37 



MRS. HOWE. I would like to know the quantity per 

 annum. 



MR. PURRINGTON. Perhaps you had better ask Mr. 

 Nichols. His wife's father has carried on some interesting 

 experiments in regard to clover and other things. But per- 

 sonally I think it would be fine if you could persuade all 

 growers of alfalfa to wait until it had finished blowing, be- 

 fore cutting. 



QUESTION. I would like to ask if it would pay to 

 feed the bees in the spring, before the blossoms come out, so 

 that when they come out, the apple blossoms would be de- 

 veloped. 



MR. PURRINGTON. There is an objection to that 

 which all honest men like beekeepers bear in mind, and that 

 is that their first store in the spring goes into the brood nest, 

 and when there comes a rush of honey — which increases the 

 activity of the queen — the bees are likely to take the stores 

 out of the brood nest to make room for the brood, and carry 

 it up. When it is cloudy weather and the bees have nothing 

 to eat, then you have got to feed them, but the almost uni- 

 versal practise is to feed them in the fall. The comb along 

 the outside will be filled with stores and many people take 

 the comb out, put it into an extracting apparatus, where the 

 top is sliced off, and crank is turned and the honey thrown 

 out, and you will find it in the tumbler, and then they will 

 feed 25 or 30 pounds of it in the fall, which is the proper 

 way, and there is no hazard of getting sugar syrup when 

 you want honey. 



MR. R. H. RACE. I would like to ask what the bees 

 take away from the plant, in that which we call honey. 

 They rob the plant of something; what is it? Is it some- 

 thing which is essential for the growth of the fruit, or can 

 we spare it just as well as not, with no robbery done, no 

 loss anywhere? 



MR. PURRINGTON. Well, let's take the squash blos- 

 som, where the bee is easily seen. Standing upright in the 

 middle of the bloom is the pistil, with the little lump at the 

 bottom which is afterward the fruit. Right around that is 

 a little moisture which exud.es, and the bee tumbles in and 

 disturbs these q^iantities of pollen that are all about in there, 

 and gets it on himself and carries it off, and with his little 



