714: 



'rmm MBSERicsK mmm jQJsmMM-Lr. 



>><>««»>« 



was all wasted, for he is persecuted as 

 liadly now as ever. It is pitiable to see 

 him walk the plank, with a policeman 

 each side of him as he sings the death- 

 watch. 



But the law of the hive is "the 

 greatest good to the greatest number," 

 and must be obeyed by the highest as 

 well as the lowest, queens, drones and 

 workers. He fares no worse than the 

 rest ; as soon as the queen becomes in- 

 firm or is injured, unfitting her to per- 

 form her allotted duties, she is carried 

 out and another reared to fill her 

 place. So also it is with the workers. 



It is no use for the drone to plead 

 that he is not to blame for idleness, 

 that he has no bag to carry honey in, 

 for he is told, all the same, that his 

 room is better than his company. He 

 submits with more grace to his fate 

 than do some of the human family, 

 who are now suii'ering under severe 

 quarantine regulations, to prevent 

 " the pistilence that walketh by noon- 

 day," spreading itself all over this fair 

 land. " The greatest good to the 

 greatest number," is a vei-y good rule 

 to observe, whether in communities of 

 bees or of men. 



Removing Surplus Honey. 



The sooner surplus honey is taken 

 from the hives the better, for Italian 

 bees are always looking out for No. 1, 

 and will fill up the brood-nest as fast 

 as it is empty. I have been surprised 

 many times to see the difference be- 

 tween black bees and Italians in this 

 respect. After removing boxes filled 

 with surplus honey from the black col- 

 onies, I would find that the body of 

 the hive was nearly emptj-, while the 

 Italians were full — more provident, it 

 seems. 



I removed a case of sections latch' 

 in this way : I removed the cover and 

 sheets, and blew smoke down through 

 them, driving the bees below, when it 

 was removed, and carried into the 

 honey-house. A few remained, which 

 gathered in a cluster upon the win- 

 dow, and when it was darkened and 

 the door open, flew out. When Dr. 

 Miller removes his cases of sections, 

 he piles one upon the other, until they 

 are five or six high, and places a little 

 tent, made something like an Indian 

 wigwam or tepee, on top. This can 

 be made of mosquito-netting, with 

 rubber elastic in the bottom, to fit 

 nicelj' around a case, with a hole in 

 the top. Smoke does not issue out of 

 this hole, but bees do. It needs some 

 sort of a frame-work, either of wire or 

 of wood, to liold it up. 



Where there is only a small amount 

 of hone}- secured in close boxes, or 



them. It should be covered closely, 

 so as to be dark inside, and have a 

 little hole by which the bees can es- 

 cape ; they will see the light and come 

 out, while robbers will not find it. 

 Sometimes it is well to pr_y up the 

 cases or boxes one day and leave them 

 until the next. If the night following 

 is cool, the bees will all cluster below, 

 and they can be removed early in the 

 morning, when there are no bees in 

 them. 



Peoria, Ills. 



Further, as to the usual combat 

 when two or more young queens 

 hatch, only the one first recognized by 

 the bees goes on the " war path," as I 

 call it. The rest avoid her, and each 

 other, until they happen to meet, or 

 else are expelled b}' the bees, or go 

 out with the second swarm, as it some- 

 times happen with even 3 or 4 young 

 queens. Then in that case the bees 

 " ball " all but the first one, after being 

 hived. 



New Richmond, Mich. 



BEE-LANG-UAGE. 



What the Bees have Taught lis 

 — They do Hear. 



Written for the Amerirnn Bee Journal 

 BY J. O. SHEARMAN. 



QUEEN-REARING. 



Etfect of the Swarming Impulse 

 on Queen-Rearing. 



Bead at the Wahaah Co., Ind., Convention 

 BY J. J. MARTIN. 



those made liy nailing sections together 



a barrel is a good receptacle to put I qf it. But what is the use 



them in while the bees are leaving ' know it. 



On page 599, Dr. Miller states that 

 the young queen utters a " shrill crj', 

 pe-e-p, peep, peep," replied to by the 

 young queens in their cells, " quahk, 

 quahk." Now is it possible that as 

 fully developed a bee-master as Dr. 

 Miller, does not know that the queens 

 make the noise with their wings ? 

 Such is the case, however. I have 

 seen them do it — a short, quick, vibra- 

 tory motion ; and the hoarser " note" 

 of the queen in the cell is caused by its 

 confined position — though they have 

 room to make the motion all the same. 

 It seems to me that this alone should 

 settle the question, "Do bees hear?" 

 Wliy do they make any noise else ? 

 What is hearing anj'way, but a concus- 

 sion of the waves of sound upon any 

 sensitive object, whether it be ears or 

 the soft parts of bees all over tliem. We 

 all know that bees are very sensitive, 

 and their sense of sight, smell and 

 taste are more acute than most other 

 animals ; and I claim the}- are equally 

 sensitive to sound. Why, they even 

 have a bee-language, and I know it, 

 for I have learned a part of it by prac- 

 tice — all by notes made by their wings 

 moving in different ways, and with 

 difl'erent velocity. 



A worker bee can make a noise in 

 the same way that a queen does, but it 

 sounds more like "perrt" to her 

 " peep." Then it is easy to t(>ll just 

 when a swarm starts, even with my 

 back to them, at 10 or 12 feet distance 

 (and often more), and right in a yard 

 full of bees that make a great deal 

 more noise than the swarm does when 

 first starting. 



I could give many more instances, 

 such as the change in the note when a 

 queen is given to a queenless colony, 

 even while she is in the cage ; also 

 their " call," when bees start for the 

 hive, if they are shaken down in front 



■ We all 



Every bee-keeper knows the impor- 

 tance of having a strong and vigorous 

 queen in order that the colony may be 

 profitable ; and in order that we may 

 have good queens, the queen-rearer 

 studies and makes use of all the means 

 possible to bring about the desired 

 result, so that the queen-bee or mother 

 of the colony, may possess as far as 

 possible all the good qualities, such as 

 honey-gathering, gentleness, etc. 



It is the general impression with 

 most bee-keepers that the only good 

 queens are those reared under the 

 swarming impulse, which I admit is a 

 correct view in one respect ; but I am 

 prepared to say that better queens can 

 be reared by what is termed the 

 "artificial process" by some bee- 

 keepers. Yet it is the natural process 

 after all, with the assistance of the 

 queen-breeder, whose knowledge in 

 this particular line should be of value 

 in proportion, as it is in any other de- 

 partment of the apiary. 



The swarming impulse can be 

 brought about without waiting for it 

 naturally, by removing the queen from 

 a strong colony and uniting with this 

 colony young bees from other colonies, 

 until the hive is overflowing with bees; 

 then remove all the eggs and unsealed 

 brood, and give the colony eggs from 

 a selected or imported queen, and the 

 colony will build from 15 to 20 queen- 

 cells. The great adv»utage gained 

 over natural swarming, is in having 

 the cells built from the eggs you wish 

 them. 



In twelve days the cells will be 

 sealed, and can be cut out and placed 

 in the queen-nursery, or in queenless 

 nuclei, to hatch, always selecting the 

 !)est and most nearly perfect cells. If 

 hatched in the nursery they are in- 

 troduced to queenless nuclei or colo- 

 nies, and in five days they fly out to 

 meet the drone. 



