152 



M^ 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE March, 1921 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



can be kept in order with a scythe or lawu- 

 mower without bumping the hives. One sack 

 of cement is sufficient for four hive-stands, 

 with gravel in proportion of four to one. 



The concrete is placed on top of the 

 ground; no digging is necessary, but the 

 ground should be solid and level. The thick- 

 ness at the outer edge of the concrete is one 

 to one and a half inches and increases to 

 two inches at the upright rim, which is six 

 inches high above the ground. I have found 

 that reinforcing is not necessary. 



W. A. Chrysler. 



Chatham, Ontario, Canada. 



ao^c«= 



WASHBOARD ACTIONS OF BEES 



Method Employed by Young Bees to Work Off 

 Surplus Nervous Energy 



As early as my first year in beekeeping 

 I first noted those peculiar actions of bees 

 when they are apparently busy over the 

 washboard doing the colony-wash. They 

 roused my curiosity, as they do with every- 

 one else who has any eyes for the study of 

 our pets. After some thought I formed a 

 theory and ever since that time have been 

 subjecting that theory to the test of cross- 

 examination. It stills holds with me, and I 

 shall offer it to the readers of Gleanings. 

 Possibly someone will knock a hole in it 

 and thus help me to disprove the theory if 

 it be unsound. 



The theory is this — the bees are simply 

 working off an excess of energy. If one will 

 subject these actions of the bees to a care- 

 ful analysis, he will perhaps follow the lines 

 of observation and deduction which I will 

 now take. 



The most careful serutinv fails to note 



that the bees engaged in tJiis acti\ity are 

 accomplishing anything tangible. If one 

 could detect that they had some substance 

 in their mandibles or on their tongues, or 

 could feel assured that their stomachs were 

 filled with other than what an idle bee usu- 

 ally has in its stomach, then it would be 

 possible to make a start towards an ex- 

 planation. No such opportunity is present, 

 and we are forced now to investigate along 

 some other lines. 



First let us ask, "Is this action more pre- 

 valent at some times than others?" My an- 

 swer to this question is, "Yes, these pecul- 

 iar actions are rarely seen except in times 

 of comparative idleness — ^times when the 

 flowers are furnishing but little for bees to 

 gather. Here the actions appear most notice- 

 able in August, tho isolated instances ap- 

 pear in other warm montlis. ' ' Then let tliis 

 question come, "Do bees of a particular age 

 take part, or is the action peculiar to bees 

 of all ages?" My answer is, "Old bees 

 never do this, and very young bees never 

 do it. Only bees of the age of two or three 

 weeks perform this action. Bees that have 

 passed the nurse-bee stage and have had 

 their cleansing flight, bees that are comb- 

 builders are the washers." 



Next let us seek analogous actions. Tlie 

 captive lion or the caged bear will for hours 

 keep up a ceaseless shuffle from one end of 

 his cage to the other. The captive giraffe 

 will for hours mark time with his feet. Now 

 if these animals were free they would be 

 roaming the plain or the forest. Their active 

 muscles are permeated with nerve fibers 

 which keep up a constant call upon those 

 muscle fibers to exercise. Will he, nill he, 

 the poor animal must restlessly contract and 

 relax those muscles. 



We ourselves show the same tendency. 



The Chrysler apiary with concrete liive-stands, 



