1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



409 



of this objectionable stuff, ^>■hether 

 cider, wine or molasses, and whtn this 

 is stored in the cells, it is apt to make 

 them sick during the winter, for most 

 of it will sour in the cells ai:d give 

 the bees dysentery or diarrhea. 



Luckily, this happens only one year 

 in twenty, or even less. We remem- 

 ber the fall of 1879, when all those of 

 our neighbors who had either cider 

 or wine to make cursed our bees and 

 their owner. But it never h.ippened 

 again, and the neighbors now know 

 that in such an occurrence we are as 

 much the losers as they are. if not 

 more. 



If this should happen again to you 

 in such a way as to make the matter 

 irksome, it would be best to try to 

 have an understanding with the mak- 

 ers of sorghum molasses. Since it is 

 a loss to both, and they cannot com- 

 pel you to move any more than you 

 can compel them to quit, the best 

 thing to do would be to put up sheds 

 in which to boil the jliice. A sorghum 

 boiler ought to be under a shed, ow- 

 ing to the number of wasps, f.ies and 

 other insects that drown in the hot 

 juice, and there might be laws passed 

 compelling it, in order to make the 

 molasses more healthy to the con- 

 sumer. Could you not get 1hem to 

 agree to get under shelter and spena 

 a few dollars to help them do it? It 

 would be better than going to law 

 about it. What say our readers? 



DECEPTIVE HONEY FLORA 



By John Prothero 



Every beekeeper who maintains a 

 close observation on the honty flora 

 of his neighborhood will have noticed 

 the difference in the behavior of the 

 bees during various flows, and the dis- 

 crepancy between the fuss made over 

 certain blooms and the amount of nec- 

 tar stored. Some flowers seem to fas- 

 cinate the bees and to keep them busy 

 without giving a corresponding yieicT. 

 Catnip is often mentioned as an ex- 

 ample of this. Bees will gather on a 

 clump of catnip and fuss with a great 

 air of business, yet the general ver- 

 dict is that they get little nectar. This 

 phenomenon sometimes leads the en- 

 thusiastic amateur into futile expen- 

 diture. He will plant catnip or mig- 

 nonette or sunflower in quantity on a 

 patch of waste land, where sweet clo- 

 ver could be put to better advantage. 



Of course, this is like growing 

 wheat in flower pots to provide the 

 household with bread, but the enthusi- 

 astic amateur is to be encouraged, 

 even if he only plants a quarter of an 

 acre of bee forage. 



This season I have noticed trifoli- 

 um arvense, or rabbit's foot clover, as 

 coming into this category. The com- 

 mon white clover produced little or 

 no nectar and was neglected by the 

 bees for this modest purple-grey rela- 

 tive. Here it occurs in great quan- 

 tity in pasture and waste land, ami 

 observation this year would have led 

 one to suppose that a considerable 

 honey flow was on. The botx were 

 thick on it all day and hustled from 

 bloom to bloom in their most prof,'S- 

 sional manner, but examination of the 

 combs showed that it was much ado 



about nothing. The tubes are so fine 

 and so numerous that one readily un- 

 derstands what a tiresome and unre- 

 munerative job it nmst be. The busy 

 bee is wanting in a proper sjnse of 

 economics; she will expend a dollar's 

 worth of energy to get a 75-cent re- 

 turn. She does it because she is 

 driven by instinct, which, like justic, 

 is blind. Primeval man spent a 

 month i-ubbing a flint into a?i arrow 

 head; he was driven by personal dis- 

 like of a neighbor, and, being gifted 

 with reason, considered the motive 

 adequate. 



Sweet clover I should bring forward 

 as being the opposite end of the poie 

 to catnip and rabbit's foot clover. 

 There is a quiet, steady, unobtrusive 

 industry about the apiary when the 

 sweet clover harvest is in full swing 

 that is most deceptive. When the or- 

 chards are in full blossom in April 

 there is an air of desperate hustle 

 which is absent during this later and 

 more productive flow. Unless I am 

 mistaken, there is in fruit blossom 

 time less swaying and zigzagging in 

 their final descent to the hives; they 

 come back full pelt with the s;.me di- 

 rectness with which they go out. Dur- 

 ing sweet clover they come home with 

 a quiet, swaying movement and a con- 

 tented hum. Can it be that their in- 

 stinct tells them that there i > every 

 need to hustle over the fruit blossom, 

 but that there is plenty of time with 

 the sweet clover? I seem to hsve no- 

 ticed a similar rush over the buck- 

 wheat, which here yields from about 

 8 to 10 a. m. After this is over they 

 settle down in a more leisurely man- 

 ner to search through the expiring 

 sourwood supply for any pickings 

 there may be left. Their demeanor is 

 quite different. For those two hours 

 in the morning there is fierce concen- 

 tration of purpose; afterwards it is 

 jog through the day's work and enjoy 

 life. 



