232 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



(£^oxvzsponiltnu. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Queens' Friends and Foes. 



i have practiced introducing queens by 

 merely waiting till queen cells were started, 

 and then placing the queen on the comb 

 amongst tlie bees, without using any pre- 

 cautionary measures whatever, and have 

 never failed when honey was yielding, but 

 have often noticed that in front of such a 

 hive shortly afterward, a number of dead 

 bees would "be found on the ground. For a 

 long time it puzzled me to know what this 

 meant, but I finally came to the conclusion 

 that the bees had a battle amongst them- 

 selves, one party attacking the newly intro- 

 duced queen, and the other party defending 

 her, and that the dead bees in front of the 

 hives were slain in such battles. 



About the middle of last July in extract- 

 ing the honey from a two-story hive, I 

 found the queen in the upper story with 

 brood scattered through both stories. In 

 order to be sure to put the queen where 

 I wanted her to be, after I was through 

 overhauling both stories, I put her in a 

 tumbler turned upside down over a sauce 

 dish. After finishing my work with the 

 hive, 1 placed the queen on top of the 

 frames and she was immediately attacked. 

 1 took out the ball of bees which enclosed 

 her, and as 1 did so a small cluster dropped 

 off the main ball, and this small cluster re- 

 mained clinched evidently battling one 

 another. I then dropped the ball contain- 

 ing the queen in a tumbler of water, but in- 

 stead of separating they remained in a firm 

 ball. After they had become motionless 

 from drowning, I took them out and easily 

 separated the queen, which I placed on top 

 of a hive cover in the shade, to dry off: and 

 revive. On the top of the frames where I 

 had placed the queen I found two bees 

 which had just been killed at the spot 

 where the queen was. I then closed up the 

 hive and looking at the tumbler and sauce 

 dish which had contained the queen, I 

 noticed that the dish was soiled by bees 

 which had been previously in it, (for I had 

 been using it all day to hold different 

 queens) and undoubtedly the strange and 

 unpleasant odor given to the queen, by 

 being in the soiled dish was the cause of 

 the bees attacking her. After the queen 

 had revived, I daubed her with honey and 

 placed her on the porch, where she was 

 caressed by the bees which first met her. 

 and very soon quite a crowd collected about 

 her. Gradually the appearance of the bees 

 assumed that doubtful aspect, in which you 

 scarcely know whether they are foes or 

 friends to the queen Very soon the queen 

 was enveloped by a large mass of bees. She 

 was a choice queen and I was very anxious 

 for her safety, out it was growing late in the 

 evening and" I was to leave the next morn- 

 ing, so I decided to let the bees take their 

 own course. I visited the hive the last 

 thing before going to bed, but found no 

 change in the situation. I put a quilt in 

 front of the hive so that 1 might find the 

 dead (lueen thereon if she was killed. I 

 went to the hive the first thing in the morn- 

 ing and found the cluster shifted from the 

 porch to the side of the hive, smaller in 



size and less compact. Whilst I was watch- 

 ing them, the queen emerged from the 

 cluster, and quietly walked into the hive. 

 On the quilt were the slain bodies of some 

 thirty workers. On visiting them two 

 weeks later I found the queen doing faith- 

 ful duty, as if nothing had happened. 



Very clearly here were two different 

 parties; and I do not remember ever to 

 nave seen this matter mentioned by any 

 one except Mr. Chas. Dadant. Can the 

 knowledge be turned to any practical ac- 

 count? B. LUNDERKR. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bees Stinging to Death. 



While the Prussian army at Sadowa was 

 fighting the Austrian forces, one of their 

 batteries took position in a walled garden. 

 In this garden, behind the guns, were a few 

 stands of bees. The walls of the garden 

 had been bored to make battlements, so that 

 the gunners protected against the fire of the 

 enemy could point their guns from behind 

 the shelter of the high stone walls. Sud- 

 denly a bombshell fell in the garden, not far 

 from the bees and bursting struck the hives. 

 The bees became angry and rushed on the 

 gunners and horses. Men and horses were 

 literally covered with stinging bees. The 

 guns were deserted and in spite of the haste 

 of the retreat, several horses were killed, 

 two men could not recover, and many 

 others were several weeks before regaining 

 their health. 



The Franco-Prussian war had also a few 

 episodes in which bees have played their 

 part. At the battle of Beaumont, in the vil- 

 lage of Warniforet, a farmer had about 60 

 bee hives. When the Prussians invaded 

 the village, some soldiers, elated by their 

 success, had the unhappy idea of feasting 

 with honey. They had routed the proud 

 French army, could a few small insects 

 resist their attacks? With their sabres 

 they loosened hastily the caps of most of 

 the hives to rob their contents. The bees 

 astonished at such an affront remained 

 quiet a few instants, then rushing en masse 

 they made a vigorous attack on their assail- 

 ants. Four Prussian soldiers were killed 

 instantly, four more did not recover, and 

 several others remained for months in the 

 ambulance before being able to resume ser- 

 vice again. 



Dr. Schweinfurt, in relation of liis expe- 

 dition across Central Africa, narrates that, 

 while he was ascending Bahr-el-Abiad— 

 one of the forks of the upper Nile— the 

 wind being contrary his boat could not use 

 its sails. Some men were sent on shore to 

 tow it with a rope. This rope while drag- 

 ged on the ground hit and disturbed a bee 

 hive. The revenge of these insects was not 

 long delayed. A full swarm fell on the 

 towers, w"ho hastened to jump into the 

 river to repair to the boat by swimming. 

 The bees followed them to the l)oat and in 

 their fury attacked all the crew, even tlie 

 botanist who was in his cabin quietly occu- 

 pied in fixing plants in his herbarium. 

 There was a general rush out. The Doctor 

 himself jumped into the river to escape the 

 fury of the insects. Little by little the 

 bees returned to their hive and quietness 

 was restored. When tiie battle was over it 

 was found that two men luul been stung to 

 death, and there were as many wounded as 



