OCTOBER 1, 1916 



919 



sweet-setiitcd violet. Thus the transition 

 from red to blue or from blue to red may 

 often be very easily effected. 



The shade of the flower depends upon the 

 density of the coloring matter it contains. 

 The scarlet poppy, tulip, and fire-red canna 

 owe their colors to a mixture of yellow 



grains and red cell-sap. The different pig- 

 ments included under the name anthocyan 

 are closely allied, yet they vai'y somewhat 

 in composition and hue ; and according as 

 the}' occur alone or mixed they affect the 

 color of flowers. A knowledge of these 

 pigments is important to plant-breeders. 

 Waldoboro, Me. 



HOW TO PREVENT YOUNG QUEENS FROM MISTAKING THEIR OWN 



ENTRANCES 



BY W. D. SELLERS 



The first year that I wintered my bees on 

 this ground, the hives faced due east. The 

 result was that many colonies clustered on 

 the southern side, because that side was 

 wai'med by the sun's rays. The next year 

 I changed them so that they faced south- 

 east, and now most of the clusters are in 



which I expected a virgin queen to issue to 

 mate ; and u25on going there I would find no 

 queen. I would then look next door, and 

 there she would be lying on the bottom- 

 board dead. So far as I know I did not 

 lose one queen this season in this yard. The 

 hives being 8 ft. apart, and every other one 



W. D. Sellers' queen-yard, Lancaster, Pa. 

 Xjainted yellow. 



The hives are eight feet apart, and every other one is 



the center, altho a little toward the front of 

 the hivo. It is true that some of the clus- 

 ters went to the extreme and located on the 

 edges past the last comb. If my piece of 

 ground faced to the south lengthwise I 

 would then face the hives south. I propose 

 to erect a windbreak on the north and north- 

 west side, as this was certainly needed last 

 spring. 



It will be noticed that every other hive is 

 white, the others being colored with ocher 

 or yellow. I formerly had all my hives 

 painted one color, and much closer together. 

 I lost many fine queens this way, I am sure, 

 because I had often marked a hive from 



a different color, the bees now have a chance 

 at 16 feet to make their goal. 



My shop and honey-house faces east. 

 During the middle of the day in the winter 

 the su!i shines thru the windows and makes 

 the room comfortable. Facing south would 

 be a better position, as at midday, when the 

 sun is the hottest, it will hit the largest pos- 

 sible part of the shop and leave the smallest 

 part or end to the cold northwest wind. The 

 shop is shaded during the summer. A shop 

 that is in a position to. receive the sun's rays 

 in the winter, and that is protected by shade 

 in the summer, is ideal. 



Lancaster, Pa. 



