364 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



or magazines, be given to the general 

 public. 



No successful beekeeper ever 

 learned how to keep bees in a single 

 day, or even a season. Neither did 

 he learn without many hours of study. 

 His text books may have been the bee 

 magazines and his laboratory the bee- 

 yard. Perhaps a neighbor beekeeper 

 was his teacher. At best his educa- 

 tion came slowly and oftentimes hard. 

 Many a lesson was learned through 

 some serious loss. By actual experi- 

 ence we learn what is best and some- 

 times what not to do. 



Unconsciously the beekeeper be- 

 comes educated to a small degree in 

 the sciences which form the funda- 

 mental basis of bee behavior and suc- 

 cessful beekeeping. But without a 

 separate study of these sciences many 

 circumstances which happen in the 

 work with bees and in the treatment 

 of wax and honey cannot be clear to 

 us. 



It is not necessary that the bee- 

 keeper go to school to learn these 

 things, for he may read and under- 

 stand for himself. Also he may learn 

 as much as is necessary by attending 

 the meetings provided by our national 

 and State extension workers. 



Our extension men may sometimes 

 be wrong in their teachings, but the 

 good they do more than balances the 

 bad. It is, therefore, urgent that 

 every phase of the beekeeping indus- 

 try, both State and National, receive 

 the active support of each individual 

 beekeeper. 



It is also necessary that eveiy large 

 beekeeper, in so far as possible, fa- 

 miliarize himself with the fundamen- 

 tal sciences of beekeeping. 



Animal Behavior 



It is known that every kind of ani- 

 mal is directly influenced by the con- 

 ditions which surround it. Food, light, 

 heat, climate, and other things con- 

 trol the development. So the individ- 

 ual bee and the entire colony are in- 

 fluenced by these forces. Each indi- 

 vidual bee lives for itself, but in its 

 daily life it works for the colony and 

 those things, which happen to influ- 

 ence one, influence all more or less 

 alike when they receive the same 

 stimulus. 



The study of animal behavior in 

 this case is a study of bee behavior. 

 We learn that bees will behave in a 

 certain way when certain conditions 

 exist. For example, the bees cluster 

 when the temperature falls, or, when 

 the queen is removed or lost, queen 

 cells will be started if young brood is 

 present. Practically all of our ma- 

 nipulations of the colony then are 

 based on bee behavior. 

 Physics 



The relation of Physical Science to 

 bees is clearly evident in the effect of 

 heat, cold, light and other things on 

 the behavior of bees. It is truly re- 

 markable how bees respond to 

 changes in temperature and in a les- 

 ser degree to light. 



If the temperature goes below 60 

 degrees F. the bees form a cluster. 

 If it goes above 70 degrees F. they 

 engage freely in flight. Above 90 de- 

 grees F. brood rearing begins. 



Bees fly more freely on sunshiny 

 days than on cloudy days. 



A light in the bee cellar draws the 

 bees out and frequently many bees 

 come out and are lost bi-causc of a 

 single ray of light entering through 

 the cellar wall. The property of 

 honey to absorb moisture is also a 

 physical problem. 



Chemistry 



The science of chemistry is very 

 important, both in the food of bees 

 and in its effect on honey. Unripened 

 honey ferments and changes from 

 sugar to alcohol and finally to vine- 

 gar. When honey is heated a chem- 

 ical change occurs wherein the honey 

 changes in flavor and color. The bee 

 itself is a wonderful little chemical 

 factor in that it produces wax for its 

 combs, food for its young, a presei-va- 

 tive for the honey and the fluid of the 

 sting defense. 



Climatology 



Regardless of climate, bees remain 

 the same wherever we find them, but 

 climate influences beekeeping perhaps 

 more than any other single science. 

 It not only influences the life of the 

 bee, but materially affects its food 

 supply both as to quantity and qual- 

 ity. Bees depend upon nectar for 

 their food; the nectar comes from 

 plants, and plants are governed by 

 climate both as to kind and amount of 

 nectar secretion. 



