432 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



locality, we frequently have an after-swarm 

 here in from four to six da\ s, or at least 

 I have had several such in my three or four 

 years' experience. What is the cause of 

 this excessive swarming ? Can it be pre- 

 vented? Harry Stephens. 

 Ashley, 111., March 2. 



[Dr. Miller describes the two notes given 

 by a queen by saying one is zeep — zeep — 

 zeep, and another one a quahking, pronounc- 

 ing it so as to rhyme with hawking. The 

 last sound is made inside of a queen-cell, 

 and is a sort of baby-queen note. The other 

 sound is that of a more mature queen, often 

 uttered in fright, and sometimes in a call 

 which we bee-keepers do not understand. 

 Several years ago, happening to stand in 

 front of a hive 1 heard several long sounds 

 of " zeep — zeep — zeep, " in succession. 

 Looking down at the entrance I saw a 

 queen preparing to take flight. Immedi- 

 ately there was an onrush of bees, and the 

 air was soon filled with the swarm. Evi- 

 dently the sound was used to call the bees. 

 I have never since noticed a queen thus call- 

 ing at the entrance, and in any case would 

 not conclude that the queen led forth the 

 swarm invariably. Indeed, we do know that 

 bees often and perhaps generally take the 

 initiative. Well, now, to get back to the 

 answer of your question, I would say that 

 Mr. Doolittle referred to the zeep which 

 virgin queens very often make. 



While he stated correctly the general rule 

 with regard to the issuing of an after-swarm, 

 yet there are some variations. —Ed.] 



DO BEES HAVE MORE THAN FIVE SENSES? 



Is it possible that scent is that kind of 

 entity that bees recognize by sight instead 

 of smell? 



If honey-comb be burned in a manner that 

 the smoke from the burning comb be not 

 visible, how do bees recognize the fact? 



Can bees hear as keenly as man does? 

 May not bees be deficient in some of the five 

 senses that we possess? 



Is it not possiole that bees possess one or 

 more senses that we d(J not, and still be 

 short in some of the five senses of man? 



What evidence have we that bees possess 

 the sense of taste? Why can they not dis- 

 tinguish between poisonous and non-poison- 

 ous flowers ? 



If thought or nerve vibration is a. million 

 per cent greater in bees than in man, would 

 that make the bees' three-months' life seem 

 longer or shorter than threescore and ten 

 years seem to man? 



When you take a score of young bees 

 from a hive before any of them have ever 

 flown, and release them ten or twenty rods 

 from the parent hive, without fright, what 

 sense is it that guides most of them to re- 

 turn? J. W. Porter, M. D. 



Ponca, Neb. 



[Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, who has made this matter a 

 special study for two summers here at Me- 



dina, in which he did practically nothing but 

 watch bees, gave it as his conclusion that 

 young bees were guided toward their en- 

 trances very largely by scent. He even' 

 went so far as to say if they were taken 

 away a short distance and allowed to fly 

 they would find their own homes through 

 this one sense of smell. Hitherto I had not 

 believed that young bees would be able to 

 find their entrance unless they had previous- 

 ly marked it in the usual manner. I should 

 be glad to get reports from others on this 

 one point. Our correspondent asks several 

 other questions, which I leave to our read- 

 ers to answer. — Kd.] 



UNREFINED AND BURNT SUGAR AS FEED 

 FOR BEES. 



I send you a sample of some sugar which 

 is said to be used here for feeding bees. 

 Will you kindly tell me whether or not it 

 would be injurious to the bees, and how it 

 should be fed? If fed during spring or sum- 

 mer, and some of it stored by them (should 

 they leave it over in the hive), would it in- 

 jure them to eat it during winter? 



F. B. Freeman, M. D. 



San Francisco, Cal., Mar. 2. 



[I do not remember to have seen a sam- 

 ple of the sugar you refer to; but as a gen- 

 eral' rule we may say that any burnt sugar 

 should not be used for a winter food, as it 

 is inclined to bring on dysentery. It might 

 not, however, in the mild climate of San 

 Francisco, produce any serious results. — Ed.] 



PROTECTING HIVES IN WINTER WITH THREE 



CENTS' WORTH OF OILED SHEETING 



paper; extra body on TOP. 



In wintering my ten-frame Dovetailed 

 hives this winter I protected ihem with an 

 oiled sheeting paper 18 inches wide and 72 

 long, wrapped around them tight, with 

 strips nailed at top and bottom. This paper 

 is dark-colored, and is both air-tight and 

 water-proof. The cost of paper averages 

 about three cents per colony, and from 

 present indications it will last another win- 

 ter. 



Over the bees I place a Hill device for 

 passageways, and on this a piece of bagging 

 and an extra body filled with six inches of 

 ground cork or oat chaff. I raise one end 

 of the cover of the hive about I inch, with 

 a strip laid across it to allow all dampness 

 from the bees to dry out. The bees seem 

 to have wintered finely so far. 



H. P. Faucett. 



Brandy wine, Pa., Mar. 3. 



[Your method of wintering will do well, 

 or fairly so, in a comparatively mild climate; 

 but I hardly think it would be safe 150 miles 

 west of you away from the moderating 

 effects of the ocean. We tried practically 

 the same thing here in Medina, but lost a 

 good many colonies so protected, while those 

 in double-walled chaff hives came through 

 in good order. —Ed.] 



