APICULTURE. 391 



APICULTURE. 



APICUI^TQRE. 



MRS. J. A. BLACKWELL. 



Bee keeping has reached such an exact stage now that considerable 

 scientific Icnowledge of bees and plants must be had before success can be 

 assured. The apiarist must not only know the natural history of the bees, 

 but he must be a patient observer, watching his pets carefully, and ready 

 at a moment's notice to improve upon their condition. A point that has 

 not yet been fully settled is the relation between the bee keeper and the 

 fruit grower. The value of the bees in fertilizing flowers and fruits is not 

 disputed, and it is a question whether pomology could advance with such 

 rapid strides as it does if it were not for the bees. Apiculture is the hand- 

 maid to horticulture, and the question remains whether the two ought 

 not to be conducted together. 



The fruits and flowers must be cultivated for profit, and when they are 

 supplied, the rich nectar is prepared for many colonies of bees. The 

 fruit grower now loses all this nectar, or allows his neighbor's bees to come 

 and carry it away. By having several colonies of bees near his orchard, 

 he would not only gather the fruit, but the nectar in their flowers, also. 

 Little additional labor would be required for this, as the bees demand 

 very little attention in the fruit season. 



But, never since I commenced bee keeping have I had such an unfavor- 

 able spring for bees as the past one. When they came out of their winter 

 quarters, they were in a poor condition, as they had already brood in all 

 stages and greatly needed bright, sunny days to induce them to build up 

 into normal colonies, but, instead, we had cold rains, snow and stormy 

 weather for weeks at a time, when not a bee could wander out in search of 

 new pollen or even water. Fruit bloom came and went by, while the bees 

 were kept in the hives by cold, rainy weather, and the first of June found 

 many colonies with but pints, where there should have been quarts, of bees. 

 I fed during this time about fifty pounds of shorts, cornmeal and flour to 

 keep them alive, and the 20th of May there was a snow storm, the heaviest 

 I have ever seen at this time of the year— and I have lived in Minnesota 27 

 years. The first of June they gathered pollen from the plum blossoms, 

 also from the apple, but not until the middle of June were they seen at 

 work on the white clover, although it had been in blossom some time — but 

 It did not seem to yield nectar; about June 20, they were seen working on 

 late cherry and raspberry blooms. From this on, the apiarist could begin 

 to detect that familiar hum when they are commencing to get plenty of 

 nectar. 1 feel satisfied with the returns from my bees this season; from 

 22 colonies I received over 800 pounds of extracted honey, while some of 

 my apiarist brethern did not get much, if any, honey for their labors. 



