332 



gleaKikgs in bee cultuke. 



July 



when nobody else will do it. I let them in 

 some gentle hive, where they will not get 

 stung too. I presume it may be a dutj^ to 

 stay at home from church during swarming 

 time, but I would try hai'd to so arrange 

 matters that it is not often necessary. TJie 

 incident you mention shows how much 

 weight your conduct has in your community, 

 friend D. A few years ago I was in the 

 habit of going out of church just at the close 

 of the sermon, so I could get my dinner in 

 time to take charge of a mission Sabbath- 

 school. After a few Sundays, I noticed 

 others would go out after I did, and finally 

 quite a string of boys would start just after 

 1 did. They doubtless thought I went out 

 because I was tired and sleepy, like them- 

 selves, and that if I took such a liberty, of 

 course it would be proper for ?/iem. I thought 

 about it a little, and stopped ; and if the 

 boys are going to follow me that way, I tell 

 you what it is, I believe I would let consid- 

 erable property go to waste before I would 

 consent to even the appearance of evil. Ern- 

 est and John both remained away from Sab- 

 bath-school last Sunday, because the bees 

 " might get to robbing," and they also stayed 

 away from the young people's prayer-meet- 

 ing in the evening, because — well, the prin- 

 cipal part of their excuse was, so far as I can 

 remember, that it was more than half over 

 before they got started. Last Saturday 

 night, 20 queens came in by the last express, 

 in rather feeble condition, some of them. I 

 prepared them as best I could that night, 

 and found eight of them dead Monday morn- 

 ing. Perhaps I erred in not putting them in 

 Peet cages, over unsealed honey, very early 

 Sunday morning, for the loss was $8.00 ; but, 

 my friends, it is a glorious thing, when you 

 do err, to think you have erred "on the Lord's 

 side.'' 



POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

 BLACK AND ITALIAN BEES. 



(Concluded from page 333, Ajml No.) 



'-HILE black bees assert no special claim to any 

 food offered away from their hives, Italians 

 will often try to prevent other bees from get- 

 ting any of it, as stoutly as though it werepart of their 

 own private stor-es. 



Wheu the humbug by which bees were claimed to 

 be able to convert Cuba honey into some thing eciual 

 to the choicest white -clover product was in full 

 Vogue, I saw, in a Brooklyn apiary, one hundred or 

 more black stocks all sipping their supplies from 

 the same feeders,* and none asserting an exclusive 

 right to the public supply. 



18. Italians will utilize largely any wax which they 

 find aivay from their hives, tvhile black brcs take no 

 notice^ it. 



In the first edition of my work (1853), p. 80, 1 sug- 

 gested, that "bees might be induced to use old wax 

 for the construction of their combs;" and in the 

 1857 edition, I say, " I have ascertained that bees will 



*The seller of this patent, in his recipe for preparing the food, 

 directs that the Cuba honey be mixed witli :ui eciual (ivlantity of 

 water; and asiio allowance was made t'i)r thr wat>-r i t)ie bees mi 

 doubt being asTvell able to change tliis water into Immy eis they 

 wei-e to convert the dark honey into the purest nectar i, lie was 

 able to reduce the apparent cost nf ids lee<l (nu'-hair! And yet, 

 pei-sons were indilced to invest heavily in tliis i.at.nt, who would 

 have laughed to scorn the idea tlnu tliev (•■luld iluurjle the yield 

 of their maple sugar by adding on enuiil weiglu •>( water to the 

 sap before boiling it. 



use fine shavings of wax to build new comb; but 

 further investigations are needed to make the dis- 

 covery of practical advantage." While the blacks 

 are slow to accept wax shavings, the Italians would 

 probably use them largely .+ 



19. Black bces,trJicn examined by artificiql light, 

 are much more iJiclincd thaii Italians to fly from their 

 combs. 



After many hard experiences, I made it a rule 

 never to open black colonies after dark. Even if 

 not disturbed, the lights from a house, if the hives< 

 are near to it, will often attract black bees as well 

 as moths. Now, when queens are hatching, it is 

 often quite important to examine colonies by artifi- 

 cial light; and the ease with which this can be done 

 with Italians is a strong point in their favor, as they 

 seem even less disposed to fly than in the day time.:): 



30. Black bees have a very much stronger attach- 

 ment than Italians to the spot where their hive has 

 once stood. 



Dzierzon, when he had only blacks, found it high- 

 ly desirable to have two apiaries far enough apart 

 to enable him to secure enough bees for his artifi- 

 cial swarms and nuclei, while many of the methods 

 given in my work, and which cost me so much time 

 in observations and experiments, aimed to secure 

 the same results from a single apiary. Those who 

 have had no experience with the blacks, have little 

 idea what a task it was, in many of the most impor- 

 tant operations with them, to get a sutficient num- 

 ber of bees that would stay in any new location. 

 For example, in the fall union of weak colonies oc- 

 cupying different positions in the apiary, many pre- 

 cautions were necessary with the blacks to prevent 

 large numbers of the removed bees from perishing 

 in flying back to their old location, either to perish 

 there, or to be killed by the neighboring stocks into 

 which they sought to gain admission. With Italians, 

 on the contrary, there is no difficulty in quickly 

 uniting stocks, however widely separated in the 

 same apiary. If on a good day for flying, the bees 

 from one stock, after being made to gorge them- 

 selves with honey are shaken down before another 

 gorged stock, their loud hum as they enter their 

 new home will quickly attract the attention of any 

 of their companions who may have flown to the old 

 location; and if their hive has been removed, they 

 will soon join their companions, and ever after ad- 

 here well to their new position. 



31. When the union of blacks from different colo- 

 nies is attempted, they are far more likely to quarrel 

 than Italians. 



How common an experience it is, in spite of all 

 our precautions, to have every black bee from one 

 weak stock killed by another black colony, no mat- 

 ter how sorely they may need an addition to their 

 scanty numbers! while with Italians, such desirable 

 unions are formed with comparatively little risk or 

 trouble. 



t By the insertion of comb foundations we can make a still bet- 

 ter use of our wax, 1 was at work on tlie artificial -comb idea in 

 1853 (see first edition of my work, p. 80), but learning from Mr. 

 Sam '1 Wagner that He hail been experimenting in that line be- 

 fore me, I relegated the wlmle matter to iiim. If, like Mr. 

 Kocit, hec-iiuld havv availed himself of the services of such a 

 genius as ,"\lr. Waslibnrn. he might hnve made his foundations a 

 practical success before ailv one in KUicipe had even begun to 

 exiieriment in that line. In his last conversation with me on 

 this suljject, he said that the wording of his claims was so de- 

 fective that he mUst have his patent reissued. 



JUcnlioff, the great German observer, ranks the bee and the 



dog as occuiiving the highest scale in intelligence. A black- 

 and-tan tenier, so milch afraiil of lices that nothing could in- 

 duce her to go near tlicir liivcs in the daytime, would lollow 

 me, without any invitation, from hive to hive in my night ex- 

 aminations, as thougli she had a deep interest in my doings. 



