1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



845 



clover it was too late to try it this year ; but 

 this thought struck me : Inclose a plot of clo- 

 ver so that no insect can have access to it, 

 having a wire screen over it so it can get the 

 rain and sun ; then set a hive of bees against 

 this inclosure, having one entrance on the in- 

 side and one on the outside, and let the bees 

 work on such heads as they can, and these 

 only would produce seeds. The long heads 

 would have no seeds. Then by using clover 

 from the seeds of this raised inside this inclos- 

 ure, we could obtain the desired result. 

 Cuba, 111. M. W. MURPHEY. 



[If I understand you in your last paragraph 

 your point is this : If a patch of red clover be 

 screened from all insects except bees, only 

 those corolla-tubes the bottoms of which the 

 bees can reach, thus distributing the pollen, 

 will bear seed ; that such seed, coming as it 

 does from the short tubes, would develop a 

 short-tubed clover. But after all, we run 

 against this snag. We will say that I have 

 succeeded in developing the short-tubed clo- 

 ver — that I have a fine field of it. Now, my 

 neighbor, who has the old-fashioned kind, 

 might have a field within a quarter of a mile 

 of mine. My bees would visit both fields, and 

 mix the pollen, with the result that next year 

 my seed would grow a clover reverting back 

 somewhat to the original variety like that of 

 my neighbor's. — Ed.] 



THE BORDEAUX MIXTURE — WILT, IT Klht, 

 BEES, ETC.? 



Will the Bordeaux mixture if sprayed on 

 plants or vines that are in blossom, and on 

 which they are working, kill bees? What is 

 the value of dwarf Essex rape as bee-pastur- 

 age ? When does it blossom ? Will it stay in 

 the ground during the winter, and grow next 

 year? 



The queen I received from you isdoing fine- 

 ly ; and, if she does all that your advertise- 

 ment says, she will be a valuable acquisition 

 to my apiary. J. H. Gii.fii,lan. 



East Brook, Pa., Oct. 1. 



[I can not answer from personal experience; 

 but I am inclined to think that the Bordeaux 

 mixture, without Paris gree.i, would not be 

 sufficiently poisonous to do any harm to the 

 bees. Can our experiment stations tell us any 

 thing about it ? Dwarf Essex rape does not 

 blossom like ordinary rape ; and, to tell the 

 truth, I do not know where the seed is grown 

 or how it is managed to get blossoms and seed. 

 Will some of our readers please enlighten us? 

 In the Southern States, where the winters are 

 not too severe, it will stay in the ground all 

 winter, and would doubtless send up seed- 

 stalks in the spring just as turnips do. — A.I.R ] 



BEES, BIRDS, AND GRAPES — MORE ABOUT 

 THEM. 



Ji/r. Root: — I see in your issue for Oct. 1 an 

 article on " Bees, Birds, and Grapes," in which 

 you expressed a doubt as to sparrows picking 

 grapes. I have no doubt on that point. Two 

 or three years ago one of my neighbors said 

 my bees were eating his grapes. I told him 



that birds had punctured them first. He then 

 watched closely, and satisfied himself that they 

 had. This season the sparrows commenced to 

 bite my early red variety of grapes, and I 

 spoke to the neighbor about his, and he said 

 they were biting his. This continued for a 

 week or more before I saw any bees around 

 the grapes. The sparrows have destroyed al- 

 most all of the Delaware grapes that I had 

 this year. I have nearly a failure in honey 

 this year — not more than 10 or 12 lbs. surplus 

 per colony. J. R. Colvin. 



Olyphant, Pa., Oct. 8. 



[It is possible that sparrows do puncture 

 grapes ; but I can easily see how one might be 

 deceived. During the past summer I noticed 

 that the sparrows were very thick around our 

 grapes. In watching to see if they actually 

 did the puncturing, I saw that another bird, 

 the Cape May warbler {Deiidroica tigrhta), 

 was doing that kind of work while the spar- 

 rows were after the spiders. Unless I had 

 watched very closely I would have laid the 

 blame on the sparrows. I do not say that 

 sparrows do not pick into grapes ; but they 

 are insectivorous in their habits, are fond of 

 spiders, and that is why methinks they are 

 seen around giapes so much. — Ed.] 



BEES AND PEACHES. 



3fr. Root: — In reference to your article on 

 bees and peaches, gome twelve years ago I had 

 charge of P. L. Viallon's apiary at Bayou Gou- 

 la. La. The bees were in the middle of his 

 peach-orchard, and I was led to give particu- 

 lar attention to their dama:ging the fruit, in 

 consequence of a peach-grower's complaints. 

 Careful and continuous watching for days re- 

 sulted in finding that the damage in the first 

 instance, in every case, was due to a species of 

 curculio (we had early plums in the same or- 

 chard) I saw the curculio puncture, and 

 then after the damage to the skin was done, 

 the bees almost immediately put in their work. 

 I am convinced that this will be found to be 

 the correct solution when green and just-ripe 

 peaches are damaged by bees apparently. 



Dalkeith, Fla. H. FiTz Hart. 



[You are right. I doubt if there has ever 

 been a well-authenticated instance where bees 

 did puncture sound fruit. In every case where 

 the bees have been blamed we have found, 

 when we were able to follow the case up, that 

 some other insect, or a bird, had broken the 

 skin, and then the bees had followed in just 

 as if they were the original perpetrators of the 

 mischief. — Ed.] 



A WAX-PRODUCING COLONY. 



What amount of wax could a colony of bees 

 be made to produce 3'early by removing combs 

 frequently from a suitably made super, and 

 feeding back to the bees whatever honey the 

 combs might contain ? and could bee-keeping 

 for the production of wax alone be made prof- 

 itable? Beginner. 



Bandon, Oregon, Sept. 24. 



[It is impossible for me to give you even an 

 estimate. If you cut out the combs as fast as 



