1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



87 



in three days. If the cost of moving 

 the bees need not be greater than $1.00 

 per colony, I should have no hesitation 

 in saying it would pay well to move 

 bees to the basswood district, for I find 

 by going over my diary that my bees 

 have averaged fully 50 pounds per col- 

 ony from basswood alone, each year, 

 during the past twenty-five years. 



In answering the second question, 

 permit me to say that the fruit buds 

 and leaflets to all trees with which I 

 am familiar, are formed in June and 

 July of the previous year, so the buds 

 and flowers are already formed in the 

 embryo, on the apparently bare and 

 lifeless branches of the trees in mid- 

 winter. They wait only for the warmth 

 of spring to bring this dormant life 

 into growth. As soon as the buds un- 

 fold the latter part of May, then we 

 can tell for a certainty just what is to 

 be the result, barring accidents, as far 

 as blossoms are concerned. Of course, 

 the weather during the time of bloom, 

 will have much to do with how much 

 nectar will be secreted, and whether 

 the bees will have fine days for the 

 harvest. The practiced eye can tell 

 nearly two months in advance as to the 

 promise of a yield of basswood honey, 

 the buds being very slow cf maturing. 



In replying to the third question, I 

 never knew of but one season when the 

 basswood did not furnish some honey, 

 and that was the last. There were few 

 flowers in any event, and then it com- 

 menced to be rainy, cool weather just 

 as what little bloom there was opened, 

 and continued thus for twenty days, 

 and by the end of that time basswood 

 was past.. Before the past season, the 

 shortest season I ever knew, gave a 

 three days' yield, in which honey was 

 so plentiful that the bees could not 

 prepare room fast enough to store it. 

 with a gradual tapering off of two days 

 more, making five days in all. Then 

 one season we had a yield of 25 days with 

 three of them so cold that the bees could 

 only work a little in the middle of the 

 day. The state of the atmosphere has 



much to do with the secretion of honey 

 in the basswood flowers, the most fa- 

 vorable being when the weather is very 

 warm with the air filled with electric- 

 ity. At such times the honey can be 

 jarred from the blossoms on a sheet of 

 tin or glass so it will collect drops up- 

 on them. At such times as these the 

 nectar is very thick, almost to the con- 

 sistency of honey without any evapora- 

 tion, while during a cold, cloudy, rainy 

 spell the secretion is so thin that it 

 takes much evaporation to reduce it 

 When the secretion is at its best, I 

 doubt whether there is such a thing as 

 overstocking a good basswood locality, 

 if 1,000 colonies were located all in one 

 place. 



ITEMJ or INTERE5T. 



Michigan bee-keepers are agitating 

 the introduction of a new, up-to-date 

 fonl brood bill, to supersede the pres- 

 ent law, which is said to be inadequate, 

 and behind the times. 



O. O. Poppleton, in Gleaning?, sug- 

 gests that honey weighing less than 

 ll%pounds to the gallon would hardly 

 be merchantable. Right; and twelve 

 pound honey would have a better effect 

 upon the future market. 

 — o — 



Gleanings. — A press made and oper- 

 ated by J. J. Rapp, of California, is 

 said to remove the wax from old combs 

 more effectually than can be done by 

 any other means. The refuse from a 

 solar extractor R.re, by this method, 

 worked over with profit. The plan of 

 construction is not given. 

 — o — 



Scientists say bees have no ears. E. 

 Whitcomb says he is no scientist, but 

 says he knows that bees can hear in 

 some way. Probably sound waves are 

 perceptible to their delicately-con- 

 structed nervous system. Every prac- 

 tical bee-keeper will agree with Mr. 

 Whitcomb that they do hear, ears or 

 no ears. 



