1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



531 



"The other plan which I use is fully as 

 successful as the one just given, but is used 

 where I wish to treat swarms the way they 

 are generallj' treated by hiving- them on a 

 new stand, in which Ciise I proceed as fol- 

 lows: As soon as the swarm is hived I go 

 to the old hive from which it came, and 

 mark on it with a pencil, 'Sw'd, 6-10.' " 



" What do you do that for? That is all 

 Greek tome." 



" This is to tell me at a glance that a 

 swarm came from that hive June 10, should 

 that be the date on which the swarm issued, 

 and the one which was marked on the hive. 

 If it should be on another day the date 

 would be different; but the plan is the 

 same, and suited to any day on which any 

 first swarm is cast, or comes off. " 



" Yes. But what do j'ou put it on there 

 for?" 



"Wait. On the evening of the eighth 

 da^- from the date on the hive I listen a mo- 

 ment at the side of this old hive; and if 

 swarming has been according to rule I hear 

 the young queen piping, when I know a 

 3'oung queen has emerged from her cell, 

 and an after-swarm will be the result if not 

 stopped." 



" What do you mean b}' piping?" 



"This is a noise made bj' the young 

 queen when an after-swarm is likely to 

 issue, and sounds something like this: 

 T-e-e-e-e, t-e-e-e, t-e-e, t-e, te. After you 

 have once heard it you will never be mis- 

 taken as to what it is, for there is no other 

 sound made b_v bees that resembles it in 

 the least. If no piping is heard I do not 

 listen again till the evening of the 13th 

 daj'." 



" Why do 3'ou not listen the next day?" 



" Because the next rule is, that the colo- 

 n}- swarmed when there was onlj' an egg 

 or small larva in the queen-cell, instead 

 of the cell being sealed, as is generally the 

 case, which allows the queen to emerge 

 from her cell from the twelfth to sixteenth 

 day after the first swarm. If no piping is 

 heard by the evening of the seventeenth day, 

 no swarm need be expected. But in nine 

 cases out of ten, where after-swarming is to 

 be done the piping will be heard on the 

 eighth day after the first swarm is cast, so 

 that this listening is no tedious job, for not 

 more than a moment is generally required 

 at any hive." 



"When it is heard, what then?" 



" When it is heard I go early the next 

 morning and take everj' frame out of the 

 hive, shaking the bees off from each in 

 front of the entrance as I take them out, and 

 return them again, so that I may be sure 

 not to miss a queen-cell, but cut all off; for 

 I know there is a queen at libertj', from the 

 piping which has been heard. With all 

 the queen-cells out of the hive there can be 

 no more queens to come out, and thus all 

 after-swarming is prevented. In these two 

 plans we have something sure for accom- 

 plishing what we desire, under all circum- 

 stances which may arise." 



This is a peculiar June. We hear of 

 drouths and destructive floods, of hot weath- 

 er and cool. Now, June 11, it is cool and 

 misty. Our bees are doing little more than 

 to keep up brood-rearing. 



ABDOMENLESS BEES; AN INTERESTING CASE 



OF POISONING DURING FRUIT-BLOOM 



AROUND MEDINA. 



About the first of May, when spraying 

 was being carried on by some of our neigh- 

 bors, I noticed hundreds and hundreds of 

 our bees, which had lost their abdomens, 

 dropping down on the sidewalks, or on bare 

 spots of ground. In fact, such bees were 

 scattered all over everywhere, but they 

 showed up more plainly, of course, on the 

 sidewalks. These wriggling creatures, 

 without their hinder parts, crawling round, 

 keeling over and over, were, of course, very 

 much out of balance. They appeared great- 

 ly distressed. They would rush around in 

 circles, or tug with their hind legs at their 

 abdomens as if there were some pain or 

 distress in that portion of their bodies. I 

 was nonplused. I watched the bees flying 

 overhead, and noticed the fact that they 

 were coming from the fruit- bloom, and I 

 began to surmise that the trees off in that 

 direction had been sprayed with poisonous 

 mixtures, and that the trunkless victims on 

 the sidewalk had come from them direct. 

 After watching in the air for some time I 

 saw a bee suddenly drop down, without its 

 abdomen, and strike the sidewalk with a 

 bound and a whirl. I looked up again, 

 and finally saw a bee flying toward me 

 suddenly drop, whirling over and over, and 

 land on its back, without its abdomen. 

 That this bee had been flying was very 

 plain. When I first saw it, it was rolling 

 over and over in the air. From some cause 

 or other it had lost its abdomen while on 

 the wing; and at the precise moment of los- 

 ing it, it went keeling heels over head un- 

 til it landed at my feet. I then called the 

 attention of our apiarist to the matter, and 

 we both got down on our hands and knees 

 and watched. Finally I saw a bee tug 

 away at its hind quarters until it actuall3', 

 by the power of its hind legs, tore its abdo- 

 men asunder at one of the segments or 

 rings. But in this case the separation took 

 place, not at the waist, but midway along 

 the abdomen. A further search showed 

 that other bees were tugging away at their 

 bodies, and had torn them loose in the man- 

 ner described. My theory was, the bees 

 that had just come from the field were suf- 

 fering from poison, and that, while on the 

 wing, they would tug away at their bodies 



