504 



THE AMERlCAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



their quarters in my ear. My wife 

 bragged that she put the boxes in any 

 way. This morning I went out and 

 found the cover on cornerwise, and 

 the bees just red hot and boiling over 

 because the boxes were in bottom 

 side up, and one of the glasses was 

 stove in. I told my wife that taking 

 care of bees was nice girl's work, and 

 we'd leave it to Jenny when she got 

 home from school." 

 Mr. McFinney paused. 

 " Have they swarmed any yet V" the 

 reporter asked sympathetically. 



An ominous light gleamed in Mr. 

 McFinney's eye. He had evidently 

 been touched in a tender point, but 

 he answered gently : 



" Yes, they swarmed to-day. Yes, 

 I think they swarmed this morning. 

 I was hilling the corn when my wife 

 blew the horn for me, and I went 

 down to the house. It was about 9 

 o'clock. My wife said the bees were 

 swarming, and she had a hive and a 

 sheet and a brush and some sweeten- 

 ed water ready. Way up in the tip- 

 top of an apple tree there were a lot 

 of bees making an awful circus about 

 a big black bunch that hung from a 

 limb, and when I looked at it I saw it 

 was one crawling mass of bees. My 

 wife said to go up a ladder and knock 

 them into the basket and let it down. 

 So when they had all settled I climbed 

 up the ladder, but I thought it might 

 soothe them to sprinkle some of the 

 sweetened water on them, and when 

 I came down I found that the puppy 

 had drank it up and tipped over the 

 hive and chewed up the sheet and hid 

 the basket. Well, we got 'em all 

 ready again, and then I went up and 

 sprinkled the bees, and came down 

 ■ and got the basket and a long handled 

 egg beater." 

 " What !" said the reporter. 

 " It was a patent thing that we 

 couldn't ever make work, and Mrs. 

 McFinney thought I could poke them 

 off the branch with it. I couldn't get 

 near enough on the ladder, so I 

 climbed up in the tree and held the 

 basket under the swarm and scraped 

 them into the basket I don't believe 

 the water had soothed them much ; 

 they hissed just like snakes when 

 they fell into the basket, and my wife 

 made me nervous. She kept telling 

 me I was smashing them against the 

 limb. Then 1 began to let the basket 

 down, but it turned over in the air, 

 and they all came out and flew most 

 every way, but chiefly my way. They 

 seemed to think it was all my fault. 

 One 'gentle Italian worker ' got un- 

 der my veil and shut up my eye." 



The reporter had noticed the pecu- 

 liar expression given to Mr. McFin- 

 ney's face by the mishap. 



"Pretty soon," he went on, "they 

 all went back to the same place ; and 

 just exactly the same thing happened 

 over again ; only this time the whole 

 swarm went for me, and I tumbled 

 out of the tree. I hit the hive as I 

 came down, and hurt ray shoulder 

 some, and the sweetened water got 

 all over my hair. My wife said she 

 didn't see what was the idea in tip- 

 ping the basket over every time. 

 They flew into another tree this time, 

 and we set up the hive, and I got up 



in the tree and sawed off the limb. 

 It was a big limb up in the top again, 

 and my wife was to steady it with a 

 pitchfork as it fell. Well, she missed 

 it; and the fork scraped off every 

 blamed bee. They doubled up and 

 turned all colors, they were so mad ; 

 but anally they flew off again, and we 

 were pretty tired and had our dinner. 



" After dinner I went out again and 

 found them on a lot of little twigs. 

 I picked them off and laid them in 

 front of the hive, and kind of brushed 

 'em along toward it. After awhile 

 they all went in, and then after 

 awhile they all came out. They 

 crawled all over the hive, and Mr. 

 Jordan, the man I bought them of, 

 came up and looked at "em with me. 

 He said he didn't see what they were 

 doing on the outside of the hive. 

 They stayed there so long I got kind 

 of tired of seeing them crawl over 

 each other and make faces at me, and 

 I said : ' I guess I'll brush 'em off 

 into the sheet.' Mr. Jordan put on 

 his hat and said : ' I guess I won't 

 stay, then.' So I brushed 'em into 

 the sheet, and they all flew up and 

 lighted on a fence over our swamp. I 

 jammed my hat on and I said to my- 

 self, 'Thomas McFinney, don't let it 

 be said that you couldn't collar a 

 swarm of bees,' and Melville and me 

 went down there. We spread the 

 sheet over the hummocks in the bog 

 and set the hive on it. Melville had 

 on his gum boots, so he waded in and 

 dummed 'em into the sheet. About 

 a quart fell into the water and 

 drowned. They sissed when they 

 touched the water as though they 

 were red hot. But the rest were so 

 tired that pretty soon they crawled 

 into the hive and we've put it in 

 place. I hope they won't come out 

 again to-morrow," said Mr.McFinney 

 not very hopefully. " I told my wife 

 that it needs a younger man than me 

 to gallop and climb and swim after 

 her bees, and a more active." Mr. 

