AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



113 



Wavelets of News. 



Color for Hives. 



In painting hives, dark colors should 

 be avoided, for in extreme hot weather 

 the combs in such hives will melt down, 

 while in a hive which is painted white, 

 no damage will be done. Such melting 

 down of combs, often comes in the times 

 of scarcity of honey in the fields, so that 

 robbing is started by the honey running 

 from the hive, when the inmates are in 

 no condition to defend themselves ; and 

 from this cause, and the spoiled combs, 

 much damage is done. — Farm. Stock and 

 Home. 



Night-Work in the Hive. 



Bees work all night, whenever there is 

 work to be done ; and there is always 

 more or less to be done during almost 

 every month in the year. Brood is fed 

 at night, as much as in the daytime. 

 Cells are prepared for the queen to lay 

 in, and the queen goes on with egg-lay- 

 ing just the same. During the honey 

 season more comb is built during the 

 night than at any other time, and both 

 pollen and honey are taken from the 

 cells, where the workers deposit it during 

 the day, placed where wanted, properly 

 packed away and sealed over. — Olean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture. 



When their labor is over for the day, 

 they rest in chains suspended from the 

 ceiling of their habitation, one bee cling- 

 ing by its fore-feet to the hind-feet of 

 the one above it, until it seems impossi- 

 ble that the upper one can be strong 

 enough to support the weight of so many 

 hundreds. — Exchange. 



Dead Bees About the Entrance. 



During the Winter season, it is very 

 common to see quite a number of dead 

 bees about the entrances of the hives. 

 Many become alarmed at the sight of 

 this, and conclude that there is some- 

 thing wrong, and, in their ignorance, tear 

 up the colony, to make an examination, 

 only to find that all is apparently right. 

 This untimely handling and disturbance 

 in cold weather, is very hurtful to the 

 bees, and in all such cases there is no 

 indication of anything wrong. 



Bees die off daily, in great numbers, 

 throughout the entire year, but during 

 warm weather, when they have the lib- 

 erty to fly every day, these dead ones are 

 carried off by the colony, and they dis- 



appear unnoticed by us. But, during 

 Winter, they die and drop to the bottom- 

 board and collect there, and on the 

 approach of a warm day, the bees carry 

 them to the entrance, and drop them 

 outside. It is not unusual to find quite 

 a handful of dead bees lying at the en- 

 trance, on such occasions. There may, 

 at times, be as many as a pint of them, 

 and no serious damage may be expected. 

 All unprotected hives will produce more 

 of these dead bees than those that are 

 well protected.— A. H. Duff, in the 

 National Stockman. 



Alfalfa-Clover Honey. 



Alfalfa honey is not only the finest in 

 appearance of any honey that I ever saw, 

 but it is also equal in flavor. It is al- 

 most, if not quite, as clear as water, and 

 yet, during a hot July day, it will 

 scarcely run. It is as clear as a crystal, 

 and exquisite in flavor. Very likely the 

 producer has not a ton of such honey ; but 

 if he has, I should think it would be a 

 small fortune, if he could get it before 

 the class of people who buy gilt-edge 

 butter, and things of that sort. And, by 

 the way, we are using alfalfa honey on 

 our table, day after day. I never ate 

 any other honey that suited so well, and 

 for so great a length of time. At pres- 

 ent the outlook seems to be that alfalfa 

 honey is destined' to lead the world. — 

 Oleanings. 



Fertilization of Plants. 



Bees serve as active agents in the fer- 

 tilization of plants, and are not destruc- 

 tive in the least degree. They are 

 profitable, because they gather and store 

 up that which would be entirely lost, 

 without their aid. They work in places 

 that are rarely seen, and the fence- 

 corners and neglected spots are often 

 valuable pasture fields for them. Though 

 regarded as resentful in nature, yet they 

 can be cared for easily, for, like animals, 

 they are conquered by kindness. — Ex- 

 change. 



Degenerate Italian Bees. 



I have for years kept Italians, bring- 

 ing in a fresh imported queen every year 

 or two. After keeping that up for a 

 number of years, I reasoned that as 

 there were very few other bees in the 

 neighborhood, the Italian blood must 

 predominate so much, that if left to 

 themselves, my bees would very soon 

 weed out the one-banded fellows. Al- 



