126 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 1 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



CHOOSING A LOCATION. 



" Mr. Doolittle, if you were to choose a loca- 

 tion, what kind would you select ? " 



"If I were at liberty to choose a location 

 where I desired, and could find such a one, it 

 would be in a place where the land slopes gently 

 to the southeast, because such a slope brings on 

 the earliest vegetation, and consequently the ear- 

 liest brood, and from this the earliest force of 

 bees. In other words, in a district where white 

 and alsike clover abound, such a slope will often 

 yield a good harvest of honey, while a slope 

 toward the west or north might give but little." 



" But I should suppose that a southwest slope 

 would be the warmest, as that would allow the 

 afternoon sun to shine squarely on the land." 



" This would be right were it not that our pre- 

 vailing winds are from the southwest — something 

 I have noted in nearly all parts of the country in 

 which I have been, from the fact that the tops of 

 all trees growing out in the open were inclined 

 over to the northeast. Now, while the afternoon 

 sun is undoubtedly the warmest, on an average, 

 during the day, yet it is more than offset by these 

 prevailing winds which are so strenuous that 

 they keep vegetation backward, and the bees as 

 well, unless there is a strong windbreak of some 

 kind. But this is not all there is in a southeast 

 exposure. The bees get the benefit of the morn- 

 ing sun, especially if the entrances to the hives 

 face in this direction." 



" What about pasturage.? " 



" I should like some willows, the pussy, white, 

 and golden, to stimulate early brood-rearing. 

 The pussy willow gives about the earliest pollen 

 from which the bees can get a sufficient supply 

 to stimulate brood- rearing. The white willow, 

 or the kind which is set for fencing in many 

 localities, gives the first honey of any account. 

 The golden willow commences to produce nec- 

 tar a little before the white is out of bloom, and 

 yields to that extent that the nectar can be seen 

 sparkling in the tags with the first rays of morn- 

 ing sunshine, and it continues till darkness drives 

 the bees home for the night. Now, while there 

 is rarely a surplus from this source, yet I have 

 known from five to fifteen pounds of honey t j be 

 stored in the hives from the two last-named wil- 

 lows in a good year. And under such circum- 

 stances this is a mighty leverage toward a large 

 force of bees in time for the white clover. But 

 don't lose sight of the pussies, for the first pollen 

 paves the way by setting all the energies of the 

 hive in operation. " After the willows I should 

 want sugar (hard) maples in plenty, for they are 

 always rich in pollen; and as they come on the 

 heels of the willow nectar, the activity started is 

 still more accelerated, and especially if the at- 

 mosphere is right, so that some nectar is secret- 

 ed to use with the pollen, as is quite often the 

 case where the weather is warm, and the atmos- 

 phere charged with electricity. After the maples 

 I should want many apple-orchards, as these give 

 us plenty of honey from apple to white clover, 

 which, with alsike, should also be abundant." 



"Why do you want all of that nectar yield 

 before the clover bloom? I should think the 

 honey would crowd out the brood." 



" Brood-rearing, when at its height, as it should 

 be during maple bloom and that from the apple, 

 requires a whole lot of nectar if it is to go on to 

 the best advantage; and as there are usually from 

 16 to 24 days from the blooming of the apple to 

 where the bees secure nectar from the clovers, 25 

 to 30 lbs. to the colony at the close of apple 

 bloom makes the bees feel so rich that they just 

 boom ahead with their brood, no matter if noth- 

 ing but pollen is obtained from the fields." 



" But I should think there would be little 

 room for brood at the close of apple bloom." 



"That depends upon the size of hive you are 

 using. If a hive has 15 inches in the clear, 

 so that ten Langstroth frames can be used advan- 

 tageously for brood-rearing, said 30 pounds of 

 honey will be stored in little more than four of 

 the combs, and six Langstroth frames full of brood 

 is a pretty good showing as early in the season 

 as apple bloom. But with all strong colonies, if 

 the apple bloom is yielding nectar freely it is bet- 

 ter to put a queen-excluder on these colonies, 

 and over this a hive full of empty combs, as is 

 given in A Year's Work in an Out-apiary, when 

 the bees have ample room to spread themselves 

 in both brood and honey. The clovers should 

 be abundant. There should be hundreds of acres 

 within the range of the bees' flight. Some seem 

 to think that a few acres of any nectar- producing 

 plants is all that is required. When mother's 

 front yard, consisting of less than one-eighth acre 

 of land, had a continuous bloom of some of the 

 many kinds of flowers she cultivated, tens if not 

 scores of people would say to me, ' No wonder 

 your bees do well, as they have access to the 

 flowers your mother has in bloom continually in 

 her flower-garden! " A single colony would have 

 starved to death if there were no other bloom. 

 Then after the clovers I should want plenty of 

 basswood, and that not only in a valley, but on 

 a hillside or mountain. Tiie bloom at the top 

 would not be open until that in the valley was 

 past and gone. In this way we could get a con- 

 tinuous bloom, as it were; for after that in the 

 valley opened, more would continue to open up 

 the hillside, day by day, till the top of the moun- 

 tain would be reached; and as this last would 

 open after that in the valley has all gone out of 

 bloom, we should still have as long a yield of 

 nectar before us as we had at the opening of the 

 first, had there been no basswood-trees save in 

 the valley. In other words, instead of a yield of 

 basswood nectar continuing from ten days to two 

 weeks, with the same confined to the valley, we 

 should have a yield of from 20 to 28 days where 

 the basswood beginning in the valley continued 

 on up to the mountain top. The first ten days 

 of any bloom only fairly gels things nicely 

 started; and if it stops there we have only a lim- 

 ited yield; but with every added day of nectar 

 secretion comes a storage of a still greater accel- 

 eration, so that the days beyond the twenties will 

 give twice the results which those did prior to 

 the ten; and even with less than half the yield, 

 the completing of the thousands of sections not 

 yet quite marketable makes the days above the 

 twentieth of double value. After the basswood 

 I would have a locality where much buckwheat 

 is raised. And if we could have plenty of fall 

 flowers we should have an ideal location. This is 

 all on the supposition that I could find what I 

 wanted." 



