124 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



ORANGES AND BEES 



The cover design of this issue shows a 

 beautiful orange tree in what is known as 

 the Sespe apiary, belonging to Mr. J. F. Mc- 

 Intyre, of Ventura, Cal. The hives of bees 

 are shown under the trees in the background, 

 while the orange tree in the foreground is 

 loaded with fruit. We regret that we are 

 not able to show the beautiful color values 

 of the oranges and the dark glossy leaves in 

 contrast. 



It might be interesting to recall that this 

 apiary has, or did have, at least, something 

 like 500 colonies in it. There seem to be 

 only two yards in the United States that 

 have as large a number of bees in one spot 

 as this. The other apiary to which we refer 

 is the Alexander yard, located at Delanson, 

 N. Y. 



The bees at the 8espe apiary work on the 

 orange bloom in the immediate vicinity, 

 and on the mountain sage when it yields. 

 In this particular case, bees and fruit, or, if 

 you please, bees and oranges, go well to- 

 gether. 



hard candy for winter and spring 

 feeding; how to make it 



Into a dish of hot water on the stove 

 slowly pour an equal amount of sugar, stir- 

 ring constantly. Make sure that the sugar 

 is all dissolved before boiling commences. 

 If this precaution is not observed, some of 

 the undissolved sugar is likely to burn, in- 

 juring the flavor of the candy and almost 

 surely causing trouble with the bees later. 

 If you have a candy thermometer, watch 

 the temperature, and do not let it go above 

 275 to 280 degrees. Test frequently by drop- 

 ping a very little of the syrup into cold wa- 

 ter (about"50 to 55 degrees F.). When the 

 boiling has continued long enough the 

 drop of candy, when cooled in the water, 

 should be hard and brittle when taken out; 

 but when placed in the mouth it should 

 soften slightly, so that it is tough. When 

 this time has arrived, pour the syrup im- 

 mediately on to paraffined or waxed paper 

 on a table. Have the table perfectly level, 

 and around the outside of the paper put 

 wooden sticks X-i^ch high to confine the 

 syrup and prevent it from running off. 

 When the candy is nearly hard, crease it or 

 cut it with a heavy knife so that it may be 

 broken up into right-sized squares when 

 hard. 



The color of the candy when cold should 

 be about that of light basswood honey. If 

 it is darkened very much it is scorched and 

 unfit for the bees. To prevent the scorch- 

 ing, reduce the fire toward the last so that 

 the syrup will boil but slowly. 



When the candy is first made, it is hard 

 and glassy, and perfectly transparent; but 

 after it stands for a little time it becomes 

 somewhat watery and crystalline; but this 

 is all the better so far as the bees are con- 

 cerned, for they are enabled to take it more 

 easily. 



The thin cakes of candy being only % 

 inch thick may be placed over the frames 



and under the regular cover, and in this 

 way a colony saved that would otherwise be 

 lost. The feeding of syrup, especially in 

 the spring, is apt to caiise great excitement 

 and ]:)ossibly robbing, and for this reason 

 the candy is safer because it takes it slowly. 



BEES WORTH A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS 

 AS POLLINATORS 



Having occasion recently to deliver a talk 

 on the relation of bees to horticulture, at 

 the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, 

 Canada, we made the statement that bees 

 produce annually $20,000,000 worth of hon- 

 ey; but that their economic importance to 

 the fruitgrower and the consumers of fruit 

 in this country could be measured by five 

 times that in the production of more and 

 better fruit and better crops. After we had 

 concluded our talk we asked the botanist 

 who heard this talk if this statement, in his 

 opinion, was too strong. He very promptly 

 replied that it was not. 



Neither the beekeeper nor the fruitgrower 

 fully realizes the important work the bees 

 perform in jiollinating fruit -blossoms 

 throughout the country, especially the finer 

 fruits such as plums, cherries, peaches, pears, 

 and most apples. There are very few fruit 

 trees that are self-pollinating. Charles Dar- 

 win made the statement that nature abhors 

 self-pollination. As bees, in most cases, are 

 about the only insects that are in the air at 

 the time most of our trees are in bloom, it 

 follows that they are the main sources of 

 cross -pollination. Fortunately, our best 

 horticulturists and fruitgrowers are to-day 

 the bees' best friends. It is only the nar- 

 row-minded and the uninformed who com- 

 plain of the bees being a nuisance in orchards 

 and vineyards. The overripe and otherwise 

 imperfect fruit from damage or otherwise 

 should be picked off early and marketed lo- 

 cally rather than to hang on the trees, or, 

 worse yet, lie on the ground in a half-rotted 

 condition, attracting the bees. 



The only time that bees are said to be a 

 real nuisance is when cut fruit is placed out 

 to dry in California and elsewhere. It may 

 be questioned whether it is best to put out 

 fruit to dry in some places subject to dis- 

 ease-laden germs of all sorts. It would 

 seem that legislation should properly safe- 

 guard tjie outdoor drying; for why should 

 we eat dried apricots and prunes that are 

 coated v/ith dust? We have been in some 

 (not all) fruit-drying ranches in California 

 where the dust was flying in all directions. 

 If some of our Eastern consumers could see 

 the way this fruit is exposed they would 

 say better by far that the bees should eat 

 it all, rather than have it placed on our 

 tables laden with disease-bearing germs. 



BEES and grapes 



Complaints seem to be increasing of how 

 bees "eat grapes." In every case that has 

 come under our observation we do not know 

 of one where the bees were the real and pri- 



