THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



179 



For the American Bee Journal- 



My Experience with Feediiiar. 



Tlie printer made a mistake in my let- 

 ter on page 78, March No. Inline 17 they 

 have ''foul center combs," instead of 

 "four center combs"; there was nothing 

 foul about them, they were nearly as 

 bright as when built. If you will look 

 over my article on page 94, April No., 

 you will find that Mr. Sargent's bees have 

 been in three weeks instead of two, as 

 staled in your remarks ; and the shortness 

 of the time that C. E. S. had had his bees 

 in when he asked for the instructions, is 

 the very reason why he should have been 

 told to put them ou their old stands. Mr. 

 Elwood.is certainly mistaken in his state- 

 ments at the North-eastern Bee-Keepers' 

 meeting, abodt bees not using propolis till 

 late in the season (in this section at least). 

 I had ten late swarms hived in old box 

 hives last fall, with two one inch holes in 

 top of each, according to Quinby, before 

 he took to frame hives, and about the first 

 of April I found several of them were 

 getting quite light, and thought I would 

 try A. I. Root's crushed sugar plan of 

 feeding ; so I made boxes of plastering 

 lath suitable to cover one row of the 

 holes, and gave each hive two ounces of 

 sugar, la3nng it over the holes and on the 

 spaces between them, and covering the 

 whole with the box ; four days after I 

 examined them and found that seven of 

 the hives had cleaned up all the sugar; 

 two had a little left, (which were the 

 heaviest of the lot), and the other had not 

 eaten any that I could discover, and this 

 was the one spoken of on page 78. I 

 suppose they killed their drone-laying 

 queen about the time they did the drones, as 

 thej' quit carrying meal about that time, 

 and I have found that queenless stocks 

 will not carry meal. I had seven of them 

 in April, none of which carried a bit of 

 meal. But to return to the sugar, I filled 

 up all the boxes again, and the seven 

 cleaned theirs out as before, the other two 

 eating but little. I filled the seven boxes 

 every few days, till the fruit trees began 

 to blossom, and they quit eating, and I 

 did not look at them till May 1st, which 

 promised to be a very cold and disagree- 

 able day. I found the boxes all glued 

 fast to the top of the hives, and the 

 sugar all gone, except the two heavy ones, 

 and they had ghied up every crack 

 around the sugar that that lay over the 

 holes, so that I think they had them air- 

 tight. I filled up the boxes again, and 

 they have eaten it all out and are ready 

 for more. I think they have bred up very 

 fast, as they seem to be getting very 

 strong, some of them having their combs 



entirely covered when the hive is raised. 

 I succeeeed in wintering two young 

 queens in one of N. C. Mitchell's "rough 

 and ready hives," that I had used for 

 rearing queen.s through the summer. 

 They are made with frames fitting tight at 

 sides, and a sliding board at each end, 

 which (after the bees have sealed the 

 joints between the frames) makes them 

 double walled all around. There are nine 

 frames, 12x12 inches, and can be eleven, 

 by taking out the loose end boards. I 

 tacked a piece of wire cloth to one side of 

 a frame (about half full of capped honey) 

 so that it fitted tight on the bottom board, 

 for a partition between the two queens; 

 gave each three cards of comb and plenty 

 of bees; put the false ends up to the 

 combs, and covered the frame with several 

 thickness of carpet, and filled the ends 

 with the same material. They were left 

 on their summer stands. When I opened 

 them in April, they had eggs and brood 

 in all stages. I doubled two queenless 

 colonies for each queen, then added them 

 and these bees, and they are doing well. 

 The last week has been quite cold, with a 

 good deal of rain. C. T. Smith. 



Clinton Co., 111., May 9, 1876. 



■ I ■ 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Can Bees Hear 2 



In your last issue, J. D. Kruschke says 

 a good many things that are true in his 

 article headed "Can Bees Hear?" I am 

 not prepared at present to say whether 

 bees can hear or not, am waiting for 

 further light upon the subject. We all 

 know that most bee-keepers in this coun- 

 try have discarded the use of bells, horns 

 and tinware, from the fact that swarms 

 will settle, as a rule, of their own accord, 

 when not disturbed ; but whether they will 

 alight sooner by making a noise, is more 

 than I can say, for I never tried it. 



We all know that a great many animals 

 can be taught sound for various pui'poses, 

 but I have never heard of insects being 

 controlled by the same means, except by 

 the man that whistled his bees down. This 

 was taken as a good joke at the time, and 

 created a good deal of merriment. J. D. 

 Kruschke, however, is satisfied that bees 

 can hear, but the inference he draws from 

 his experiments is not quite satisfactory 

 to me, at least. The sense of feeling or 

 touch is very acute in the bee. Now I 

 would ask if it is possible to hold a frame 

 of bees up before you as if for inspection 

 and give "a rather loud shout," without 

 jarring the bees? Let any person take 

 hold of your hands, hold them up, let 

 them shout, j'ou note the result. Again, 

 suppose no jar was felt by the bees from 

 the body of the person holding the frame, 

 will not the shout produce a concussion 

 of the air sufficient to produce the elfect 

 described, as much, or nearly so, as if it 



