230 



THE AMERICA2^ BEE JOURNAL. 



assistants to au extent as yet un- 

 paralleled ill the history of bee- 

 keeping. 

 Guelph.Ont. 



For the AmerloaJQ Bee JoumaJ- 



Cofflli Honey fs, Extracted Honey, 



CHAS. SOLVESON, (40-64). 



As I am the propounder of Query, 

 No. 153, I have been much pleased 

 with the discussion it has brought 

 forth. AVhen I read Chas. Dadaut & 

 Son's article on page 7-59 of the Ameri- 

 can Bee .Journal for 1885, where 

 they try to prove that Mr. Doolittle 

 was mistaken in his estimate, that 

 with extracted honey at 8 cents per 

 pound comb honey could be produced 

 at 12 cents perpound, with equal profit 

 to the apiarist. I felt certain we should 

 sooner or later have an article from 

 Mr. Doolittle on the subject; and on 

 page .58 Mr. L). gives us facts and fig- 

 ures which tend to prove that comb 

 honey can be produced for less than 12 

 cents per pound, with the extracted 

 at 8 cents per pound. Although I am 

 not ready to accept anything less than 

 12 cents as the comparative cost of a 

 poimd of comb honey, to 8 cents per 

 pound for extracted honey. 1 feel cer- 

 tain it is nearer right than Messrs. 

 Dadants' 20 cents per pound. 



On June 10, 1884, I selected 20 colo- 

 nies as nearly alike as possible, and 

 worked 10 for comb honey, and 10 for 

 extracted honey. Those worked for 

 comb honey were in 8-frame Improved 

 Langstroth hives, with section-cases 

 similar to Mr. ileddou's, and they 

 produced, on an average, 70 pounds of 

 honey in one-pound sections. Those 

 worked for extracted honey were in 

 10-frame Simplicity hives, and they 

 were all supplied with an upper story 

 filled with combs, and they produced, 

 on an average, 120 pounds of extracted 

 honey each ; which at 8 cents per 

 pound, amounts to $9. 60. This divi- 

 ded by 70 pounds (the average amount 

 of comb honey produced by each of 

 the 10 colonies), gives about 13?:^ cents 

 as the comparative cost of comb 

 honey. And in the fall each one of 

 the 20 colonies had to be fed from 8 to 

 15 pounds for winter stores, although 

 I had not extracted a pound from the 

 brood-chambers of either. 



Again, on June 15,188.5.1 .selected 

 20 colonies and worked one-half of 

 them for comb honev. and the other 

 halt for extracted. Those woiked for 

 comb honey were in the same kind of 

 a hive as those in the first experiment, 

 but were contracted to 5 combs, at 

 about swarming time. 1 obtained 24 

 pounds per colony (jn the average, 

 from those worked for comb honev ; 

 ■while I got only 30 pounds from each 

 of the colonies worked for extracted 

 honey, and they were provided for as 

 those of the year before. This at 8 

 cents per pound gives $2.40; and if 

 we divjde this by the average number 

 of poundsof comb honey produced by 

 each colony, we have only 10 cents as 

 the cost of comb honey, with the ex- 

 tracted at 8 cents. Again I had to 

 feed every one of the 20 colonies from 



half to three-quarters of their winter 

 stores. I will add that the season of 

 1884 gave only about two-thirds of an 

 average crop ; and the season of 1885 

 was the poorest of any that I have 

 known since keeping bees. 



Mr. Heddon's new book, ■■ Success 

 in Bee-Culture," is the most practical 

 work of its kind that I have ever read. 

 It is intended for those who keep bees 

 for the money there is in them, and 

 they cannot well afford to be without it. 



Nashotah. o. Wis. 



For tbe Amenoan Bee Journal. 



Haye Bees a Language ? 



.7. M. mcKs. 



The bees doubtless possess a lan- 

 guage at least peculiar lo themselves. 

 The inarticulate sounds of the bee, 

 which are instinctively uttered, are 

 very readily understood by its own 

 species. The expression of ideas is 

 but the acknowledging of those sounds 

 as representatives of our ideas. Then, 

 properly speaking, the conveyance of 

 ideas from one to another, either by 

 sounds or gestures, becomes a lan- 

 guage as soon as those ideas are un- 

 derstood between two individuals. 

 Were it not so, the mute would be as 

 isolated from the associations of man. 

 as the insect world. That man actu- 

 ally holds converse with the bee, 

 receiving and transmitting ideas, is 

 as true as that these are received and 

 transmitted to and from the mutes. 



