138 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



sections it may be a failure. The first 

 cardinal requisite is that there must 

 be absolute dryness or else your in- 

 sulation will be a failure. The indi- 

 vidual must be able to meet the exi- 

 gencies of the time and place and con- 

 ditions. 



Utah. 



(From the foregoing article the 

 reader should not get the impression 

 that the Dadants do not use winter 

 packing. They pack all colonies win- 

 tered outside, with dry leaves, held in 

 place with wire netting. They do not 

 use wood packing cases, because of 

 the high cost and because with 800 

 colonies the labor of packing is much 

 greater than by their present method. 

 — F. C. P.) 



THE ORANGE AS A SOURCE OF 

 NECTAR 



By Frank C. Pellett 



In the markets of America, orange 

 honey is famous for its high quality. 

 Of light color, heavy body and fine 

 flavor, it is much in demand. Usually 

 the buyer is willing to pay a premium 

 over prevailing prices in order to se- 

 cure it. Since the area where oranges 

 can be profitably grown is confined 

 to limited regions in California, Flor- 

 ida and the Gulf Coast, it can never 

 be produced in such quantities as is 

 honey from alfalfa or the clovers. 



Under favorable conditions, orange 

 trees yield nectar so freely that it 

 seems almost impossible for the bees 

 to gather it all. As high as 400 

 colonies are kept in a single yard 

 where there are large orange or- 

 chards within reach, and the aver- 

 age is often 60 pounds or more per 

 colony. In the interior valleys of Cali- 

 fornia the nectar flow seems to reach 

 its heaviest yield. Not only does the 

 orange yield more freely in the in- 

 terior than along the coast, but the 

 crop is much more dependable. Along 

 the coast the fogs are unfavorable 

 and the orange flow is much lighter 

 and very uncertain. In conversation 

 with the beekeepers, located near the 

 groves of Satsuma oranges, along the 

 coast of Mississippi, I learned that 

 they did not regard orange as of much 

 importance to them, except under un- 

 usual conditions. Likewise in Florida, 

 where climatic conditions are differ- 

 ent, orange is much less important 

 thani in the California valleys al- 

 ready mentioned. There are small or- 

 ange groves in the Rio Grande Valley 

 of Texas, but as yet there are no 

 areas comparable in size to those of 

 California. 



At Visalia, beekeepers report that 

 the flow from oranges is so heavy 

 that the clothing of men and harness 

 of horses engaged in cultivating the 

 groves become saturated with it. 

 Some years it lasts three weeks or 

 more. 



The extent of the flow can be best 

 understood from the results obtained 

 by individual colonies. A Tulare 

 County beekeeper stated that he ex- 

 tracted 171 pounds of honey from one 

 colony in ten days' time. He had 

 previously extracted 24 frames of 

 honey, from this same colony, that 



had not been weighed. This probably 

 amounted to more than 100 pounds. 

 Another beekeeper who moved his 

 bees to the orange orchards was 

 troubled by drifting when the bees 

 were released. This made some very 

 strong colonies, while leaving others 

 weak. Some of these extra strong 

 colonies stored four full-depth supers 

 in four days. While these were ex- 

 ceptional cases, they do show what 

 could be done generally if all colonies 

 were strong at the beginning of the 

 orange flow. 



In visiting with the beekeepers of 

 California, one finds two plans for 

 utilizing the orange flow. One class 

 of beekeepers count on building up 

 their bees ready for later flows from 

 other plants. The other class winter 

 their bees with a big reserve supply 

 of stores and count on getting the 

 bees into condition ahead of the flow 

 so as to harvest a good crop from the 

 orange. Since the orange flow usu- 

 ally comes early in April it requires 

 some attention on the part of the 

 beekeeper to get his bees into proper 

 condition sufficiently early to make 

 the most of the orange crop. I found 

 beekeepers who extract everjrthing 

 possible in the fall, leaving only 

 enough to carry the bees through the 

 winter. This plan makes it impos- 

 sible for the bees to start heavy 

 breeding early. On the other hand, 

 some beekeepers count on leaving at 

 least SO pounds of stores with each 

 colony and sometimes more, to insure 

 early brood rearing. This latter plan 

 usually brings a big return from the 

 orange crop and leaves the beekeeper 

 in equally good shape for the later 

 flows. 



There are few good locations in the 

 best orange territory in California 

 where the bees can be kept in the 

 same location with prof.t throughout 



the year. In many cases the bees are 

 moved several times to secure crops 

 from several different sources. 



Orange blossoms. (By FI.mc.I.i I'liul.. I on- 

 cern.) 



THE RELATION OF BEEKEEPING 

 TO FRUIT GROWING 



By Dr. A. L. Melander 

 Entomologist, State College of Wash- 

 ington 



Bees have long been known to be of 

 value in pollenating plants, but just 

 how far fruit trees are dependent on 

 bees is not so thoroughly known to 

 the general fruit grower. A number 

 of carefully conducted experiments 

 have been recorded in various bulle- 

 tins and reports from which the fol- 

 lowing citations have been gleaned: 



Different varieties of fruit are 

 either self-sterile or else partially 

 self-sterile. In the first instance, bees 

 or other agencies for the transfer of 

 the pollen grain are an absolute es- 

 sential if the fruit is to set at all. In 

 the second instance, where flowers are 

 only partially self-sterile, a full crop 

 of fruit would not result if all insects 

 or other agencies for the transfer of 

 the pollen were eliminated. In the 

 third instance, of complete self-fer- 

 tility, there are abundant records to 

 show that crossing produces better 

 fruiti Hence, in every case the fruit 

 grower will profit by having bees in 

 his orchard. In no case are bees 

 detrimental. 



Among the varieties of apples that 

 are known to be self-sterile are the 

 Arkansas Black, Gravenstein, Gano, 

 Jonathan, King, Mammoth Black 

 Twig, Missouri Pippin, Rome Beauty, 

 Rhode Island Greening, Transcendant 

 Crab, Wealthy, Winesap, Yellow 

 Belleflower and York Imperial. 



Among those only partially self- 

 fertile are included the Ben Davis, 

 Spitzenburg, Wagener and Yellow 

 Transparent. 



Among those that are self-fertile 

 are the Baldwin, Grimes Golden, 

 Dutchess of Oldenburg and Yellow 

 Newton. 



Experiments conducted by the Ore- 

 gon Experiment Station have shown 

 that w'hile the Spitzenburg is re- 

 garded as partially self-fertile, it pro- 

 duces only 3 per cent of fruit when 

 self-pollenated, but when receiving 

 pollen from the Arkansas Black it will 

 set 70 per cent of its fruit. Similarly 

 pollen from the Ortley, Jonathan, 

 Baldwin or Red Cheek Pippin pro- 

 duces a heavy set on Spitzenburg, 

 while pollen from the Yellow New- 

 ton produces only about 40 per cent 

 set. Such e.xperiments are the result 

 of hand pollenation, but are indica- 

 tive of what would happen when bees 

 visit from flower to flower. 



Other varieties of fruit show a sim- 

 ilar variation as to fertility. 



Most pears require cross pollen- 

 ation, since they arc only partially, if 

 at all, capable of setting fruit when 

 self-fertilized. The California Ex- 

 periment Station has demonstrated 

 that plums and prunes will present a 

 vastly heavier crop when oross-pollen- 

 ated, both being more or less self- 

 sterile. 



