262 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 25, 1901. 



I was for the moment greatly puzzled^ for the clustering 

 bees had, up to this time, been very quiet, and none had 

 taken wing. I was sure ; but, looking upward, I saw flying 

 about the top of the tree in an excited manner, what lookt 

 like a small swarm of bees. 



" Well, sir, in much less time than it takes to tell it, 

 that swarm of clustering bees detacht themselves from the 

 limb and were ofif, going like a cyclone toward the woods 

 down your way." 



(To be continued.} 



Criticisms and Suggestions about tiie Score-Card. 



BY FRIBDEMANN GREINEK. 



I HAVE had some anxiety in regard to what the score- 

 card committee would hatch out, and I am pleased now 

 to find the work of our worthy committee in the shape of 

 the proposed score-card in all its details publisht on page 

 166. I suppose the committee was aware how impossible it 

 is to suit the notions of every one, and probably expected 

 their work to be criticised. If I point out some features 

 wherein a change might be an improvement I do so with 

 due respect to the gentlemen of the committee. 



On the " General display " I find nothing whatever to 

 change. It is all right. 



In the " Single-case " entry, it seems tome too much 

 importance is attacht to "attractiveness," giving it SO 

 points. This would be all right in the " General display," 

 but in the '■ Single-case" entry it seems "attractiveness" 

 might at least be placed on an equal footing with "qual- 

 ity " and " quantity," if not placed below them in import- 

 ance. A display we expect to be as attractive as possible, 

 but in a single-case exhibition the superiority of the honey 

 itself should be the governing feature. 



The "Bee-entry" paragraph needs, according to my 

 ideas, the greatest modification of any. The committee 

 has overlookt the fact that a colony of bees can not be con- 

 sidered complete, in particular for exhibition, without it 

 contains not only queen and workers, but also drones. 

 The latter have, however, not received any consideration at 

 all. The reason for this is not apparent. The drone is the 

 largest, makes the most noise. He is not very modest, by 

 any means, and is very often around when he is not wanted 

 at all. I wonder the committee could overlook him. Can it 

 be possible the committee gives him the slip purposely ? Is 

 not the drone of sufficient importance to deserve consider- 

 ation ? If two nuclei were otherwise perfectly equal, but 

 one of them should contain a few drones I should certainly 

 award the first prize to that one. If both should contain 

 drones, but those of the one were larger, and showed better 

 markings, then that one would be preferred by me. 



" Color " and " markings " might be taken as referring 

 to all the bee-individuals, as queen, workers and drones, 

 but it would be generally understood as meaning just the 

 working bees, therefore I believe the drone should be espe- 

 cially mentioned, and would favor the score-card about as 

 follows : 



Color and markings of workers and drones i") 



Size of workers and drones 20 



Queen, presence and markings -.iO 



Drones, presence . . .' 10 



Brood, including drone-brood 10 



Quietness of bees .5 



Style of comb .5 



Style of hive 5 



OF BEES IN 

 OBSERVATION 



HIVE. 



In regard to beeswax there is some uncertainty- as to 

 color. It is not fully settled what the color of the wax 

 should be, and it is left to the one acting as judge whether 

 he would give preference to yellow wax or white. As the 

 bees manufacture it, its color ma3- be said to be white ; as 

 we manufacture it, it is yellow — lemon-yellow at its best ; I 

 would be in favor of yellow as the standard color. 



Wax should also have a peculiar aromatic odor. Aroma 

 should be taken into account when judging, and so should 

 have a place on the score-card. I would reduce "color" 

 and " purity " — each given 30 points on the card — by five 

 each, and place the gained 10 to the credit of "aroma." 

 True, a judge may act upon his own ideas, but it seems to 

 me it would be advisable to take this point in. 



Ontario Co., N. Y. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



Are Bees Necessary to tlie Complete Fertilization 

 of the Bloom of Fruit-Trees ? 



BV THADDEUS SMITH. 



