1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



197 



DO BEES HEAR ? 



Mr. Whitcomb— I wanted to ask one question : Do bees 

 hear ? If so, how ? 



Mr. M. S. Miller— Is it not a recoRnized fact in medical 

 science that there is such a thing as transmitting sound to the 

 sense commonly linown as hearing outside of the ear, and if 

 that Is so with man, why not also with bees ? 



Mr. Whitcomb — Four or five years ago, while attending 

 a farmer's institute. Prof. Bruner, of the Nebraska State 

 University, made the assertion that bees had no oars and 

 could not hear. Nobody over there cares to contradict Prof. 

 Bruner vary much, but I did "call him down" at once, and 

 the Professor qualified it by saying that if they had any means 

 of hearing he could not find it. Since then I have investigated 

 the matter considerably. I am not a scientist, but nobody 

 has ever handled bees for any length of time without being 

 satisfied they could hear. There is the hum of fear and an- 

 ger, and of satisfaction that seem to be understood by every 

 bee In the colony at once. If I take a colony of bees in this 

 room and make it dark, and scatter the frames here and 

 there, the minute the hum of satisfaction has started up on 

 the comb where the queen is, they will all leave the other 

 frames and go to the queen, going across the floor. And the 

 peculiar noise the queen makes, in case of starvation or of 

 abject fear, seems to be understood entirely by the bees at 

 once. On invastigation I have come to this conclusion, 

 that bees hear entirely through the nervous system, the 

 nerves coming to the surface along the abdomen of the bees, 

 and they operate the same as our ears, and they understand 

 that way. The nervous system of the bee is very finely con- 

 structed. After a friendly controversy Prof. Bruner has 

 agreed with this idea. I say they hear, and hear as distinctly 

 as we can through our ears. 



ALFALFA IN THE NORTHWEST. 



Pres. Miller then resumed the chair, and read the follow- 

 ing question : 



" Will alfalfa stand the winter in the Northwest ?" 



Pres. Miller — There is a field of It about seven miles from 

 me (northern Illinois) that has stood for several years. 



Mr. Karch — Some of my neighbors have had it for years, 

 and it seems to stand first-rate in that country. 



Mr. Stone — I can't understand why it is that the Univer- 

 sity at Champaign, when they made a test of alfalfa, reported 

 that It was a failure in Illinois, and that It was not a valuable 

 plant in this State. I have a small patch of it myself, in the 

 neighborhood of Springfield, and it has done very well. I am 

 going to sow more of it. I know a man that has 20 acres of 

 It, and he has cut It two or three times a year, and it is very 

 tine. I have cut mine four times a year for two summers. 



Pres. Miller — The general understanding is, it doesn't be- 

 long to this climate — won't do here ; yet, if it is anything like 

 as good a plant with us as it is elsewhere, it is worth the 

 while of the bee-keepers to inquire into it. 



Mr. Stone — I sowed last spring 20 acres of alfalfa with 

 my Alsike, with oats, and on one side, finishing up, I sowed 

 an acre of alfalfa. 



Pres. Miller — Did you sow alfalfa with the oats or alone? 



Mr. Stone — I sowed it after I sowed the oats. I always 

 sow my oats and cultivate them in well, and then sow the 

 alfalfa, and run over It with the drag or some light harrow. I 

 sow clover seed that way, never sow it without covering it. 

 When I went over it on the morning of the day I came here, I 

 found a very fine stand in the stubble on most of it. i^or 

 some cause it died out on one end, and I can't understand 

 why, unless it was because the ground was too rich and too 

 loose for It to take to the soil. The seed I have in my garden 

 — a small patch, probably 10 square rods — I sowed about the 

 time of sowing red clover, and it was up in about three or four 

 days. Red clover sometimes lies for two or three weeks be- 

 fore you can see it is up. It is very tender, and I understand 

 that everywhere they grow it they have to cut the first crop, 

 cut the weeds to keep it from choking out the alfalfa, and 

 after that you have no trouble. This year we have had one 

 or two hogs penned up, and have cut alfalfa every day for 

 them, and with half the corn that they would eai to keep them 

 alive, they have thrived with that alfalfa till I never saw hogs 

 in better condition than they, and they are just as greedy for 

 It as anything else you could feed them. 



Pres. Miller — Turn the hogs on it, or cut it, in summer ? 

 Mr. Stone— Cut it. 



