340 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 - 



You nre right. It causes quite a little 

 trouble hiuI annoyance to shift back and 

 forth in f <i ii and spring; but to prepare our 

 bees for winter, and winter them, no mat- 

 ter in what way, is connected with more or 

 less labor. I can not see how I can lessen 

 the trouble of my way of packing very 

 much unless I suffer other inconveniences. 

 Since another winter has passed, I am 

 more and more in favor of tenement chaff 

 packing for wintering. It is less trouble 

 than wintering in cellar; and for the few 

 years I have practiced it, it has proved 

 successful beyond all my expectation. 

 Again this winter, every one of my colonies 

 so prepared has wintered well (to judge 

 from appearance — thej' are not unpacked 

 yet), and they all brought pollen the 18th 

 of this month. 



Why should I lose any bees in shifting 

 about? If it is done cautiously, not a sin- 

 gle bee need be lost on account of it. 



Your compositor made me say 4 per 

 cent. It should be 40 per cent. 



G. C. Greiner. 



La Salle, N. Y., March 21. 



[Possibly I put the distance between the 

 individual hives in the group too close. As 

 I look down at my shoe. No. 7, I find by 

 actual measurement it would take just 11 

 inches. Come to think about it, the actual 

 distance between our hives in the groups 

 is about 12 inches; and the groups them- 

 selves are anywhere from 8 to 12 feet apart, 

 depending on the room and the location of 

 natural shade. But you may ask what my 

 big foot has got to do with the spacing of 

 hives in groups. Why, I sit down on one 

 hive, putting my foot lengthwise between 

 the hives. I therefore stand beside the 

 hive just the same as you do, and yet have 

 plenty of room for my feet. 



I would set it down as a rule for the 

 group plan, to set the hives just far enough 

 apart so one can get his feet down between. 

 If one wears No. 9 he will, of course, gauge 

 the distance accordingly. 



The arrangement is very handy; and I 

 am satisfied that, if you will put your hives 

 out on that plan this spring, you will never 

 go back to the old way. You see, the prin- 

 cipal advantage is this: Suppose you are 

 carrying a basket of tools, and you also 

 have a filled super or two containing 

 frames of foundation which we will say 

 you are inserting to give more room. On a 

 group of three or four hives, don't you see 

 you would not have to move your tool-box 

 or your stock of frames? Every thing is 

 within arm's reach. And another advan- 

 tage, you can sit down on one hive and 

 work at the other. When the hives are 

 stationed each one by itself it takes more 

 room, and requires moving all the para- 

 phernalia every time one moves from one 

 hive to another. But still another advan- 

 tage, the group plan permits of a driveway 

 between the groups. P^igure it as you 

 may, you can get more hives in a given 

 area, and have more room for a wagon. 



than you would have by having a hive 

 here and a hive there, each six or eight 

 feet apart. 



Still again, I do not see how you can 

 move bees back and forth every spring and 

 fall without entailing more or less confu- 

 sion, and some loss. I once was dissatis- 

 fied with a row of our hives, or groups, 

 rather, which the boys had stationed at 

 one of the outyards. You see, they put one 

 row of groups, each one on the south side 

 of our basswoodtrees. I was disgusted, 

 and forthwith proceeded to change the 

 groups to the north side. Well, the bees 

 found their location, it is true; but, oh what 

 confusion! They hovered around the old 

 spots, notwithstanding each group was 

 stationed on the north side of the tree, with 

 the hives in the same relative position that 

 they were in on the south side. — Ed.] 



A MISSTATEMENT CORRECTED; HOW POL- 

 LEN IS PACKED IN THE CELLS. 



In the ABC, under the caption " Pol- 

 len," you seriously quote, from an antique 

 article, statements purporting to describe 

 the bees' manner of packing pollen in the 

 cells, i. e., by ramming it down with their 

 heads. Isn't it rather queer that so absurd 

 a statement should have found a place in 

 the book, and have stayed there so long? 

 However, it is no stranger than lots of other 

 absurd ideas concerning bee life which 

 pass current simply because somebody who 

 chances to be prominent — though any thing 

 but eminent — has so stated. 



Just conceive of that delicatelj' poised 

 head, its beautifully articulated antenna?, 

 the simple and compound eyes so wonderful- 

 ly and carefully protected by hairs, being 

 used as a battering-ram! Even a superficial 

 examination should convince anyone that a 

 bees' head was never designed for any such 

 purpose, nor is it ever so used. Organs are 

 always so formed as to fulfill most perfect- 

 ly their functions, and certainly there is 

 nothing to suggest a ram in the construc- 

 tion of a bee's head. Watch a bee try to 

 pass through a small space; watch it in its 

 work about the hive, passing in and out 

 among the masses of bees, and see how 

 carefully the head is always moved. At 

 times the bee seemingly pushes recklessly 

 forward, but it is only seemingly. If the 

 bee does not ram the pollen down with its 

 head, how then is it packed so solidly? 



After a bee has kicked off its load of pol- 

 len it moves away unconcernedly, leaving 

 the two pellets lying loose in the cell, to- 

 gether with others, sometimes. Soon anoth- 

 er bee comes along, pokes its head in, pos- 

 sibly nibbles at or licks the fresh pollen, 

 gives it a little push, and backs out; hesi- 

 tates, moves aside only to return and begin 

 packing that pollen in solidly. This is 

 how it is done: The pellets are pushed to 

 the bottom of the cell, or against what pol- 

 len is alreadj' packed there, and then be- 

 gins a patient rubbing, spreading, knead- 

 ing, and packing of the soft pollen by the 



