1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULT UK t:. 



«)7 



little earlier, although we had excellent suc- 

 cess in feeding even later than the last date 

 mentioned. In our locality, 30 miles south 

 of Cleveland, I prefer to take the chances of 

 outdoor wintering. 



NOTES ON GLEANINGS FOR OCT. 1ST. 



HONEY FKOjM M.\PLE. 



BUR frieud Doolittle alwajs writes of something- 

 interesting- to the practical bee-keeper, and 

 usually we all feel like saying amen to his 

 wise conclusions: but his conclusions as to 

 the bee-products of our maples will not an- 

 swer for all localities. I have known in one or two 

 eases, when the weather was vei-y favorable, when 

 the bees secured a larg-e amount of nectar from 

 these grand old trees. I remember once of saying- 

 to our good friend Benton, that 1 believed that, 

 were our colonies sti-ong, and wore not our spring 

 days so capricious, our maples would be among our 

 best honei'-plants. It is very common that bees 

 can gather pollen when the weather fprbids nectar 

 secretion. Very likely some plants are more sus- 

 ceptible to cold than are others. I think this is 

 true. I do not know how the mai)le ranks in the 

 list. I only know that, here in Central Michigan, 

 the maples do furnish anon rich supplies of nectar, 

 and that, too, of a very pleasant and bcautil iil kinri. 



UIPE HONEV. 



Now, Mr. Editor, 1 am much interested in this 

 matter of "ripe honey." May 1 send you some 

 clover and basswood honey for comparison witii 

 that of our friend Heddon'sV Ours was e.vtrac^ted 

 when very thin; and if it is not equal to Mr. Hed- 

 don's, or any other, then I wish some of theirs at 

 once. Again, we have over 200 students here, and 

 about 300 in all in our college community. 1 luive 

 often extracted quite thin honey whit^h I thought 

 was peculiarly pleasant, and have supplied this en- 

 tire community with it, and I have yet to hear the 

 first murmur that it was unwholesome, or more 

 likely to cause colic. 



V.VUIATION IN THE TIME OF H.\TCHINt: IJEES AND 

 OTHER INSECTS. 



Of course, we all delight to hear from our dear 

 and revered friend Mr. Langstroth, I have often 

 tried such e.xperiments as ho details, and often we 

 van get drones in 24 days. Sometimes it takes 20 or 

 27. This is no surprise to an entomologist. We find 

 this variation in lime of development in all insects. 

 Indeed, in our breeding Insects we can vary it at 

 pleasure, by withholding food or subjecting to cold. 

 Eggs that will usually hatch in days may be kept 

 for months or years by putting them in a cool place. 

 In like manner, development in both the larva or 

 pupa state may be retarded. From this we note 

 that we can not give hard, fl.xed figures in such 

 matters. Variation of temperature, variation in 

 number of bees, variation of care by the bees in 

 protecting brood from the cold, each or all may 

 vary our figures. So the queen, the workers, and 

 the drones, may be retarded hours or days. Still, 

 Bevan's figures as to queen, workers, and drones, 

 have all been verified by my own observations as 

 correct, under the most favorable conditions. 



1 believe friend Hart is correct in what he says 

 about yellow jessamine. I bargain to eat from it 

 freely, if any one will send it to me. 



We are all very sorry that Mrs. Harrison must ev- 



er needs be " laid aside for repairs." Mr. Editor, if 

 said lady is as good a bee-keeper as she is writer, 

 she is argument enough as to the ability of ladies 

 to become first-class apiarists. 



GEI.SEMIUM HONEY. 



I read Dr. Higbie's article on gelsemium honey 

 with great pleasure and .satisfaction. I indorse ev- 

 ery word of it. It is not the plant, I ween, but the 

 person, and the amount eaten. One year, in the 

 early days of this college, the students, in felling- 

 trees to clear up a place for our farm operations, 

 were so (un)fortunate as to cut a bee tree. You 

 know, Mr. Editor, our students ali labor three hours 

 daily at manual work; and as the college was locat- 

 ed in a dense forest, of course the first work was to 

 clear away the forests. This bee-tree was cut in 

 the forenoon; and it goes without saying, that 

 hearty, vigorous young men needed no urging to 

 take their ftU of the delicious nectar; and when is 

 honey ever so good as under just such circum- 

 stances? In sooth, no one could ever e.vplain where 

 so much honey went to. But the sad sequel— few 

 of those students went to class that afternoon. 

 True, none died; but many thought they were go- 

 ing to. It was not poisonous honey; it was not 

 bee-stings. It was the undue eating — ovcreathig — 

 of pure rich honey. Tiie stomachs couldn't man- 

 age such a load, and cried out, and manj' of the 

 possessors of those stomachs fairly shrieked with 

 l)ain. I iiave no doubt but that the same explana- 

 tion would account for the terrible sickness of those 

 ancient soldiers, as well as for tlie soldiers spoken 

 of by Dr. Higbie. 



The last part of tlie doctor's article I do not Ix-- 

 lieve to be correct. In fact, Mr. Editor, a little 

 thought refutes it. "Wild bees" are only tame 

 bees in the forest. They are no whit diflereiit ex- 

 cept in their i)laee. If thej- sting honey, all our 

 l)ees do. Hut, do tiieyy Again, honey - comb, if 

 stung, would not pull out the stings. Thus I think 

 any stings seen in such eases came from crushe<l 

 bees. Every bee-keeper often takes honey from 

 bees under precisely the same circumstances that 

 honey is taken from bees in the forest, and it is not 

 unwholesome I have seen and eaten much of such 

 honey, and I have never seen any such phenomenon 

 as that suggested by Dr. Higbie. 



VALUE OF A1,SIKE AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



Mr. Editor, I believe our farmer-apiarists do not 

 ai)i)reciatc the value of alsike clover as a honey- 

 plant. Last .luue we had nuieh white clover, but 

 no alsike about the college. < )ur bees were strong, 

 but we got very little honey, f visited my brother 

 one day and was much surprised at the great 

 amount of honey he had taken. I said, " I don't see 

 into this. Our bees are as strong as yours; the dis- 

 tance is only twenty-eight miles, and the conditions 

 as to temperature and rains are very similar." He 

 said, " Come with me," and we passed to a large 

 field of alsike clover. It was fairly loud with bees. 

 He said, " Here is the solution. The bees have 

 been working like this for days." Hurrah for al- 

 sike! A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



By all means, send us some of the honey, 

 friend Cook, and we shall be quite willing 

 to own up, if need be. My objection to un- 

 ripened honey is not that it is unpalatable 

 when first gathered, but that it gets bad 

 after being kept. Perhaps if exposed to the 

 air. so as to allow the surplus water to evap- 