Weather conditions, from day to 

 day, directly affect the manipulation 

 of the beekeeper and govern hie year- 

 ly program. In the North, weather 

 conditions quite largely form the 

 basis for the care of bees in fall, win- 

 ter and spring, while in the South 

 more depends upon the time and 

 amount of the honey flows. 

 Geology 



Perhaps unknown to himself, the 

 beekeeper, soon after acquiring his 

 bees, begins a study of geology, be- 

 cause the composition of the soil fre- 

 quently determines the kind of plant 

 and the amount and quality of nectar 

 to be secured. 



Topography 



Mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, etc., 

 or, as we call it, "the lay of the land," 

 has a direct effect on climatolcgy and 

 helps to create beekeeping localities 

 or regions. 



Botany 



This science deals with not only 

 the kind of plants but their structure 

 as well. The kind of plant and 

 amount of nectar secretion is directly 

 governed by climatology, but each 

 species, or variety of plant secretes 

 its individual flavor of nectar. The 

 beekeeper is interested in botany, be- 

 cause he learns that different plants 

 produce different kinds of honey and 

 he must know the names of the plants 

 in order to grade his honey. He also 

 gains a more or less accurate knowl- 

 edge of plants which do or do not se- 

 crete nectar and pollen. 



To help increase our knowledge, 

 the writer suggests that every practi- 

 cal beekeeper include in his bee li- 

 brary a popular text on each of these 

 subjects, and during his leisure time 

 read over those subjects which have 

 some bearing on beekeeping. 



Wisconsin. 



SWEET CLOVER 



By F. A. James 



Sweet clover is a wonderful honey 

 plant, especially when the weather 

 has been dry during the blooming 

 season, as has been the case this year. 



Although we have had scarcely any 

 rain during May and June, my bees 

 have averaged 100 pounds or more 

 of honey per colony. This I consider 

 good under average treatment. 



This, of course, is extracted honey. 

 I began to extract on June 1, and 

 wound up on July 4, and if weather 

 conditions continue favorable, I ex- 

 pect to be able to take at least 25 

 pounds more from each colony, and 

 still leave them ample supply to win- 

 ter well on. 



This clover continues over a long 

 blooming period. This year it began 

 to blossom about April 1, and now, 

 on July 6, we still have considerable 

 bloom for the bees to work on. 



I would certainly most strongly 

 recommend to beekeepers that they 

 encourage this honey plant, but more 

 especially the new white annual va- 

 riety. 



The biennial is equally as good a 

 honey plant, but the advantage must 

 rest with the annual over the bi- 

 ennial, in view of the fact that the 

 annual will return a beekeeper profit 

 from his labors in four months after 

 seeding. The biennial is, of course, 

 of no use to bees until it blossoms, 

 which, as we all know, is the second 

 year after seeding. 



Alabama. 



DRONE COMB 



By E. M. Cole 



The article on drone comb in the 

 July Journal, by F. Greiner, was in- 

 teresting to me, as I was on the look- 

 out for the same thing. I had been 

 too busy to get all my combs patched, 

 so had a pretty good supply of drone 

 comb in the supers. 



Remembei'ing Dr. Miller's lemark, 

 that one reason he used full sheets of 

 foundation in sections was to prevent 

 the bees building drone comb and 

 holding it open for the queen, I kept 

 close watch and found the bees held 

 drone comb open and perfectly di-y of 

 honey until sometimes nearly all the 

 balance of the comb was sealed. 



I noticed another thing which sur- 

 prised me: bees hold very dark 

 worker comb open seemingly to as 

 great an extent as they do drone 

 comb. 



We are taught that the queen pre- 

 fers dark combs over light ones in 

 which to deposit her eggs; but it 

 seems from this that the bees have a 

 say in the matter and by holding 

 comb open or filling it with honey in- 

 dicate to the queen where they want 

 the brood. I noticed that newly- 

 drawn combs usually had but a nar- 

 row half circle of brood when dark 

 combs on each side of it were nearly 

 solid with brood; probably new combs 

 often come into use gradually as the 

 bees get short of old comb and are 

 forced to use the new. 



Likely instinct guides the bees in 

 their choice of old comb for brood as 

 being less likely to melt down from 



