202 



June, 1915. 



American Hee Jonrnal j 



source, but both neetar and pollen are 

 supplied for early brood-rearing. 



In " Richter's Honey Plants of Cali- 

 fornia," I find reference to numerous 

 localities where surplus has been se- 

 cured from the willows. It is said to 

 be "a dark amber and bitter honey." 

 In a few other southern localities sur- 

 plus yields from willow are reported. 

 The flowers on one tree will be stami- 

 nate and on another pistillate. Unlike 

 most plants the organs of both se.xes 

 are not found on the same plant. 



M.M'LES (Jeer). 



Almost all of the early pollen and 

 nectar comes from trees, and most of 

 the trees bloom early. The maples are 

 mostly large trees confined to North 

 America and temperate regions of the 

 old world. Two species are commonly 

 planted for shade and ornament; the 

 sugar maple or hard maple, .leer sae- 

 eharinum, and the red maple or soft 

 maple, Aeer rubrum. The photographs 

 show the blossoms of the soft maple. 



Maple lumber is commonly used in 

 the manufacture of furniture, flooring 

 and finishings. The blossoms come 

 very early, when especially valuable in 

 building up the colonies for the main 

 honey flow. If the bees were as numer- 

 ous as later the nectar stored from 

 maple blossoms would make a credit- 

 able yield. Mr. C. L. Pinney, of Iowa, 

 reports that one year his scale hive 

 showed a gain of from one to two 

 pounds daily from soft maple, when 

 the ground was still covered with 



snow. ., , , , . 



If it were possible to have colonies 

 come through the winter with as many 

 bees as they have at the beginning of 

 winter, beekeeping would be a bonanza. 

 Instead of having one or two flows, 



there would be first a flow from maple 

 and willow followed by one from dan- 

 delion and fruit bloom, ahead of the 

 big clover flow. However, the bee- 

 keeper whose apiary is situated near 

 plenty of such trees as willow, maple 

 elm and box-elder is fortunate indeed, 

 for the bees'get a splendid stimulation 

 very early, and should be in prime 

 condition for business when clover 

 comes on. 



BOX-ELDER (,.\'effu>ido aecroides or .leer 

 negundo). 



The box-elder or ash-leaved maple is 

 a near relative of the maples, and is 

 sometimes included with them. Fig. 26 

 shows the staminate blossoms of box- 

 elder. Like the willows, the stamens 

 are borne on one plant and the pistils 

 on another. 



The box-elder is found from New 

 England and southern Canada west to 

 Dakota and southward. It is also 

 common in California. Apparently its 

 range does not extend as far south- 

 ward as other maples. It is very com- 

 monly planted for windbreaks and 

 shade in the prairie States of the cen- 

 tral West. Some honey is yielded by 

 the blossoms and honey-dew is often 

 secreted by aphis feeding on the leaves. 

 While not generally regarded as espe- 

 cially valuable, its season is such that 

 its addition to the honey-producing 

 flora is important. The blooms come 

 very soon after soft maple in April. 



ELM (rimus). 



The elms are very attractive to the 

 bees for pollen. The American or 

 white elm is more especially valuable, 

 and a large tree will attract so many 

 bees that the humming sounds like a 

 swarm. Our illustration shows the 



bloom of the red elm {I'./uh'a), also 

 called slippery elm. 



HAZELNUT. 



The hazelnut {t'ory^its iimeruana) is 

 a slender growing shrub common in 

 the borders of woodlands of the most 

 of the temperate North America. It 

 yields some pollen and is valuable 

 where there is a scarcity of early pol- 

 len-bearing plants. The figure shows 

 the male blossoms which are more 

 conspicuous than the fertile ones. 



Atlantic, Iowa, 

 f-opyright: 191S. by Frank C. Pellett. 



flG. 26.-STAMINATE BLOSSOMS Oh' BOX KI.UER 



Preventing Swarming— Mak- 

 ing Increase 



BY E. F. .\TWAT1;R. 



IN many localities conditions are so 

 favorable for swarming that even 

 with the production of extracted 

 honey a vast amount of work must be 

 done to prevent it. Such is the case in 

 Mr. Holtermann's location in Ontario, ' 

 Canada, and certainly such is the case 

 with us. 



We are all looking for a sure and 

 easy way to hold the bees together 

 without sulking or swarming. But all 

 plans used require an amount of labor 

 that cuts heavily into the season's in- 

 come, and all do very greatly limit the 

 number of colonies and apiaries which 

 can b -■ successfully operated. 



In the American Bee Journal for 

 1914, page 310-11, Mr. C. F. Greening 

 asserts that " by always keeping some 

 brood unhatched in the top super, as 

 long as there is any space below that 

 super in the hive proper, your bees will 

 not swarm." If this be true in many 

 localities, I would regard it as one of 

 the most important and revolutionary 

 discoveries in modern beekeeping. 



The inference is that examination of 

 brood-nests will be unnecessary, and 

 nothing is said about destroying cells J 

 that may be started on that frame of I 

 brood, after putting it above. Nothing 

 is said as to the use or non use of an 

 excluder, and if not used, and the flow 

 is not very heavy, many queens will es- 

 tablish their brood-nests above — a very 

 undesirable condition. 



Where this frame of brood is in a 

 third or fourth story, above an ex- 

 cluder, we have had many a queen 

 reared and mated there, by allowing a 

 small entrance to the upper story, with 

 no swarming. But if the mere pres- 

 ence of that frame of brood with empty 

 comb below is a sure prevention, the 

 writer wants to know it. 



We hope that others with an exten- 

 sive experience will deny or confirm 

 Mr. Greening's claims, for if the plan 

 is to be relied upon, it can save thou- 

 sands of dollars to our beekeepers this 

 coming season. 



In Mr. Hand's article, page 120 :?0 of 

 the American Bee Journal for 101 1, en- 

 titled, "The Migratory System ;•.<. the 

 Convertible Hive System," he shows 

 us how to treble the number of colo- 

 nies without the expense of a trip to 

 Florida or California. 



Let us look into his system, as it 

 may be valuable. 



First, he places five frames of brood 

 and honey, and the queen, in one end 



