138 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Cross Bees. 



"How far from their hives are cross 

 bees likely to volunteer an attack?" 



Mr. Wilcox — If you change that word 

 "likely" to liable," I will say 20 rods. 



Dr. Miller — I think it is a variable 

 point. It depends a great deal upon 

 the bees. If I understand the question 

 it is. How far from the hives will the 

 bees volunteer an attack? You may go 

 to a hive and the bees will run after 

 you a great deal farther away from the 

 hive than that point where they would 

 volunteer an attack, supposing they are 

 coming towards the hives; but I under- 

 stand the question is how far you are 

 safe from a volunteer attack. If you 

 had asked me 20 years ago I would 

 have said that 2 rods away you would 

 be quite safe. If you had asked me last 

 year I would have told you 20 or 25 

 rods, and I don't know how much 

 farther the thing is going. Really, that 

 is my question, and I am asking for in- 

 formation. I want to know how much 

 that thing will increase. 



Mr. Taylor — An old bee-keeper was 

 telling me what an experience he had in 

 the neighborhood of Lapeer, Mich. He 

 had been hunting bees, and he finally 

 found a colony in a hollow elm stand- 

 ing among other trees, and he cut down 

 . the tree, intending, of course, to have 

 it fall free from the other trees and 

 gently; but, as luck would have it, it 

 fell with a crash and struck against an- 

 other tree and splintered it all to pieces, 

 scattering it all over. He said the road 

 was about half a mile off, but you could 

 not go past on that highway without 

 the bees getting after you. 



Mr. Duby — I think it depends a great 

 deal upon how you attend to them. The 

 more rough you are with those cross 

 bees, the more cross they are. I be- 

 lieve it is the method of attending to 

 them; the more gentle we are with cross 

 bees, the more gentle they will be. 



Dr. Bohrer — My experience is thai 

 something depends upon the kind of bees 

 you have. 



Mr. Wilcox — Cross bees, the question 

 calls for. 



Dr. Bohrer — Some bees are crosser 

 than others, so it depends upon the 

 kind of bees, at last, that you have. If 

 you have the pure Cyprian bee I think it 

 will come for you in defense as far as 

 it can see you in making the attack. I 

 had a colony of them, but I got rid of 

 it as soon as possible. If you have 



that kind of bees you may look out. 

 They are on the war-path. When 1 

 opened a hive of those Cyprians I had 

 trouble. I could not do with smoke or 

 anything else; nothing short of killing 

 them outright would answer the purpose. 

 Then I took their queen away and gave 

 them another queen, and as they died 

 out, naturally I got rid of them. But 

 the ordinary Italian bee or the black bee, 

 or the hybrid, I have never known to 

 attack horses. I have my farm horses 

 passing up and down the lane within 

 possibly 20 feet of where the bees are. 

 Bees are flying on both sides, but they 

 can not see the horses from the hives, 

 and they do not attack them. 



Keeping Ducks in a Bee- Yard. 



"Is it safe to keep ducks in the bee- 

 yard?" 



The Members — Yes. 



Mr. Todd — Safe for which, the ducks 

 or the bees? 



Mr. Abbott — I do not think it is. 

 My neighbors have some ducks and I 

 have some. My ducks are well behaved, 

 and they do not interfere, but I noticed 

 a big drake from the neighbor's the 

 other morning went in front of a strong 

 colony of Italians and the bees were 

 disappearing very fast. I don't know 

 how long he would have kept it up, but 

 he kept it up until I drove him away. 

 At that rate it wouldn't have taken long 

 to have the bees all eaten up. 



Mr. Arnd — I once had neighbors who 

 said that my bees killed the ducks. 

 They happened to find a bee in the neck 

 of a dead duck and they said it killed 

 the duck. 



Mr. Kimmey — If I were going to ans- 

 wer that question I should inquire whom 

 the bees belonged to, and whom the 

 ducks belonged to. If the bees belonged 

 to the man who asked the question I 

 would say no; the ducks will kill the 

 bees. 



How FAR Bees go for Honey. 



"If honey is scarce, how far will 

 •bees travel to gather it?" 



Dr. Miller — Before we get into along 

 discussion, I would suggest, if we stick 

 right to the question and those who 

 know, who have some definite testimony 

 as to the distance they have known bees 

 to go will tell us, we will get informa- 

 tion. 



Mr. Arnd — I have known bees to go 

 6 miles. 



Dr. Miller — How did you know? 



