igo2 



THE AMKRICAX BEE-KEFA'ER 



135 



in some sections of the country, the 

 corolla of the red clover grows so 

 short, from drouth or otherwise, that 

 the honey bee can reacii the nectar se- 

 creted by the blossoms, in which case, 

 from a fair to a good yield of honey 

 is secured by the bee-keeper from red 

 clover, as has been reported several 

 times in our bee papers. In other sea- 

 sons the secretion of nectar may be 

 nearly. if not quite so good; but the cor- 

 olla grows so rank and long that it is 

 of little use except to the bumble bees, 

 as wasps and other insects do not bite 

 the clover tubes. Any person viewing 

 the fields of red clover during a seasoil 

 like the one last spoken of, with a view 

 of deciding as to the value of this plant 

 to the honey bee, would be apt to de- 

 cide that "honey bees never work on 

 red clover." 



Again, we sometimes have a season 

 when the weather is so favorable for 

 the secretion of nectar with red clover, 

 that said nectar rises so high in the 

 corolla of the blossom that the honey 

 bee can reach it, no matter how long 

 these corolla are, as was the case here 

 last year. After considerable examin- 

 ation, I could not discover that the 

 bloom was more dwarfed than usual, 

 but I could discover that the little tubes 

 containing the nectar were nearly half 

 full in some instances, while the ma- 

 jority of these tubes had so much nec- 

 tar in them that the honey bee could 

 easily reach this nectar and lirain it 

 off as far as they could reach, the result 

 being that I secured an average yield 

 of over 100 pounds of red clover hon- 

 ey from all colonies worked exclusively 

 for comb honey. And the strange thing 

 was that this great secretion was only 

 very local, right here between Skan- 

 eateles and Otisco lakes, which are only 

 about four miles apart: little or no red 

 clover honey being secured on the 

 other sides of these lakes, nor beyond 

 them at either head or foot. 



However, as a whole country, we 

 can hardly calculate on many seasons 

 in which much honey is obtained from 

 this plant, for there are far more years 

 in which the bees get little or nothing 

 from it. than there are those when the 

 hives showa gain while it is inblossom. 



Borodino. N. Y.. July i, 1902. 



ITALIANS AS ROBBERS. 



Also Something About Clipped Queens and 

 Virgins in Swarming. 



(Dr. C. C. Miller.) 



OX PAGE 129 the editor quotes me 

 as saying in effect that when afi 

 the bees of an apiary are Italian 

 there is scarcely any need of precaution 

 against robbers, and closes by saying: 

 "For persistent robbing propensities 

 we have had to do with pure Italians 

 which we should not hesitate to match 

 against the world. "' Now Mr. Edrtor, 

 rather than to come to blows,, Tm 

 willing to arbitrate the matter, taking 

 Deacon Hardscrabble as umpire. 



First. Mr. Editor let us look at your 

 view. You think Italians, at least some 

 of them, great on robbing. Taking the 

 standpoint of a bee. I don't see any- 

 thing wrong in that, and I don't sup- 

 pose you do. To the bee the main 

 thing is to get something, by prefer- 

 ence from the flowers, from the IiTves 

 of other bees if need be, and front that 

 it follows that the more persistent 

 gatherer they are the more persistent 

 robbers. So I'm quitt. willing to believe 

 that among Italian bees you may find 

 the champion robbers, and our qijar- 

 rel cannot be on that point. 



Now% for the other side- If in a time 

 of scarcity. I have a w'eak colony of 

 queenless black bees, and my neigh- 

 bor's bees come and rob that colony. 

 I have no right to blame my neighbor's 

 bees; the fault was in the defenceless 

 condition of my colony. We do not 

 seek to prevent robbing by doing any- 

 thing with the robbers — any bees will 

 rob under circumstances favoring rob- 

 bing — but we depend upon the defence. 

 Italians are good defenders as well as 

 good (or bad) robbers, so when "our 

 bees are all Italians we need take lit- 

 tle precautions against robbing. 



Now I rest the case for John's de- 

 cision: indeed I'm not sure but I'rh 

 ready to leave the decision with you_ 

 Mr. Editor. 



But that's not the only trouble for 

 me in the Julj- number. I have safd 

 if a colony with a clipped queen should 

 swarm and the clipped queen should 



