SKP'I'KMBKR 15, 1914 



723 



tuliiis occur uuflei' cultivalion. P)ut the fields 

 are gi^een in summer and white in winter; 

 the foliage of most trees is green in sum- 

 mer; and of the deciduous trees, red and 

 3'ellow in autumn; the sky is blue and tlie 

 rivers and lakes are gi-een. Even the build- 

 ings are usually white, yellow, or red. The 

 unlikeness of black, the marked contrast 

 which it offers to the i^rcvailing colors in 

 nature, its strangeness, render it the more 

 conspicuous ; and it is this conspicuousness, 

 distinctness, apparent projection in relief 

 against the general background, that causes 

 it, under the conditions described above, to 

 receive a greater number of stings than 

 white. 



Waldoboro, Maine. 



[The following report from M. F. Free- 

 born is given herewith as an additional 

 proof that bees do discriminate against 

 black.— Ed.] 



On one occasion when I was overhauling a colony 

 back of my store my smoker was not working satis- 

 factorily. I was unable to give much smoke. They 

 proved very active, and swarmed out until the air 



was full of bei'S. Suddenly 1 observed a great com- 

 motion among my chickens. The Rhode Island Reds 

 were in the air with the bees, and were terror-struck 

 and crazed with stings. I stopped manipulating the 

 hive and drove the poultry into the house and shut 

 them in, a great number of bees still clinging to 

 them. They were frant-c. They flew against the 

 door and window.?, burst through, and were in the 

 air again, and finally over tlie fence and under a 

 large building which stood very close to the ground, 

 so that a man could not get under it, so I bad to 

 abandon trying to save them, and closed the hive 

 and let things quiet down. 



That afternoon one of my neighbors picked up five 

 hens, terribly stung, with heads badly swollen, and 

 placed them in a small coop, more dead than alive. 

 Next morning four of them had died. The other 

 finally recovered ; and three days after, two hens 

 crawled out from under the building, and I nursed 

 them back to life. The fifth day a poor Rhode 

 Island Red rooster had crawled to the edge of the 

 building where I could reach and pull him out. 



The strangest thing about this affair is that my 

 white Leghorns were unharmed. They flew about m 

 the excitement, but seemed to be immune to attack 

 by the bees. If this does not demonstrate that bees 

 are attracted by color instinct, then I don't know 

 what stronger evidence could be produced. Kot a 

 white hen was disturbed; but the poor Buttercup 

 and Rhode Island Reds were unmercifully attacked 



Nantucket, Mass. M. E. Preeboen. 



STREAM OF WATER FROM A HOSE Td 



lAKE A SWARM CLUSTER 



BY C. P. HENRY 



I am sending a picture of my apiary of 

 40 colonies on a city lot in Hugo, Okla. I 

 wintered on summer stands without the loss 

 of a single colony. Some of my neighbors 

 lost as high as 40 per cent. You will notice 

 shade-boards on the front row. I placed 

 these there to show how I treat my little 

 jiets, for which kindness they pay me well, 

 as I realized a little better than $6.00 per 

 colonv last year, including increase 



My hose is shown, which I use to control 

 swarms. It certainly works well. I herded 

 a swarm and made it settle on the particular 

 tree I desired to-day. Mrs. Henry does not 

 like bees the best in the world, but had 

 sufficient nerve for this performance. 



In the background shows my supply-house 

 and empty hives and supers. 



Hnao, Okla. 



C. p. Henry's apiary of 10 colonies nt the li.Tck of ;\ li 



Hugo, Okla. 