I may be advancing a fanciful the- 

 ory, but it seems to me that there is 

 a direct relation between the duration 

 of a flow and the behavior of the bees 

 while it is on, a relation which does 

 not correspond with the quantity of 

 nectar being brought in. 



My belief is that more nectar is 

 brought in with less fuss during a day 

 of sweet clover than during a day of 

 fruit blossom or buckwheat, making 

 every allowance for hive strength. 

 Perhaps it is not right to class fruit 

 blossom and buckwheat together, for 

 in one case the bee takes a long, strong 

 pull and in the other rushes desperate- 

 ly from one small blossom to another, 

 yet in both instances there is an im- 

 minent stoppage of the flow to spur 

 them on. The beginner is off en de- 

 ceived in this way on the supering 

 question. He imagines that there i.^ 

 compai'atively little doing and lots of 

 room at a time when things ar.» filling 

 up vei'y rapidly; again, after a spell 

 of great superficial activity hf is de- 

 jected to find poor results. This is 

 one of the matters which make knowl- 

 edge of your locality two-thirds of 

 beekeeping. A good honey flow in 

 one neighborhood and season 'lecomes 

 unproductive fuss elsewhere. One is 

 often surprised to hear the lukewarm 



manner with which a beeman from 50 

 miles distant will speak of a plant that 

 gives one excellent returns, and vice 

 versa. Around here men speak 

 meanly of white clover, though there 

 is plenty of it; 60 miles to the west it 

 is the main honey crop. Verily there 

 is no end to the "reports" that might 

 be written on honey flora and their 

 value; even State lines and counties 

 would not make satisfactory divisions. 

 Such reports are interesting and in- 

 formative, but the beeman has only 

 one safe guide to follow — make your 

 own observations, draw your .'wn de- 

 ductions, and originate your own 

 practice accordingly. 

 Virginia. 



CHILIAN BEEKEEPING 



Dear Mr. Dadant: 1 believe that I 

 wrote you a few years ago, that we 

 did not have either moths or foul- 

 brood in Chile. I am sorry to say 

 that it is not so now. I believe that 

 I have foulbrood in my apiaries and 

 wish to ask your advice, for descrip- 

 tion and cure. I have 11 apiaries, fi 

 in the mountains, 5 in the plains. The 

 former, having no neighboring apia- 

 ries, are safe. The others are sur- 

 rounded with smaller apiaries. As I 

 was certain that there was no foul- 

 brood, 1 did not take any precyutions 

 concerning hives, combs, nupers, 

 honey for feeding, etc., and used to 

 cai-ry things from one apiary to an- 

 other without fear. So I have prob- 

 ably scattered the disease my -.elf. 



Last winter a Chilian apiarist who 

 owns over a thousand colonies in 

 box hives, told me that he had to bi;v 

 200 to 300 hives of bees every year 

 to sustain the number of his colonies, 

 as he lost so many that the natural 

 swarms did not replace the losses ; 

 that the colonies died with r.lenty of 

 honey but no bees. I did not pay 

 much attention to his statements. But 

 this spring, after having had mo-e 

 swarms than usual, about 20 per cent. 

 I noticed that many colonics were 

 getting weak during the dearth that 

 usually follows the swarming season. 

 When the alfalfa season came, they 

 were reduced to the size of nuclei. 

 The queens were still large and fine 

 looking, but there was very little 

 brood, almost nothing but eggs. The 

 larvse must have died as fast as 

 hatched, perhaps killed by the food 

 given them. Rarely could I sec a bia; 

 larva, dead and yellowish in color. 

 But they did not have any bad smell 

 when rotten, and the color was gray, 

 not brown, without any .opiness. 

 There were only a few in that condi- 

 tion, as the bees appeared to dispose 

 of them. Rarely was there a sealed 

 cell with a hole in it. 



During the honey harvest they did 

 not improve, so 1 united them by twos 

 and later doubled them again, so that 

 many families are formed of 4 colo- 

 nies and have hardly strength enough 

 for winter. 



Without any disease, I could care 

 for a large number of colonies, but 

 with diseases I will have to shrink 

 my output. Besides, the pricw^s that 

 we are getting for honey ^re only 

 about 40 per cent of la.si year's 

 prices; exchange is low, and all im- 



