1883 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



123 



S\irARiniNG BY MOONIilGHT. 



A "SET-BACK" ON THE IDEA, BY OUR GOOD FRIEND 



PETERS. 



SN your Jan. issue I notice'an'article on " Swarm- 

 ing by Moonlight," which might not have at- 

 tracted more than a passing thought had it not 

 been for the indorsement of Prof. Cook, the weight 

 of whose authority is aclsnowledged by every Amer- 

 ican apiculturist, so far as I know. I have once or 

 twice seen in your journal articles on "Absconding 

 by Moonlight," etc. Now, I had a large swarm to 

 abscond by moonlight (in a horn, vulgarly). It hap- 

 pened in this wise: At 4 o'clock p.m. I bad a large 

 swarm of Arkansas brown bees to come out. I 

 hived them, and, it being late, 1 did not put them on 

 their permanent stand, but waited until dark, at 

 which time I proceeded to remove them. I tapped 

 the hive, and imagined I heard a buzz, or roarmg. 

 Next morning at 9 o'clock 1 went to inspect my new 

 colony, and saw they were quite still; tapped the 

 hive; none came forth. I took off the cap, and, lo! 

 not a bee was inside. I called to the gardener, and 

 told him that, as the moon was full, the nights being 

 very light, our fine swarm had absconded by moon- 

 light. This amused him very much, and he was in- 

 clined to test my credulity by divers qu'^stions. At 

 last he exploded into a fit of laughter, and told me I 

 had scarcely left the garden when the bees took 

 wing and went off, he having followed them to the 

 woods. Now, I opine that none of your correspond- 

 ents were more confident that their bees left by 

 moonlight than I was; and yet the idea was prepos- 

 terous, as every observer of the habits and instincts 

 of bees must know. 



As to Prof. Cook's indorsement of Mr. Moon, I 

 have to say, I knew Mr. Moon; and to his many ex- 

 cellent qualities of head and heart was added a su- 

 perstitious fondness for the marvelous, and, as a 

 consequence, he was constitutionally disposed to 

 embellish, and no doubt he had seen in the work of 

 Mr. Langstroth a bit of authority for bees gathering 

 honey during a free flow and light nights, which he 

 thought so constantly about that he dreamed he saw 

 bees swarming at night, which was so vivid in his 

 mobile faith that he did not doubt he had seen the 

 simon-pure swarm at night. Prof. Cook touches the 

 subject very delicately, and well he might. I don't 

 think he believes one syllable of it; and I will wager 

 an Arkansas brown colony of bees that you do not. 

 The thing is an absurdity. Bees do not see after 

 night, and nature's laws would be violated. 



THE BEST RACE OF HONEY - GATHERERS IN THE 

 WORLD. 



Now, friend Root, I believe the hybrid resulting 

 from the Italian and Arkansas brown is the best race 

 of honey-gatherers in the world. My whole stock, 

 although badly set back by the overflow, averaged 

 280 lbs. of honey, and I left in the supers for winter 

 food, 73 lbs. Now, I will send a two-story Simplicity 

 colony of strong Arkansas brown bees, in good con- 

 dition, to any man or woman who will convince an 

 impartial witness that bees ever do, ever did, or 

 ever will swarm at night. Geo. B. Peters. 



Council Bend, Ark., Jan. 25, 1883. 

 Many thanks, friend P.; but still I think 

 it will "be well for you to go a little gentle 

 on the brethren who think they have seen or 

 heard bees by moonlight. In a recent num- 

 ber some one speaks of having heard a 

 swarm of bees go off when it was too dark to 



see them. I have often watched to see if I 

 could see any indication of bees working on 

 very warm bright moonlight nights ; but al- 

 though I saw a bee occasionally take wing, 

 I could not be satisfied that he did more 

 than to blunder about in the dark, only to 

 tumble down somewhere to await for the 

 morninsr. I saw no bees return to their 

 hive. This was before midnight, mind you. 

 Now if you will recollect what I say in the 

 ABC about the spider plant, you will see 

 that I almost come in for that big two-story 

 colony. I can not now recall whether the 

 east was lighted up by the first gray of dawn 

 or not ; but this I do know : That the bees 

 were going out of certain hives, and flying 

 otf to the spider-plant field, when it was so 

 dark I could not see them when on my hands 

 and knees before the entrance. I heard 

 them buzz, and felt them with my fingers. 

 After they arose in the air they doubtless 

 found it light enough to guide them in the 

 direction of the spider-plant field ; and if 

 they didn't strike the honey at once, they 

 got on the plants and crawled about until 

 daylight came to their assistance. They 

 came into the field in droves, when I could 

 not see a bee, but only heard them. By 

 bending down very close to the flowers, I 

 could see dark spots moving about on them. 

 You will observe that this took place when 

 it was cloudy, and very much darker than 

 bright moonlight. Why. then, did they not 

 fly out on such nights before the approach of 

 dawn ? This was a puzzle to me. I was up, 

 and watched the most favorable night that 

 offered, but I never found them stirring un- 

 til close on to morning. But they may have 

 been, mind you, for all that, for it was, as 

 you know, late in the fall, and favorable 

 moonlight nights were scarce. I am not 

 satisfied yet. It seems to me that I surely 

 can train "bees to work on the spider plant 

 by moonlight, by raising plants in the green- 

 house, that will be in full bloom during the 

 hot nights in August. If I fail I will get 

 friend Fradenburg, see page 70, to teach his 

 bees to rob from his honey-house, by moon- 

 light. I have tried to get bees to rob by 

 moonlight, to some extent, but failed ; but 

 I feel sure I can do it. What has become of 

 the friend who was going to light up the 

 basswood-trees by electric light, and steal a 

 march on old !S6l V Come on, boys, and let 

 us get friend Peters' big swarm of bees away 

 from him. 



A NEIV HONEY-PIiANT. 



POINCIANA PULCHERRIMA. 



W MADE a visit to a neighboring florist, and the 

 Jl first thing I took notice of there was a house full 

 — ' of Poincianapulcherrima, a plant of the tropical 

 regions, which is cultivated largely for its beautiful 

 heads of fiery scarlet flowers, which always come in 

 bloom at the holidays. It is not exactly a flower, 

 but a combination of seed-balls the size of small 

 peas, from 15 to 20 of them. They are of a greenish 

 color, with a yellow crack at the top, which opens 

 when ripe, and out of these cracks oozes a drop of 

 nectar the size of a pea. These seed-balls are sur- 

 rounded by a bract of bright scarlet leaves, which 

 are used as flowers for floral decoration. These 



