JULY 15, 1913 



SIFXINGS 



J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt. 



Bees have been greatly reduced in strength 

 here in Vermont for lack of stores this 

 spring. Consequently queens have stopped 

 laying, or at least brood-rearing has been 

 checked, so the force of workers for gather- 

 ing the harvest of nectar when it comes will 

 be small compared with what it would have 

 been if there had been a good supply of 

 honey in the hives, or if the weather had 

 been such that the bees could have gathered 

 any outside of their hives. 

 * * * 



The spring here in northern New Eng- 

 land was peculiar. It was wai-m in April, 

 while May was very cold, and it contin- 

 ued cool up to June 15. Nearly all fruit 

 except in favored places was ruined. The 

 bees were strong May 1, but by June 1 

 about half were in a starving condition 

 unless they had been fed. Very few yards 

 have been fed as much as they needed, and 

 so we have a shortage of brood. Where 

 onlj' a few colonies are in one yard they 

 have done much better. This shows very 

 conclusively that in the cool weather of 

 spring bees go only a short distance from 

 their hives, and a few will thrive where a 

 large number will starve, while in warm 

 summer weather a large number will do 

 nearly a.s well as a few colonies in a yard. 

 » * * 



I believe the most valuable article in the 

 issue of Gleanustgs for March 15 is the 

 editorial by A. I. Root under Our Homes. 

 The subject is one that fathers and mothers 

 find it difficult to talk to their children about, 

 and yet a most important one. I believe 

 those somewhat along in years can see the 

 evils to individuals and societj^ that come 

 from sexual excesses far better than young- 

 er persons. As they look over the past, and 

 remember the multitudes that have gone 

 down to deatli from this . cause, they are 

 ready to cry out, " How shall the young be 

 warned of their danger? " I have thought 

 that, if some wise and kind-hearted phy- 

 sician of large experience could tell in a 

 short treatise of a few pages the danger 

 that comes to young people, depicting the 

 sori'ow and suffering in store for transgres- 

 soi-s, no better work could be done for hu- 

 manity. » * * 



AMOUNT OF SUGAR TO FEED TO SECURE A 

 POUND OF SEALED STORES. 



On p. 253, Apr. 15, Mr. Byer gives some 

 facts on the value of sugar syrup compared 

 with honey, and I can say that they are 

 correct. I conducted quite extensive experi- 

 ments a few years ago along this line in 



order to find out just how far a pound of 

 sugar would g© ; and, very much to my sur- 

 prise, I found I could get only a pound of 

 syrup sealed in the combs for each pound 

 of sugar fed ; and that a warm solution of 

 two parts of sugar to one of water must be 

 fed to secure that. If fed cold I got a small 

 fraction of an ounce less; and when I fed 

 half sugar and half water I got only 14% 

 ounces, approximately, to each pound of 

 sugar, sealed for winter stores. 

 « » « 



DOES NECTAR FROM THE SAME PLANT VARY 

 WITH THE SOHi? 



Some years ago I scouted the idea of any 

 given plant producing one quality on one 

 kind of soil and another quality on a differ- 

 ent soil. It begins to look as though my 

 theories would not hold. I am told here in 

 Florida that sugar-cane gi'own on rich low 

 hummock land produces a very different 

 syrup from that grown on liigh sandy land ; 

 also that the same varieties of oranges 

 grown on low rich land are very different 

 from those of the same variety grown on 

 higher land. It the fruit is different, why 

 should not the nectar of the flowers be 

 changed to some extent also? It seems rea- 

 sonable, and yet I am slow to believe the 

 change is as great as some honey-dealers 

 would have us believe. 

 * * * 



VALUE OF INSECTS TO THE FLOWERS. 



Mr. Geo. H. West gives us many inter- 

 esting facts in regard to the value of in- 

 sects in the fertilization of flowers, 't is 

 surprising to note the amount of informa- 

 tion that has been brought to light since 

 Gleanings took up the subject in a sym- 

 posium some years ago. May I add one 

 more fact along this line that I d© not re- 

 member to have seen in print? Last win- 

 ter, while waiting one morning I amused 

 myself by examining some flowers of the 

 sweet-scented jessamine that I had heard 

 about from my childhood, but do not re- 

 member to have seen before. The first 

 flower I examined carefully I found had a 

 well-developed pistil, but no stamens in 

 sight. This seemed queer, and so I looked 

 for a mate and soon found another flower 

 with well-developed stamens but no pistil 

 in sight. Evidently insects must do their 

 work or the flowers could not become fer- 

 tile. I found on tearing the flowers apart 

 that, where no pistil or stamens appeared, 

 they were held back or underdeveloped only 

 to mature a little later, and again to be 

 cross-fertilized by insects. 



