1911 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTUllE 



99 



such is not the fact. In the buttercup fami- 

 ly [Ranunculaceae) the buttercups, colum- 

 bines, larkspurs, etc., all secrete nectar, but 

 the anemones do not. In the large family 

 of figworts [Scrophulariaceae) most of the 

 species secrete nectar, but the mulleins do 

 not. In the honeysuckle family {Capr'ifo- 

 liaceae), the viburnums and honeysuckles 

 secrete nectar, but the elders [Sambucus] 

 do not. Many orchids secrete nectar, others 

 do not. In the St. Johns-wort family (Ify- 

 pericaceae) the marsh St. .lohns-wort se- 

 cretes nectar, but the St. Johns- wort {ITy- 

 pericum) does not. In the night-shade 

 family {S'olanaceae) the night-shade is a 

 pollen flower, but the ground-cherry con- 

 tains nectar Other instances might easily 

 be given. Incidentally it may be remarked 

 that flowers do not secrete honey — they se- 

 crete nectar. 



Your correspondent says that he believes 

 he has seen bees at work on wild roses. If 

 he has observed our wild roses carefully I 

 do not doubt that he has seen (as I have) 

 hundreds of bees at work on their blos-soms, 

 but they are not collecting nectar. The use 

 of the w^ord "believes" shows that his ob- 

 servation is merely an impression. In the 

 case of the rose the only way to tell whether 

 it contains nectar or not is to examine the 

 various organs under the compound micro- 

 scope. He does not say that the bees were 

 honey-bees, but the impression is that they 

 were. They probably were not, but large 

 bees belonging to the genus Andrena {A. 

 carlini or A. vicina), or some other wild 

 bee which nright easily be mistaken for 

 honey-bees, especially at a casual glance. 



A man in this vicinity who was a bee- 

 keeper for many years, and whose father 

 before him kept bees, asked me this spring 

 to look at his plum-trees. He told me that 

 they were loaded with blossoms, and visited 

 by great numbers of honey-bees. They were, 

 indeed, a beautiful sight, each tree forming 

 a huge bouquet of white flowers. There 

 were hundreds of bees flying about among 

 them, which were pointed out as honey- 

 bees. A brief inspection was suflicient to 

 show me that they were chiefly a species of 

 Andrena. As a matter of fact, I did not 

 see a single honey-bee. 



Another amusing illustration of how easi- 

 ly other insects maybe mistaken for honey- 

 bees occurred a few days ago. A prominent 

 official of this town told me how his wife 

 had called his attention to the presence of 

 many bees on the windows of a shed cham- 

 ber. He related how he had covered his 

 head with netting, put on an overcoat and 

 mittens, and finally drove them out. 



"Now," he inquired, "how did they get 

 there?" 



"They were not bees at all," I replied, 

 "but flies. If you will examine them close- 

 ly you will find that they have only one 

 pair of wings." 



Naturally he was somewhat astonished 

 at this statement; but some days later he 

 brought me two of the insects in a bottle. 

 They proved to be, as I had expected, syr- 



phid flies, which are often found on flowers, 

 and are called Eristalis tenax. The larva 

 lives in wet places, and has a tail like a rat, 

 though much smaller, through which it 

 breathes by extending it upward to the sur- 

 face of the water. It is never found with- 

 out exciting curiosity. 



Perhaps another example may be of in- 

 terest. One autumn day a boy told me that 

 the side of his father's house had been cov- 

 ered a few days before with my bees. I had 

 noticed, however, on the afternoon men- 

 tioned, thousands of male and female ants 

 on the wing, and it was the females of these 

 ants which he had mistaken for bees. 



There are thousands of flowers which do 

 not produce nectar, being chiefly pollinated 

 by the wind, as the grasses, sedges, alders, 

 elms,' beeches, birches, and hickories. They 

 are often visited by insects for pollen, and I 

 have seen the honey-bee busily at work on 

 the alders in early spring, and on the spin- 

 dles of the Indian corn later in the season. 

 The cone-trees, as the pines, produce such 

 immense quantities of pollen that, when it 

 is carried upward by a breeze, it is some- 

 times mistaken for smoke. The so-called 

 "sulphur showers " are due to the falling 

 of millions of pollen grains which have been 

 carried up in the air from cone-trees by the 

 wind. 



Waldoboro, Me. 



LARGE VS. SMALL HIVES. 



The Eight-frame Hive all Right in its Place. 

 BY HARRY LATHROP. 



I was very glad to see Mr. Aiken's article, 

 page 730, Nov. 15, 1910, in which he stands 

 up for the merits of the eight-frame hive. 

 I have always used and preferred the eight- 

 frame L. hive as he suggests, giving the 

 queen two sets of combs when deemed ad- 

 visable. 



Last July I paid a visit to the apiary of 

 Miss Candler, at Cassville, Wis. While 

 there I received what might be termed a jar 

 to my complacency regarding the use of 

 small hives. Miss Candler wa>4 conducting 

 me through her well-appointed home apia- 

 ry. The season with her was not considered 

 a good one; still, there was considerable hon- 

 ey in the yard, especially on hives that had 

 been supplied with extracting -combs. I 

 was shown a sixteen-frame L. hive having a 

 set of store combs above, or 32 in all. The 

 upper set was plugged with honey, and I 

 said to Miss Candler, "There is 80 lbs. of 

 honey on that hive, and you have lost per- 

 haps 25 lbs. by not having given more room 

 when needed." 



To this she assented. I said that I just 

 wished I had a lot of hives like that one 

 with 80 lbs. of nice honey. Visions of what 

 might be done flashed before my eyes; but 

 then, at second thought, it occurred to me 

 that I had at home in mv yard quite a num- 

 ber of eight-framers that, tiered up, had al- 

 ready produced as much as 80 lbs. each; 



