1 8<.f,' 



(;i-KAN'IN(;s IN HKK C'lTl/rHUK. 



i:n 



a\v;i\ Ikti' in Salt Lal<<' City. I sliduhi Im' su 

 romplcti'ly slccird into a hmu'o-room. 



That cviMiiiii: I iiui'snni my way atraiii toward 

 Califoniia. 



I Icai'iii'd fioiii Mf. Swancr. that, in I'tali. a 

 tiiodilii-alion of llic Aini'iicaii liivc is used. 

 I'lotiis art' used over ilif fr'amt's, ami iinicli care 

 has to he (>\('rfiscd in w inlciinii. 



I'tali is a prcat frnit-ronntry. and many aiii- 

 arios arc found in tin' oivliaids. Frnit tMiltnic 

 and lioiu'y iii'iMliu-tion liius ijo iiand in liand. as 

 iIm'v slioiiid. Ram}U,i:i;. 



ANTS. PLANTS. AND BEES. 



( 1 mors WAYS 1\ NATl'lM': S KfONoNn . 



The following, sent ns by Mr. 1*. 11. i!aldt>n- 

 sporgcr. our eorivspondcMit. in llic Holy Land, is 

 a translation niado by him ffom a German peri- 

 odical. It contains so many points of interest, 

 well authenticated, that we believe our readers 

 will be pleased and benefited by its perusal. 



It is a well-known fact, that plants offer to 

 bees, butterflies, and Mies, the delicate nectar. 

 In return, the insects unconsciously fertilize the 

 flowers by carrying the pollen from one loan- 

 other, liut very often the in.sects. forg(>tting 

 their duty, instead of creeping into the flowers 

 simi)ly cut open the flowei- outside the corolla, 

 where the ncctai' is deposited, thus carrying 

 away the sweet without touching ttie anthers, 

 and so omit the fertilization. TIk; bumble-bee 

 finds it a good deal easier to cut open the tube 

 of a red-clover blossom than to creep into the 

 bottom of the llower about -'h of an inch deep. 

 Darwin found alnu)st every liowei- of a kind of 

 heather. ErUtu tctnilix, cut open in tliis way, 

 and the hon^y carried off. But this way of 

 robbing, contrary to nature's design, is very 

 tiring too. as is repfuted l)y I'rof. Magnus, who 

 observed bees on the lion's -mouths {Antirrhi- 

 niiin iiKijix. L.) trying the experiment, but they 

 could not hold tlieir position long on account of 

 the evenness. They stopped only a few seconds 

 and had to fly further, while otherwise they 

 would stay a miniiU^ or two inside the flower, 

 and by degi'ees they found plenty inside, and 

 would again try to cut open the jdant. <2uite a 

 number of tropical plants have a special pre- 

 ventive system against such culprits. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Kurck. of the Botanical Garden in 

 Buitenzorg. .lava, many |)lants have ant-guards 

 against these robbers. Plants and ants an; on 

 friendly terms, as is known by divers kinds of 

 South American trees wiiich have numbers of 

 protecting ants at their disposal, and they are 

 fed liberally, and are ready to tight the leaf-cut- 

 ting ants. They do their business very thor- 

 oughly. According to Dr. Burck's observa- 

 tions, the ant -guard systfni is enlarged in a 

 very peculiar way. The entici'ment by which 

 these pli'uts gather the ant-guards around them 

 consi^is in the .secretion of hoiK-y outside the 

 fk)wer at the corolla, just at the point where 

 the danger is apparent: consequently there are 

 already some busy ants licking this seeretion. 

