l'J()4. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



flon't believe you ever saw a suow !.)all 

 in its native haunts, or you woulfl not 

 speak so disparagingly of frames 

 cleeper than the Langstroth foi' wiuler- 

 Ing bees. The old-fashioned straw 

 3k ep and its sister hive, the box hi /o, 

 is far superior to our modern hives for 

 the puri^ose named. That fact is r.o 

 plain that he that runs may read. Give 

 the box-hive colonies the same amount 

 ot protection that colonies in frauie- 

 [ilves usually receive and they will 

 make the others look like bumble-beei-' 

 Qests in comparison at tue opeiiiug of 

 the honey harvest. Yet, I would not 

 persuade anyone against his will in 

 this matter. I merely wish to point 

 out to the reader what I believe to be 

 the surest and cheapest way of se- 

 curing workers for the early bloom- 

 ing of the flowers. That which has 

 stood the test of centuries is no the- 

 ory, Deacon, and you will pardon me 

 for re-asserting the tuct herein. 



If any of the advocates or shallow 

 hives don't know how to proceed with 

 the management of a big swarm of 

 bees in a box-hive at the opening of 

 the season, why don't he say so, and 

 not berate those hive conditions which 

 give him the largest number of neon 

 at a time of year they are of the 

 greatest possible value to him. The- 

 work of "driving" is so easily done 

 that swarms may be taken from box- 

 hives at the pi'oper time and hived in 

 shallow-frame hives wherein may be 

 had every facility for rapid dispatch. 

 comfort and art in the production of 

 honey. The swarms being returned 

 to the parent hives at the close of the 

 season gives one the best there is in 

 both systems — the old and the new. 

 However, let not any one dare to prac- 

 tice the method who is not willing to 

 be frowned upon by the progressive ( ?) 

 *■ element in this granu . "d honey pur- 

 suit. 

 Wheelersburg, Ohio, .Tan. 12, 1904. 



FLIES, NOT B££S, ON CHRYSAN- 

 THEMUMS. 



'Yeliow Blood' 



Wholesale methods of matiug queens 

 with inexpensive apparatus and re- 

 quiring but a few bees, practically as 

 eimnclated for several years by 

 "Swarthmore." are becoming quite 

 general — more so, indeed, than the 

 name of the originator of the idea in 

 connection with discTissions of the 

 principle. 



in Carnlola---Other Interesting 

 Facts. 



By Frank Benton. 



THE PLEASING picture on page 

 52 of the Bee-Keeper for March, 

 1904, caused me to smile at first 

 sight, not altogether because the pic- 

 ture was pleasing, bnt partly also at 

 the mistake of the editor, who had in- 

 serted the picture as an illustration of 

 "bees working on chrysanthemums." 

 The fact of the matter is, that even 

 the most indistinct-appearing of the 

 insects on the chrysanthemums can be 

 readily recognized as the representa- 

 tation of a fly and not a bee. There is 

 not among the whole lot a single bee! 

 The pose of each Insect, the manner 

 of spreading its wfngs, the short, 

 stumpy abdomen, the head, which 

 (viewed from the top) is slightly point- 

 ed, the probosis (wnere visible), and 

 the truncated lower portion of the 

 head (the .laws), as well as, in general, 

 the look or habitus of the whole insect, 

 stamp it at once as a ily of the fam- 

 ily Syrphidae. The picture was shown 

 to several entomologists here at the 

 Department, some of them workers in 

 tue groups involved, and all agreed 

 with me in calling the insects flies and 

 not bees. They are undoubtedly the 

 well-known drone flies, or chi-;\^santhe- 

 mum flies, the most common species of 

 which is Eristalis tenax, which Baron 

 Osten Sacken believes he has identi- 

 fied as the so-called Bugonia* of the 

 ancients, and which serves to explain 

 the supposed oxen-born bees of olden 

 times. All will recall the directions 

 given by Aristotle, Virgil and other 

 classic writers for the piT)ductio"i of 

 bees from the carcasses of domestic 

 animals. T(he name drone fly was 

 given to this insect because of its 

 great resemblance to the drones of onr 

 honey bees, and it has frequntly also 

 been called chrysanthemum fly, be- 

 cause it appears late in the seiison and 

 visits chrysanthemums freely for the 

 pollen furnished by them, the adults 



*"On the so-called Bvigonia of the ancients, 

 and its relations to Eristalis tenax." By C. 

 R. Osten Sacken. Bullettino della Societa 

 Entomologica Italiana, Anno XXV, 1893. 



