356 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the necessary fertilization. Alsike 

 clover, a hybrid between the white 

 and the red, has shorter flower tubes, 

 which makes it a favorite with our 

 honey bees, and so it gives a full crop 

 of seed from the early blossoms. 

 T^An all these cases we have proof that 

 Nature objects to close inter-breed- 

 ing ; and thus, through her laws, the 

 nectar-secreting organs liave been 

 evolved, that insects might do the 

 work of cross-fertilization. As in the 

 case of animals, the bi-sexual or dioe- 

 cious plants have been evolved from 

 the hermaphroditic as a higher type ; 

 each sex being independent, more 

 vital force can be expended on tlie 

 sexual elements, and so the individual 

 is the gainer. 



It is sometimes contended by farm- 

 ers that the visits of bees are detri- 

 mental to their crops. I have heard 

 farmers say that they had known bees 

 to destroy entirely their crop of buck- 

 wheat by injuring the blossoms. 

 There is no basis of fact for this 

 statement or opinion. Usually bees 

 visit buckwheat bloom freely. If for 

 any reason the seed fail, as from 

 climatic condition and influence, it 

 occasionally will, the bees are charged 

 with the damage, though their whole 

 work, as shown above, has been bene- 

 ficial, and that only. 



It is true, as I have personally ob- 

 served, that species of our carpenter 

 bees (Xi/locopa) do pierce the flower 

 tubes of the wild bergamont, and 

 some of our cultivated flowers, with 

 similar long corolla tubes, that they 

 may gain access to the otherwise in- 

 accessible nectar; the tubes once 

 pierced and our honey bees avail 

 themselves of the opportunity to 

 secure some of the nectar. I liave 

 watched long and carefully, but never 

 saw the honey bee making the inci- 

 sions. As I have never heard of any 

 one else who has seen them, I feel 

 free to say that it is entirely unlikely 

 that they are ever thus engaged. 



My last proposition is, that though 

 bees, in the dearth of nectar secre- 

 tion, will sip the juices from crushed 

 grapes and other similar fruits, they 

 rarely ever, I think never, do so un- 

 less Nature, some other insect, or 

 some higher animal, has flrst broken 

 the skin. I have given to bees 

 crushed grapes from which they 

 would eagerly sip the juices, while 

 other sound grapes on the same stem 

 — even those like the Delaware, with 

 tenderest skin, which were made to 

 replace the bruised ones — were left 

 entirely undisturbed. 1 have even 

 shut bees up in an empty hive with 

 grapes, which latter were safe, even 

 though surrounded by so many hungry 

 mouths. I have tried even a more 

 crucial test, and have stopped the en- 

 trance of the hive with grapes, and 

 yet the grapes were uninjured. 



In most cases where bees disturb 

 grapes, some bird or was|) has opened 

 the door to such mischief by pre- 

 viously piercing the skin. Occason- 

 ally there is a year when an entire 

 vineyard seems "to be sucked dry by 

 bees in a few hours. In such cases 

 the fruit is always very ripe, the 

 weather very hot, and the atmosphere 

 very damp ; when it i.'» altogether 



probable that the juice oozes from 

 tine natural pores, and so lures the 

 bees on to this Bacchanalian feast. I 

 have never had an opportunity to 

 prove this to be true, but from num- 

 erous reports I think it the solution of 

 those dreaded onslaughts which have 

 so often brouht down severe denuncia- 

 tions upon the bees, and as bitter 

 curses upon their owners. 

 Lansing, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Essentials of the Coming Hive. 



W. H. STEWART. 



What to us appears to-day to be 

 true, may to-morrow prove to be un- 

 true. The assemblage of what we 

 now consider to be general principles, 

 deduced from experiment and obser- 

 vation on the subject of bee-culture, 

 may, by some, be considered entitled 

 to the name of pure science. No 

 science is pure, however, unless based 

 upon self-evident truths, as is the 

 science of mathematics. I sometimes 

 question whether the art of bee- 

 culture has become sufficiently un- 

 derstood to be properly called a science. 



