1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



759 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



AT Borodino, New York. 



"Mr. Doolittle, I told my friend Mr. Barber 

 yesterday, that, if he would give his children 

 honey instead of butter to eat on their bread, 

 it would be better for them. Is this right? " 



"Well, Mr. Jones, honey is now much 

 cheaper than butter; and if those who can not 

 afford both would eat honey, especially in the 

 case of children, it would be an advantage as 

 far as health is concerned, and they would 

 like it better." 



•'My next question is, don't you queen- 

 breeders ask too high a price for your queens 

 which you wmter over and sell in the spring?" 



"Mr. Jones, you are too good a bee-keep- 

 er not to know that, to remove laying queens 

 in the early part of the season, is a very 

 c istly procedure, and that in most cases 

 some delay must occur in getting them re- 

 placed; consequently much brood is lost at a 

 time when every effort should be put forth 

 to secure a large number of bees for the 

 white-clover harvest. At 10 cts. a pound it 

 would take only 25 pounds of honey to make 

 the difference between a $5.00 queen and a 

 $2 50 queen; and every one would call it a 

 bargain to get a breeding queen at the latter 

 figure. It is my opinion that queens can not 

 be changed in the best colonies in May with- 

 out a loss of 25 pounds of honey." 



" Is there any difference in the method of 

 superseding queens in blacks and Italians?" 



" In a black or German colony, in case the 

 queen dies from old age or any other cause, 

 the bees at once proceed to replace her by 

 converting a worker larva into a queen, part- 

 ly by the rich food called royal jelly, and part- 

 ly by constructing a queen-cell over this lar- 

 va, which is then floated out near the mouth 

 of the cell on this royal jelly. With Italians 

 there is a difference; for, from close obser- 

 vation, I find that most of the queens of this 

 race are superseded before they die; for as 

 soon as the bees find out that the queen is 

 beginning to fail in egg-laying they build 

 queen-cells in which the queen lays, and 

 from these eggs young queens are fed and 

 reared almost like those in colonies that are 

 preparing to cast a prime swarm." 



" Do you consider queens as reared by the 

 Italians better than those reared after the 

 old queen is dead, as in the case of blacks?" 



"I certainly do, and I am not alone in this 

 matter; for nearly all practical bee-keepers 

 are agreed on this point. Such larvae are in- 

 tended for queens from the very start, and 

 are thus fed lavishly during the whole larval 

 period." 



" In your opinion, what is the most impor- 

 tant thing for a bee-keeper to study?" 



" I do not know just what your question is 

 intended to cover; but I would say this — 

 there is no subject of more importance to 

 the bee-keeper, nor is there one that gives 

 him more pleasure, than the study or the 

 honey-producing plants No matter wheth- 



er a flower blooms in the garden, field, or 

 forest, it at once becomes an object of inter- 

 est if the bees gather honey from it. Upon 

 the amount and duration of honey-producing 

 plants in the vicinity of an apiary depends 

 the success or failure of the enterprise. In 

 locating an apiary for honey production one 

 should have an eye to the amount of bee 

 forage in reach of the apiary, for no amount 

 of labor and skill will produce results where 

 there is no source of supply. 



"The labor of cultivating the crop, rental 

 of the land, the uncertainty of securing a 

 yield after it is grown, all tend to discourage 

 one from the cultivation of any plant or tree 

 wholly for honey. Good management, how- 

 ever, with land and bees, even in our more 

 densely populated States, makes both lines 

 of work profitable. Fruit-trees yield nectar, 

 and the fruit is a paying crop as well. White 

 clover is a great honey-producer, and pro- 

 vides the best of pasturage for stock. Al- 

 sike clover is equally great as a honey-pro- 

 ducer, and is nearly equal in value for hay to 

 any of the other grasses. Buckwheat yields 

 both honey and grain. Raspberries are also 

 valuable in both ways. For shade, honey, 

 and timber, we can plant basswood, maple, 

 locust, willow, and other trees. Then, too, 

 various kinds of honey-producing plants can 

 be grown for the seed, which is always in 

 demand. The obstacle in the way of grow- 

 ing trees in quantities is the magnitude of 

 the investment and length of time required 

 before any profit can be realized; yet, not- 

 withstanding this, a few of our apiarists are 

 setting out basswood groves, feeling sure 

 that such a course will pay in the end. 



" Proximity to a forest of maples, bass- 

 woods, and other honey-producing trees is 

 very desirable. If the apiary can be on the 

 southeast side of such woodland, so much 

 the better. White and golden willows are 

 great in utility, as they produce the first 

 early honey. Fruit-trees should abound; and 

 if woodland clearings are within the range 

 of the bees' flight, covered with wild rasp- 

 berries, an abundance of this honey can be 

 secured. White and alsike clover should be 

 plentiful, and buckwheat should be grown 

 to a great extent. In some localities, golden- 

 rod, asters, and other fall flowers produce 

 considerable honey. Probably no one locali- 

 ty could be found having all of these; yet if 

 several do exist, so as to make a continuous 

 season, the locality is a desirable one. Care 

 should be taken not to locate in valleys sub- 

 ject to late frosts, nor near large bodies of 

 water or swamps. In hilly countries bees 

 thrive best in some sheltered spot midway 

 between a valley and a hill top. Clover, 

 basswood, and buckwheat are the three 

 great honey-producers of the Northern 

 States; and where they exist in profusion, 

 failure seldom occurs. 



" Do not locate an apiary where the field is 

 already stocked with bees, for it is an injus- 

 tice to the former possessor, which injustice 

 you would resent were you in his place; be- 

 sides, such a course would also injure your 

 own prospect for success." 