If I give a gentle rap on the side of 

 the hive, every bee with a siiort, buz- 

 zing noise answers from within. This 

 idea they have conveyed to me. A 

 little harder rap conveys the idea to 

 them that something is wanted out- 

 side, and immediately some of them 

 make their appeara,nce at the entrance 

 of the hive and fly around. This 

 actually conveys to me the idea, 

 " Who is here V " They have simply 

 taken this way to say, " Who is here, 

 and what do you want V " "I want 

 some honey." The bees, not fully un- 

 derstanding my remark, necessary to 

 convey the idea to them, I attempt to 

 approach the hive for this purpose ; 

 they immediately catch the idea and 

 answer by a sharp, shrill sound, 

 ■' You cant' have it Mr. II., stand 

 back, we shall defend our home." I 

 get a faint impression that the bees 

 are becoming a little irritable, or a 

 little loo free with their threats, so I 

 bring my hand up as though I said, 

 •' Don't get in my face." The bees 

 immediately answer, •' We have the 

 same right to your face, that you have 

 to our honey ; and suiting tlie action 

 to the ideas tl)ey wish to convey, they 

 slip a dozen or two ideas into my face 

 and eyes from their business ends. I 

 now fully understand ; I have ex- 

 changed thoughts with the bees by 

 actions, and am very sure that if I 

 cannot talk to them, their language is 

 perfectly intelligible to me — just as 

 much so as if words had been ex- 

 changed. 



Let a bee find a sweet in any place, 

 how soon it brings its sister inmates 

 of tlie hive to assist in carrying it to 



their home. In swarming time, if the 

 queen cannot leave the hive with 

 them, how soon the bees that have 

 left become acquainted with the fact, 

 and return to the parent hive. Take 

 the queen from a colony, and you will 

 soon see how soon the whole colony 

 becomes acquainted with the loss. 

 Give a queen to a colony that is queen- 

 less, and how soon a manifestation of 

 pleasure and activity will be seen 

 about the hive. As if by common 

 consent, they change their former 

 course of conduct; whereas they were 

 continually constructing queen-cells, 

 they now as rapidly destroy them and 

 cornmence to carry in pollen in antici- 

 pation of the wants of the young bees 

 that are soon to be added to their 

 number. 



From every appearance it is certain 

 that the bees possess a language by 

 which they very readily and quickly 

 communicate with each other. They 

 project and carry out certain parts of 

 their labors, according to conditions, 

 with a fidelity of a united action that 

 would do credit to what we might 

 term more intelligent and rational 

 beings. 



Battle Ground. Kilnd. 



For tbe American Bee Joomal. 



The Hilieruatiou of Bees, 



C. W. DAYTON. 



Since the friends to the theory that 

 bees hibernate. have put in a disclaimer 

 of the condition " quiet," and have 

 accepted torpor instead as the prime 

 constituent, it leaves the whole theory 

 dependent upon temperature, and 

 temperature only. By actual tests 

 when the bees were not breeding, I 

 have found the temperature in difier- 

 ent sized colonies, and at different 

 distances from the center of the clus- 

 ter, to vary from oi-' to 72"-' when the 

 temperature outside the hives was 43° 

 above zero ; but this cannot be the 

 temperature of the bodiesof the bees, 

 because when they are clustered in a 

 high temperature the temperature at 

 the center of the cluster is lower than 

 it is when the bees are clustered in a 

 lower temperature. The difference 

 in temperature is caused by the differ- 

 ence in compactness of their cluster- 

 ing- 



About a year ago 1 made tests on 

 colonies that contained brood, and I 

 found the temperature at the center 

 of the clusters to be about 88°, and 

 71" at the sides of the cluster. The 

 bees in these colonies appeared as still 

 as death, and were as torpid as bees 

 usually get ; yet the temperature was 

 high. A high temperature warrants 

 respiration, and respiration shows 

 that there is no hibernation about it if 

 torpor must be a constituent. Is it a 

 fact that a bee cannot breath the 

 smallest breath without lengthening 

 and shortening its abdomen to an ex- 

 tent as to be readily visible by the 

 naked eye V " ' 



It has been said that 41° or 44"^' is the 

 best temperature to induce the quiet- 

 ude or hibernation of bees. This in 

 itself is a great mistake, as .that is 



