XHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



805 



that they made one sale of honey last 

 year of $5,000 worth, spot cash, at 

 their deport. They sold early, and by 

 80 doing, they made for once a lucky 

 hit. 



All of their bee-operations are kept 

 exceedingly quiet,having learned that 

 it does not pay to do otherwise. 

 They never brag at bee-conventions 

 for the public eye, nor among their 

 non-honey-producing neighbors, or 

 elsewhere when harm might ensue, 

 about their big crops of honey ; nor 

 how little the itioney costs them ; nor 

 how soon they expect to become 

 millionaires ! 



There are a few honey-producers in 

 the United Slates, and they some- 

 times attend bee-conventions, who 

 might be profited by following the 

 common-sense example of the Oatman 

 Brothers. But will they do it V Please 

 keep an eye upon them in the future 

 and see ! 



St. Charles, 5 Ills. 



Iowa Homestead, 



Do Bees select a liome before Swarmini? 



SOJIB INTERESTING FACTS. 



We have always regarded the state- 

 ment frequently made, that before 

 leaving the apiary, if not before leav- 

 ing the hive, bees have a new home 

 selected if not fitted up, as a tradition 

 that might, and again might not have 

 a basis of fact. We had an oppor- 

 tunity last week to see for ourselves ; 

 or rather, to get our inform-ation from 

 first hands, and under circumstances 

 that left no opportunity for mistake. 



On Sunday Mr, Vance, the manager 

 of our creamery farm, discovered bees 

 clustered under the window sill of 

 his bed-room. There were but few of 

 them ; probably half a pint, and they 

 seemed to go in and out of a very 

 small crevice where the weather- 

 boarding had shrunk from the sill. 



He concluded this must be the 

 traditional committee of Investiga- 

 tion, appointed by whatever power 

 rules in the bee-hive, to find out 

 whatever good lay before them, and 

 report. 



The committee stayed all Sunday 

 forenoon, and spent the night and 

 the next forenoon. The bees were 

 Italians of a brighter and better color 

 than any in our apiary, and hence 

 were clearly strangers. The next 

 afternoon, while Mr. V, happened to 

 be watching them, a large swarm of 

 bees of the same color came in from 

 the northwest and immediately began 

 to cluster and enter the aperture in 

 the siding. By prompt and efficient 

 use of the smoker, they were driven 

 out, the hole closed and the bees 

 clustered on a tree and hived. We 

 know of no bees of the quality nearer 

 than nine miles to the northwest. 



This seems to us a demonstration 

 that bees select their home. This 

 committee had evidently reported a 

 land of promise near the Alsike, 

 white clover, and linden, and had sent 

 back a good report of the land as well 

 as guides to bring on the colony. 



There seems to have been some 

 misunderstanding, however, as about 



the same number of bees remained 

 clustered on the spot after the swarm 

 was hived, and remained there till 

 Thursday, evidently supporting them- 

 selves by foraging in the fields till we 

 took pity on them and allowed them 

 to go to their chosen home. 



The same day another investigating 

 committee selected a similar plaoe In 

 a neighbor's house, and the next day 

 one of his neighbor's had a swarm of 

 bees come off and leave. He followed 

 tbem directly to the spot where the 

 committee had all things in readiness. 



What now is the governing, supreme 

 power in the bee-hive V It is cer- 

 tainly not the queen. She is simply 

 the mother bee, and at the time the 

 swarm leaves the hive,may be but an 

 infant of a day, Nor is it the drones, 

 who are born to serve a brief purpose 

 and then murdered. 



In the case mentioned there is a 

 search for a location, the communi- 

 cation of intelligence to the parent 

 colony , and uniformity of action on the 

 part of the swarm. Now, who ap- 

 points this committee, and in what 

 way is their report received and 

 unanimously adopted and acted uponV 



For the American Bee Joumai. 



The MicMian Bee-Keepers' ConYention, 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



The Michigan State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association held its annual meeting 

 on Dec. 7 and 8, 1887,at East Saginaw, 

 Mich. The bee-keepers did not com- 

 mence their convention until the 

 afternoon of Dec. 7, and the first ses- 

 sion was a joint one with the horti- 

 culturists, who began their meeting 

 the day previous. The local bee- 

 keepers had done everything possible 

 to make it pleasant for the visitors. 

