586 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



several large swarms; and the largest that I 

 remember of weighed 9 lbs. Quite a number 

 reached the 8-lb. limit. After they had been 

 hived for a day or two, and had drawn out some 

 comb. I weighed them again and found in near- 

 ly every case they had lo<t from 'J.5 to 33 per 

 cent in weight. This assured me that it was 

 not in loss of bees but in loss of weight, due to 

 empty honey-stomachs. 



With regard to the number of eggs a queen 

 may lay in a day. if I remember correctly none 

 of the authorities, including Doolittle. have 

 claimed that 3()00 was the (ivcrage per day, but 

 that the queen was capable of laying that num- 

 ber. The experiment can be repeated by any 

 one by slipping an empty comb of newly 

 drawn-out foundation, or. better, partially 

 drawn out. into the center of a populous colony. 

 If all othpr combs are filled with capped honey 

 and brood, and the comb just put In is the only 

 one available for the queen, it is not an uncom- 

 mon sight to see .3000 cells in this comb on both 

 sides filled in twenty- four hours. Yet I believe 

 that Doolittle and all the rest of the authorities 

 will agree with you that 1000 would be a fair 

 average estimate. If I am not right in inter- 

 preting Mr. Doolittle, he will please correct. 

 While 3000 eggs seems to be the maximum, I 

 think Doolittle may also be right in saying that 

 queens may sometimes lay 4000 or 5000.— Ed.] 



DO BEES POLLENIZE STRAWBERRY- 

 BLOSSOMS 1 



.SOME ARGUMENTS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE 

 QUESTION. 



By John Handel. 



Hon. Eugene Secor says,, bees do not work on 

 strawberry-blo-soms. but would like to " take it 

 back " if his statpmf nt can be proven false. 

 The readers of the American Bee Journal agree 

 with him, with but one or two exceptions — un- 

 less there are more, like myself, waiting to have 

 their testimony expressed by some one else. 



Now, I am so astonished at the conclusions 

 arrived at from facts brought out by this ques- 

 tion that I should like to bring the subject up 

 before the readers of Gleanings, especially 

 since friend Secor tries to clinch his argument 

 or corroborate his statement by saying that 

 wild strawberries were just as abundant twenty 

 years ago, before a bee, either domestic or wild, 

 entered his county, as now. Here on the Miss- 

 issippi bottoms, where our bees are able to gath- 

 er Iowa pollen, there are numerous wild bees 

 gathering pollen from flowers of all kinds, espe- 

 cially those that bloom early. Some of the 

 readers have undoubtedly noticed them as ver- 

 itable little swarms hovering around the early 

 pussy willow. Those small wild bees can al- 

 ways be seen working on the blossom of the 

 strawberry, providing we look close (for some of 

 them are so small that the naked eye will bare- 

 ly notice them as a bee). There are various 

 sizes, however — some nearly as large as the do- 

 mestic bee. They usually have a metallic hue 

 or luster, but differ in color. Those little wild 

 bees are very plentiful here, but I know noth- 

 ing of their habits, except that they gather pol- 

 len. They are undoubtedly natives of this 



country. Then why are they never mentioned 

 by those who are trying to rob the carrier of 

 nature's " long haul " egg-basket of its honor ? 

 They are surely distributed over a considerable 

 area, else there would not be so many here, and 

 so many varieties of them. 



I have also seen the domestic bees work on 

 the blossom of the strawberry — not always — 

 neither do they on white clover or buckwheat, 

 but probably one year in five. Here the straw- 

 berry blooms at a time when the bees can gath- 

 er pollen from a dozen different sources; and 

 unless frost, etc.. destroy the buds of some, the 

 bees choose that which is best or most abun- 

 dant, and probably, therefore, neglect the straw- 

 berry. But this occasional or periodic visita- 

 tion of flowers by the bees may be one of na- 

 ture's wonderful laws. Stock-breeders are well 

 aware of the fact that a certain amount of in- 

 breeding is necessary in order to establish an 

 improvement. Queen-breeders also try to imi- 

 tate nature. After crossing choice individuals 

 they are satisfied for a time, breeding in that 

 strain until the type is a permanent fixture. 



Last year bees in this locality paid little at- 

 tention to white clover: just now what little 

 there is left is in bloom, and but very few bees 

 can be seen working on it; yet there is almost 

 nothing else for them to do. Most of them are 

 clustered outside of the hive, seemingly waiting 

 for something to turn up. Now, if considerable 

 seed is formed in those two crops of clover, 

 would the fact that but few bees worked on it 

 prove that bees do not pollenize clover '? Bees 

 work on the blossoms of buckwheat only after 

 a dew; and unless the temperature drops suffi- 

 ciently at night to leave condensed moisture on 

 the flowers they are apt to blight, and no seed 

 will form. Is it the wind. cold, or wet? or do 

 bees pollenize the blossoms of buckwheat? 



Savanna, Ills., June 17. 



[One good witness to the fact that bees have 

 been actually seen to work on strawberry-blos- 

 soms is worth more than a dozen claiming they 

 never saw such a thing: but. taking it all in 

 all. in view of what friend Secor has to say (and 

 he certainly is fair and honest in what he says), 

 bees do not in all localities work on the straw- 

 berry : and perhaps in localities where they 

 have been known to do so it is only occasional. 

 -Ed.I 



THE 



PHILADELPHIA BEE-KEEPERS' CON- 

 VENTION. 



The annual summer meeting of the Phila- 

 delphia Bee-keepers' Association was held at 

 Woodcliff apiary of Wm. A. Selser, Jenkintown, 

 Pa. The new trolley cars on York Road being 

 op"n this year for the first was the means of 

 bringing a large delegation from the city. The 

 meeting was called to order at 3 o'clock by 

 Pres. Henry Townsend. After welcoming the 

 guests he gave a lecture on the general con- 

 struction of the honey-bee, and its work, illus- 

 trated by several large charts that had just 



