844 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



an egg that would have produced a bee black 

 in color. While she herself might be lighter 

 in color, her bees might run to the other ex- 

 treme, or dark hybrids. However, if one were 

 attempting to rear yellow stock he could grad- 

 ually work toward the yellow in his bees by 

 breeding entirely from the yellow in them ; 

 but the probabilities are that two generations 

 would not begin to give entirely yellow stock. 

 The bees of the average hybrid queen range 

 all the way from almost black to entirely yel- 

 low bees ; that is to say, there will be speci- 

 mens of what appear to be really black, speci- 

 mens of one and two banded bees, and also 

 specimens of three-banded ; but the last nam- 

 ed are not pure Italians by considerable. If it 

 were possible for one of these three-banded 

 bees to be transformed into a queen, her bees 

 might sport all the way from black to three- 

 banders, just the same as those of her mother; 

 but in all probability the yellow would be 

 more predominant in the second lot of bees. — 

 Ed.] 



white and red ci.oveks as honey-peants. 



Query : Does red clover always contain 

 honey ? White clover does not. 



In measuring the tongues of bees and the 

 corollas of red clover, what is the approxi- 

 mate difference in length and depth ? 



Baptisttown, N. J. W. W. Case. 



[Red clover does not always contain honey, 

 neither does white clover ; but the red will 

 yield nectar more frequently than the white. 

 I have never failed to find drops of nectar in 

 the corolla-tubes of red clover during the lat- 

 ter part of summer ; but those same tubes will 

 be perfectl}' dry during the months of Sep- 

 tember and October, in our locality ; and they 

 may also be dry during some seasons in Au- 

 gust, but I have never seen the time yet. 



The approximate length of the tongues of 

 average bees — that is, the reach — is jW The 

 greatest length so far measured is i-,;\, . P.ed- 

 clover corolla-tubes vary in length all the way 

 from yi to Y^ ; and an average of them is 

 about % of an inch, or ^§^^, deep. The bees 

 of red clover queens have tongues anywhere 

 from iVo to jVfl long ; and we are now striv- 

 ing to get a strain that will have -^^^ length. — 

 Ed.] 



another record breaking oueen whose 

 bees have eong ton^iues. 

 I send you a sample of bees from a colony 

 of mine which has made a remarkable record, 

 with the object of having their tongues mea- 

 sured. This colony has put up 240 lbs. of sur- 

 plus honey this season in an apiary averaging 

 85 lbs. During a conversation with J. M. 

 Rankin, at the Chicago convention, I men- 

 tioned the record of this colony, and he sug- 

 gested that I send him a sample of bees. I 

 did so, with the result that, of 10 bees sent, 

 5 had tongues measuring 6 mm. each, or .236 

 inches long. If this is correct, and in your 

 measurements you obtain the same results, or 

 nearly so, it is evident that the .25-inch length 

 of tongue necessary for red clover is nearly 

 reached, and in all probability can be attained 

 in a year or two by careful breeding. 



While we are on the subject, I should like 

 to know if you could furnish the necessary 

 implements for this kind of measuring ; and 

 if so, about what the cost would be. I could 

 get the microscope, and possibly every thing 

 but the rule ; and this I am at a loss to know 

 what to inquire for. 



The past season has furnished such a re- 

 markable object-lesson of the possibilities of 

 bee culture, that I do not feel as if I could af- 

 ford to be without some means of accurate 

 measurement another season ; and with some- 

 thing definite and decisive to go ahead with, 

 instead of guesswork, it would seem as if 

 progress should be much more rapid than 

 heretofore. J. H. GerbrachT. 



Spring Grove, 111., Oct. 22. 



[We measured the tongues of the bees you 

 sent ; and according to our way of measuring 

 we get ^§^. But this does not at all signify 

 that Mr. Rankin's measurement was wrong, 

 even if ours was right. Mr. R. measures the 

 total lengih of the tongue after it has been 

 dissected from the bee. We measure only so 

 much of the tongue as will extend beyond the 

 mouth parts of the bee, or that length which 

 would be available in getting honey out of 

 deep corolla-tubes. Mr. Rankin's method 

 might be defective from the fact that some 

 bees might not be able to protrude their 

 tongues as far as some other bees having 

 shorter tongues. I say iiiig/it, because I do 

 not know. But it occurred to me that the 

 correct way of measuring was to measure only 

 that portion that the bee could stick out from 

 its mouth. — Ed.] 



DEVELOPING NEW VARIETIES IN CATTLE AND 

 IN CLOVER. 



Mr. Root; — I have read Hasty, page 681, 

 in regard to clover, etc. You ask about the 

 breeding of stock. I will say that I have been 

 raising high-grade Durhams, both red and 

 roan, some with sire of one color and then the 

 other ; and I had 24 cows, some red, some 

 roan, and some spotted, all with horns. Then 

 I got a red-polled sire, imported from Eng- 

 land, a dark-red muley (not a niuley Durham 

 or Galliway). The result was 22 calves — 20 

 smooth muleys, one with horns, one with but- 

 tons (small horns three to five inches long, 

 grown to the hide only, and loose from the 

 skull), nearly all a solid red. The next cross 

 was a grade of a red poll with these calves, 

 heifers all muley, and red. The thoroughness 

 of the sire has much to do with his calves — 

 that is, the same type for many generations 

 back, and not letting any sports in this chain 

 of breeding. 



Friend Hasty does not say that he kept 

 out these sports by breeding white heads only. 

 Perhaps some white heads were fertilized from 

 red heads. If he had kept the white heads all 

 under a screen, so no other heads could have 

 discharged their pollen on the white, or been 

 carried there by bees or other insects, perhaps 

 his success would have been better. I think 

 his 1897 clover seed is all right for several 

 years yet. 



When you spoke of breeding short-headed 



