1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



99 



Location o' 

 Apiaries 



0-0 



1^ 



o o 



u tS 



>« C:2. c -M c 



'0(J-o«,! « o ^ 

 .-261- o E 1- 

 o o o ^''c > i^'E 



a 'J 



t-u 



The larger yields obtained by" the 

 demonstration colonies were ob- 

 tained chiefly on account of the 

 queens having plenty of room for 

 egg-laying previous to the honey 

 flow and by keeping the working 

 force contented during the honey 

 flow by giving an abundance of room 

 and sufficient ventilation during the 

 honey flow. 



It will be noticed that there is not 

 the big contrast in the average pro- 

 duction of the demonstration colonies 

 and the check colonies in the last 

 three oounties given as there is in the 

 first three. This can largely be e.x- 

 plained by the fact that swarming 

 was not nearly so intense in the lo- 

 calities showing the least contrast. 

 In the excessive swarming location 

 nearly every check colony swarmed 

 at least once, whereas in the other 

 section (eastern) but few of the colo- 

 nies swarmed once. Swarming was, 

 of course, partly controlled in this 

 section by the American foulbrood 

 treatment which some of the check 

 colonies received. 



While the results obtained are con- 

 siderably in favor of the demonstra- 

 tion colonies, it is felt that next year 

 they should be far more favorable, as 

 both sets of colonies were on an even 

 footing in the spring. Nothing was 

 known of the age of the queens in 

 the demonstration colonies. 



The demonstration and check colo- 

 nies were all wintered in the same 

 way and all had about the same 

 amount of honey in one hive-body 

 only in the spring. This fall each 

 demonstration colony was given a 

 young Italian queen, provided with 

 an abundance of honey, and given 

 adequate protection from the cold. 

 Having provided these conditions for 

 the demonstration colonies only it 

 will be interesting to compare the 

 rapidity with which the two sets ot 

 colonies in each apiary build up in 

 the spring. 



RED CLOVER AS A HONEY 

 PLANT 



By C. F. Bender 

 I have lately finished reading Mr. 

 Frank C. Pellett's admirable work on 

 "American Honey Plants." His esti- 

 mates of the value of the diflferent 

 plants are very careful and accurate, 



as I am able to judge, having kept 

 bees myself in three widely separated 

 localities. To his article on red clo- 

 ver, I feel like adding my own bit of 

 evidence. Up to 1913 I found it hard, 

 as others apparently do, to believe 

 that bees ever gathered honey from 

 that source. I had watched carefully, 

 in dry seasons and wet, and had only 

 occasionally seen bees working on 

 red clover, even though I had the 

 famous long-tongued Italians. Some- 

 times they brought in pollen from 

 red clover, but I could never be sure 

 that they brought honey. 



In 1913 our last good rain came on 

 April 14. With only an occasional 

 sprinkle, it kept getting dryer, until 

 my last hope of even one pound of 

 surplus honey had faded. Pasturage 

 was burned brown, there were no 

 weeds to produce fall honey, and the 

 hives were empty of all but hungry 

 bees. The weather was remarkably 

 hot. 



On July 6 I made a visit to one of 

 the outyards, intending to provide 

 more shade, and to see if any of the 

 combs had melted down. I was as- 

 tonished to find the bees working 

 briskly, about half of them bringing 

 in the characteristic red clover pol- 

 len. On opening some hives, I found 

 that all were storing quite rapidly, 

 some were working in supers. 



As there were 80 acres of red clo- 

 ver just across the road, in full 

 bloom, you may be sure that I vis- 

 ited that field. There could be no 

 mistake, they were not getting 

 honeydew, but honey from the blos- 

 soms. 



On visiting my other outyard I 

 found the same conditions, as they 

 also had a fine field of red clover in 

 easy reach. I made a hasty trip home 

 to get supers, and had a busy time 

 for the next two weeks, until the clo- 

 ver was cu't for hay, when the flow 

 stopped promptly. At my home yard 

 there was no red clover in reach, and 

 the bees were starving. 



I want to mention what I think is 



important, that the clover in both 

 fields was the mammoth red, or pea- 

 vine. I think bees work on it oftener 

 than on the common red clover. 



The result of the two weeks' flow 

 was 7,000 pounds of comb honey, and 

 I am sure that it was red clover, pure 

 and unmixed. The quality was good, 

 a little more amber than white clover, 

 with a little stronger flavor. 



Having had this experience, I am 

 sure that bees do store red clover 

 honey rapidly at times, though very 

 rarely. There are some things that 

 I don't know yet. The following sea- 

 son was just as dry and we had the 

 mammoth red clover in easy reach, 

 but the bees did not work on it. The 

 clover midge was very bad that year, 

 and may have prevented the blos- 

 soms from secreting nectar. 



Illinois. 



BEES IN NEW YORK CITY 



Bees must be something of a nov- 

 elty in the biggest city in the world. 

 The picture shows the apiary of J. S. 

 Morales, at Seaman Avenue and 207th 

 Street, in New York City, only two 

 blocks from Broadway. These colo- 

 nies were built up from two-pound 

 packages received in New York on 

 April 20 and May S. The bees were 

 given drawn combs and fed syrup to 

 the amount of two pounds to each 

 package. Sufficient honey was gath- 

 ered for winter beside some surplus. 

 The hives are only 20 feet from the 

 sidewalk, but no one passing was 

 stung. The sources of honey are lo- 

 cust, sweet clover, goldenrod and 

 aster. 



Apiary two blocks from Broadway, in Nci' 

 York City. 



FINDING THE QUEENLESS HIVE 



By Wm. Muth-Rathmussen 

 The scheme of W. H. Bacus, page 

 426, is quite ingenius, but one may 

 not always have queen-cells on hand 

 or be willing to sacrifice them. I 

 have another way which is always 

 available and sure. My hives are all 

 numbered on front and back. On the 

 side of each super is tacked a piece 

 of section, on which I write the num- 

 ber of the hive when taking the supei 

 ofif. Previous numbers are struck out. 

 If a queen is found in a super, I know 

 by the number where she belongs and 

 return her immediately to her own 

 hive. I always keep a queen cage 

 handy for this purpose when empty- 

 ing supers. This may happen once 

 or twice in a season ; some years not 

 at all. As a rule, the bees will not 

 go through the bee-escape and leave 

 the super, if the queen is there, but 

 will show fight when the super is 

 opened, and must be subdued with 

 smoke. If I find many bees in a 

 super, which has been standing in the 

 honey house over night, I know that 

 a queen is there, and-I get my smoker 

 and queen cage ready for use. 



I have, however, had one exception 

 to this. One Saturday I took oflt a 

 number of supers and did not begin 

 emptj'ing them until the following 

 Monday. There were no bees in any 

 of the supers, but in one of them I 

 found a queen sitting quietly and 

 alone on the face of the comb. The 



