10 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 1 



the number of grains, since the beginning 

 of each grain of pollen long antedates the 

 first visit of insects to the flower. But while 

 insects can not stimulate flowers to produce 

 more pollen, it may well be inquired wheth- 

 er they can not by selection produce races 

 or species of plants which will yield more 

 pollen than their ancestors. The number of 

 grains of pollen in different flowers varies 

 just as does the number of seeds. By select- 

 mg flowers with the largest number of seeds 

 for successive generations the product may 

 be greatly increased. May not the same be 

 done in the case of pollen? Bees, indeed, 

 appear to have done tnis; for there is a class 

 or flowers called "pollen flowers " which 

 contain no nectar, and which insects, chieflv 

 bees, visit for their pollen alone. Such 

 flowers are the anemone, poppy, St. Johns- 

 worts, roses, mullein, and elder. 



In the wild rose there is a ring of many 

 stamens which yield a great abundance of 

 pollen and which bees, especially the less 

 specialized wild ones, visit in great numbers. 

 The rose has proven a veritable thorn in the 

 flesh to both artists and poets. Not long ago 

 the Youth's Companion, on its children s 



gage, published a large picture of a rose- 

 ush from which bees were represented as 

 gathering honey. Beneath the bush was a 

 still house from which tubes ran to each 

 flower. After passing through a refining 

 apparatus they were depicted as bottling 

 and carting the honey away. Alas! there is 

 no such thing as rose honey; and, alas for 

 such teaching of natural history! 



Again, Bliss Carmen sings of "The 

 Swarthy Bee." 



He harries the ports of the hollyhocks, 



And levies on poor sweetbrier; 

 He drinks the whitest wine of phlox, 



And the rose is his desire. 



Not at all. "He" does nothing of the 

 kind, for the rose is nectarless and the phlox 

 is a butterfly flower. Even art in these 

 days can not dispense with science. 



Bees of all kinds (and there are probably 

 at least 3000 species in North America) are 

 dependent upim pollen for brood-rearing. 

 Deprivi d of pollen this entire group of in- 

 sects \\ould doubtless disappear. The fe- 

 mali s, therefore, for a part of the time are 

 compelled to collect pollen diligently, and 

 the p. 'lien tlowers eem to have been devel- 

 oped to meet this dem;!nd. In the tick-tre- 

 foil (Desmodium or Mcibomia) when legiti- 

 mate visi ors alight upon the flowers, which 

 are nectarless, the pollen is forcibly dis- 

 charged by an ela>tic mechanism. There 

 are many other p Hen flowers, some of 

 which have a part of the anthers more 

 brightly colored than the others, to attract 

 the att ntion of i; sects. 



In conclusion, then, while insects can not, 

 bj iiTitati g the : ntt trs stimulate an indi- 

 VMua) fl.)v\er to 'he production of a greattr 

 quantity of polleii, yet there seems to have 

 arisen, in resp 'Mse to t eir deniand for pol- 

 len, a cl ss of flowers producing this food 

 substance only. 



Waldoboro, Maine. 



ROBBING CURED. 



A Change in the Position of Colonies that 

 Resulted In the Complete Mystifi- 

 cation of the Robbers. 



BY G. A. HUMPERT. 



Failures often teach better lessons than 

 partial successes. It was owing to my inabil- 

 ity to stop robbing this year that I finally 

 learned something. Doubtless owing to the 

 absolute honey dearth in my locality, and 

 the half- starved condition of manvof mv col- 

 onies right at the time when white clover 

 should be yielding, that robbing became a 

 common event this past year. I vainly tried 

 every means that I had read of except to im- 

 prison the robbed colony in the cellar for 

 several days. I didn't try this, for the simple 

 reason that I considered failure almost better 

 than to send my bees to jail when the next 

 few days might bring the expected honey- 

 flow. So I usually had to break up the rob- 

 bed colony in the end. 



But one Sunday morning, when I found 

 that No. 39 was being hela up by an over- 

 whelming force, I oegan to experiment. 

 Reasoning that if exchanging a weak stand 

 with a strong one was a good method of 

 strengthening the weak one, then why not 

 resort to this to stop robbing? No. 38 hap- 

 pened to be a very strong colony, so I prompt- 

 ly exchanged them; then I sat down on No. 

 38 and watched proceedings, and for five 

 minutes I enjoyed myself nugely. The in- 

 habitants of No. 38, after moving, poured 

 out upon the platform by the thousands, 

 doubtless wondering whether Mr. Williams 

 was there to shake them or what. The rob- 

 bers filled the air, they came from all direc- 

 tions, doubtless returning for more booty 

 after carrying loads of it home, and, of course, 

 they now all went for No. 38 — the cohnv 

 thev supposed had been conquered; but, an 

 me! their reception was more than warm — it 

 was blazing hot. It did me good to see them 

 yanked about by their antennae, legs, and 

 wings, and to be forced to give up any little 

 lunch they might be carrying with them. 



The lambasting those robbers got was a 

 sight worth seeing. No. 38 poured out more 

 defenders, and the robbers began to enter- 

 tain doubts of their welcome or the jubtice 

 of their cause. Ihey no longer dared to 

 alight on the crowded platform, but zig-zag- 

 ged back and forth witn that slow approach 

 and quick retreat so charactieristic of the ex- 

 perienced robber. Finally, noting that No. 

 38 was fully able to care for itselt I glanced 

 at 39, and saw that every thing was quiet. 



I patted myself on the back, returned to the 

 house, and told Mrs. H. about the great trick 

 I had played upon the robbers; then I went 

 to church (for I hold that a bee-keeper needs 

 all the religion he can get when his subjects 

 take to robbing). However, when I return- 

 eil 1 had reason to be thankful that I had had 

 my laugh first, or I should have missed it; 

 for there was poor 39 again being overwhelm- 

 ed. I became desperate — snatched a screen 

 the size of a lid, raised the hive from the 



I 



