700 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



mer test. I likewise secured the following on 

 theweightof drones: Of a dozen or more weigh- 

 ed, the largest would require 1808 to make a 

 pound, and the smallest 2133, or an average of 

 about 2000 drones in a pound, over against near- 

 ly 5000 workers. 



Bees have been doing reasonably well here in 

 Connecticut this year. I keep my apiary re- 

 duced to 13 colonies, and from these 1 have se- 

 cured 4.50 lbs. already, and shall perhaps have 

 150 more at the end of the season, and an abun- 

 dance of stores for the winter. 



The excessive drouth of 1894, and this year in 

 June and early July, almost completely cut off 

 the supply of white clover ; but chestnut, su- 

 mac, buckwheat, and goldenrod, have yielded 

 well. Basswood is too scarce in this State, par- 

 ticularly in the eastern half, to be counted 

 among our honey-producing plants. 



Agricultural College, Storrs, Ct., Sept. 3. 



[I consider this the best article we have ever 

 received on this subject— the more so because 

 it cumes from a practical man of science, and 

 president of one of our leading agricultural 

 colleges. I have marked this article for Insei- 

 tion.in the 73d thousand uiext edition) of our 

 A B C of Bee Culture. 



In a nutshell, and speaking in round num- 

 bers, we may say that it takes 4500 bees to 

 make a pound ; and that, while 10,000 bees 

 may carry a pound of nectar, twice that num- 

 ber, or 30"000, is probably more nearly the aver- 

 age. During basswood bloom, the tirst figure 

 should be considered as the nearer correct one 

 because the bees drop down at the entrance; 

 and from almost all other sources of nectar the 

 twenty -thousand mark is the one to accept. 



Let us now look at these interesting figures in 

 another way: A bee can carry half iis weight in 

 nectar; ana perhaps, under certain circum- 

 stances, a trifle more; but, generally speaking, 

 one-fourth its weight is the amount. A single 

 strong colony has been known to bring In a tri- 

 fle over 20 lbs. of nectar from basswood in one 

 day;* but usually four or live pounds is con- 

 sidered a remarkably hiij day's work. If we 

 figure that there were, say, in the tirst instance 

 (30 lbs. per day), 8 lbs. of bees, there would be 

 36,000 bees. 1130,000 of these were field-bees, 

 (estimating 10,000 necessary to carry a single 

 pound of basswood nectar), those bees must 

 have made forty trips. On the same basis of 

 calculation, a colony of equal strength that 

 brought in 5 lbs. would make one-fourth as 

 many trips, or an even ten. This would leave 

 for each trip one hour for ten hours; or. in the 

 case of 20 lbs. a day, twenty minutes. 



There, perhaps I had better not carry this 

 out further, or I may get into a tangle.— En. J 



THE KULE OF QUEENS AND AFTER-SWARMS. 



CLOVEB AND BASSWOOD NOT YIELDING HONEV. 

 By W. S. Fultz. 



Dr. C. C. Miller:— In Stray Straws in July 1st 

 Gleanings you ask, "If instinct impels so 

 many queens to leave with after-swarms, what 



*We had one colony that biought in over 43 lbs. in 

 three days; and Doolittle 66 ll)s. in the same time 

 from basswood. 



holds any in the hive? or will all leave if out 

 of the cell?" Did you ever examine a hive 

 that had cast an after-swarm containing sev- 

 eral queens, to see if any were left in the hive ? 

 and if so, how did you always find them? In 

 my limited experience I have examined several 

 such, and always found one or more queens, 

 either in the cell or running over the combs. I 

 have never known a hive to swarm out entirely 

 queenless — have you ? 



In another Straw you say that you have 

 known clover to yield honey; but it was not 

 this year nor last. Will you please tell us how 

 long it has been since you knew white clover to 

 yield honey ? Here it has been about ten years 

 since we have had any clover honey. The 

 editor wanted to know why you didn't move 

 over into Wisconsin, where there are bass- 

 woods. We have basswood here, but don't 

 get any honey from it oftener than about once 

 in five years. Last year it bloomed, but the 

 bees did not work on it, although there was no 

 honey to be had from any other source while it 

 was in bloom. This year there is no basswood 

 bloom, and our bees are starving on raspberry 

 juice, and practically destroying what little 

 crop the frost left. You might as well let your 

 bees starve for want of clover honey as to move 

 them and have them starve for want of bass- 

 wood honey. If there is no change in the pro- 

 duction of honey here it will not be more than 

 three years before there will be no bees in the 

 country. Farmers have all let theirs die, and 

 the few experts that have been feeding have 

 got tired of an outlay that brings no income, 

 and most of them will let what few bees they 

 have starve the coming winter, if they do not 

 gather enough fall honey to feed them through. 



I aim to keep about thirty stands of bees, that 

 being as many as I can attend to besides other 

 work. Four years ago I purchased 3000 sec- 

 tions, and have not bought any since: and from 

 present indications I shall have enough for ten 

 years to come. Three years ago I had 35 stands 

 of bees. They have dwindled down to 36, two 

 having starved this summer. I have not had a 

 swarm this season nor last. We don't have to 

 experiment here to keep our bees from swarm- 

 ing. They have no desire to swarm. I wish 

 they had. May be some of those fellows who 

 are experimenting to prevent swarming would 

 like to get a strain of bees that don't swarm. 

 If so, we have them. They won't fertilize 

 fruit-bloom either. I have tried them for more 

 than 20 years, and they are '• no good " for that. 

 If some one has bees that swarm too much, and 

 he can warrant them to fertilize fruit-bloom, I'd 

 like to trade. 



Muscatine, la., July 8. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



I think the rule is, that more than one queen 

 is left in the hive after an after-swarm, but I 

 don't know that the rule is invariable. I for- 