 McFinney felt of his shoulder ten- 

 derly, and, taking off his hat and veil, 

 passed his fingers through his sticky 

 hair. 



For tlie American Bee JoumaL 



How Bees Know One Anotlier. 



GEO. F. ROBBINS. 



When I first began to study bee- 

 books and bee-keeping, I was taught 

 that bees recognize one another by 

 the sense of smell. I took it for 

 granted that that was true, for that 

 seemed to be the general assumption. 

 After awhile I saw doubts of the 

 theory expressed, and at length de- 

 cided, from watching the habits of 

 bees, that the view could not be 

 sustained. I have never seen the 

 assumption proven. M. Schachinger, 

 on page 422, does not prove it. He 

 leaves some very broad chasms be- 

 tween premise and conclusion. 



It may be the opinion of the reader 

 that I can no more logically draw my 

 conclusions from the premises, but 1 

 am certain I have a theory just as 

 reasonable as the above, and, in my 



opinion, much more so. My view is, 

 that bees recognize one another more 

 by actions than by all things else. 

 Two facts in bee-nature are well 

 known, flrst, their senses are far more 

 delicate than ours. They and their 

 little world are so much less than we 

 and ours, that what to us is so in- 

 finitesimal as to escape notice, to 

 them is a matter of some magnitude. 

 They can perceive what we cannot, 

 and it may be that in some way we 

 would scarcely imagine all their 

 senses aid in mutual recognition. 



Certainly we know that, second, 

 bees know their own home, and that 

 chipfly by sight. They carefully study 

 their hive and its surroundings ; every 

 little mark is cognized and remem- 

 bered. Now, when a bee enters her 

 home, she knows it ; she feels at home 

 and acts accordingly. Her sisters 

 know by the way she acts that she is 

 at home. If she goes into a strange 

 hive, she goes either designedly or by 



m 1 stfilf ft 



Now nature is spontaneous. In 

 whatever form manifested, it wells 

 out as a matter of instinct. A plant 

 or an emotion springs up with the 

 same spontaneity. The man or bee 

 that follows his instincts, shows 

 guilt or innocence— caution or fear. 

 It is generally to be supposed that no 

 bee will enter a strange hive except 

 for purposes of plunder. The bee 

 that seeks ingress to a hive for the 

 purpose of robbing, knows that she is 

 a robber ; she seeks to steal her way 

 with fear and dread. The home bees 

 perceive the signs, recognize her as a 

 robber, and treat her accordingly. 



M. Schachinger thinks that, after 

 the robber has been successful a few 

 times in entering and leaving a hive, 

 that she can go and come with im- 

 punity, because she has acquired the 

 scent of the colony. If so, why do not 

 her sister bees perceive- the foreign 

 scent,and,if governed by that in recog- 

 nizing one another, repel her as an 

 intruder? Likewise, how can she 

 succeed that few times until she ac- 

 quires the scent y Evidently they do 

 not judge by smell alone, if at all. It 

 is easier to assume that the bee that 

 can walk in as though she belonged 

 there— makes herself at home— can go 

 and come in safety. To attribute so 

 much design to a bee may be assum- 

 ing a great deal, but bees are certainly 

 creatures of volition. They will, and 

 do. Hence, it is reasonable to con- 

 clude since some do enter, load and 

 return, that partly perhaps in obe- 

 dience to the instinct that prompts 

 her to steal, the bee wills to go into 

 the hive she means to rob, with an 

 air of business and familiarity that 

 disarms the inmates. If there is 

 anything suspicious about her, the 

 home bees simply examine her care- 

 fully, she submitting innocently, ana 

 if thev do not find suflicient evidence 

 of imposture, she is allowed to pass. 



But if a bee or bees go into a 

 strange hive with no intention to 

 steal, what then? In certain cases 

 they often do, and generally with per- 

 fect safety. It is safe to say that 

 bees never fight except in case one 

 party has reason to regard the other 

 as robbers or trespassers. The entire 



