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48 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



The tube petals of red clover are so deep that the honey bee 

 is not able to secure much nectar from the blossoms, except in 

 years when drouth or other conditions caused them to be shorter 

 or the nectar being more abundant, they are able to work on 

 it to advantage. Consequently the blossoms are not visited by 

 the honey bee to any extent, causing a lack of pollination. 



While the apple grower may secure a paying crop of fruit 

 without the presence of honey bees, some years, there are other 

 years when, with a full bloom, little fruit is set. Many times, had 

 bees been present in sufificient numbers in those off years, a pay- 

 ing crop would have matured. With a favorable winter and 

 spring, wild bees and other insects will be quite plentiful and 

 assist largely the work of pollination in the orchard. In other 

 years, there are too few to be of importance. 



The honey bee, if the colony be strong, will fly out and visit 

 the blossoms in search of nectar. When the days are cold, little 

 nectar is secured, but the purpose of pollination will be accom- 

 plished. It is, therefore, of importance that colonies be kept as 

 strong as possible if the best results are to be attained in the 

 pollination of the blossoms, and of equal importance in securing 

 a crop of honey. 



To have strong colonies in early spring, we must have the 

 right conditions for wintering, — suitable stores and plenty of 

 young bees when they go into their winter quarters. 



In the buckwheat sections of New^ York, a few years ago a 

 man went to his neighbor, one of the most prominent bee-keep- 

 ers and a well-known authority on bees and subjects pertaining 

 thereto, and told him he thought he should be willing to pay 

 him in honey for the pasturage furnished by his large buck- 

 wheat fields. Somewhat to his surprise, his neighbor readily 

 agreed to do this and they settled on a certain number of 

 pounds of honey per acre. "Now," said the bee-keeper, "you 

 are a fair-minded man and I feel that you are owing me quite 

 a little sum of money or several bushels of buckwheat." The 

 man asked for an explanation. Said the bee-keeper, "You tell 

 me your crop averaged you some thirty-six bushels per acre ; 

 the average for the state is less than twenty. In sections a few 

 miles from here where you admit the soil is as good and the 

 farmers as thorough as yourself, but where no bees are kept, 



