1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



659 



THE DISLIKE OF BEES FOR BLACK HAIR ; 

 PLAIN SECTIONS A SUCCESS. 



As you ask if any one is sure about bees 

 showing a desire to sting certain colors, and as 

 I have as cross bees as can be raised, I would 

 sav I think they do. My hair is very black, 

 and when I go out into my yard they will fair- 

 ly go crazy to get into said hair ; and when I 

 go through the yard with low shoes and black 

 stockings they are sure to take my ankles. 



About the plain sections, I am highly pleas- 

 ed ; and if, on further trial, they should act 

 the same — or, rather, the bees — they would be 

 a grand thing. Mine are the tall ones ; and 

 wherever the bees worked on them at all they 

 finished the greater part of those they com- 

 menced on instead of beginning on all and fin- 

 ishing none, as they generally have done with 

 the 4'4 . I would say, by way of explanation, 

 that this locality is overstocked, and no lion- 

 ev to speak of is gathered until the basswood, 

 which lasted only a week this year. That 

 gave me more finished sections, and fewer 

 partly filled, than did the others in T crates 

 without separators. I shall try more of them 

 another year. C. E. Hammond. 



Corry, Pa., Aug. 13. 



THE DISLIKE OF BEES FOR BLACK. 



You ask for reports of the eflfect of color 

 upon bees, p. 574. Dr. Miller's experience 

 tallies with mine. My bee-veil has a three- 

 cornered piece of black cloth where it passes 

 over each shoulder, and I have often noticed 

 that belligerents make straight for these 

 patches. The patches are small, and make a 

 marked contrast with the cloth immediately 

 beneath. 



I hav:- often worn black pants in work with 

 bees, but have to confess that their color never 

 seemed to stir the ire of the bees in the least. 

 One bee-keeper in the neighborhood told me 

 some time ago that black does not suit the 

 bees. Vou can see that my experience may 

 substantiate your suggestion. 



Craftonville, Cal. RusSELL J. HALL. 



HOW BEES DESPISE BLACK. 



For a long time after I began to handle bees 

 they would sting my black eyes. I found 

 upon observation that they went for black in 

 any form. I tried them over and over again 

 with hats, coats, etc. I have long known that 

 they will resent black. I have black and 

 white chicks running in the yard. The bees 

 go for the black, and at them alone. There is 

 no guesswork about this aversion to black 

 color. Ham Smith. 



Ionia, Mich., Aug. 4. 



cident in this direction. In looking through 

 his hives one day he saw his bees had been 

 gathering some red honey, and it puzzled him 

 to tell where they were getting it. A few 

 days afterward he overheard some of the wo- 

 men telling about one of their neighbors who 

 had been making some currant jelly, and she 

 had put it out on the window-sill to cool, and 

 then went visiting that afternoon. When she 

 came home she found all her jelly gone, and 

 the tumblers licked clean. "Oh the plaguy 

 boys ! " said she. This, of course, was a clew 

 for Mr. Marvin, and upon further examination 

 he found it was the old lady's currant jelly the 

 bees had stored away for winter use. Of 

 course, he kept that to himself ; but we had a 

 good laugh over it. GEO. Thompson. 



Geneva, 111., Aug. 11. 



plain sections a success ; cross-cleats 

 ON fence a little too thin; season 



GOOD, AND AVERAGE 50 LBS. 



The honey season that has just closed here 

 has been a remarkable one for this locality. 

 We had a hone3'-dew that commenced the 

 first of May and continued till the last of July. 

 I had one colony that stored 120 lbs., and my 

 general average was 50 lbs. 



I have been using the plain section and 

 fence this year, and find it to be ahead of any 

 thing I have ever used. There is one defect; 

 and when you overcome that, your plain sec- 

 tion and fence hobby will override every 

 thing. It is this: The cleats on the fence, 

 which come next to the side of the super, are 

 so thin that a bee can not enter and pass on 

 up the side as it should, but must stop and 

 pass under the fence. And because the bees 

 can not enter this space they pile it full of 

 propolis, and it makes a hiding-place for the 

 moth and ants. But I must confess that the 

 fence is a great improvement over the plain 

 wood separator; and he who produces honey 

 without a separator of some kind is just a lit- 

 tle too slow to keep abreast of the times. 



Dr. S. H. Hurst. 



Laconia, Ind., Aug. (3. 



[We have the matter of thickness of cleats 

 under consideration. The majority seem to 

 think the fence is perfect; but we are looking 

 for defects, if any. — Ed.] 



HOW THE BEES STOLE CURRANT JELLY. 

 A few years ago Mr. James Marvin, of St. 

 Charles, 111., who will be remembered by some 

 of our old-time bee-keepers, had a curious in- 



CLUSTERING OUT, AND HOW STOPPED BY 

 ENLARGING THE ENTRANCE. 



Mr. Ham Smith, page 515, says or tells of 

 a way to enlarge the bee-entrance by raising 

 the front y, inch and putting a wedge-shaped 

 strip under each side to fill the open spaces, 

 in the fore part of the warm season, when 

 the bees get crowded and warm, and get to 

 loafing on the outside of the hive. I did the 

 same thing last season and this, only I did 

 not close the openings on the sides. I put 

 small pieces of lath under each front corner. 

 If those pieces did not have the desired effect 

 of getting them inside, or started out to work, 

 I added other pieces till they did disperse, and 

 this additional ventilation usually gets them 

 out of the notion of swarming, as I desire 



