1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



765 



Since the essential organs are composed of very ten- 

 der tissues it is not surprising that injury may follow 

 when they are hit by the si)ray mixtures. Neither is 

 it strange that Bordeaux mixture should prevent the 

 germination of the pollen. The Bordeaux mixture 

 holds its position as a leading fungicide because it 

 prevents the growth of fungous spores. The germina- 

 tion of pollen is more nearly analoeous to the germi- 

 nation of fungous spores than to the germination of 

 grain. Since the Bordeaux mixture is deadly to the 

 one it may be expected to have a similar effect upon 

 the other. Tliat it does not have such an effect is 

 proved by laboratory experiments which formed a 

 part ot the investigations previously mentioned. The 

 ordinary combination of Bordeaux mixture with an 

 arsenical poison prevented the growth of pollen in 

 laboratory cultures, as also did even lime alone, while 

 in corresponding cultures in which these substances 

 were not present the pollen germinated and pollen- 

 tuhes grew. Bordeaux mixture alone, of the one-to- 

 eleven formula, was added to cultures in varying pro- 

 portions and the effect was remarkable. With 200 

 parts of it in 10,000 parts of the culture media the 

 growth of pollen was practically prohibited, for the 

 pollen did not grow except in rare instances; 100 parts 

 in 10,000 in .some cultures, but not in all, wholly pre- 

 vented the germination of the pollen; sometimes .jO 

 parts in 10,000 gave a similar re-ult, and even the very 

 slight proportion of two parts in 10,000 in some cases 

 showed an unmistakable adverse influence on pollen 

 germination. Since pollen must alight upon the stig- 

 matic surface and there germinate before fertilization 

 can take place these results are highly significant to 

 the fruit-grower. From the facts which have been 

 presemed it is clear that applying the spray mixtures 

 on the open blossoms, instead of assisting directly to 

 set the fruit, it may wholly prevent it. 



Every bee-keeper should get a copy of 

 this interesting' document for his own use, 

 and a dozen more for his neighbors. It is 

 the most elaborate treatise on the relation 

 of bees to fruit ever printed. 



-^(^ 



HOW MAY WE SECURE WORKER COMB WHEN 

 BUILT BY THE BEES ? 



"Good morning, Doolittle. Too cold for 

 the bees to work this morning, and here it 

 is nine o'clock the 16th day of August." 



" Yes, it is very cold for the time of year, 

 Mr. Brown. The mercury stood at only 10 

 degrees above freezing this morning, and 

 the same on the morning of the 13th. I fear 

 we are not going to get much buckwheat 

 honej', on account of the cold, as it is now 

 nearly in full bloom; and the hives do not 

 have at present one-fourth enough honey in 

 them for winter; and unless we have a yield 

 from buckwheat it means feeding for winter 

 stores — something I have not had to do for 

 twelve or fifteen years past. But we will 

 not dwell on this part of the matter. What 

 can I do for you this morning? " 



"Having no surplus honey this year, 

 with a prospect of buying sugar for winter 

 stores, owing to our wet cold summer, I 

 thought to economize a little by having the 

 bees build their own coml) in the frames 

 next season instead of buying foundation. 



as I have g-enerally done. I read some- 

 where that you had the most of your combs 

 built in the frames without the use of foun- 

 dation, only as starters, so I came to talk 

 the matter over with you." 



"Yes, I have allowed the bees to build 

 many combs in the frames, and mainly did 

 this when I first began bee-keeping. But 

 what part of this comb-building- has both- 

 ered you? " 



"In taking out the combs and inserting 

 frames having only a starter, I find the 

 bees almost inv£iriably build drone comb." 



" Yes, that is as I have found it all along 

 my bee-keeping life, for the same has shown 

 that it is folly to insert a frame, having 

 only a starter in it, in a full colony previ- 

 ous to the swarming of that colony, with 

 the hope of getting much if any worker 

 comb; and if frames must be inserted in 

 such colonies at such times, it will pay the 

 apiarist to purchase comb foundation for 

 such frames, even though he has no surplus 

 honey, rather than try to get them filled by 

 the bees." 



" But suppose we have worker combs on 

 hand for such times." 



" That would be all right; in fact, I con- 

 sider built-out combs even better for such 

 places than frames filled with foundation; 

 for where only one or two frames of founda- 

 tion are placed in a hive between combs, 

 when honey is coming in from the fields, 

 the cells from the comb along the top-bars 

 to the frames are extended so they jut out 

 into the space that belongs to the frame 

 having the foundation in, before the founda- 

 tion is drawn fully out, so that we have 

 " fat " combs in some frames and " lean " 

 ones in others, in a way that causes much 

 trouble in exchanging them, especially in 

 hives having frames at fixed distances." 



" But these extra combs cause us to pre- 

 suppose that they have been built some 

 time, so we come to the main idea how to 

 secure extra frames of worker comb with- 

 out using full sheets of foundation." 



" I find that there are three conditions of 

 the hive or colony under which, if rightly 

 managed, the bees will almost invariably 

 build worker comb." 



" Now you are talking about just what I 

 wished to know. Tell me about the condi- 

 tion you consider best." 



" The surest of the three ways is when a 

 colony is quite weak, or what we term a 

 nucleus. If such a colony is deprived of all 

 of its combs save one of honey and one of 

 brood, and a frame having a starter in it is 

 inserted between the two combs left in the 

 hive, the bees will, ninety-nine times out of 

 a hundred, fill that frame with worker 

 comb, and said comb will be as perfect as 

 one built from foundation under the most 

 favorable circumstances. Taking advan- 

 tage of this fact, I take frames of brood 

 from the weaker colonies I have at the be- 

 ginning of the honey-flow, those too weak 

 to work in sections to advantage, and give 

 this brood to the weaker of the stronger 

 colonies, and set the weak colonies to build- 



