18^8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



625 



tor has produced to prove it wrong. The 

 readers are waiting for further proof, doctor. 



[One swallow does not make a summer, 

 neither do two or three of them. The experi- 

 ment friend Doolittle tried, of three colonies 

 with wide entrances that swarmed, would 

 hardly be a conclusive one in the face of the 

 fact that Mr. Vernon Burt, who operates some 

 3U0 colonies, and has used wide entrances off 

 and on for three years, and this year exclu- 

 sively, gives it as his opinion, that they are a 

 big success. Dr. Miller seems to be pretty 

 well satisfied of their value, and our tests this 

 season, not on two or three entrances, but on 

 a good many, have been f ivorable. But all 

 our bottom-boards are made reversible, sj 

 that, if the bee-keeper receiving them believes 

 as friend Doolittle does, he can use the shal- 

 low entrance side 



I do not know about bees going to the sides 

 of the hive, as Bro. Pettit claims they do. 

 Perhaps he is right, and perhaps he is wrong. 



Thtrre, I guess I had l^etter stop and let Dr. 

 Miller cover the other points in the triangular 

 lock-horn contest. It would not be fair for 

 me to take any more space. — Ed.] 



DO BEES HAVE COLOR SENSE? 

 That Straw quoted by Dr. Miller, and the 

 footnote by the editor, page 538, opens up a 

 very interesting subject. Are bees attracted 

 by color? Can they distinguish color ? Have 

 they any preference of color ? Some years 

 ago I was interested along this line of study, 

 and made some experiments to satisfy myself, 

 and am fully convinced that the above ques- 

 tions can be answered afiirmatively. My ex- 

 periments were not exactly original, but, 

 rather, copied and repeated with variations 

 from Sir John Lubbock, so fully and interest- 

 ingly described in his work, *' Ants, Bees, and 

 Wasps." He very clearly proves that bees 

 have the color sense clearly developed, and 

 that they have a decided preference for blue. 

 His experiments were conducted with great 

 care and patience, and are worthy the atten- 

 tion of any student. In his work on " Flow- 

 ers, Fruits, and Leaves," Sir John says bees 

 prefer a bright or vivid color to a dull one; 

 and bee-fertilized flowers are bright and sweet, 

 while fly-fertilized flowers are dull, and char- 

 acterized by evil odors. Fortunately for us 

 the great majority of flowers are bee flowers. 

 Chas. Darwin, in the " Descent of Man," par- 

 agraph 516, gives some very interesting ob- 

 servations. He says, quoting from H. Muller, 

 ' ' That bees have a keen perception of color is 

 certain," and then he continues to show the 

 important part color often plays in sexual se- 

 lection. These facts and observations may 

 not help us very much in increasing our honey 

 crop, but I think it is much better to know a 



few things that are so than to know a great 

 many that are not true, even though they ap- 

 pear ever so practical and money-making. I 

 refer to those you complain of in one of your 

 editorials — those new (?) Yankee inventions 

 that so amused Mr. Cowan. 



Notes and observations on color perception 

 of bees, from some ot our great bee-masters, 

 would no doubt be interesting to many read- 

 ers of Gleanings. L. W. Lighty. 



East Berlin, Pa. 



LARGE OR SMALL HIVES. 



Mr. Roof: — I should like to say a few words 

 on the large vs. small hive question. After 

 the experience I have had I siill believe that 

 those who advocate the use of ten frames in 

 preference to eight do so because they pursue 

 methods entirely different from what are gen- 

 erall}' pursued by producers of comb honey. 

 In fact, they are mostly extracted-honey men, 

 such as the Dadants and C. A. Hatch. With 

 my methods I am just as much in favor of the 

 eight-frame brood -chamber as ever ; and I 

 would assure the thousands who have adopted 

 them that they will not regret it. They need 

 only to learn how to use them properly. It 

 would not do to hive swarms on ten frames of 

 foundation or ten empty combs in working for 

 comb honey, without contracting the brood- 

 chamber. I want a hive that I can work with- 

 out contracting. The eight-frame size fills the 

 bill. The ten-frame would be all right if it 

 could be worked so as to avoid swarming ; but 

 can it be done ? A very good plaH to pursue, 

 if one wishes but few swarms, is to use two 

 eight-frame hive-bodies tiered up ; then, if 

 they swarm, hive on a single brood-chamber 

 and give sections. The same swarm, if hived 

 on ten frames, would not be ready soon enough 

 to catch a short honey-flow. 



So far as my experience goes it will not do 

 to contract a brood-chamber so that the super 

 containing the sections will extend over be- 

 yond the combs occupied by the bees ; there- 

 fore I want no contraction as advocated by W. 

 Z. Hutchinson. With me it would not work 

 unless the super were contracted to match. 



There is a great deal in getting used to cer- 

 tain methods. I have no doubt that the wide- 

 brood-chamber men are successful in their 

 way ; but I believe that E. R. Root, Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, and others are getting hold of the 

 method of using the eight-frame brood-cham- 

 ber in a way that makes it one of the best all- 

 around comb-honey hives for this climate — a 

 method in which contraction by frames is 

 avoided, and manipulation of whole brood- 

 chambers only is necessary. 



Harry Lathrop. 



Browntown, Wis., July 8. 



doolittle defended on the facing mat- 

 ter. 

 3/r. Root: — On page 502, July 1st, in a note 

 concluding an item on facing comb honey, by 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, you say: "Now, I wonder 

 how many of the bee-keepers this year, if they 

 get any honey, vdll take pains to put the 

 combs in the shipping-cases at random." 