 The honey-glands, where this is secreted, ar(^ 

 called the outer nuptial nectaries, to distinguish 

 them from the inner ones, as they are not meant 

 for fertilization. As soon as a bee observes the 

 ant-guards on thr'outsid(! it enters the flower in 

 the natural way. Should it venture among the 

 ants, it would be immediately laid hold of by its 

 anteniue and legs, and it would be "done " with 

 her. Besides this, it is seen that flr)wers with- 

 out this guard, as the Fnujraui oxyphylki, of 

 xhe LogunUtcetr order. p<jssessing no extra-nup- 



tial nectaiies. luive li'.i pel- cent of injured How - 

 ci's. (lone by t he carpenter bee ( xylocopa ). An- 

 other kind. /''/•. rr<issifi)li(i, has a few nectaries, 

 on which .Mr. Burck found only 70 per cent in- 

 jured. Mill Fr. littonilis has more such n<'cta- 

 ries. and only 10 i)er cent injured. Dr. Burck 

 lemarked. moreo\-er. that a carixuiter l)ee which 

 had cut open :.'o or :«) blossoms of the Fr. fixji- 

 l>liylltt.;iud tried Fr. littinitlis in the same fash- 

 ion, had to give up at oiu-f^ and entei' the flower 

 on account of the ant -guards, though the thre(' 

 kinds of Fniijnvii resemble each other in shape, 

 size, and color. Several such plants even pro- 

 vide' their protectors with lodging, in shape of a 

 recurved ear-shaped booth. alTording shelter to 

 these ants. \'ery often they also furnish these 

 soldiers with ammunition — bread giowing out 

 at the flowers, having an albuminous and nu- 

 tritious substance. 



Thiiiiliiriiid iinnuUflord more liberally feeds 

 (|uite a nutnl)er of ants the year roiuid with 

 such aliments: con.sequently the carpenter bee 

 nc^ver approach(!S tiie outside of these flowers, 

 but is obliged to look out for its business, and 

 take the natural way. 



I'lt. .). Bai.dk.vsi'khkkk. 



.latTa. Svria. .Ian.. IS'.iri. 



MANAGEMENT OF BEES IN TEXAS. 



now I,, stachelhausex does it. 



On page SSCi of last year's Gi,eanin(}.s, Mr. A. 

 ('. Brown, of Smithtield, Texas, asks for infor- 

 mation how to double his 4.5 colonies; and the 

 answer of E. R. is just what we should expect 

 from a bee-keeper with experience in theNorth- 

 ern States. With my experience in bee-keeping 

 in Texas I would advise as follows: 



Keep your colonic^s in the one-story hive, and 

 let them swarm as they please. If you get 

 small after-swarms, put two or three of them 

 together in one hive. In a good year you will 

 get as much honey, or more, from the swarms 

 'J>i/7the parent colonies, than you would do if 

 the old colonies had not swarmed out at all. If 

 th(? s[)ring is not favorable your bees will not, 

 swarm much, and then it is better if you do not 

 increase at all. Do not divide or make artificial 

 swarms in any othei' way. To the new swarms 

 you give no comb foundation, but starters of 

 foundation about on(! inch wide. securely fasten- 

 ed to the comb-guides. Do not fuss with stim- 

 ulativf^ feeding, spreading brood, etc.: it does 

 not pay in Texas. Of course, you have to feed 

 your colonies, if they are short of stores and no 

 honey is coming in: fjut. so far as I know, the 

 bees will gat hei' i^ollen in the spring anywhere 

 in Texas. If the main honey-flow comm(!nces, 

 do not fail to give i)lenty of room to every colo- 

 ny in an upper story; and now I would recom- 

 mend full sheets of foundation in wired frames. 



I have to explain to other bi-e-keepers why I 

 recommend this way, so entirely difTei-ent from 

 the rules generally adopted in the Northern 

 Stales. K. R. says, very correctly, that it is not 

 the large number of colonies that brings the 

 Ijrofit. but the rousing heavy colonies; but it is 

 certain that two such strong colonies can do 

 more than a single one. In most localities in 

 Texas W(! have a moderate honey -flow fi'om 

 early spring till the end of May, and then com- 

 mences our main honey-flow fiom horsemint. 

 The bees swaiin ^^ix f)r eight weeks before the 

 horsemint is in bloom, so it is in good time foi- 

 the swarm as well as for the old colony to gi'ow 

 to a rousing big colony. .Just before swarming 

 time the hive is full of l)ees; and if swarming Is 

 previMited in any way, the number of bees In 

 this hive will increase very little if anv. So it 



