June 1, 1911 



341 



freely when once they have- been made. 

 It will, perhai)s, .be asked how I account 

 for the absence of Bombas trrricola during 

 the latter part of the season of 1910. I can 

 only guess at the reason; but it seems ])rob- 

 able that there were no nests in the vicinity 

 of my garden, while in the previous season 

 there were. I intend to repeat the exi)eri- 

 ment this summer, and have considerable 

 curiosity to watch the result. 

 Waldoboro, Me. 



STIMULATIVE FEEDING IN THE SPRING. 

 The Plan Should Not be Discouraged. 



BY ROBERT B. MX'AIN. 



I have practiced stimulative feeding, both 

 with a few colonies and with a larger nunir- 

 ber. and am convinced that it is a mistake 

 to discourage the i)ractice, as many experts 

 do. I am not among the numl)er of those 

 who have a right to that title: Ijut I know 

 what I have done, and will set it down in 

 the ho])e that some one will be benefited by 

 the exjjerience. 



Two of the strongest colonies I ever had 

 were brought to their high degree of ))ros- 

 perity by stimulative feeding. ( )ne of them 

 occupied a two-stdry ten-frame Langstroth 

 hive. At the beginning of the honey-How I 

 counted l(i frames of brood in that hi\e. 

 There were probably an average of ;-)()U0 

 young bees, in all stages of de\eloi)ment, in 

 each of those frames, making in all 48,000 

 young bees in the colony. Nor is it an ex- 

 aggeration to say that there were at least 

 75.000 worker bees in the colony. I used 

 this colony for queen-breeding exclusively, 

 and do not know how much honey it stored 

 that season. 



The other colony of which mention has 

 been made was not as i^opulous as the one 

 just described: but there were enough bees 

 to crowd the first su])er that I jtut on at the 

 beginning of the honey-tlow, after removing 

 the lower story, and this colony stored 2S0 

 sections of fancy comb honey in Danzen- 

 baker sections that season. I also look- 

 brood and bees from this colony to start two 

 nuclei which built uj) into strong colonies 

 before winter. 



These two colonies are excei)tional cases; 

 but all the other colonies in my yard in 

 those seasons were prosjierous to a degree on 

 account of stimulative feeding. 



The secret of success with stimulative 

 feeding lies, not so much in the quantity 

 and regularity of the feeding as in jjroduc- 

 ing an imitation of a real tiow of nectar. 

 The syruj) should be made of the best gratle 

 of granulated sugar and ])ure water, in i)ro- 

 jiortions of one of sugar to two of water; and 

 it should be fed only when the Vjees can fiy 

 freely. Trays of wheat fiour i)laced in the 

 sunshine in a sheltered place will furnish 

 pollen, and thus the fraud will be complete. 

 It ought never to be necessary to feed syr- 



up in the spring to make uj) for shortage of 

 stores. That is done, in my yard, by saving 

 frames of honey from the fall How. These 

 frames may be inserted at any time when 

 they are needed, no matter how cold it may 

 be. and when there is nothing to take their 

 l)lace. With these in the hives in sufYicient 

 (juantity to make the Viees feel i)erfectly 

 safe in going forward with brootl-rearing on 

 a large scale, stimulative feeding may be 

 l)racticed with little fear of chilled brood. 

 The word of caution needs to be spoken in 

 regard to the time of beginning the stimu- 

 lation and the protection of the hive froni 

 cold blasts. 



By using the frames of honey to keej) the 

 colonies ])r()S])erous in early sjiring, stimu- 

 lative feeding may be deferred longer, and 

 will count for more in the end. If practiced 

 three weeks or a month before the main 

 honey-How it will work marvels in the re- 

 sult. ' 



Wenona, Illinois. 



THE COLORS OF POLLEN. 



That from Cultivated Plants Varies Considerably, 



BY J. FORD SHMPERS. 



The honey-bee with her load of pollen is 

 a very familiar object to most j^eojile. wheth- 

 er they are bee-keei)ers or not. Frequently, 

 l3y those who do not know otherwise, these 

 l)()llen loads are mistaken for wax, because 

 of the striking resemblance which the bright 

 yellow pellets bear to newly renderetl wax. 

 Yellow, howe\er, is only one of a number of 

 the colors of jiollen gathered by honey-bees. 

 To some it may be interesting to know 

 whence these varied-colored ])ollens come. 

 In wild i)lants the colors are ai)])arently con- 

 stant for each si)ecies, so far as I have no- 

 ticed. Among cultivated plants considera- 

 ble variation i)re\ails. The following list 

 will show the axerage range of colors, and 

 some of the i)ollen-yielding plants of this 

 locality. 



White, Missouri currant, sweet cicely, 

 dewberry, tall blackberry, climbing hemp- 

 weed, boneset, im])atiens, malva rotuudi- 

 folia (cheeses). 



(ireenish white, i)ear, wild generanium, 

 sacaline. 



Yellowish white. ])laintain. ironweed. 



Light yellow. ai)ple, sheep-sorrel, smart- 

 wee(l. corn (maiza. 



Yellow, golden-bell, senecio, deutzia. wild 

 roses, sundrojis, commelina, ragweeds, gold- 

 enrods, asters. 



Orange, dandelion, rudbeckia, asparagus. 



Yellowish green, black alder, red mai)le. 



Light brown, cherry. 



Brown, winter cress, white clover. 



Olive brown, i)lum. 



Dark olive, V)uckwheat. 



Brownish-red. horse-chestnut. 



Dull blue, cultivated clematis. 



Aikin, Md. 



