134 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



generally to the Northern States. Hence 

 we see that the apple tree bears no mean 

 relation to the person interested in bee- 

 keeping; outside of the fruit it yields. 



In 1877 we had the best yield of honey 

 from apple bloom that I ever knew; and 

 the result from the apiary that year was 

 the highest ever obtained by the writer; 

 which was 1665^ pounds of honey on an 

 average from each old colony in the 

 spring; the most of which was comb hon- 

 ey. 



In 1870, the second year of my bee- 

 keeping life, we had a yield from this 

 source nearly as good as in 1877; and at 

 that time I tried a guessing experiment 

 by counting the bees which came in at 

 the entrance loaded with this delicious 

 nectar obtained from the apple trees. 

 It was about eight o'clock in the morning 

 when the bees began to come in steadily 

 with their loads; and, taking out my 

 watch, I counted for one minute, the 

 bees as they dropped on the alighting 

 board. This first count showed 42; the 

 second count, 46; the third, 41 ; and the 

 fourth, 44. At 10 o'clock I counted 

 again; and the average at that time was 

 49 to the minute, on five counts, while at 

 one o'clock the average was 51 per min- 

 ute; and at five o'clock the number of 

 loaded bees entering the hive proved to 

 be nearly the same as the first count of 

 the morning. I figured that each bee 

 carried a drop of nectar; then estimated 

 the number of drops it would take for a 

 pound, ( calling nine pounds as the weight 

 of a gallon of this nectar) as it came in 

 from the fields; then I struck an average 

 to get the number of bees per minute for 

 the whole day, and multiplied this num- 

 ber by the number of minutes worked, and 

 decided that the result of tliat day's work 

 would he 7)4 pounds. I had weighed 

 the hive in the morning, before any bees 

 went to work, and the evening weight 

 showed a gain of eight pounds and two 

 ounces in excess of that of the morning; 

 sol had guessed within 10 ounces of what 

 had really come in that day. The next 

 morning the hive was weighed again, 



which showed a gain of nearly five lbs. 

 over the morning previous; thus giving 3 

 lbs. 2 ounces as the loss by evaporation 

 during one night; this showing that the 

 nectar, as it is brought in from the apple 

 bloom, is very thin. 



I consider the great value of nectar 

 from apple bloom to lie in its stimulating 

 quality, toward plentiful brood rearing, 

 and in producing stores to tide over the 

 period of scarcity which immediately 

 follows this bloom for a time approximat- 

 ing two weeks. 



Apple blossom honey is rank and strong 

 when first gathered, but after staying on 

 the hive till thoroughly ripened, it as- 

 sumes a nice spicy flavor; though when at 

 its best it can hardly be said to eqnal 

 that from clover or basswood. 



I believe that if we had the same num- 

 ber of bees in the hive in apple bloom 

 that we do in basswood, and if the weath- 

 er could be equally good, the yield from 

 this source would be nearly or quite as 

 good while the bloom lasted; but the 

 trouble is that the bloom comes so soon 

 after cold weather that we do not have 

 the bees; and, still worse, the weather is 

 usually such that the bees do not have 

 an opportunity, oftener than one year in 

 four, to work on the bloom more than 

 enough to encourage brood rearing; hence 

 I doubt the advisability of trying to work 

 the colonies up to an unusual strength, 

 with the hopes of securing a surplus from 

 this source. 



That bees are a great help to the fruit 

 grower is proven by the abundant secre- 

 tion of nectar in the bloom of the apple 

 tree; for I am satisfied, from 30 years of 

 observation, that a greater secretion of 

 nectar proves a greater need, in such 

 bloom, for insects to secure the proper 

 pollenization. Nearly all are familiar 

 with that bit of history where bees were 

 banished from a certain township, be- 

 cause they were charged with injuring 

 the apple crop by taking away the honey 

 from the blossoms. The next year after 

 their ])anishment there was scarcely- an 

 apple in the interior of that township; 