 Back of the speaker's stand appeared 

 the words, " Welcome Bee-Keepers," 

 the letters being formed by an ar- 

 rangement of cakes of bright yellow 

 wax upon a back-ground of gilt and 

 silver paper. This was the work of 

 Mr. John Bey. The Mayor of East 

 Saginaw welcomed the two societies 

 to the city, which brought a. prompt 

 response from T. T. Lyon, President 

 of the Horticultural Society. 



The convention then |)roceeded to 

 discuss the following subject : 



Do Bers lujnre maturing Fruit ? 



Prof. A. J. Cook— I do not believe 

 that the bees ever injure sound fruit. 

 They are never attracted to anything 

 that is entirely closed up. A sound 

 grape is sealed up, and the odor can- 

 not escape. When bees attack grapes 

 it is all at once ; they cannot com- 

 mence gradually. When they begin 

 work it is after a warm and sultry 

 time, and the grapes are over-ripe, 

 and the skins crack. I would not 

 state positively that bees cannot cut 

 open the skin of a sound grape ; but it 

 is contrary to their instinct. I have 

 placed the tender varieties of grapes 

 where the bees could get them in a 

 time of drouth, and they never 

 touched them. If some of the grapes 

 were pricked, the bees soon cleaned 



them out, but left the sound ones un- 

 touched. I have put the grapes into 

 the hives, and the bees did not open 

 them. I would like to know if any 

 one present, who raises grapes, has 

 been annoyed by bees V 



L. A. Pearce— The bees cause an- 

 noyance in my vineyard perhaps 

 three years out of five. I may say 

 that they are not always an annoy- 

 ance. Some years the birds attack 

 the grapes, and set the juice to run- 

 ning, and then the bees would suck 

 the skins dry ; but this has been a 

 help, as it enables us to pick out the 

 skins and sell the sound grapes, 

 which could not be done were not the 

 juice cleaned off the sound grapes. 

 The bees never touch sound grapes, 

 and cracked fruit is of no market 

 value. „ , .^ 



A. G. GuUey— We have found it 

 difficult to pick grapes because the 

 bees are so thick. The Delawares 

 are taken first. The bees will also 

 eat peaches ; it may be they were first 

 attacked by the curculio. 



Dr. L. C. Whiting— We often think 

 that the grapes are not cracked, when 

 they really are ; where the grapes 

 touch each other there is often a crack 

 that we do not notice. 



A. I. Root— I have raised grapes 

 (Concords) for shade over my hives, 

 and, as the bees have not molested 

 them upon the vines, we have often 

 used this as an argument to prove 

 that the bees do not injure grapes; 

 but as soon as I began selling grapes, 

 picking them off and putting them 

 into baskets, and putting them into 

 the market wagon, then bees were 

 quite annoying. I presume that the 

 picking and handling bruised and 

 cracked some of the grapes, and thus 

 started the bees. As soon as the 

 grapes are picked, we are obliged to 

 put them in the cellar until I am 

 ready to deliver them. The bees 

 have not yet learned to follow the 

 wagon, but they are always ready to 

 meet it upon its return, and lick all 

 the juice from the baskets. 



J. H. Robertson— I have a neigh- 

 bor who has two Delaware vines, and 

 the bees strip them of grapes. We 

 covered two bunches to keep the bees 

 away, and upon examination we 

 found many of the grapes cracked. 

 As soon as uncovered, the bees com- 

 pletely cleaned them up. The grapes 

 were very ripe, and could not be 

 handled without cracking them. 



Secretarv Garfield— The Secretary 

 of the Eaton County Horticultural 

 Society, said to me : " Charles Gar- 

 field, there is no use of talking, the 

 bees do open grapes; I have seen 

 them dp it. There was no crack nor 

 anytliing of the kind ; the bee just 

 put his jaws down on the grape and 

 wiggled his nose back and forth, until 

 he wiggled a hole right through the 

 skin of the grape." 



L. A. Pearce— I do not b-el-i-e-v-e 

 it. (Laughter.) I had some apples 

 that the birds picked into, and the 

 bees followed and sucked the juice. 

 Near the trees were grapes, and the 

 birds picked open many of the grapes. 

 The bees followed here, and sucked 

 the skins dry. They did not molest 

 the sound grapes. Now, if they could 



