1388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



863 



Bees are in bad condition— dysenterj', 8j»ring' dwin- 

 dling, and swarming- out ; scarcely any rain. Drought 

 killed most of the white clover last year, and has 

 not got started again. We don't look for much of a 

 crop of honey. HaijI.ett & Son. 



Galena, 111., Apr. 7, 1888. 



Our ('liapman honey-plant has fared much 

 as yours during the past winter ; but the 

 freezing and thawing during the moutlis of 

 March and April have been with us very try- 

 ing to all plants wintered over. 



0ai^ 0WN ^Finw. 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



BEES ON THE WING. 



T WONDER how many of our readers 

 (dp know exactly the position of a bee's legs 

 ^t while he is on the wing. If there is any 

 -*■ class of people who have erroneous ideas 

 on this point, it is the average engraver. 

 Usually a bee in mid-air is pictured as hav- 

 ing both the anterior and middle legs pro- 

 jecting forward. (See outside cover of this 

 journal, and you will see what I mean.) If I 

 am correct, the legs are never in this posi- 

 tion while in the air, except just as their 

 owner is about to alight on a clover-head or 

 some other object. When he is flying, his 

 anterior and middle legs are folded com- 

 pactly under his thorax, while the posterior 

 — that is, the hind legs — sometimes hang 

 downward full length, but usually close to 

 the abdomen. There is a reason for this. 

 If a bee were flying with all six legs sprawled 

 in every direction, I fancy he would make 

 poor progress in consequence of the friction 

 from the air. The engraving above, repre- 

 senting a bee on the wing, at the right, is a 

 very accurate representation, so far as my 

 observation goes. It is necessarily accurate, 

 because photographed by the instantaneous 

 process. We have tried several times here, 

 at the Home of the Honey-Bees, to catch a 

 flying bee on the wing witli our instrument, 

 but never succeeded in getting a good focus. 



Our good friend Alfred Watkins, of Im- 

 perial Mills, Hereford, England, has gotten 

 outa series of magic-lantern slides, as well 

 as a series of micro-photographs. These 

 latter embrace views of the anatomical 

 structure of the honey-bee.* 



From the list of the former, I selected one 

 slide representing a bee sipping from a 

 clover-head, and one on the wing. This was 

 sent to our engravers, and the result I sub- 

 mit above. If you don't believe a bee holds 

 himself on the wing as shown on the right 

 of the pi(;ture, suppose you watcli a robber 

 (particularly a black bee) while he holds 

 himself poised aloft just before your nose, 

 at such a distance from your face as to make 

 it necessaiy for you, in order to get a view, 

 to look at him cross-eyed. If he be inclined 

 to sting, and seems to be selecting a good 

 tender spot, you Mill observe that the front 

 legs are uncoiled a little and extended for- 

 ward slightly, ready to catch hold. 



*For further particulars in regard to these slides, 

 see our editorial on page 955, 



On the left is a very good representation 

 of a bee on a head of clover. The camera 

 was pointed at him just as he had run his 

 proboscis down into one of the little cells, 

 had withdrawn it, and was next about to re- 

 insert it in another cell. I am very sorry 

 that we have not the three acts represented. 

 But friend Watkins is to be congratulated 

 on his success as it is. From what experi- 

 ence we have had, I could never get the bees 

 to adjust themselves just right, and I pre- 

 sume Mr. Watkins has had a similar ex- 

 perience. 



Now, as dandelions in our Northern local- 

 ity are just coming into bloom, our juvenile 

 friends will find it of some interest to watch 

 the bees as they alight on the yellow heads, 

 just before alighting on, and while on the 

 posy. 



I do not know that there is any practical 

 bearing in regard to the way in which bees 

 hold their legs while on the wing; but if we 

 are going to have pictures of them, let's have 

 them accurate. There are so many very 

 poor engravings of bees, it is a little refresh- 

 ing once in a while to find one that tells the 

 truth. 



Murray & Heiss, of Cleveland, have the 

 credit of reproducing the picture above. 



NO FOUL BROOD. 



Although we have had quite a spell of 

 protracted cool weather, which would ordi- 

 narily discourage l)rood-rearing, yet our 

 colonies have been raising brood to quite a 

 large extent. We have just been through the 

 bees to-day, Apr. 25, and no evidences of that 

 malady have been found. Young bees are 

 beginning to hntch, and our already strong 

 colonies are l)eing reinforced by the addi- 

 tion of young bees. No colonies have been 

 lost since my last report. 



THE CLAliK AND niNGHA.M SMOKERS. 



To-day one of the boys has been using the 

 Bingham and tlie other an improved Clark. 

 They both work most excellently. The 

 Bingham gives a little stronger smoke. The 

 Clark, on the other hand, works easier, sends 

 a blast to a greater distance, and the volume 

 is limply pungent for our purpose. We find, 

 als(K that the Clark is more economical of 

 fuel, iind conseciuently does not require so 

 frequent filling, 



