accept scientist's apology, and also 

 thank him for his kind reproof. 



Bees as Architects and Mathema- 

 ticians, 



Man is obliged to use all sorts of engines 

 for measurement — angles, rules, plumb-lines 

 —to produce his buildings and to guide his 

 liand ; the bee executes his work immediate- 

 ly from her mind, v/ithout instruments or 

 tools of any kind. "She has successfully 

 solved a problem in higher mathematics, 

 which the discovery of the differential cal- 

 culus, a century and a half ago, does not 

 enable us to solve withuut the greatest 

 difficulty." The inclination of the planes 

 of the cell is always just so that, if the sur- 

 faces on which she works are unequal, still 

 the axis running through it is in the true 

 direction, and the junction of the two axes 

 forms the angle of 6U degrees as accuratel}^ 

 us if there was none. 



The manner in which she adapts her work 

 to the requirements of the moment and 

 place is marvelous. In order to test their 

 ingenuity, Huber glazed the interior of a 

 hive, with the exception of certain bits of 

 wood fastened on the sides. The bees can- 

 not make their work adhere to 'glass, and 

 they began to build horizontally from side 

 to side ; he interposed other plates of glass 

 in difterent directions, and they curved their 

 combs in the strangest shapes, in order to 

 make them reach their wooden supports. 

 He says this proceeding denotes more than 

 an instinct, as glass was not a substance 

 against which bees could be warned by 

 nature, and that they changed the direction 

 of the work before reaching the glass, at 

 the distance precisely suitable for making 

 the necessary turns, enlarging the cells on 

 the outer side greatly, and on the inner side 

 diminishing tliein proportionately. As the 

 different insects were working on the differ- 

 ent sides, there must have been some means 

 of communicating tlie proportion to be ob- 

 served ; while the bottom being common to 

 both sets of cells, the difficulty of thus 

 regularly varying their dimensions must 

 have been great indeed. — Scientific Ameri- 

 can. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Bee Disease. \ 



For three years past I have remained 

 somewhat silent in regard to the calamity 

 among bees termed. Dysentery, learning 

 what I could from the bee journals and 

 other sources; so many conflicting opinions 

 have been expressed that I should even 

 now be left in the dark as to the cause, 

 were it not for the dear-bought experience 

 I have had during these three years. I 

 will give a few facts and let others judge 

 for themselves. 



In the spring of 1871 I took a quantity 

 of bees to work on shares, the latter par; 

 of the season was very drj' and no breed- 

 ing of consequence was done. In the fali 

 the man that owned the bees took his 

 away. He sold some 20 swarms that I did 

 not learn the fate of ; about 60 that he 

 retained were put in a cellar in the bank. 

 All but two or three swarms came through 

 in good condition. I bad 110 swarms 

 which I packed by the side of a tight board 

 fence with straw betwixt, behind and 

 above. Some 20 of the number were put 

 into a cold cellar. All had the so-called 

 Dysentery, and I lost 80 swarms before 

 May. In the season of 1872 I increased up 

 to 83 swarms, packed again as before in 

 winter, not being satisfied but that was the 

 best way yet to winter out of doors. In 

 the spring of 1873, May 1st, I had lost 76 

 swarms, leaving 7, and 2 of which could 

 be said to be in good condition ; the other 

 5 seemed to be demoralised, killing and 

 superseding their queens. All had the 

 dysentery but the two swarms above men- 

 tioned, they were very strong. The. 

 swarms were a part of 14 left on their 

 summer stand in the Badger State hive to 

 test the quality of the hive for wintering. 

 My neighbors again wintered his well in 

 the cellar. 



Not being entirely discouraged with my 

 losses, I went at it again with a will. 1 

 bought some bees and Avorked some on 

 shares, so that in the fall I had some 4-') 

 swarms. 



Not daring to venture another Poland win- 

 ter, I concluded to build a bee-house to put 

 the pets in ; I built it double-walled of 

 wood, 8 inches between filled with saw- 

 dust, and the outside veneered with brick, 

 nuvde double doors and ventilated with my 

 bees in, the thermometer indicating fronv 

 35 to 40 degrees above zero. I think it 

 would have been better if I had seen it up. 

 to 50 as some of the very small swarms 

 had the dysentery while all the strong ones 

 did well, bred up and came out strong thi.-; 

 spring ; some of the stocks that I worked 

 on shares the owner took away the last of 

 November. I ad\ iscd him to put them in 

 a warm tilace but he had more contldeuce 



