GLE.U^INGS IN BEE CULTURE 



came off and with great excitement was 

 hived. 



In the fall I found my credit column 

 looking well; for the parent hive and the 

 new swarm had given us an average of 65 

 sections each. We were now eating honey ; 

 and as the weeks went by I began to won- 

 der where my sick headache had gone. No 

 amount of eating seemed to bring on an 

 attack. Our family is large, and the honey 

 was gone before spring came. The head- 

 aches returned, and 1 awakened to the fact 

 that I had the bees to thank for a cure for 

 sick headache, which could never be valued 

 in dollai-s and cents. On July 8, 1912, I 

 took off my first section of last year's crop, 

 and to this day I have not had another at- 

 tack of sick headahce. Last year we started 

 with two colonies. They increased to 6 and 

 gave us 226 sections of comb honey. 



Lifting is no problem, as the children are 

 always glad to assist in the summer, and my 

 husband helps put them away for winter. 

 That is, he ean-ies in the hives and I go 

 ahead to open the doors and clear the way. 

 We keep little folks from the hives by using 

 low woven-wire fencing. We have never 

 had a swarm cluster high; and our expe- 

 rience so far has been only play; but we 

 mean to stay in the business. 



Aitkin, Minn. 



WHY HONEYBEES DO NOT GATHER NECTAR 

 FROM SWEET PEAS AND GARDEN PEAS 



BY JOHN H. LOVELL 



The relation of the honeybee to the gar- 

 den pea seems to be a question of consid- 

 erable interest, not only to beekeepers but 

 to farmers and students of flowers. Last 

 summer I looked into the matter carefully, 

 and herewith submit for your consideration 

 an account of the results. I also enclose 

 a drawing of a flower of the pea family, as 

 there are probably many who are not fa- 

 miliar with the general structure of these 

 flowers. A very large number of honey 

 plants belong to this family. While it is 

 desirable to know what flowers are not pol- 

 linated by the honeybee, especially where 

 they belong to cultivated plants, yet they 

 are so few in number that they hardly af- 

 fect the importance of these insects as pol- 

 linating agents. 



Tlie sweet pea is the most popular of cul- 

 tivated flowers. The garden is rare indeed 

 in which it is not found; and we have heard 

 of one enthusiast who Avould cultivate noth- 

 ing else, but he grew varieties of exevy col- 

 or and form. To obtain the best results the 

 seed must be sown in a different soil every 

 two or three years. This is not so much 



because some food element has been exhaust- 

 ed, for this could be easily resupplied in a 

 prepared fertilizer, but because the roots 

 excrete some substance which is injurious 

 to the plants and prevents the roots them- 

 selves from properly doing their accustomed 

 work. There are many who put up a per- 

 manent trellis and grow their sweet peas in 

 the same location for a dozen or more years. 

 They often complain of the want of vigor 

 the vines exhibit, and of the scarcity of the 

 blossoms. Let them sow the seed in a new 

 place and note the results. 



There is something wanting in the spirit- 

 ual makeup of the person who does not 

 experience pleasure in beholding the brave 

 display made by these beautiful flowers. 

 They exhibit every hue from white to pur- 

 ple, while the individual flowers are often 

 variegated. The fragrance is strong and 

 sweet, suggestive of honey. In form they 

 are shaped like a butterfly. They contain 

 nectar, and are produced in great profu- 

 sion. Surely we should expect to find them 

 swarming with bees. 



But you may examine them day after 

 day, and not find a single insect on the flow- 

 ers. During the past summer there was a 

 row of sweet peas within fifty feet of my 



Fig.l 



Fig. 2 



Fig. 1. — A flower of the pea family (Papilion- 

 aceae), after Gray, a, the standard, a large broad, 

 high-colored petal to attract attention ; b, b, the 

 wings on which the bee stands; c, c, the keel, com- 

 posed of two petals, containing the stamens and pis- 

 til. - 



Pig. 2. — A section lengthwise through the keel, 

 showing the stamens and pistil in place, all the 

 petals, except one, removed ; ca, the calyx ; an, the 

 ten anthers; St, the stigma. Nine of the stamens 

 form a tube (t), at the bottom of which lies the 

 nectar; the tenth stamen (f) is free to permit the 

 bee to insert its tongue inside the tube. When a bee, 

 resting its head against the standard, pushes down 

 the keel, the anthers and stigma protrude through 

 its apex and touch the under side of the bee's body. 



