812 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



know that they may swarm at any moment, 

 and have a queen. 



If a single swarm comes out it may settle 

 down in a quiet cluster with the queen in the 

 middle of the bunch. This will depend upon 

 whether they have their future location al- 

 ready picked out. If so they will remain 

 clustered only long enough to be sure the 

 queen is present. The queen makes her 

 presence known by running through and 

 through and over the outside of the cluster, 

 leaving her scent on the bees. With more 

 than one swarm in a cluster it causes mat- 

 ters to be very unsettled. Then when bees 

 from several swarms are caged together it 

 is all the more confusing in their swarming. 

 The more confusion the better. It ab- 

 stracts the bees from their own intentions. 

 When first caged they will buzz and bump 

 against the screen for awhile, but finally 

 settle in a compact quiet cluster, and the 

 queens will remain quiet. Then the bees 

 can be poured out of the box on a smooth 

 space of ground, and the queens picked up 

 and caged in a few moments. When all 

 the queens are secured, set the box down on 

 the ground, open side down, and in an hour 

 or so the bees will cluster in it again. Then 

 put the screen on to confine them until it is 

 time to let them go home, which should be 

 near night. Wait until the bees find out 

 that they have no queens, then they will 

 want to get out and return to their own hive, 

 thinking that their own queen did not issue 

 with them. Open the screen only partially 

 so that they can escape slowly. Do not 

 throw them out in a pile on the ground. 

 They are now dissatisfied with the strange 

 cluster they are about to leave, and they 

 will not go in with another cluster of strange 

 bees unless it is by the confusion of a mass 

 of bees together. They will not cluster ' ' on 

 other hives." 



I began this season with over 300 full col- 

 onies in one apiary. On three sides are hills 

 or mountains, but the ground on which the 

 hives stand slopes upward on three sides, 

 amphitheater- Hke. When the swarms issue 

 they drift toward the center and cluster up- 

 on some small-sized trees all together, usu- 

 ally. If I am nailing frames or putting in 

 foundation I do not stop my work until I see 

 the swarms settled into a cluster, sometimes 

 50 pounds or more of bees. Then the cage 

 is enlarged sufficiently to hold the whole 

 bunch. I lay the screen on the ground 

 while I hold the box or open cage in my 

 hands. Give the body of the tree a good 

 sharp kick, which knocks the bees off on 

 the ground. Then set the box, with open 

 side down, right in the middle of the pile of 

 bees, and in an hour the bees will be on the 

 inside, nicely clustered. Then turn the box 

 right side up so quickly that the clustered 

 bees do not have time to fall out, and clap 

 the screen on. In an hour or two more 

 they will be quietly clustered again, when 

 they are ready to pour out and secure the 

 queens. All this takes but a few moments. 

 While the second swarms are absent from 

 their hives, and the combs nearly bare of 



bees, I go through the brood- combs to de- 

 stroy the cells and secure young queens for 

 requeening. Five days later I introduce 

 young laying queens taken from fertilizing 

 nuclei, and the colonies will not swarm any 

 more, even if their hive is greatly contract- 

 ed. Ripe queen- cells can be put in instead 

 of laying queens if desired. 



They do not ' ' repeat the circus as long as 

 a queen can be had to cheer them on day 

 after day," as Mr. Crane states on page 

 571. That kind of circus is found in the 

 systems intended to prevent swarms, but 

 not in the above-described system. Mr. 

 Cruick shank is working toward this system, 

 but has not reached the most advantageous 

 parts of t he system. The bees should be 

 sent back home with a disposition to resume 

 work. Instead of swarming, drizzlmg along 

 day after day for several weeks, it can all 

 be completed within two or three days, and 

 that when every colony swarms. The high- 

 est results demand this management. It is 

 system. These other things there is so 

 much about in the bee-papers are not sys- 

 tematic—guesswork, disappointment. Ev- 

 ery colony is different from another. In 

 the system above, every colony is like the 

 next one throughout the apiary. In man- 

 agement, in numerical strength, in ultimate 

 results, the apiarist can say, "I know that 

 swarms (bees) can be controlled to the ad- 

 vantage of the apiarist." 



Chatsworth, Cal. 



HOW WE KNOW THAT BEES HEAR. 

 Some Facts that Seem to Indicate that they do. 



BY WM. M. WHITNEY. 



I hope I've not been the cause of an un- 

 pleasant mix-up between Prof. Bigtlow and 

 Dr. Miller in my query some time ago re- 

 garding certain sounds seeming to arrest 

 the attention of bees. On page 1291, Dr. 

 Miller, in reply to my query, makes the 

 statement quoted by Prof. Bigelow on page 

 233, which the professor by implication seems 

 to question. 



Dr. Miller, in his reply to me, seems to 

 misapprehend the import of my question, or 

 perhaps I did not make my meaning clear. 

 I do not pretend to be much of an entomolo- 

 gist, nor even much of a bee-keeper, but I 

 do like to find out things. I have never 

 doubted that bees hear sounds; but the query 

 with me is, do not certain sounds cause them 

 to halt when other sounds would not, as in 

 the case cited by me? This case was so 

 marked that there could be no mistake, as 

 it was tried over and over again. 



Prof. Bigelow's questions to Dr. Miller, 

 at least by inference, it seems to me, cast a 

 shadow of doubt as to bees being able to 

 hear at all. I had always supposed that all 

 animal life possessing the power of producing 

 audible sounds also possesses the faculty of 

 hearing; or, in other words, that each species 

 capable of uttering sounds had a language 

 of its own which could be heard and readily 



