AlTOUST, 1019 



G L E A N r N G S I N H K E C U L T IT R E 



531 



ticulaily :i lilacU luif, should never be worn? (2) If 

 for any reason one desired to place an empty brood 

 chamber under one occupied already by the bees, 

 when, if ever, would the bees go to work in the 

 lower empty chamber? (S) In the second and later 

 swarms do the (lueens leave the old hive supplied 

 with egrgs and brood? G. W. Johnson. 



Maine. 



Answers. — The pi-iiicipal reason that the 

 black veil is used is because it is less try- 

 ing on the eyes. However, a white veil 

 with a piece of black across the face, in 

 the line of vision, proves much cooler than 

 the black veil, and we have found it quite 

 satisfactory. (12) Bees naturally store hon- 

 ey above, and therefore, during a honey 

 flow, they would be likely to crowd the 

 queen out of the upper story into the lower 

 one and fill the upper one with honey. (3) 

 Usually, and with capped queen-cells. 



ANSWERS BY J. H. LOVELL. 



Question. — This year the sugar company will 

 have several acres of sugar beets which they are 

 putting out for seed. Can you tell me whether the 

 sugar-beet blossoms yield nectar or pollem for bees? 

 If nectar, can you tell me anything of its value as 

 a honey plant, or of the quality of honey made 

 from it? W. L. Walling. 



Montana. 



Answer. — The small greenish flowers of 

 the beet have a pungent fragrance, but yield 

 little nectar. There is a great abundance 

 of pollen. The bloom is visited chiefly by 

 small flies and bees, but not frequently by 

 these. Visits by honeybees are rare. In 

 Utah, tlirips (tiny insects) visit the flowers 

 in large numbers, as many as 190 having 

 been collected from one small raceme. As 

 there are many pollen grains scattered over 

 their bodies, they doubtless often effect 

 pollination. Observations extending over 

 five years showed that the visits of larger 

 insects were few. The beet is, however, 

 dependent on insects for cross-pollination, 

 as the flowers are self -sterile. 



Question. — I have searched all my bee books that 

 treat on honey plants, and I have failed to find 

 mentioned there the plant my bees are working on. 

 I should be pleased if you would write something 

 absut this plant. Its name is pleurisy root (As- 

 clepias tuherosa) . It is also called butterfly weed. 

 The bees work on it all the time, and it stays in 

 bloom aboiit six weeks or longer ; but there is not 

 very much of it here. G. Ij. Perry. 



Texas. 



Answer. — Butterfly weed, or pleurisy root 

 (Asclepias tuherosa L.) grows wild from 

 Maine and Ontario southward to Florida and 

 Texas. It is called butterfly weed because 

 it is adapted to pollination by butterflies, 

 which visit the flowers so frequently as to 

 attract attention. More than a dozen dif- 

 ferent kinds have been captured while feed- 

 ing on the nectar. The slender awl-shaped 

 horns, or nectaries, are so long that only 

 insects with long slender tongues can suck 

 up all the nectar. Honeybees and some wild 

 bees also resort to the flowers. The plant 

 gets the name pleurisy root because a de- 

 coction administered several times a day 

 affords relief in pleurisy, catarrh, pneu- 

 monia, and pulmonary complaints. Under 

 favorable conditions the milkweeds secrete 



lUH'tar freely, and colonies have been re- 

 ported to store 10 or more pounds per day 

 for a week or two. The honey is water- 

 white, and possesses an excellent flavor and 

 a heavy bod3^ They bloom from the last of 

 June to August. The milkweeds are usually 

 classed as noxious weeds, and directions are 

 given for their eradication; but in most lo- 

 calities they appear to be harmless. Some 

 farmers claim them beneficial to the soil. 

 The seed germinates readily, but the young 

 plants are reported to be rather tender. If 

 the soil and climate are suitable, the plants 

 will be likely to multiply rapidly without 

 any attention. The common wilkweed (As- 

 cleii'nts si/riaca) is the species most valuable 

 to beekeepers, and, if any species are culti- 

 vated, would seem to be the most desirable. 

 I would not recommend the butterfly weed 

 for this purpose, as the horns or nectaries 

 are so long that honeybees are probably able 

 to gather only a part of the nectar. If the 

 supply is scanty they might not be able to 

 obtain any of it. If it is desired to culti- 

 vate some one plant for honey, sweet clover 

 or alsike clover would seem to be the most 

 suitable. 



AN.SWER BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Question. — In June Gleanings, page 389, Miss 

 Fowls recommends as a swarm prevention a plan 

 of yours. Is this a modified form of your excluder 

 plan of treatment in " Fifty Years Among the 

 Bees ? " In this new plan what is to prevent the 

 queen in the upper hive from swarming out in a 

 day or two ? She states that the colony will be so 

 weakened by the loss of field bees that the idea of 

 swarming will be abandoned. This hive is no more 

 weakened thru the loss of its field bees than any 

 hive would be after a natural swarm, and still we 

 liave secondary swai'ms from such hives. 



Herbert Schulz. 



Answer. — The plan Miss Fowls gives is 

 the "put-up plan" given in "Fifty Years," 

 and is not a prevention of swarming, but a 

 treatment to keep the forces together after 

 swarming. Either Miss Fowls or the printer 

 has made a mistake that might be serious. 

 She has the queen put up any time within 

 10 days after swarming. That should be 5 

 days, for if left 10 days a virgin would be 

 likely to emerge and go off with a swarm. 

 [An error of the proofreaders. — Editor.] 

 You think because there are after-swarms 

 in ordinary natural swarming, there should 

 be swarming in the present case. The two 

 are quite different. In the one case a lot of 

 sealed brood has been turning into bees for 

 the past week or so, there is the vigor of 

 increasing strength, plenty of honey is com- 

 ing in, and everything looks promising. In 

 the other case there is the present feeling 

 of vastly decreased numbers, not a drojj of 

 lioney is coming in, and everything threat- 

 ens disaster. In the one case there is a 

 giddy young virgin, ready to go with a 

 corporal's guard; in the other an experienc- 

 ed matron that would scorn to go with any- 

 thing less than a strong force. At any rate, 

 as I have proven hundreds of times, it is 

 as Miss Fowls says, the panic-stricken bees 

 tear down all cells, and all thought of 

 swarming is given up. 



