20fi 



GLEANINGS IN B K K (' U L T U U E 



April, 1921 



luisty retreat. Tlieu the fat is surely in the 

 fire. On liis return he is met by an angry mob 

 which seem to know they have beaten him 

 out, and it may be necessary to smoke tliem 

 most unmercifully to get the colony in sul)- 

 jection again. Isn't that a lot like a horse? 

 They are likely to remeinbiM- you next time 

 you come around, too. 



As the season advances we find it neces- 

 sary to use more and more smoke, altho we 

 always us.e about as little as will let the 

 colony know who is boss. One of the draw- 

 backs of commercial beekeeping is that we 

 cannot choose the most favorable time of 

 day or weather for colony work. With api- 

 aries crowding one another for attention, 

 the woik has to kee]) moving right along, 

 no matter whether it is bright or dull and 

 sometimes even when it rains. The manner 

 of using the smoker has to make up for the 

 difference. 



Why Does Smoke Quiet the Bees? 



"Very often at bee-<lemoustrations the 

 question is asked, "What does the smoke 

 do to the bees, what effect does it have on 

 them?" I think the answer invariably given 

 by the experienced beekeeper who is demon- 

 strating, is something like this: ''It causes 

 them to fill themselves with honey, and bees 

 in that condition do not or cannot sting." 

 He may then show the questioner some bees 

 on the comb he is holding actually filling 

 themselves — and both are satisfied. But is 

 that really the answer? Ask the same bee- 

 keeper about some manipulation which re- 

 quires having all the bees filled, and he will 

 explain that it takes at least 20 minutes of 

 smoking and pounding on the hive to ac- 

 complish this. Yet in that time he wouhl 

 have subdued and examined thoroughly 

 three or four colonies, without any tliought 

 of waitiiii;' {'or them to fill themselves. Take 



again the case of a swjirm which has hung 

 on a limb ovei'uight until its guards are 

 quite snapi)y; they are easily subdued with 

 smoke when it is impossible for them to fill 

 themselves, for lack of any source of honey. 



Then what is the answer? That is for a 

 physiologist to say. I would guess that the 

 smoke causes irritation to some of the sense 

 organs of the bee and draws its attention 

 away from the intruder it was about to 

 drive off. Since the defense of the hive is 

 left to a comparatively few guards, that is 

 enough to disorganize the defense and so 

 keep the colony in subjection. The disorgan- 

 izing principle is used moie or less vigoi'ous- 

 ly in some methods of uniting and introduc- 

 ing queens. The mildest type is the method 

 where under favorable conditions a queen 

 may be run in at the entrance, followed by 

 a puff of smoke to disarm resistance of the 

 entrance guards. A more vigorous form is 

 the ' ' smoke method ' ' where the colony is 

 confined entirely to the hive after receiving 

 three strong puffs of smoke, and the queen 

 run in at the saturation point of colony dis- 

 tress and disorganization. A more cruelly 

 drastic method, which I have not seen recom- 

 mended for many years, is the use of tobacco 

 smoke to actually stu])efy the bees before 

 introducing the queen. Of course the attitude 

 of the queen, whether one of fear or confi- 

 dence, has a lot to do with the success of 

 introducing methods. On the other hand, the 

 different types of introducing cages seek to 

 deliver the queen in the brood-nest under 

 conditions which will not arouse any sus- 

 picion of her as a hostile element. However, 

 a full discussion of introducing and uniting 

 methods would add too much to the length 

 of this article and may well be reserved to 

 a future time. 



Georgetown, Ont. 



THE CALL OF THE SOUTHLAND 



Some 



OH, this beast- 

 ly weathei! 

 will it ever 

 let u[>? t h e s e 

 never ending 

 colds? these 

 snuffs and 

 snorts? Would 

 that I could go 

 where it is not 



cold, and where I could breathr 

 nose, and without cat<diing cold!'" 



I wonder how many of our readers located 

 in the North, suffering from the extreme 

 cold, ]ia\e not saiil this, and wished tiine 

 and again they were in a milder climate, or 

 that spring and summer would come. Almost 

 daily we get letters from beekeepers who 

 say either they or some member of the fam- 

 ily can not stand the cold, and want us to 

 tell them of some good bee locations in the 

 South. With the view of helping these pco- 



of the 'Difficulties 

 Country 



By E. R. Root 



thru uiv 111 



of the 



]ile, and even 

 others who for 

 \'arious reasons, 

 would like a 

 change, I may 

 be able to offer 

 some sugges- 

 tions. 



In the first 

 place, 1 e t me 

 make it clear tiiat sometimes one will suffer 

 more severely in the South from chilly air 

 that seems to go clear thru one's bones than 

 he will in the North, where he can get near a 

 stove or a steam radiator. While the winters 

 in the South are very mild, there are days all 

 thru the Southland, and in California, that 

 are decidedly unpleasant, damp, and chilly, 

 and when aii overcoat affords none too much 

 warmth, and where a fireplace indoors allows 

 one to bake himself on one side and almost 

 freeze on the other. While it is not very cold 



