1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



393 



the fruits. During this period the 

 greater part of the cotton honey is 

 stored. In sonu- cases and sonip years 

 the boll-weevil is so destructive that 

 the bolls fall before the "eyes" se- 

 crete nectar, and therefore cotton 

 honey is almost a failure. The sec- 

 ond period occurs in September or 

 October when, because of the hot, 

 dry weather, the boll-weevil has 

 ceased to work and the cotton puts on 

 what is known as the "top crop" and 

 reaches the "flower garden stage." 

 It is during this period that tome ex- 

 tremely heavy yields of pur? cottoii 

 honey have been stored. 



To men who are interested in cot- 

 ton as well as in bees, the discussion 

 of the second question is also of in- 

 terest. 



The importance of the honeybee as 

 a pollenizer of cotton is also based or 

 the location of the nectaries. Mr. A. 

 Allard, of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, states that of 

 the number of bees visiting the cot- 

 ton plant, 8 per cent were honeybees. 

 Of the bees which visit the flowers, 

 one-half were honeybees. He does 

 not describe their visits, but it is safe 

 to say that they were not working the 

 flowers for pollen, but for the nectar 

 which was contained in the tufts ot 

 hairs on the petals. Trelease states 

 that more of the bees work only on 

 the proximal ends of the petals of 

 the flowers. Plant breeders state that 

 the cotton plant is self fei-tilized and 

 that the flowei's that open between 

 7 and 8 o'clock are fertilized by 8:30 

 or 9 o'clock. In other words, self- 

 fertilization takes place in about one 

 hour after the opening of the flower 

 It was found here that the cotton 

 flowers open near 1 o'clock, a. m., 

 but that the bees did not commence 

 to visit the plant until 8 o'clock. In 

 observing the cotton blossoms, it was 

 seen that very few honeybees did en- 

 ter the flower, but that many bumble- 

 bees, melisfodes and other solitai'y 

 bees, some beetles and moths, did 

 work inside of the corolla. If one 



Fig. 3. — Nectary on mid rib of leaf. .Sonic 

 honey is gathered here also 



will look at the cotton. flower (fig. 4) 

 it can be readily seen that the bee 

 could collect nectar all the way 

 around the stamen column and never 

 come in contact with it. Such bees 

 would, however, have much pollen ad- 



hering to their backs. From the open 

 structure of the flowers, it will 

 be seen that a bee would come 

 in contact with the stigmas 

 only when it entered .-i flower 

 which was partly open, and then it 

 would only touch its under sides and 

 not the back, where the cotton pol- 

 len is carried. Bumblebees and other 

 large hymenoptera, on entering the 

 open flowers, touch both stigmas and 

 stamens and thus easily effect pollina- 

 tion. It was further found tJ;at cot- 

 ton plants screened in so that honey- 

 bees could not have access to the 

 flowers were perfectly pollinated 

 either by the wind or by the nunif^r- 

 ous small bees and flies which worked 

 within the cage. As self-fertilization 

 takes place to a high degree in cot- 

 ton and as honeybees were seen to 

 collect pollen from the cotton blos- 

 soms only on rare occasions, it ap- 

 pears that, in collecting nectar, honey- 

 bees do not come into close contact 

 with the stamens and pistils, (t seems 

 then that this insect is little respon- 

 sible for cross-pollination in cotton. 

 The cotton honey flow outside of 

 the black land area is so uncertain 

 that beekeepers do not count upon it 

 except as a chance addition to the 

 general honey crop, but in the black 

 land the flow is very dependable. 

 The flow commences about the mid- 

 dle of June and continues periodically 

 until the cotton plants are killed by 

 fi'ost. The fact that the honey i? 

 very light amber and of fine quality 

 makes it an ideal flow to run lor bulk 

 comb honey and one is not far wrong 

 in stating that approximately one-half 

 of this class of honey from Texas is 

 from the cotton plant. 



The fact that cotton blooms, late in 

 the summer and that, in cotton loca- 

 tions, there is seldom much of an 

 early honey flow, has given rise to the 

 combless package business among the 

 beekeepers of this section. These men 

 allow their bees to go into winter 

 quarters with very heavy stores and 

 in early spring stimulate their colo- 

 nies by wholesale feeding until they 

 have a very heavy force of bees at 

 the time when the northern i:"'arkets 

 are demanding combless packages. 

 This force of bees is shipped nnrth and 

 the beekeeper, by manipulating his 

 hives, raises a second brood in time to 

 collect the first cotton flow. This 

 heavy production of bees by n^anipu- 

 lation causes the queens to v/car out 

 very rapidly and annual requeening 

 is very commonly practiced. The ma- 

 jority of the combless package sell- 

 ers of Texas are residents of the 

 black land district. 



In conclusion, it must be said that 

 the raising of honey, queens and 

 combless packages, is a very highly 

 specialized branch of the bee indus- 

 try, within the cotton area, and that 

 it requires a professional beekeeper, 

 who has studied very minutely the 

 problems mentioned above, to make a 

 success of beekeeping in this aiea; but 

 along the edges of this area, where 

 the bees have an early flow from some 

 other plant, the beekeepers produce a 

 crop of honey with less effort than 

 anywhere else in the State. 



BEE INCIDENT FROM MANCHE.S- 

 TER 



The date of the visit of the Prince 

 of Wales to Manchester coincided 

 with the 2.'jth birthday of Mie Man- 

 che.ster and District Beekeepers' As- 

 sociation — an association formed by a 

 few in the district of Manchester, 

 who had an interest in common — the 

 study of the honeybee. 



On the date mentioned a member 

 vv'as traveling through Manchester 

 with a light wooden box containing 

 combs and bees to the Cor'-ington 



lig -t. — There are no exposed nectaries within 

 the cotton flower. 



Farm, with the object of demonstrat- 

 ing queen rearing and breeding, but 

 the procession and dense crowds held 

 up all pedestrians. So, waiting to 

 see the Prince, our member placed 

 the box beside him on the navem?nt 

 and gave all attention to the moving 

 procession and delighted th;-ong. 



His patriotic attention whs, how- 

 ever, soon distracted by a sh.-iip crack 

 and a truly feminine squeal v.-hich es- 

 caped from a lady who had actcmpted 

 to use the fragile box as a point of 

 vantage from which to secure a good 

 view of the scene. 



The lady's leg had dropped among 

 the bees, much to their annoyance 

 and disgust. Their attention did not 

 allow the victim to stay and apolo- 

 gize for the damage done to the box 

 and contents, but she was last ob- 

 served making a bee line for other 

 parts in a cloud of dust. 



The owner of the bees subdued his 

 excited insects and treated The inci- 

 dent as a huge joke. Did the lady? — ■ 

 (R. A. C. in British Bee Journal). 



INTRODUCING QUEENS 



By L. G. Windsor 



When your new queen is received, 

 go to the colony to which she is to be 

 introduced, take a queen cage with 

 you and find the queen, put her in 

 the cage with a few bees. Take the 

 cage in the house and leave it there 

 30 minutes, then take the queen out 

 and kill, and turn the bees loose. Put 

 your new queen and her escorts in 

 this new cage, leave her there 30 

 minutes, then introduce by the cage 

 method. 



