ANGER OF REES 
4fl 
saying- that they even came indoors and 
tried to sting. Now, why could they not 
work peaceably on the sugar as they do 
on the meal, or the clover blossoms in 
June? We dampened the sugar with a 
sprinkler, and the bees that were at work 
on it soon started for home with a load; 
then began the high keynote of robbing, 
faint at first, then louder and louder, until 
we began to be almost frightened at the 
mischief that might ensue. When the 
dampness was all licked up they soon sub¬ 
sided into their usual condition. The effect 
of feeding honey in the open air is very 
much worse than that of feeding any kind 
of syrup. 
HOW THE SOURCE FROM WHICH BEES ARE 
GATHERING AFFECTS THEIR TEMPER. 
It has been found that bees are crosser 
when working on some blossoms than on 
others. For example, they seem to be more 
inclined to sting when working on buck¬ 
wheat than on clover. This is probably due 
to the fact that the latter yields nectar all 
day, while the former will in most localities 
yield an hour or two in the morning and 
again toward night. The stoppage of the 
flow seems to affect the bees adversely. 
In the same way they are cross when 
working on honeydew from hickory and 
oaks. This yields heavily in the morning, 
and lets up and stops during the middle 
hours of the day. The morning dews 
soften the saccharine matter secreted on 
the leaves of these trees, and when it dries 
up again the nectar supply is cut off and 
the bees are cross. During 1909, when 
there was so much honeydew from oaks 
and hickories from all over the country, 
bees that year were reported to be excep¬ 
tionally cross. 
To make bees good-natured, a honey 
plant must be a continuous yielder all 
day. So long as it keeps up its supply, 
there is quiet. 
IIOW THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF SHRUB¬ 
BERY OR TREES AFFECTS THE TEMPER 
OF THE BEES IN THE YARD. 
It has been shown time and time again 
that the same bees that are docile as kittens 
in the home yard, with plenty of shrubbery 
to shut off the view of individual colonies, 
will often be as cross as hornets when 
placed in an out-apiary on a level piece of 
ground where their hive is in view of every 
other hive, without any obstructing shrub¬ 
bery or trees. The reason of. it is plain. 
If there are any cross bees in the air, and 
they see a moving, object like a beekeeper, 
for example, going thru the yard, they will 
immediately come buzzing about him with 
the peculiar angry scream that a mad bee 
always has. Those same bees when located 
in a yard where there is plenty of shrub¬ 
bery, and where they cannot see moving 
objects as readily, will forget all about the 
source of their irritability, and either go to 
the fields or into their own hives. 
Several times we have been tempted to 
kill all the queens in a certain yard because 
their bees were so very cross, only to dis¬ 
cover later on that when we moved them to 
the home yard, where there were grape¬ 
vines shutting off the view of their colony 
or hive, that there was nothing the matter 
with the bees but only with their previous 
environment. For that reason alone, some 
of the crossest bees we have ever known 
have become very tractable when placed in 
a small orchard or piece of woods. The 
crossest bees will also become very docile 
when put .into a house-apiary. 'When the 
owner is inside he cannot be seen, of 
course, and he can work inside of the 
building without hindrance. 
Colonies that are located in dense shade 
thruout the day, are usually ill-natured, 
while those out in the sun are good- 
natured. 
How to make bees good-natured by feed¬ 
ing, see Feeding Outdoors; also see Rob¬ 
bing, Stings, and Manipulation of Colo¬ 
nies. 
ANTS. — Altho we have given the matter 
considerable attention, we cannot find that 
ants are guilty of anything in the North 
that should warrant the apiarist in waging 
any great warfare against them. Some 
years ago a visitor frightened us by say¬ 
ing that the ants about our apiary would 
steal every drop of honey as fast as the 
bees could gather it. Accordingly we pre¬ 
pared ourselves with a teakettle of boikng 
water, and not only killed the ants but 
some grapevines growing near. Afterward 
there came a spring when the bees, all'but 
about eleven colonies, dwindled away and 
