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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



dive iiito the cells. When disturbed some of the 

 toecs n-iiike quick, sharp sounds which I can hear by 

 pressing my ear to the side of the hive. On warm 

 days this is kept up all day, and on cold ones for a 

 few minutes only. They also make this sound 

 while at work on a feeder. Will the slight jarring- 

 that will sometimes be made cause them to waste- 

 fully eat honey? and are they any more liable to 

 do so in winter than in summer? Are hybrids any 

 more apt to do It than Italians? 



CHARmE L. Gbeenfield, age 14. 

 Somerville, Ohio, Jan. 2, 1886. 



Friend Charlie, you have given ns some 

 most valuable facts. You have also called 

 attention to the other strange phenomenon 

 connected with bees. We have placed to 

 your credit on our ledger one dollar, and we 

 hope you will be able to give us more such 

 items from actual experience. Your letter 

 plainly indicates that you have been among 

 the bees, and that you are a thinking boy. 

 In regard to the bees starting out for the 

 buckwheat when you fed them, I have no- 

 ticed the same thing. They had doubtless 

 been at work on tlie buckwheat in the fore 

 part of the day ; and as they had scoured 

 the country in the afternoon, they knew 

 pretty well that the buckwheat was the only 

 source of honey ; so when their comrades 

 came in laden from tlie feeders, they con- 

 cluded, according to the best bee-sense they 

 possessed, that the buckwheat must have 

 taken a sudden freak of yielding honey at 

 dusk instead of dawn, so off they put for the 

 buckwheat Held. You see, they jumped at 

 conclusions just as boys and girls do some- 

 times. In the ABC book I have mentioned 

 feeding a colony one evening that had been 

 getting honey during the day time out of the 

 honey - house, because sornebody had left 

 the door open. Well, as soon as a few bees 

 got loaded up from my feeder, and walked 

 leisurely into the hive, a regular stampede 

 occurred. The bees just poured out of that 

 hive, flew in my face, and buzzed past me 

 and put for that honey-liouse door. They 

 thought somebody had left the door open 

 again ; at least they could not think of any 

 other place from which their comrades had 

 obtained such loads in so short a time. 

 Now, there is a valuable point indicated 

 here. Bees understand each other a great 

 deal as we do, only they do not have a lan- 

 guage as we do. Had their comrades been 

 able to tell them, " Hurrah, boys! the boss 

 has just put a saucerful of feed right on the 

 alighting - board for us,"' the bees in the 

 hive would have tumbled pell-mell to see 

 who would get to the saucer lirst. But you 

 see they did not tell them any thing. They 

 only came in with great loads, and made 

 haste to dump it into the cells. Perhaps 

 they buzzed their wings and wiggled their 

 bodies as they do when the honey hrst comes 

 from the dandelions and apple-bloom..— A 

 great many times the best thing to do with a 

 hive that has been almost used up by rob- 

 bers is to carry it a couple of miles away. 



What you saw in front of that swarni was 

 what the bee-books have termed the "ad- 

 vance guard " that leads the swarm to the 

 particular tree selected by this same scout- 

 ing party.— Bees will consume honey waste- 

 fully, I think, when they are stirred' up dur- 



ing a dearth of honey, or when the weather 

 is too cold. They are more liable to do it in 

 winter; and cross hybrids, or cross bees of 

 any race, are more liable to do it than pure 

 Italians or gentle bees. 



HOW OLIVER FOSTER PUTS UP AND 

 SHIPS HIS BEES. 



THE CALITHUMPIAN BEES. 



fACK a few numbers of Gleanings you said 

 that you would like to have a report of the 

 way in which Mv. Oliver Foster puts up his 

 bees to make such successful shipments. 

 Pa got I'l lbs. of bees, a comb of brood, and a 

 tested queen from Mr. Foster last May. They were 

 in a light ease 4 inches wide, and deep and long 

 enough to hold a Simplicity frame, a wire nail 

 driven down through the ends of the frame and 

 into the case, the nail sticking up just far enough 

 to get the claws of the hammer under to pull it out 

 easily; then a piece of old tough brood comb was 

 wedged between the comb and case to hold all 

 steady; a wire cloth was tacked over the top, two 

 screws in each side of case, and wire fastened to 

 them, and passing o\ er the top for a handle. 



They came through (800 miles) in splendid condi- 

 tion. They were thi-ee days and four nights in the 

 case. We took them out of the case and got 

 them in the hive in short order, and in a few min- 

 utes they were cari-ying in pollen from fruit-bloom 

 for all they were worth. Pa said they just took 

 the oath of allegiance, and went right to work like 

 good and loyal subjects of "Her Majesty." 



I have something funny to tell you about No. 16, 



the hive with the Foster queen. Bennie A ■, a 



boy 14 yeai-s old, who had never seen Italians, was 

 standing in front of the hive watching the bees, 

 when he asked, "Are these Calithumpian bees ?" 

 You see he could not think of "Italians," so he 

 did the best he could. Such a laugh as we all had, 

 and pa laughed until he almost cried. Of course, 

 you know what we call Calithumpian. Those fel- 

 lows who parade in the processions on the 24th of 

 May and other holidays, dressed in ridiculous cos- 

 tumes and masks. We have dubbed that hive the 

 Calithumpian, ever since. It is too bad, too, to give 

 them such af unny name, for they have done wellhis 

 summer, and pa says that is one of the best queens 

 he has. Our bees are nearly all in sawdust hives, 

 with sawdust cushions in the section-case on top. - 



I have a brother, Koy, 8 years old, and a sister. 

 Ruby, .') years. We are all interested in the bees. 

 Isn't it a funny little fellow, who knows every 

 thing just as soon as he is born, as a bee does? 



Now, Mr. Root, I have trie(l to write this just as 

 the printers want it, on one side of the paper, and 

 all that. You see my pa writes for the county pa- 

 per. If you think it would do for Gleanings, I 

 will write and tell how we made an aquarium, with 

 a pretty fountain in the middle, for our dining- 

 room. Sperry Dunn. , 



Ridgeway, Ont., Can. 



Very good, Sperry; but we wanted to 

 know liow Mr. Foster puts up bees without 

 any brood or combs. The package you got 

 was a one-frame nucleus, which is all right, 

 but it takes a comb of brood and honey out 

 of the hives every time he sells a pound of 

 bees. 



