. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 234 THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. July 27, harmony is secured. The same fact leads to somewhat similar precaution- ary measures in introducing queens. In going to any place, bees seem to be guided by direction rather than sight. Thus it we move a hive, but for one or two feet, the bees will, for days, descend to the old position, and then turn abruptly to the hive. I have been led to notice a strange ex- ception to this ; by placing honey on a porch of one or two houses that are exactly alike, but about 5 rods apart, many bees were misled and swarmed abou
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 234 THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. July 27, harmony is secured. The same fact leads to somewhat similar precaution- ary measures in introducing queens. In going to any place, bees seem to be guided by direction rather than sight. Thus it we move a hive, but for one or two feet, the bees will, for days, descend to the old position, and then turn abruptly to the hive. I have been led to notice a strange ex- ception to this ; by placing honey on a porch of one or two houses that are exactly alike, but about 5 rods apart, many bees were misled and swarmed about the purrh on which there was no honey. The experiment was sev- eral times repeated. Experience shows that bees will winter quite as well with pure honey or sugar syrup for food, as though they had pollen with it. They may be kept healthy at least for a time, in confinement, in summer, on a pure hydro-carbonaceous diet, and will se- crete wax and make comb with the usual activity. But pollen is a sine aua rum to brood-rearing. Probably it is also necessary for the old bees, at times of great activity. Bees also need water. Unless very active, this want seems to be met by the water of the honey ; but in shipping bees they are now generally fed with candy or crystallized sugar, and unless water is added, they perish in a few days. Nectar, as gathered from the flow- ers, contains much more water than does the honey. The bees leave the nectar, which is often nearly as thin as water, some time before capping, until the necessary evaporation has transpired. Bee-keepers call this the curing process. Some nectar is so thick that it is capped very soon, though frequently it remains for days, and rarely is it of suoh a nature that it does not thicken, and ttie bees re- fuse to cap it at all. Such nectar, usually from bark lice, etc., is un- wholesome, and unfit food, even for the bees. If thin nectar is extracted, bee-keepers evaporate the moisture from it by artificial heat, as it does
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
