June 20, 1907 



American Hee Journal 



^^=^afV^^ 1 



eggs, and so their young — the prospec- 

 tive caterpillars — which they will never 

 sec, may have a comfortable larder. 



The queen-bee Hies out to mate. It 

 is well that she be not away long. The 

 drones have a marvelous development 

 of the olfactory sense, and so are able 

 to find the queen very quickly. We all 

 know how quickly the queen mates, 

 and how short the time after she goes 

 forth when she returns bearing the 

 signs of having met the drone. In the 

 case of bees, the drone has much the 

 best antennal development of all the 

 bees, though the workers are not poor 

 in this peculiarity. 



Now I think we know how the bees 

 find the nectar. The nectar has a very 

 attractive perfume. We have smelt it 

 here about the splendid orange or- 

 chards which have made all outdoors 

 deliciously fragrant the past few weeks. 

 The worker-bees perceive this odor, 

 and so hie themselves to the fields that 

 they may gather the tiny nectar-drop 

 which they transform to honey. 



Our answer then to B. is, that bees 

 are guided to the harvest by odor 

 mainly, and find some aid doubtless by 

 %ight. It is probable that sense of 

 direction is no small aid to them in re- 

 turning to their homes after procuring 

 their load of nectar. 



A word as to the structure of this 

 smelling apparatus ! It consists of 

 very numerous microscopic pits, each 

 with a peg at its bottom. Both pit and 

 peg are surfaced with a delicate mem- 

 brane. The more sensitive the sense 

 of smell the more of these pits and 

 pegs. Of course, it is necessary that 

 the antenna: should be kept clean. 

 Bees will, of necessity, get the an- 

 tennas dusted with pollen. Ants and 

 wasps will get the dust of the earth on 

 their organs of smell. The antenna- 

 cleaners on the front legs of all hymen- 

 opterous insects are admirably adapt- 

 ed for this purpose. I know of noth- 

 ing neater or more admirable in the 

 whole round of animal anatomy than 

 these antennae - cleaners. At some 

 future time I will explain how they 

 work. 



Color of Pollkn. 



While most pollen is yellow, yet it is 

 interesting to note the variety of col- 

 ors that we see by watching the bees. 

 We see yellow, orange, brown, black, 

 white, red, green, and even blue. 



Claremont, Calif., May 10. 



The Pearl Agnes Bee-Hive 



BY PROr. EDWARD F. BIGELOW. 



Tile Pearl Agnes hive was designed 

 by me iu 1905 and placed on the mar- 

 ket. 



The body of the hive has five frames 

 with a total comb capacity of five- 

 sixths of two full-sized Hoffman 

 frames — that is, each is exactly one- 

 third that of a full frame (16% X8 

 inches interior). The frame itself has 

 somewhat the appearance of a large 

 section 5%X8 inches. It is supplied 

 with full comb foundation, or with a 

 starter across the end as may be de- 

 sired. The length (8 inches) of these 

 small sections is the same as the depth 

 of the interior of a Hoffman frame, and 

 the depth (5% inches) is one-third the 



h'ngtii of the iloffman, so that three 

 may bo fitted into the length of a Hoff- 

 man, if placed side by side and on end. 

 The super is fitted with sections 2'/j 

 iiii-lies deep by 2 inches wide — that is, 

 one-fourth the size of the Danzenbaker 

 4X.') section, and hence it may be used, 

 if desired, in the regular Danzenbaker 

 super as "toy" or "samiilc" sections 

 (Fig. 2). These little sections, when 

 filled either in llie Pearl Agnes hive or 

 the regular full sized super, are con- 

 venient, dainty, attractive, and, to the 

 young folks, "just too cunning ifor any- 

 thing." They may be used as sale sam- 

 ples, or novelties 'for the table, or as 

 gifts to friends and to visitors at the 

 apiary. The femes of the super are in 

 the same form, but of smaller size than 

 llio regular feiu-es. The cover is shaped 

 like a gable and roof, so that, together 

 with the fanciful painting of the three 

 parts in three different colors, the whole 

 has the appearance of a doll's play- 

 house (Fig. 1). This effect is further 

 enhanced by the feeding-bottle (with 

 perforated cap) which extends down 

 through the roof, and is of the proper 



length to project far enough to have as- 

 pect of a chimney (Fig. 1). The in- 

 ventor is in such hearty sympathy with 

 Old Saint Nicholas, and a magazine of 

 that name so full of good things for 

 the young folks, that it seems eminently 

 fitting that the honey-bees should get 

 their presents of sweetness — a la Saint 

 Nick — down the chimney! 



