THE AMERICAIS[ BEE JOURNAL. 



249 



honey. It would seem to be the part 

 of wisdom, then, for the bee-keepers 

 to turn their attention more to the 

 production of comb houey, instead of 

 extracted honey. 



"In this connection, too, it may be 

 noted that in order to get people to 

 become habitual consumers of honey, 

 it must be put up in small and attrac- 

 tive packages and sold at a price 

 which puts it within the reach of all, 

 so that it may be regarded as a staple 

 rather than a luxury, as is now the 

 case. The bee-keepers, too, must 

 adopt some means for bringing the 

 excellence of their product more 

 directly to the attention of consumers. 

 Notwithstanding the enormous pro- 

 dudt of the apiaries of this State, it is 

 seldom that honey is seen exposed for 

 sale in the grocery stores at retail, 

 and when it is offered it is generally 

 at a price about 200 per cent, or more 

 higher than that received by the pro- 

 ducer. Comb honey can be sold at a 

 very moderate price, and still leave 

 a profit to all who handle it, but 

 some means must be taken to induce 

 people to become larger consumers of 

 it, if it is hoped to remedy the existing 

 state of affairs. 



'• Another reason that makes the 

 keeping of bees a precarious business, 

 is the liability to an almost total fail- 

 ure of the crop nearly every other year, 

 owing to the lack either of a suflS- 

 ciency of wild bloom or a deficiency 

 of the supply of nectar in the blos- 

 soms. The experience of the Colorado 

 bee-keepers in this direction seems to 

 offer a hint, and if it is true that 

 alfalfa will produce so good a quality 

 of comb honey, then it will be a com- 

 paratively easy matter for California 

 apiarists to render themselves en- 

 tirely independent of the caprices of 

 the seasons, and give them a certainty 

 of producing a good crop every vear." 



De Luz,<x Calif., March 26, 1887. 



For tbe Amencan Bee JoutdoL 



Ha7e Bees tlie Sense Of Hearing? 



D. BRIMJIEK. 



In discussing this subject I have no 

 object only to arrive as nearly as pos- 

 sible at the truth, for I have been a 

 lover of the truth always, and while 

 I am aware how difficult it is to come 

 at it, so as to satisfy my own mind, 

 much less those who are skeptical. 



On page 201, Mr. Pox seems to take 

 a different view from what I did in 

 my article on page 121. He would 

 have us believe that bees are wholly 

 guided by the sense of sight, and 

 labors to prove that the different 

 sounds emitted are wholly from the 

 vibration of their wings. Now, I 

 would ask, can their wings vibrate 

 when an ugly bee gets into a person's 

 hair, or under his coat-collar, squeal- 

 ing and grunting like a young pig V I 

 think it begins to resemble the cylin- 

 der of a thresher at a high rate of 

 speed ; and then, when bees get in a 

 pinch, how they cry for quarters. Is 

 that vibration ? 



With regard to a few bees leading a 

 swarm to a tree previously selected. 



is a fact so well established that 1 am 

 surprised to find a bee-keeper who 

 doubts it. I have been aware of it 

 from my youth up, and I find it well 

 demonstrated in my experience. 

 Would Mr. Fox liave us believe that 

 they go in a body to search for a tree 

 in the forest ? if they do they have 

 good eye-sight ; for more than 40 

 years ago I had 2 swarms come out 

 and unite, and I hiT«d them, but 1 

 saw they were restlsss, and the next 

 day they came out and started toward 

 a piece of woodland, up a hill, and as 

 they were not going very fast I fol- 

 lowed and saw them go into a large 

 oak out of sight of my apiary, more 

 than a mile from the place of start- 

 ing. Is it to be supposed that they 

 could all see the hole in that tree be- 

 fore starting V If not, then the leaders 

 must have had flags to beckon them 

 on, if deaf. 



When we compare a swarm of bees 

 to a drove of sheep or covey of prairie 

 chicks, we stray from the mark, for 

 the same law that governs the animal 

 race does not come under that of the 

 insect. Mr. Fox is willing to accord 

 to sheep a leadership, but does not 

 tell ui how the leaders attract atten- 

 tion ; it is by the bleating of the fore- 

 most. 



As to stopping absconding swarmg, 

 I would say that I was as skeptical as 

 any one once, and laughed at the idea 

 of stopping bees with a noise to con- 

 fuse them, and by letting them have 

 their own way I have lost many good 

 swarms that I might have saved. 

