236 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1918 



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QUESTION. — I 

 have a ranch 

 in the foothills 

 of Nevada 

 County, in which 

 I am growing sev- 

 eral thousand acidu- 

 lous fruit trees, 80 

 per cent pears, the 

 balance apples, 

 peaches, plums, cher- 

 ries, etc. How many hives of lees would you rec- 

 ommend for each thousand of such trees ? 



New York. John N. Blair. 



Answer. — The necessity of a large number 

 of bees for the pollination of fruit trees is 

 imperative, as may be clearly seen, when it 

 is pointed out that the number of bees visit- 

 ing the trees during the blooming period is 

 more than 10 times as great as that of other 

 insects. Most varieties of pears, and many of 

 the apples and other fruits are self-sterile 

 and are therefore placed in alternation in 

 order to insure proper fertilization. When so 

 arranged one colony per acre for an orchard 

 of full grown trees would be sufficient, pro- 

 viding the weather was warm. But if a cold 

 snap should occur at the time of fruit bloom, 

 the bees would fly but a short distance, and 

 several times as many colonies would then be 

 a decided disadvantage. Some authorities on 

 this subject plead for five colonies to the 

 acre, saying that on the occurence of unfavor- 

 able conditions, safety lies in the maximum 

 number. 



Question. — If in the first week of May, I divided 

 a 10-framo colony into three, and filled the rest of 

 the hive out with the full sheets of foundation, feed- 

 ing them well, and giving each one a laying queen, 

 would they store any surplus of honey this year and 

 when would they become full colonies ? 



New York. Evan Jones. 



Answer. — If your heavy honeyflow does 

 not begin before the middle of June, then 

 by dividing your colony into two early in 

 Maj^ and by feeding them for about thirty 

 days, according to the Alexander plan of in- 

 crease, you may be able to start the season 

 with two good colonies instead of one, and 

 therefore will increase your honey crop. If 

 you divide the colony into three instead of 

 two, you would still be able to obtain good 

 colonies, biit, of course, would decrease your 

 honey crop accordingly. In some seasons it 

 might result in the three colonies only ob- 

 taining enough honey to winter them and 

 no surplus at all. In a good season they 

 would probably store a little in excess of 

 their needs. 



Question. — I looked over an out-apiary Feb. 7, 

 to be sure all had honey. I found the bees altogether 

 too active for that time of year. All had brood 

 as "large as a big hand," and from that up to four 

 frame-s of brood in several strong colonies. In these 

 colonies I found what looked like uncapped newly- 

 stored honey in the super frames just above the 

 brood. As there was, of course, no honey coming in, 

 it must be that the be(^s took the thick honey, diluted 

 it with water, and stored it where it will be 

 handy to feed the brood. I never saw it done before. 



California. Dr. Warren B. Davis. 



Answer. — We fear the above inference is 

 hardly justified. That bees would dilute thick 



GLEANED by ASKING 



1 



E. R. Root 



^^^^^^^^ 



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honey with water 

 and then move it 

 over next the 

 brood, we do not 

 credit. Doubtless 

 what actually 

 happened was 

 that the bees 

 were getting a 

 small flow from 

 willow or some other early source. 



Question. — Have you any information in regard 

 to whether white or yellow .sweet clover is preferable 

 for honey production ? M. F. Cline. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — The white biennial (melilotus 

 alba), and the large yellow biennial (melilo- 

 tus officinalis), are both good honey plants. 

 The latter, however, should not be confused 

 with the small yellow annual (melilotus in- 

 dica), which is usually considered of small 

 value. The large yellow sweet clover blos- 

 soms much sooner than the white, usual- 

 ly two or three weeks earlier, this difference 

 in time depending upon the locality. It 

 may thus be seen that in many localities this 

 variety of yellow sweet clover is quite invalu- 

 able since it so nicely fills in the gap between 

 fruit bloom and the main honey flow, thus 

 encouraging continuous brood rearing just 

 at the time of year when it is most needed. 



Questions. — (1) Would it be a good plan to put 

 pound packages of bees in hives from which the 

 bees have been winter killed? (2) What size of 

 package would be necessary in order to have a strong 

 colony by June ? Joseph Langhammer. 



Connecticut. 



Answer. — (1) If the colonies were not dis- 

 eased and simply died because of the extreme 

 cold, their frames would be all right to give 

 to other colonies, but we would hardly like 

 to give such combs to pound packages of 

 bees, since such a nucleus would be so small. 

 We would consider it much better to give the 

 combs of dead bees to good, strong colonies 

 to clean out, after which they could be used 

 in the way that you suggest. (2) In order to 

 have strong colonies by June, it will be 

 necessary to buy the packages early. If one- 

 or preferably two-pound packages are pur- 

 chased in April and each pound of bees fed 

 slowly with about one-half cupful of sugar 

 syrup a day, they may be built up into strong 

 enough colonies to gather honey by June. 



Question. — I should like to run my thirty colonies 

 on the let-alone plan as far as I can and get a 

 crop of honey. In the beginners' lessons in Glean- 

 ings la.st year, you say add another extracting body 

 early, then about a week after the honey flow starts 

 put the queen in the lower story with an excluder 

 between. Now won't this colony have to be looked 

 over to keep it from swarming ? What I want is to 

 get along without going thru them every week audi 

 then not see some of my best swarms soar away to 

 the woods. 



New York. N. C. Davis. 



Answer. — You seem to doubt whether the 

 plan given last season in the ' ' Beginnei s ' 

 Lessons ' ' would work well as a let-alone plan. 

 Well, so do we. In order to be certain that 

 the bees will not swarm, it will be necessary 



