NOVEMBER 1, 1916 



1017 



Grace Allen 



THE DIXIE BEE 



Nashville, Tenn. 



The Tennessee State Fair came 

 veiy near having the State Guard 

 as the main attraction this year, 

 for we had two regiments camped 

 on the fairgrounds nearly all sum- 

 mer. Thousands of visitors went 

 out there every week, especially on 

 Sundays, when the soldiers were reviewed 

 and paraded around the race-track, with 

 regimental bands playing, flags flying, lots 

 of saluting, and a general thrilly, military 

 atmosphere. One of the Drane brothers, of 

 Memphis, and Mr. Wyant (beekeeping sol- 

 diers all) took us down into a wonderful 

 trench built out on the grounds by Company 

 B, 1st Regiment. The bomb-j^roof part was 

 cosy enough to play house in ; but one turns 

 sick thinking of trenches these days. They 

 also escorted us to, not into, the barb-wire 

 entanglements beyond. Orders from Wash- 

 ington sent the troops down to the border 

 just two or three days before the fair open- 

 ed. The bee and honey exhibits were in the 

 building formerly containing the guard- 

 house where the prisoners were kept. 



While there were not many exhibitors, 

 there were some right good-looking and in- 

 teresting exhibits. Of course people pass- 

 ing b}' are always attracted by the live bees, 

 and eager to find the queen (or, about as 

 often, the king). Mr. Buchanan's "Home, 

 Sweet Home,'" made by a clever arrange- 

 ment of comb honey in sections and full-size 

 frames, made quite a hit. 



From Forsythe County, North Carolina, 

 come reports of vei*y poor crops this year. 

 Some yards yielded no surj^lus at all, others 

 averaging twenty or thirty jDounds. "Weak 

 colonies," one correspondent writes, "have 

 died and hunger-swarmed practically all the 

 year. A light flow is now coming in from 

 several plants of the Composite family. Un- 

 less aster yields well, our winter loss will 

 be 50 per cent." Judging from present 

 conditions here in Tennessee, I suspect aster 

 has come nobly to the rescue. 



THE GREAT VARIATIONS IN TEMPERATURE. 



It seems to me as tho these fall months, 

 with their wide variation between the max- 

 imum and minimum daily temperature, must 

 be rather hard on the bees. They have not 

 yet formed into compact winter cluster, and 

 to a great extent even have eggs and young- 

 brood, so they are maintaining high temper- 

 atures in the brood-nest, around 93 and 95 

 degrees, as I understand. In the daytime 



it gets warm enough so they are flying, 

 working on aster and goldenrod or some 

 other fall flow, then at night down drops 

 the outer temperature so low that it surely 

 must require a considerable expenditure of 

 energy to maintain the necessary warmth. 

 One day in September I noticed the temper- 

 ature in places in Utah, Montana, and Brit- 

 ish Columbia, varying 34 degrees between 

 maximum and minimum, and one report 

 from Colorado showed a variation of 36 

 degrees, from 74 down to 38. Even Nash- 

 ville tliat day slid from 73 to 50, a ditferenee 

 of 23 degrees. And none of these are any- 

 thing rare or unusual. In the summer there 

 is a daily variation, yet it is always fairly 

 warm. In the winter there is a variation, 

 3'et it is always fairly cold ; but in these 

 transitional months it seesaws up and down 

 from summer temperature to winter temper- 

 ature in a way that would seem to be rather 

 disconcerting to the bees. 



Mr. J. F. Arehdekin, urging co-operation 

 for beekeepers, esjDecially in the matter of 

 selling honey, says, page 658, " Co-opera- 

 tion has always been a .distinguishing fea- 

 ture of the human race." And so it has, in 

 limited times and places. But it is certain 

 that, so far as we know, co-operation has 

 always been a distinguishing feature of the 

 hive. And some day (slowly, perhaiis, but 

 surely) beekeepers are going to show them- 

 selves as capable of intelligent co-operation 

 as the bees with which they Avork. 



Of course the reason a great many bee- 

 keepers seem indifferent to such suggestions 

 is the simple fact that the marketing of 

 their crop lias not yet become a problem for 

 them. They have good local markets and 

 not much competition, and so do not feel 

 the necessity of working hand in hand with 

 other producers. 



Instinct. 



I wonder when these bees of ours 

 Learned the things they know. 



Some countless ages back perhaps? 

 Or just some weeks ago? 



I wonder where they learned them all. 



In far-off, ancient dells 

 Of fig and olive? Or right here 



Within their waxen cells? 



I wonder, yet I cannot tell, 

 As back and forth they go, 



When or where or how they learned — 

 I only know they know. 



