Mar. 28, 1907 



American ^ae Journal 



<::anadian 

 'Beedo 



Conducted by J. L. Bter, Markham, Ont. 



Pollen from Clover 



See here, Mr. Hasty, you are (page 

 152) altogether too severe on the author 

 of those pretty verses on page 29. 

 While he is accused of indulging in too 

 much '^ poetic license" (if I dare to use 

 the phrase), I would say that you are 

 indulging in considerable " prosaic 

 license," in making the assertions you 

 do. Here in Ontario, not a few, but 

 fully SO percent of the bees, in some 

 seasons, gather pollen from clover. 

 Last year fully more than that number 

 would have pollen when they came to 

 the hives. True, this is not a good 

 sign that the clover is yielding much 

 honey, but that does not change the 

 situation any. 



As to bees not dying " (except by 

 violence) with pollen on their legs," 

 why, dozens of times I have noticed 

 bees with small pellets of pollen crawl- 

 ing aimlessly around among the blos- 

 soms, and often found others in a posi- 

 tion as described by the writer of the 

 verses in question — 



" Under a large head o'er faaQging 

 A little dead bee I found." 



Then, again, it is not said that the 

 pollen is " golden " in color — 



" Full were her bags with the gold," 



can mean in figurative language, 

 honey ; or the term " gold " can be 

 used as signifying the value of the 

 pollen, if we choose to couple it with 

 the latter commodity. 



Please, Mr. Hasty, put on your think- 

 ing cap, and see if you do not recollect 

 ever seeing a dead bee in the clover 

 having pollen attached to it. 



Making- One's Own Hives 



While I am at it, I want to mention 

 something in which I do agree with 

 Mr. Hasty more heartily. On page 132 

 he refers to the habit of some bee- 

 keepers (the habit is not confined to 

 the bee-keeping fraternity, either) who 

 vote all others who can not see as they 

 do, or make a success with plans advo- 

 cated and put into practise by them- 

 selves, as being stupid or ignorant. A 

 case in point : 



Not long ago certain men were dis- 

 cussing factory vs. home-made hives. 

 One writer claimed that all bee-keepers 

 were not capable of making their own 

 hives ; whereupon the other retorted 

 with language in effect, that such peo- 

 ple should not keep bees. I happen to 

 be one who would come under the ban, 



and yet, even if it is the case, as I 

 often jokingly assert, that I can not 

 nail two boards together true, I would 

 ask whose business is it, anyway, if I 

 choose to keep bees for a living, and at 

 the same time refrain from doing any- 

 thing that would be a menace to the 

 industry ? 



Some people are constantly fretting 

 and bewailing the shortcomings of 

 other poor mortals, when, the chances 

 are, if they looked closely enough for 

 defects in their own make-up, they 

 would find work enough to engage 

 their present attention without going 

 to the trouble of putting strictures on 

 others and saying, " Do as I do, or else 

 get out of the business." 



Why Does Honey Granulate ? 



There is room yet for scientific work 

 towards determining just why honey 

 granulates so quickly sometimes, and 

 at other times can not be induced to 

 granulate at all. Some 7 years ago we 

 had a tank of SCO pounds of honey, 

 that was being kept for home use. It 

 was kept in a small building, single- 

 boarded, and no protection was given 

 whatever towards keeping out the cold. 



As it showed no signs of granulating 

 during the fall months, through pres- 

 sure of other work the matter was neg- 

 lected till cold weather. But we didn't 

 use much of that honey that winter, for 

 the simple reason that it could not be 

 gotten out of the tank during the cold 

 weather. It would stick and hang to a 

 spoon or other implement just like the 

 thickest of taffy, and it was worth all 

 you could get to pay for the work. 



When spring came it would run 

 slowly from the tap, but it never offered 

 to granulate, although some of it was 

 not used for nearly two years. 



That same year Mr. D. W. Heise, of 

 Bethesda, Ont., had a 600-pound tank 

 of clover honey that acted very pecu- 

 liarly. During October the lower half 

 of the honey in the tank granulated 

 solid, but the rest remained liquid, and 

 as clear as crystal. Samples were sent 

 to Prof. Shutt, of Ottawa, for analysis, 

 and he reported that the dextrose and 

 levulose had separated. Both the 

 granulated and liquid samples were of 

 good body and splendid flavor, the 

 liquid portion being especially inild, 

 resembling alfalfa honey a great deal. 

 Only a few days ago I met Mr. Heise. 

 and he reports that he has some of that 

 honey yet, and to date there have been 

 no signs of granulation. 



While I do not know why some honey 

 granulates and some does not, yet I 

 do know that all the honey I have ever 

 seen that did not granulate has invari- 

 ably been well ripened on the hive, and 

 has always been honey of the very best 

 quality. 



While granulation no doubt is, as 

 claimed, a proof of purity, yet it is well 

 to be suspicious of honey that granu- 

 lates very early in the season. Of 

 course, there are exceptions, but, as a 

 rule, you will find that if clover or 

 basswood honey granulates quite early, 

 said honey is pretty sure to have been 

 extracted in an unripe condition. 



Wr /ias^^ 



The 



' Old Reliable " as seen through New and Unreliable Glasses, 

 by E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Pollen — Bees and Fruit. 



On pages 109 and 110, C. P. Dadant 

 has an excellent article on pollen, bees 

 and fruit. As I once spent a good deal 

 of time examining different sorts of 

 pollen with the microscope, I'll venture 

 to "hold up" one of his statements about 

 pollen. The non-microscopic reader 

 would infer that all pollen-grain were 

 shaped like little osage oranges. There 

 is a very great variety in the shapes. 

 Also, there is a great range of sizes. 

 The sphere with rough surface is not 

 even the commonest form. The shape 

 of a grain of wheat (with crease down 



one side all natural as life) turned up 

 oftenest in my observations. High 

 power of microscope may be used to 

 make out markings and details ; but 

 mere general outlines require but small 

 power. In fact, my mind is (although 

 my memory may be giving me away 

 on that) that sharp eyes without the 

 glass can faintly make out hollyhock 

 and tiger-lily pollens. These, and a 

 few others, are in the Jumbo class for 

 size. Hollyhock is a perfect shape, 

 yellow, and covered thickly with 

 stubbed spurs or straight thorns. 

 Tiger-lily is kidney-like both in shape 