THE part that bees play in pollenizing fruit-bloom is a 

 subject that has been discust at various times in the 

 past, and is still made a prominent theme in some bee- 

 papers, and in some of the discussions of bee-keepers' 

 conventions. Claims are made by them that bees are neces- 

 sary in order to insure a full crop of fruit, but such claims 

 are not substantiated by facts or any positive evidence to 

 sustain them. Bees visit fruit-tree bloom for honey and 

 pollen, and in so doing go from one flower to another and 

 are supposed by some thus to disseminate the pollen that 

 fertilizes the flower. It is a very pretty theory. Bees and 

 flowers ! Sounds somewhat poetical, you know. But it 

 lacks the facts to sustain it. It has been asserted so often 

 that many persons have taken it for granted that it is true 

 without investigation, and the cry has been taken up and 

 repeated by writers who know nothing practically about it. 

 But some of our experiment stations and professors of a 

 more investigating mind feel the necessity of having some 

 positive proof of these often repeated assertions, and are 

 making experiments to see if they can find that proof. A 

 report of some of these experiments was recently made by 

 Prof. Lowe to a New York convention of bee-keepers, and 

 an account was given of them in an editorial in Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture. Further on I wish to refer to these experi- 

 ments more in detail. 



There has been some contention between fruit-growers 

 and bee-keepers that has produced an ill-feeling between 

 them, the fruit-growers contending that bees destroy grapes 

 and other fruit by biting holes, and sucking out the juice, 

 leaving the fruit to rot ; while bee-keepers claimed that 

 fruit-growers spray their fruit-trees unnecessarily while 

 they are in bloom, thus poisoning their bees. These 

 charges and countercharges have produced a bad feeling 

 between the two classes in some sections, when in reality 

 there is no conflicting interest. The fruit-growers are cer- 

 tainly of benefit to bee-keepers because they increase the 

 area of bee-pasture that supplies the bees with more honey 

 and pollen. Bee-keepers, with less show of reason, are 

 now trying to convince the fruit-men that bees are of great 

 benefit to them, by claiming that a full crop of fruit can 

 not be had without the aid of bees to pollenize the bloom. 



I have been both a bee-keeper and a fruit-grower for 

 over 40 years, and have been an enthusiast in both occupa- 

 tions, and have given these matters of contention between 

 the two classes a thoro and impartial investigation, and 

 arrived at conclusions that I believe are just to both parties. 



Some IS or 20 years before the case of Utter vs. Utter 

 was brought for trial in court, I had settled the matter of 

 bees destroying grapes, in ray own mind — completely 

 exonerating the bees. I had 30 acres of grapes, and over 

 40 colonies of bees, and the time came that I found the bees 

 working upon the Delaware and other early grapes in great 

 numbers, and appaienlly destroying hundreds of pounds. 

 I was greatly perplext and disliked to give up my bees, but 

 if they were the real culprits I would be compelled to give 

 them up. I did not act hastily in the matter, but set about 

 thoroly to investigate the subject, and after two or three 

 years I had solved the mystery. I discovered that birds — 

 one bird in particular, the beautiful Baltimore oriole — first 

 punctured the grapes, and the bees gathered only the wast- 

 ing juices ; and further experiments convinced me that 

 bees never attack perfectly sound grapes or other fruit. I 

 also find myself on the side of the bees in the case of 

 spraying fruit-trees while in bloom. I think it is unneces- 

 sary to spray while in bloom ; and not only that, but it is 

 an injury to the bloom to do so. 



But when it comes to the claims of ray bee-keeping 

 friends, that no complete pollenizing of fruit-bloom can 

 take place without the intervention of bees, and conse- 

 quently a full crop of fruit can not be had without bees, I 

 must respectfully difl'er from them, because I see, year after 

 year, both large and fine crops of fruit, of many varieties, 

 raised without the intervention of bees, in fact where bees 

 are entirely excluded from the bloom by natural causes. It 

 would be unreasonable in me to doubt my own senses of 

 sight and taste to believe that there was anything in such 

 claims of bee-keepers. From my view the claim looks 

 absurd, and I take the position that bees are not neces- 

 sary to the complete pollenizing of any kind of fruit- 

 bloom, and I think I can prove it. Now "to the law and 

 the testimony," or rather to Xh^ facts that ought to con- 

 vince any unprejudiced mind. 



But first I wish to notice the experiments made by Prof 



