1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



305 



after the old queen was out of the way. It is 

 only fair to Mr. Getaz, however, to say that 

 the old queen was left without any attention 

 I think it was not a usual thing that the old 

 queen was allowed to live till the first young 

 queen emerged, and I doubt whether any 

 trouble came from her laying. It is possible, 

 however, that I may be mistaken on this last 

 point. Mv impression is that the swarming 

 after the first young queen emerged was kept 

 up till the last young queen emerged ; and 

 when there was no longer a 3 oung queen in a 

 cell it was a matter of not many hours to set- 

 tle who should be rightful heir to the throne 

 I don't believe I have just the same view as 

 the editor about losing a crop by their sulk- 

 ing. As I said before, I could stand the sulk- 

 ing if that was all, and I think 1 would stand 

 it. The trouble was, when a lot of swarms 

 came out and kept getting more desperate 

 everv day there was a big demoralization, 

 some colonies being so badly depleted that 

 they were of little use for storing, while others 

 were too crowded for the best work. Worse 

 than that was the fact that sometimes a young 

 queen got out through the excluder, and then 

 away went one of those mammoth swarms. 

 These troubles did not come because of the 

 presence of old queens but of young ones. I 

 haven't said the result would be the same with 

 Mr. Getaz ; and if he never has a swarm go off 

 with a young queen, and if he never has 

 swarms return to the wrong hives, then I con- 

 gratulate him on practicing what I believe to 

 be an excellent plan. If I had an apiary of 25 

 or less, and had excluders that would not fail 

 in the hour of need, I'd very much like to try 

 the plan again. Indeed, I believe if I had ex- 

 cluders that wouldn't fail me I'd like to try it 

 anvhow. My plan was to put on excluders 

 before there was any swarming, then let the 

 bees do the rest, up to the time of letting out 

 the young queen to mate. That suited me 

 better than to wait for swarming and then re- 

 move the queen. C. C. MiLLER. 

 Marengo, 111. 



[As Mr. Getaz now explains the method in 

 detail it does not seem to be so objectionable 

 as it did at first. In fact, I feel slrongly in- 

 clined to give it a trial this coming season. If 

 I understand the method it is simply this : At 

 the approach of the honey season, or perhaps, 

 rather, about the time swarming would nat- 

 urally commence, the laying queens are re- 

 moved. Alley drone-traps are then placed 

 over the entrances of the hives thus unqueen- 

 ed. Whi'e cell building is going on, and the 

 hives are queenless, there will be no attempt 

 at swarming until some queen emerges from 

 one of the cells ; and even then probably 

 swarming would not take place until the 

 queen was strong enough to fly. As the vir- 

 gins can not get out through the perforated 

 zinc, it is a battle royal, resulting in the sur- 

 vival of the fittest. Four or five days are lost, 

 probably, in the height of the honey season ; 

 and if the season is very short, as it is in many 

 localities (only about ten days), the plan 

 would be very objectionable ; but if it lasts a 

 month, four or five days would not cut much 

 of a figure. 



Although friend Getaz does not say so, it is 

 assumed, of course, that, when the young 

 queens reach the right age, and the swarming- 

 season, or swarming-fever, is over, the drone- 

 traps are <o be removed to allow the queens to 

 become fertilized. 



There is this to be said in favor of the plan : 

 It involves only the labor of catching the 

 queen and putting on the drone trap. After 

 that, the method works automatically almost 

 through the season ; but my oh my ! there 

 must be days when the air will be thick with 

 swarms that have come out only to return. 

 At our out-yard I feel morally certain there 

 would be half a dozen farmers who would 

 rush up here every few hours to inform us of 

 the advent of swarms. Indeed, they would 

 be so kind as to try to hive them. — Ed.] 



....... . . 



BEES AND COLORS. 



Valuable Evidence Going to Show that Bees have a 

 Decided Dislike for Black. 



BY EUAS FOX. 



Friend Root: — I have carefully noticed the 

 debate relative to bees being distinguishers of 

 color. I should have written sooner, but have 

 been sick all winter, and should have written 

 years ago, but had no idea there was any dif- 

 ference of opinion on that subject. I have 

 often wondered why there was not white ma- 

 terial on the market for making bee-veils. 



A number of years ago, when I kept my 

 bees in the village, there was a passing team 

 attacked by them — one a white and the other 

 a dark bay with black mane and tail. He was 

 killed by the enraged bees, which literally 

 covered him and filled his nostrils, while the 

 white one escaped with only a few stings. 



I have noticed, too, when chickens were 

 around the fronts of the hives, if there was a 

 black or dark-colored one it would be attack- 

 ed, when the light- colored ones would not be 

 disturbed. As a rule I wear overalls or light- 

 colored pants in the apiary, and it is a very 

 rare thing to see a bee attack them ; but let 

 me open a hive when I have black pants on, 

 and there will be from one to a dozen stings 

 in them, almost before you can think. My 

 wife often accompanies me to the apiary; and 

 if there is a black ribbon or feather ( smooth 

 or otherwise) they will never fail to find it. I 

 have always noticed, too, that, if I have no 

 veil on, their attacks are either at the mus- 

 tache, eyes, eyebrows, or right under the hat- 

 rim; and if I get any stings about the hands, 

 nine times out of ten it will be near or under 

 the shady edge of the sleeve. I have many 

 times had them so angry they would even 

 fight the smoker, and the attack is always at 

 the nozzle. I have even seen them strike dark 

 spots and knots on boards ; and many times, 

 when empty hives are sitting near, I have seen 

 them strike and restrike the auger-holes in 

 front of the hives. Let two men go into an 

 apiary, one wearing a black hat and the other 

 a white one, and see if the black is not attack- 

 ed first. If vou have an idea there might be 