Mr. Whitcomb — You can turn them on it. I brought per- 

 haps the first stalk of alfalfa that was brought east of Salt 

 Lake, in the spring of 1S7T. It Is a very hardy plant after 

 it Is establlsht. The ground, to sow alfalfa, should be pre- 

 pared as carefully as though you were going to plant onions, 

 in the richest land you have. The most successful growers of 



it in our State put it In with a plow. Then cover it in. Get 

 it into the moist ground. It won't stand heavy frosts in the 

 fall. The best alfalfa growers in our State do not put any 

 crop in with it at all. They mow the weeds down. After it 

 is establlsht there is no trouble about a stand, where there is 

 moisture within ten feet of the top. I had trouble last year 

 because It was wet all through the spring of the year. This 

 year it has done nicely, and we have harvested four crops. It 

 is not only an excellent thing for feed while It is fresh, bu"; 

 stock eat it with a great relish In the hay. I once opened up 

 some bales of alfalfa hay, and found it was more than half 

 sweet clover. The stalks were so large in many cases that 

 they had to double them over. I thought I was " sold," but 

 when I came to feed It I found the stock went for the sweet 

 clover first. It is an excellent plant. Instances are on record 

 where the roots have been found 30 feet below the surface. 

 But on a lime subsoil, where the lime is near the top, I would 

 say It is not a good alfalfa country ; but anywhere that you 

 have water within ten feet of the top it will do. It is a little 

 peculiar about harvesting. It should be raked up right after 

 the mower, and allowed to cure In the shock, and then hauled 

 in from there. I regard It as one of the best forage plants 

 for all this northwest country. But It is very tender in the 

 spring of the year. It cannot stand frosts, and it cannot 

 stand too much wet in the spring. I sow 20 to 30 pounds to 

 the acre, so that the alfalfa takes the place of weeds as 

 quickly as possible. 



Mr. Stone— Wouldn't it do to cut the hay down when 

 there is no dew on it, and then put it up as soon as it is 

 withered ? 



Mr. Whitcomb— I am afraid It would be a failure then. I 

 did a little of that one year, and It all had to be taken out. 



Mr. Stone — You are sure you didn't have any dew or 

 moisture ? 



Mr. Whitcomb— I am not sure of that. I don't cure it in . 

 the windrow, but in the shock. It cures nicely there. Then 

 haul it in. You will not lose the leaves that way, but if you 

 allow it to dry on the surface of the ground there will bono 

 leaves left. In Colorado we find hogs are raised and fattened 

 alone on alfalfa, and they are good hogs, too. Of course, 

 they are not corn-fed hogs. Nothing fattens hogs like corn. 

 Horses can be carried through the winter without a bit of 

 grain if you have plenty of alfalfa hay. There is but one 

 thing that I regard better as forage, and that is sorghum. 



Mr. Stone— There is only one thing I don't like about 

 alfalfa— it doesn't produce much honey here with us, I be- 

 lieve. I never can find half a dozen bees ou my whole patch 

 at one time. It might be if we had more of it so the bees 

 would go to work on it, it might be used, because I find 

 millers and other lusects working busily on it. 



Mr. Whitcomb — I haven't been able to get any alfalfa 

 honey at all. The nectar in the alfalfa doesn't seem to have 

 any attraction for honey-bees, except where there is nothing 

 else for them to work on. Alfalfa honey has no flavor or 

 taste. 



Mr. Baxter— One day last July a gentleman said, "Your 

 bees are making a lot of honey." I said, "Not now." He 

 replied, "My neighbor has a little patch of alfalfa, and they 

 are just literally covered with bees." I never went there to 

 examine, but it appears they must have been on it, or else he 

 would not have told me so, because he is a man of honesty. 



Mr. Stone— I would like to ask him if he is sure that the 

 man was not mistaken. People with us get alfalfa and Alsike 

 and sweet clover all mixt up, and don't know what they are 

 talking about. 



Mr. Baxter— If he were not an Intelligent German, who 

 had seen It growing in the old country, I might have believed 

 that he didn't know. He said he had seen it growing, and 

 was sure this was alfalfa. I would say that I have seen fields 

 literally white with white clover, and not a bee on It. I have 

 seen it when the bees were starving. I have seen the same 

 with buckwheat. I have seeu the same with heart's-ease. 

 The trouble is we probably did not look at it at the right time. 

 You may look at buckwheat about 10 or 11 o'clock and not 

 find a bee, but from daylight until that time it was probably 

 literally swarming with them. With other plants it depends 

 a great deal on the season and atmospheric conditions. 



^ ALSIKE CLOVER AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



Mr. Karch— How Is the Alsike for a honey-plant? 



Pres. Miller— That Is certainly one of the very best honey- 

 plants. 



Mr. Whitcomb — I agree with you there. I don't think we 

 have anything better, and nothing better for hay. 



Mr. Stone— I do not believe It ever fails to yield honey. I 

 will just state what I learned at the World's Fair. A man 

 there said he kept a dairy at Elgin, and that his cows pro- 



