The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1883-11-06 00:00:00

BEES AND BLUE FLOWERS.

Permit me t make • few remarks on this subject, es I
hare el erare liken gre,t interest in hive-bees. and g tan
some attention t their haulm. It is asserted that blue
e about an dower* is owing to the preference of bee. for this
colour. My 0.0 ob.oreatioes lead me tr, the conclusion
that twes are attract d by the scent of fl mr•r• a great deal
more than by the r col° tr, and am ve•y doubtful if they
can dlatinsui.h colour. a; all. Bess leave their home in
starch of three different and distinct articles of feud,
namely. water, pollen, soil honey, and I think—although
I em sot quite sure on tel. point —that the bee that goes
out for water, will not collect or bring home either of the
°Wm two article', hut will confine deaf to water only, and
the mune with tome that go out for honey or p I
• hay. repeated/ watched bees on poach t 0... in bloom as
well as other dowers, and followed some from e neer to
11 tamer, and could distinctly see that the pollen gatherers
never eat wed into the flower. but simply gathered pollen
off the stamens, while the honey gath.rera acted In the
name war wise we honey. and IsM no pollen whaler'. 00
their lea like the former; neither do I remember ever
weeingeollen on the loge of those oolleating water. It is my
firm belief that they are manly, if not altogether,
attract xl to them different articles of food by their keen
perception of agate. If there is wee being melted or
hooey run out of the comb in a house with doors or win-
dows open bum are very soon attracted by ONO swill, and
they are not backward in making their way into the boom;
It matters not whother it is painted blue, tract, or a./
other colour, so lone as the smell is there. Be.. d 3 not
know by sight mo miners of their own family or even their
queen, which in any opinion core • lone way to prove that
they hem" little pow:option of colour or form. It • bee is
bruised or otherwise ann /ad to cense it to sting one, it
emits; • peculiar smell, which I have often noticed, and
which eon attracts Ito friends, if at all it se, to the res-
cue. All who have studied this subject know that bees
are very latch attached to their queen, end would very
soon destroy another put is her place if they knew it.
NAV. with all this pawl idice swami etr angers, they eao
be introducld into their hives within'. &Helton by
simply destroying the distinctive roma' of those intre-
duc-d—an operation well knowu tie apiarist's. A maiden
winner • few hours old can be steletituted for an aged
queen, mother of hundred, of thoosande, or Mei serM, and
they cannot see any difference if deceived in tee scent;
more than that, a Liveries' queen of quit • different
colour. wren to the human eye, °en be substituted for an
English one by the mme proems, and the bees cannot de-
tect the difference if the distinctive went be destroyed
before introducing bee; but if not her presence would
"ton he detected. and would cost her life. Dotterel.' and
bumble-bees I (ad rare very partial no sine's dahlia+ ;
may we expect the blue one fro long looked for! H.
Henderson In Derdeetree' Climatic