302 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We see that in every case the fruit was greatly lessened, if we except one 

 case of raspberries. In several cases, notably those of the clovers, no fruit 

 or seeds were secured in the covered specimens. The strawberries seem 

 less affected than any other of the plants, except the one case of raspberries. 

 This may be owing, as suggested above, to the presence of insects, which 

 come up from the earth beneath the plants Perhaps strawberries, when 

 the blossoms contain both stamens and pistils, are less dependent on 

 insects than many other fruits. The fact is very apparent that fruit- 

 growers are nearly or quite as much interested in the presence of bees 

 as are the beekeepers. Pomologists then may well join hands with the 

 apiarists in demanding and securing a law making it a grave misdemeanor 

 to spray fruit trees while they are in bloom. 



EXPERIMENTS IN BREEDING. 



That bees, like all other organisms, are greatly subject to variation, is 

 known to every beekeeper. That they can be greatly improved by careful 

 selection, is equally well understood by all observant queen-breeders. 

 The mating habits of bees are such as to make experimentation in breed- 

 ing difficult, but the obstacles are not insurmountable. We are working 

 to overcome them and to develop a superior strain of bees, by judicious 

 crossing and selection. This is slow work and we can hope for results 

 only after long periods. Our stock is from Syrian and Carniolan and as 

 the former predominates, we have this season bred very largely from Car- 

 niolan. Several of the most prolific queens are marked and it is the pur- 

 pose to use the ones from these that winter the best the coming winter. 



Besides the above, several other experiments of a miscellaneous 

 character have been conducted, which are of more or less interest. 



AMOUNT OF HONEY NECESSARY FOR WAX SECRETION. 



This experiment was performed, that we might determine how much 

 honey it requires to enable the bees to secrete one pound of wax. Three 

 colonies were taken which we will designate as No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, 

 the bees of which weighed 6^, 8^, and 5^ pounds respectively. No. 1 

 was given a virgin queen and no comb nor honey. No. 2 was given a 

 virgin queen and empty combs. No. 3 was given a laying queen and 

 empty combs. A vigorous colony on scales during the experiment gained 

 4| pounds. The bees did not fly from these hives as vigorously as from 

 hives not in the experiment. The feeding doubtless had something to 

 do with this. No. 3 seemed to gather more honey and to be in a more 

 normal condition than Nos. 1 and 2. No. 3 had a full frame of brood 

 ready to seal at the expiration of the experiment. Aug. 15, 28 par cent, 

 of the bees in No. 1 had wax scales while none of No. 2 had them. 

 In each case one hundred bees were examined. The experiment began 

 August 11. The bees in each colony were fed twenty-one pounds of 

 honey. The experiment lasted ten days. 



