January, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



lar flowers adapted to the long bills and 

 tongues of flower birds. As there are no 

 l!Uiiniiinj;:birds in Africa the flowers are 

 visited by another family of birds, the 

 sun-birds, wliich in size, form, and color 

 resemble hummingbirds; but when sucking 

 nectar they perch upon a stem or leaf in- 

 stead of poising in the air. Nectar is secret- 

 ed copious'.y at the bottom of these tubes; 

 but to honeybees it is " forbidden fruit." 

 Sometimes a honeybee literally stakes its 

 life in the attempt to obtain it, and creeps 

 into a tube where it sticks fast and perishes 

 in sight of the sweet booty. 



The trumpet or coral honeysuckle (Loni- 

 cera sempervirens) is clearly also a bird 

 flower. The corolla is scarlet outside but 

 yellow within. From these trumpet-shaped 

 flowers no honeybee can add to its stores. 

 The scentless flowers are pollinated by the 

 1 uby-throated hummingbird. (Fig. 3.) 



Fig. 3. — The trumpet honejsuckle (Lonicera sem- 

 pervirens). A bird flower. 



As we have only one species of humming- 

 bird in the United States the number of 

 bird flowers is comparatively small. Three 

 well-known species are the trumpet creep- 

 er (Tecoma radieans) with a funnel-shaped 

 scarlet corolla 2^ inches long; trumpet 

 flower (Bignonia crucifera), which has a 

 corolla two inches long; orange red, and yel- 

 low within; and Carolina pink (Feiglia 

 ^larylandica), also scarlet outside and 

 yellow within. Several species of scar- 



let sage, cultivated from Brazil, also have 

 corollas two inches or more in length, 

 and are i)oIlinatcd by hummingbirds (S. 

 splendens and S. fulgens). The wild bal- 

 sam, or touch-me-not (Impatiens biflora) 

 is by some regarded as a bird flower; but it 

 is much more frequently visited by bumble- 

 bees than by birds. It is, therefore, a bum- 

 blebee flower. The same is likewise true of 

 the wild columbine. Hummingbirds, of 

 course, visit a great many flowers which 

 are not at all adapted to them, as any 

 reader may observe another summer. 



In tropical America, especially in Brazil, 

 hummingbirds are so numerous that they 

 play an important part in the pollination 

 of flowers. The majority of flowers is ^ isit- 

 ed by them; and as they are on the wing 

 thruout the year there are times in the rainy 

 season when they are almost the only visit- 

 ors. Bird flowers are much more abundant 

 here than in North America. Besides feed- 

 ing upon nectar, hummingbirds, contrary to 

 the general belief, also feed upon small in- 

 sects which they find about flowers. The 

 hermit hummingbirds, indeed, live wholly 

 on insects. It was the search for insects 

 which first led the ancestors of this family 

 to examine flowers, and, later, to become 

 nectar-feeders. 



Hummingbirds (Troehilidae), which visit 

 highly colored flowers, exhibit the most 

 brilliant and varied hues to be found among 

 birds. They have not unfittingly been called 

 bird jewels, for they display all the vivid 

 iridescent crimsons, yellows, greens, and 

 blues found in precious stones ; and in the 

 sunlight they glow with a metallic brilliancy 

 that defies description. Sometimes a single 

 si^ecies exhibits three or four colors. The 

 habit of visiting flowers seems to have given 

 rise in some indirect way to this brilliant 

 coloration. In Africa and the East Indies 

 flowers are visited by sun-birds (Nectar- 

 iniidae), which closely resemble humming- 

 birds, but are an entirely different group of 

 birds. 



Waldoboro, Me. JOHN H. LOVELL. 



The Other Side to Florida Beekeeping 



During the last few years I have had 

 many letters from beekeepers of northern 

 states asking for information relative to 

 conditions in this part of Florida. Many 

 come to investigate; a few have called up- 

 on me, and .have seemed disappointed be- 

 cause I would neither offer them encourage- 

 ment nor point out locations where success 

 in beekeeping would be assured. They can- 

 not understand that location is everything 

 in Florida, and that a distance of five miles, 

 or even two, may bring conditions which will 

 make for success or failure. The state ranks 

 high as a honey-producer in the government 



