44 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1.5. 



the Guenther referred to is, I think, the same 

 Guenther who. more than a third of a century 

 ago, was assistant to the Baron of Berlepsch, 

 the champion of the Dzierzon theory.* 



Skunk-killing. "I tal<e a smal piece of 

 comb containing drone brood, in which I insert 

 a grain of strychnine. Place it in front of the 

 hive, and you have got his skunlvship sure. If 

 you have no drone brood you can use worker 

 brood." — Oallup, in A. B. J. 



DooLiTTLE will surely be on time with his 

 " Seasonable Questions,'' according to the pic- 

 ture at the top of them, with the sun on one 

 side and a clock on the other, then an hour- 

 glass on top, with a rooster back of it flapping 

 its wings to wake him up in the morning. 



Dextrine is not found in floral honey, but is 

 found in honey gathered from the leaves of cer- 

 tain trees and from pines, and generally called 

 honey-dew. According to an article in Revue, 

 this honey-dew, on account of the dextrine, 

 may possibly be more healthful than floral hon- 

 ey. 



A STEAM WAX-EATKACTOK in Germany (the 

 Winkler) claims to get 18 per cent of pure wax 

 out of slumgum left by solar extractors, and .56 

 per cent out of old combs. The steam is form- 

 ed in the extractor, which contains a screw 

 press. When the material is heated, the press 

 does its work without the chance of cooling. 



DziEKZON says that, in an experience of more 

 than 50 years, he has found no liifl'erence in the 

 value of queens whether raised in pre-con- 

 structed or post-constructed cells, providing a 

 larva not more than three days old is used. 

 But the quality of the harvest affects the value 

 of the queen, a queen raised during a yield of 

 honey-dew being small and weakly. 



DO BEES FERTILIZE FRUIT-BLOSSOMS 1 



A BHIEF SYMPOSIUM ON BOTH SIDES OF THE 

 QUESTION. 



[A short time ago there appeared in the Rural 

 New-Yorker an excellent article from Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, on bees and fruit, which was followed 

 in a later issue by another article taking strong 

 ground against wlial the doctor had said. We 

 wrote to friend M., asking him if lie were going 

 to let the matter drop there. In reply we re- 

 ceived the folk)wing note, asking infornuition 

 through Gleanings. — Kn.J 



The Rural New-Yorker, reM&ble paper that 

 it is on all other subjects, had an item sneering 

 at the idea that fruit-trees should not be spray- 

 ed when in bloom, suggesting tliat the bee- 



* Perbaps so. At all events, we stand corrected. — 

 Ed. 



keeper should keep his bees at home. A reply 

 was made, saying that, if the bee-keeper should 

 keep his bees away, the fruit-grower wouldn't 

 be troubled with spraying, for there wouldn't 

 be enough fruit set to make it worth while to 

 spray. Then L. E. R., of L., Nebraska, made a 

 reply in which he says, "I lived several years 

 in Wyoming; was engaged in the growing of 

 vegetables, fruits, and flowers, for commercial 

 purposes, and was in the seed business. We 

 had no bees in that country until two years 

 before I left there. We grew apples, crabs, 

 raspberries, and strawberries, the latter in 

 great quantities, of immense size and most ex- 

 cellent quality. Then our wild fruits— plums, 

 cherries, and service-berries, bore year after 

 year, the trees being literally loaded down with 

 fruit. I left that favored clime, and came to 

 what is termed the fruit-belt of Nebraska; but 

 I want to tell you that we had more and better 

 fruit in a day in Wyoming, where we had no 

 bees to fertilize the blossoms, than I have seen 

 here in two years, with an apiary at every sec- 

 ond house." 



I want to ask, through Gleaninc^s, whether 

 the experience and observation of others cor- 

 roborate the foregoing statement. Were there 

 no bees in Wyoming till four years ago? Did 

 others have such crops of fruit as are mention- 

 el, with no bees visiting the blossoms? We 

 ought to seek the truth, whatever it may be, 

 even if it upsets what has previously been sup- 

 posed to be the truth. From my own observa- 

 tion, I have always supposed that bees aided 

 the fertilization of pretty much all kinds of 

 fruit; but I do not know that I ever saw them 

 work to any extent on strawberries. Are they 

 needed for strawberries ? If any of our friends 

 of Wyoming, or of the fruit-belt of Nebraska, 

 can give us any light, I sha 1 be much obliged 

 to have them write to me or to Gleanings. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



[The article in the Rural, together with a 

 recent one by G. M. Doolittle, on page 915, 

 Gleanings for Dec. 1.5, seems to have stirred 

 up some little discussion among the brethren. 

 Among others just received is the following, 

 which we publish, not so much because it sup- 

 ports the side of the bee-keeper impartially, but 

 because of the painstaking care the writer has 

 used in obtaining the facts.] 



bumble-bees and clover. 



It is an idea often stated, that clover will not 

 yield seed without the aid of bumble-bees, and 

 that clover did not yield seed in Australia until 

 bumble-bees were imported. I did not believe 

 this, as plants were created flrst, and for the 

 higher order of animal life, but so as to continue 

 existence witkout animal aid. Therefore honey 

 was primarily for the bee, and incidentally tl^e 

 bee helps the plant in gathering the honey. To 

 find the facts, I made some observations and 

 experiments. 