If we say that two and two equal 

 four, or that four pecks equal one 

 bushel, we speak self-evident truths, 

 backed up by pure mathematical 

 science ; but if we ask how many 

 cubic inches are contained in a Wis- 

 consin or New York bee hive, we And 

 that no scientific or positive answer 

 can be given. The reason that no 

 answer can be given is, that no one 

 hag as yet been able to demonstrate 

 practically that any one hive in use 

 embodies all the advantages that are 

 found in all the hives of various 

 forms and sizes that are now or have 

 been in use. Even if a hive could be 

 showm to embody all the good points 

 that are found in the many others, 

 there is no certainty that it would not 

 be found wanting in some respects. 



The truth is that not a State in the 

 Union has a hive that gives universal 

 and full satisfaction to all bee-keepers 

 in that State. A hive adequate to 

 every demand of both bees and bee- 

 keepers, every day of the year, and 

 every year, would possess in itself 

 self-evidence that it was constructed 

 on pure scientific principles. When 

 we get that kind of a hive, then every 

 bee-keeper will be as well satisfied of 

 its perfection as they now are that 

 2 and 2 equal 4, from the fact that 

 that very application of the principle 

 will demonstrate its truthfulness. 



The Langstroth hive being shallow, 

 the supers are nearer to the centre of 

 the cluster of bees, and tluis many 

 conclude that the bees can be induced 

 to work in the supers earlier in the 

 season than in taller hives. Let us 

 admit that this be true, and that we 

 have thus gained one imjiortant point. 

 We find on the other hand that the 

 queen is much more apt to extend the 

 breeding into the super than where 

 tall brood chambers are used. Also, 

 that very little honey can be stored 

 above the cluster for wintering, and 

 this latter objection alone renders it 



altogether unfit for out-door winter- 

 ing. 



If bees are in a tall and reasonably 

 narrow hive, then nearly, or all their 

 winter stores are found in the upper 

 part of the hive, and during a long 

 cold spell, the bees can easily, and do 

 naturally move glowly upward to the 

 top of the cluster to meet the warmer 

 air, and are ever coming in connection 

 with the lower portion of their stores, 

 and can obtain plenty of food without 

 being compelled to make any un- 

 natural or hazardous movement. In 

 low broad hives the stores must 

 unavoidably be at the sides of the 

 cluster, and when we have such a 

 winter as the past, when for 50 to 100 

 days that bees could not leave the 

 cluster, either downward or in a 

 laterly direction without Ijeing chilled 

 to death, they consume what is imme- 

 diately above them, and then perish 

 with hunger with plenty of food 

 within a few inches of them on all 

 sides. 



It is my opinion that the main rea- 

 son why bees wintered better in the 

 old straw hive is, that on account of 

 its peculiar pyramidal form, the most 

 and best of the stores were in the 

 upper part of the hive, and also, the 

 hive being contracted on all sides 

 alike, the warmer air was confled to 

 the same point, and the bees could 

 easily move about in the midst of 

 plenty. 



If a chaff hive could be invented 

 that would embody this point, and 

 the advantages for supers and mov- 

 abls combs iu the brood-chamber, as 

 found in the Langstroth, then we 

 might, with propriety, talk about 

 wintering on the summer stands ; but 

 broad, shallow brood-chambers with 

 movable combs, either in chaff or 

 straw, will ever fail as an out-door 

 winter hive. Tall, narrow hives like 

 the American, give bees a chance to 

 store honey above the cluster to a 

 greater extent than other frame hives 

 in use ; but the open spaces between 

 the combs at the ends allows the 

 warm air to escape laterally, and be- 

 come disipated throughout the hive, 

 thus reducing the temperature in and 

 immediately about the cluster. They 

 are also unsafe for wintering on sum- 

 mer stands. 



Again, many bee-keepers are of the 

 opinion that the hive should be con- 

 tracted in early spring, and are ex- 

 perimenting with various division- 

 boards for that purpose. And then 

 again, all the frame hives of which I 

 have any knowledge are, in the 

 months of June and July, found too 

 small to give a proliflc queen ample 

 room for brooding. During the two 

 last seasons, I have found hybrid 

 queens using 18 and 20 combs, and 

 each comb 12x12 inches. 



Many are now talking of using per- 

 forated separators over the brood- 

 chamber to confine the queen to the 

 lower combs for the purpose of keep- 

 ing the surplus free from brood. This 

 proposition proves that the hives thus 

 provided is considered to be incapable 

 of satisfying the queen in the lower 

 department in the height of the 

 brooding season. And yet again, if 

 it shoula finally be found most con- 