 But give me a good bell, the size a 

 milk-man carries, and if I can run 

 fast enough to a little ahead of them, 

 I can stop 9 out of every 10 swarm*. 

 I have stopped lots of them since 

 trying the plan. 



I would like to ask Mr. Fox if he 

 never saw a young queen in the act of 

 piping y I have more than once while 

 holding the comb on which she was, 

 and I know it was not caused by 

 vibration. It is well known that old 

 queens can be scented by the bees, 

 but can they do it with a virgin 

 queen ? I think not. Now if there 

 is no evidence that bees can hear, 

 then I am no judge. 

 Hoosick,©* N. y. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Quietude of Bees in Winter. 



9— .JOHN C. GILLILAND, (25-23.) 



Mr. G. W. Demaree denies, on page 

 151, that bees ever resort to exercise 

 to raise or keep up the temperature 

 in the hive in winter; and he thinks 

 the theory of exercise to counteract 

 falling temperature was invented to 

 bolster up the "pollen theory." The 

 theory may have been invented for 

 that purpose, but the fact existed 

 long before the " pollen theory " was 

 evolved. 



The statements here given I know 

 from personal observation in this 

 county only, never having examined 

 bees in other places in winter. In 

 January, 1885, the hive and cloth 

 covers were blown off one of my colo- 



nies just after dark, and remained so 

 until the next morning about 7 o'clock, 

 leaving the bees exposed about 12 

 hours, with no covering except the 

 clouds, and the mercury was at zero 

 when 1 discovered their condition. 

 About half an inch of snow had fallen 

 in the early night and drifted in on 

 them. They were roaring so that I 

 heard them several feet away from 

 the hive, and the bees on the outside 

 of the cluster were continually going 

 into it and others coming out. I both 

 saw and heard these bees exercise to 

 keep warm. In a few days the tem- 

 perature rose up to 40° at noon, when 

 they were quiet again, and there was 

 a just perceptible hum, on placing the 

 ear at the entrance. I know they 

 were exposed all night, as it ceased 

 to snow soon after dark, and the 

 cover and cloth were both covered 

 with snow. 



I winter my bees on the summer 

 stands, and know nothing about cel- 

 lar wintering, by experience. I have 

 wintered colonies packed with the 

 enameled-cloth propolized down tight 

 so there could be no upward ventila- 

 tion, and others packed and with up- 

 ward ventilation ; also colonies un- 

 packed in %-inch single-walled hives, 

 with and without upward ventilation. 

 The temperature the most of the win- 

 ters was as low as 20° below zero, and 

 has been as low as 27i^" below. 



I visited the apiary at different 

 hours in the daytime, and at night 

 when the temperature was from 32P 

 above zero to 24" below, and instead 

 of the "oppressive stillness" the 

 quietness (V) could be plainly heard, 

 the hum or roar increasing as the 

 mercury lowers until at 20° below 

 zero, or lower ; it can be distinctly 

 heard 10 feet from a hive. This is 

 kept up day and night with no cessa- 

 tion that I have been able to discover, 

 until the temperature is rising, de- 

 creasing as it does so until it reaches 

 about 40^, when there is just a per- 

 ceptible hum by placing the ear at 

 the entrance and listening closely. 

 There is a very slight, if any, differ- 

 ence in the roar of the differently pre- 

 pared colonies. 



In the winter of 1880-81 this roar 

 continued for over two months. In 

 October, when there is a frosty morn- 

 ing with the temperature 10° below 

 freezing, they will roar lively, and 

 quiet down in an hour or two when 

 the sun warms things up. With me, 

 bees are most quiet at 40°. A higher 

 temperature causes them to leave the 

 cluster, and fly out, and as the tem- 

 perature becomes lower they cluster 

 more compactly, and the noise grows 

 louder the lower it gets. Of course 

 they do not leave the cluster to exer- 

 cise, as that would defeat the object 

 they are trying to accomplish. 



This hum, when bees are clustered, 

 is made by the true voice, as shown 

 by Mr. Frank Cheshire, and certainly 

 requires respiration. Therefore, to 

 increase the hum they must increase 

 respiration, and that is exercise. 

 Possibly they are putting in the time, 

 when too cold tor anything else, ex- 

 ercising their vocal organs in getting 

 ready for a grand chorus when spring 

 comes. The colder tlie air, the more 



