806 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



YOUNG SWARMS ROBBING THE PARENT HIVE. 



June 2, we had a second swarm that was hived 

 on frames containing some comb. After a little 

 while I noticed an unusual number of bees going 

 in and out of both the old and new stands. The 

 next day I examined the new stand, and found the 

 combs half built, and completely full of honey. 

 The young swarm had robbed the parent hive of 

 most of its honey. I am confident that they robbed 

 it, for on the evening of the day that the swarm 

 came out it was pretty cool, and not a bee was mov- 

 ing about an.v hive except those two. I got some 

 Hour and sprinkled on the bees coming out of the 

 old hive, and found them all going into the new 

 swarm. We have had several cases of this kind, 

 and right in the midst of a good honey-flow. The 

 parent hive never offers any resistance. But no 

 harm is ever done by this kind of robbing. They 

 never rDb except the first day after coming out. I 

 have seen them robbing quite lively late in the eve- 

 ning, and next morning not a bee would go back. 

 One hive is robbed a little every year in this way by 

 its first swarm. 



DRONE ASSEMBLIES. 



T am inclined to think that drones do not go very 

 far to congregate. This year I heard the loud roar- 

 ing of drones high up in the air in several places in 

 our locality. Some of the assemblies were not 

 more than half a mile apart. 



RED CLOVER. 



This year the second blooming of red clover pro- 

 duced honey quite freely. The blossoms were short, 

 and the bees could easily reach the honey. During 

 the drought, when the ground was extremely dry 

 and the air very hot, the bees gathered honey in 

 large quantities from it; and at the present date, 

 Sept. 16, they are still working hard. The brood- 

 chambers are very full of honey; in fact, brood is 

 to a great extent crowded. 



HONEY-DEW. 



About the 10th of August, honey-dew began to 

 appear on the maple-trees. It came in small quan- 

 tities at first, but increased each morning for about 

 a week. After that about the same amount fell 

 each night until Sept. 6, when it suddenly ceased. 

 The bees worked on it from daylight until about 

 10 o'clock At the end of that time it disappeared, 

 leaving stains on the leaves where the drops had 

 been. It appeared more on warm nights, when 

 there was lots of dew, and lasted longer on days 

 that were cloudy. It always appeared on the upper 

 side of the leaves, never on the under. It came in 

 drops the size of small raindrops; and while some 

 leaves would be covered with it, others would have 

 but little or none. The top branches of the trees 

 produced a great deal more than the lower ones. 

 Some trees had thr£e or four times as much honey- 

 dew on them as others. It had a very distinct flavor 

 of maple syrup about it, and when the sun shone on 

 it a little while, it became thick like molasses. I 

 have seen drops on some leaves, large enough for 

 three or four loads for a bee. On some mornings, 

 when it fell profusely, it could be found on the 

 grass, weeds, and small bushes under the trees. I 

 have seen the small maple sprouts (that just came 

 up last spring, and as yet having but two leaves), 

 distant from any other tree, and yet its two little 

 leaves would be covered with honey-dew. I am 

 confident that this honey-dew does not fall as the 

 dew of the night, but that it is a secretion of the 

 leaves, and that it comes from the limbs and body 



of the tree, and is secreted by the leaves; for late- 

 ly, in cutting up live sugar-tree limbs I noticed a 

 liquid oozing out of the wood close to the bark: and 

 in tasting it I found it to be sweet, having a taste 

 similar to that of honey-dew. I also saw bees flying 

 around the piles of freshly cut wood. When a fresh- 

 ly cut log was left in the sun a while this 6ap would 

 ooze out between the bark and the wood, and form 

 a bitter-sweet sticky gum. This is something I 

 never noticed before. Chas. L. Greenfield. 



Somerville, O., Sept. 16, 1889. 



Young swarms robbing the parent hive 

 has been before mentioned. Like yourself, 

 I have been obliged to decide that drones 

 do congregate in a good many places, es- 

 pecially in the vicinity of large apiaries. 

 Your remarks in regard to honey-dew on the 

 maple seem to indicate that it may be a 

 secretion of the plant. Friend France 

 mentioned, while I was there, that one sea- 

 son he saw the bees working strong on the 

 leaves of corn, right where they are united 

 to the stalk. Selecting a hive where they 

 seemed busiest he put an empty comb in the 

 center of the brood-nest. In a day or two 

 it was full, and he threw out the honey with 

 the extractor, put it on the table, and asked 

 the boys to decide what kind of honey it was. 

 One of them replied promptly that he could 

 not tell, but it tasted exactly like the juice 

 from chewing a green cornstalk. This honey 

 was a saccharine secretion directly from the 

 corn — no aphides about it. I have seen it 

 sufficient to keep the bees busy a while in 

 the morning. Now, I think it is possible 

 that maple may, under some circumstances, 

 secrete a sweetish substance in the same 

 way. 



AN AVERAGE CROP. 



FRANK M'NAY REPLIES TO E. FRANCE. 



NOTICE on page 738 of Gleanings for Sept. 15, 

 that E. France criticises the answers given by 

 some of the respondents in regard to the aver- 

 age crop of honey. He is mistaken in suppos- 

 ing that the honey season opens and closes at 

 the same date in all locations, for I notice that he ' 

 now reports the same as he did on Aug. 3d, while I 

 at that time considered my crop about half gather- 

 ed; and as I had taken 20,000 pounds from 350 colo- 

 nies during the first half of our season, I reported 

 it an average crop .so far (see question d, Statistics). 

 I now report 26,600 pounds for August and Sep- 

 tember, making a total of 46.600 pounds for the sea- 

 son, of which 3050 is in one-pound sections, from 65 

 colonies, and 43,550 pounds extracted from 285 colo- 

 nies. My bees are in six apiaries, from 35 to 75 colo- 

 nies in each, located from V 2 to 5 miles from bass- 

 wood; and as it is often asked how far bees may be 

 located from basswood or other forage, and work 

 to advantage, I have kept an accurate record of 

 dates of extracting in each apiary, showing amount 

 taken, distance to forage, etc.; and if you desire I 

 will send you a tabulated record of the season's 

 work. Our work was done with Bingham smokers 

 and knives, and five Novice extractors. 

 Mauston, Wis., Oct. 1, 1889. Frank McNay. 



Let us have the tabulated record, friend 

 M. Your point with respect to the statis- 

 tics is well taken. 