The house-like appearance is further 

 increased by a neat label on the gable 

 end, in the place usually occupied by 

 the attic window. 



The door is a swinging wire screen, 

 so that the entrance may be easily 

 closed when the hive is to be carried 

 from place to place for observation or 

 experiment, and when the professional 

 bee-keeper desires to take it to an out- 

 door apiary as an enlarged nucleus for 

 breeding purposes. 



In the invention of this hive I have 

 had. in mind several purposes. 



1. To supply the educator with an in- 

 expensive, attractive miniature hive, all 

 complete with eomb and colony by the 

 manufacturers or by a large apiary. For 

 demonstration in the yard it prevents 

 the disturbance of a full-sized working 

 colony. For the schoolroom it can be 



easily carried, taken apart, and put to- 

 gether, and yet it shows in miaiaturo 

 everything that could be filiown by a 

 large hive, which it would be difficult 

 or impossible to take into the school- 

 loom. 



2. For the young folks a hive that 

 will give them a start in the fascinat- 

 ing work of bee-keeping and observa- 

 tion, at a minimum of cost. To the 

 large apiarist it is what the flower-bed 

 or school garden is to general horti- 

 culture or to agriculture. It is a sam- 

 ple. It shows the thing and gives the 

 simple scale. In floriculture or in vege- 

 table gardening the child enjoys the 

 small bod more than he would do if 

 obliged to cultivate an acre, or even a 

 market wagon full of lettuce or rad- 

 ishes or popcorn. But before the com- 

 ing of the Pearl Agnes hive there was 

 nothing for the interested boy in which 

 to keep a colony, except the regular 

 hive used by the large apiary, which 

 often contains a thousand colonies. This 

 hive is, then, for the young folks a play 

 apiary, as well as a means of nature 

 study. 



3. For the commercial apiarist this 

 Pearl Agnes hive is better in some re- 

 spects than the usual "baby nucleus" 

 for mating, because "the nucleus" is 

 too small for that purpose, except with 

 close and continued attention. It is a 

 hive to be kept especially for exhibi- 

 tion to visiting friends. This is better 

 and easier than to disturb one of the 

 regular colonies by taking it out. It 

 may also become a source of income 

 if it be purchased empty from the man- 

 ufacturers, and filled with a complete 

 colony and supplied to nearby teachers. 

 As previously explained, the supplying 

 of the hive thus filled would be equiva- 

 lent, in number of bees and quantity of 

 comb, to five-sixths of a two-frame 

 nucleus. Simply put six of these sec- 

 tion frames into two full frames, and 

 fill the Pearl Agnes hive with five of 

 these frames. But, better than all this, 

 perhaps, to the professional apiarist, it 

 solves the problem of plenty of queens 

 in early spring, when queens are not 

 only the most valuable but the rarest. 

 Queens are most easily obtained in the 

 latter part of summer or in early au- 

 tumn. They are most needed in the 

 spring. A ten-frame hive fitted with 

 thirty of these large sections may be 

 divided into six Pearl Agnes hives, and 

 thus five extra queens for that one hive 

 carried through the winter. In early 

 spring all the thirty frames may be put 

 back into the ten-frame hive, and there 

 will then be five extra queens to be 

 used when queens are queens. 



The first Pearl Agnes hive was rough- 

 ly made up jji i9uS from my drawings 

 and specifications, and was placed in 

 the hands of my esteemed friend and 

 honored fellow-townsman Mr. L. C. 

 Eoot, who is well known as the author 

 of "Practical Bee-Keeping," and an 

 apiarist with an experience of almost 

 half a century conducting apiaries of 

 the largest size, and he is still an en- 

 thusiast with many colonies. He re- 

 ports at the present writing (last week 

 in March 1906) the bees have wintered 

 astonishingly well (indoors) in this 

 Pearl Agnes hive. I am indebted to him 

 for the suggestion in regard to the pos- 



