1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



471 



their bees from Southern California, into wide- 

 ly different portions of the central portion, 

 and their success was indifferent. Still, in 

 some portions of Central California a fair yield 

 of honey was secured, and I presume it was 

 attributed to alfalfa. 



Let us observe the conditions in the locality 

 under my own observation. The first blos- 

 soms the bees work upon with vigor are the 

 almond, in February; after this conies a pro- 

 fusion of fruit-bloom in March, with a few 

 honey-producing wild flowers — alfileria the 

 principal one. After the fruit-bloom there is 

 a dearth of honey producing flora; and if the 

 bees are not well supplied with honey to last 

 them through May, and often through June, a 

 little feeding will be necessary. 



"But," you say, "where was the alfalfa 

 bloom in that alfalfa country ? " 



There is certainly a splendid growth of al- 

 falfa, and the first mowing is in April ; but 

 there is no bloom upon it worth mentioning. 

 A good share of the heads are blasted, and 

 there is a fuzzy whiteness where the bloom 

 ought to be. If there should happen to be a 

 few or many blossoms, the bees are not in- 

 clined to work upi n them. In May the con- 

 ditions are about the same. While in June 

 alfalfa may and may not secrete nectar, some 

 seasons an extracting can be obtained ; the 

 next, perhaps not a pound. 



The bees have made a useless spurt of brood- 

 rearing from fruit-bloom away back in March. 

 If they swarm during this bloom, the new 

 swarms will hardly make honey enough to 

 live upon, and the old colonies will use their 

 stores upon useless brood-rearing, finally di- 

 minishing the brood-nest. As the honey-sea- 

 son approaches in an uncertain way in June 

 or July, the first few weeks of it are spent in 

 bracing the colonies up for business. 



My experience with our out-apiary in the 

 weed-patch during this dearth of nectar was 

 new and very interesting. The colonies were 

 not in very good condition in the spring — 

 weak, and short of honey. On the 2ath of 

 May I put down this record : " Average of one 

 ounce of honey to the colony." 



Many of these colonies were examined in 

 the morning ; and, though there was, on an 

 average, 200 square inches of brood in each 

 hive, I failed, after close scrutiny, to find one 

 cell of honey. Examine the same combs near 

 evening, and a few cells of honey would be 

 found near the brood. They were actually 

 living from hand to mouth, and decreasing in- 

 stead of increasing the brood-nest. Yellow 

 sweet clover was the source of the honey-sup- 

 ply. The weakest colonies were fed sparingly, 

 and they came up to the July honey-flow in 

 fair condition. 



If the bees do not get up to the swarming- 

 point during the fruit-bloom, the starving- 

 period in April and May takes the desire all 

 out of them, and, no matter how freely honey 

 comes in afterward, or how full the hives be- 

 come, there is no desire to swarm ; and, as a 

 bee-keeper remarked, who owns 500 colonies 

 in several apiaries, and cares for all of them 

 himself, "this starvation-period is our salva- 

 tion from the swarming-fever." 



If there is no alfalfa-bloom previous that 

 the bees work upon, there is a profuse bloom 

 in July, August, and September ; but even 

 during these months the secretion of alfalfa 

 nectar is sometimes meager. 



The failure of the bees to secure alfalfa hon- 

 ey is wholly due to an atmospheric condition, 

 and not because the alfalfa is cut too early. 

 It would be much to the advantage of the 

 bee-keeper if it were allowed to stand a little 

 longer ; but in a district where there is a large 

 acreage there is more or less of it in bloom all 

 the time. Each farmer cuts his alfalfa four 

 times during the hay-curing season. Mr. A 

 cuts his this week, Mr. B next week ; they are 

 not all ready to cut at the same time, and the 

 whir of the mower is heard almost continuous- 

 ly through the summer. Then there are the 

 alfalfa-pastures where hundreds of cattle are 

 grazing. There is quite an amount of bloom 

 in these fields. 



But if alfalfa is almost a failure, sometimes 

 there are other flowers in many localities that 

 come to the rescue. 



If there were a small hill handy I would 

 take you to the top of it and direct your at- 

 tention eastward. Well, let's climb to the 

 roof of the veranda. Off toward Dinuba, five 

 miles away, are hundreds of acres of wheat 

 land. After the wheat is cut, the California 

 compass-plant, or 



The sunflower that, with warrior mein, 

 Still eyes the orb of glory where he glows, 



puts in an appearance, and grows and blooms 

 with utmost luxuriance. The bees work upon 

 it with considerable vigor for both pollen and 

 honey for six weeks in August and September. 





BEE WORKING ON BI,UE CURI^. 



1.— Tube straightened by bee, and pollen striking 

 back. 

 2.— Hair-like stamens bearing pollen-grains. 

 3. — Pollen-grains. 

 4.— Buds. 

 5.— Two leaves at end of tube for bee to alight upon. 



Another plant with as many names as the 

 locations in which it is found comes into bloom 

 early in August, and continues until frosts 



