Dec. 1, 1911 



731 



SOURCES OF EARLY POLLEN. 



The country here is rough, with consid- 

 erable timber, and the average number of 

 wild flowers. The fall flow from goldenrod 

 and aster, though not usually giving any 

 surplus, leaves the hives well supplied with 

 IwUen. In the spring a few good warm 

 days suffice to bring into bloom the hepat- 

 ica, or liverleaf anemone, from which the 

 bees bring in whitish pollen. This often 

 comes two weeks before the eailiest fruit 

 bloom. This is followed by the dandelion, 

 with its unlimited pollen. Fruit-bloom 

 usually does not give enough honey to start 

 comb-building; but it does start cell-build- 

 ing. From tliis time the spring beauty, 

 dandelion, buckeye, oak, gum, blackberry, 

 and various wild flowers give a constant 

 supply of pollen without any appreciable 

 amount of honey, and the Italians abandon 

 themselves to reckless propagation. 



SUPERIORITY OF BLACKS WHERE POLLEN IS 

 ABUNDANT IN SPRING. 



The blacks would seem to be naturally 

 adapted to such conditions, for they do not 

 usually " lose their heads " in this way, but 

 defer swarming until there is enough honey 

 to justify increase, and may usually be in- 

 duced to forego it entirely by giving room 

 for surplus, and that without the baits and 

 full sheets of foundation needed to coax the 

 Italians into the sections. 



When the breeding of bees shall have be- 

 come further advanced it will no doubt be 

 found possible to interchange the character- 

 istics of different races when desirable, just 

 as the different combs and color patterns, 

 and the sitting and non-sitting dispositions 

 of poultry may be so combined by the skill- 

 ful breeder. It is evident that the same 

 combination of traits will not suit every- 

 where. 



The only points which I have found in 

 favor of the Italians are their quietness and 

 better defense against robbers; but these 

 are more than balanced by their reluctance 

 to enter sections, and their swarming pro- 

 clivities. 



McConnelsville, O. 



I will admit that, while hunting these 

 bees, I felt that it looked a little shiftless; 

 but I never spent an hour at it when I neg- 

 lected my work. All together, I presume I 

 may have spent a month, a day or two at a 

 time. Sometimes in my busy and solitary 

 life (for I live alone) I ha\ e felt the need of 

 recreation, and have taken a stroll in the 

 woods when I have finished all of my work. 

 I have been a hunter all my life; but there 

 is a fascination about bee-hunting that is 

 not surpassed even in the fox-chase. I am 

 the only bee-hunter in this community who 

 saves tlie bees. Does it pay? Some hunters 

 have been kind enough to tell me where 

 they have cut a tree and have left the bees, 

 which they have tendered to me if I would 

 go after them. In every instance I have 

 gone, even when I did not want them. 



Two years ago a farmer came to town and 

 told me that he had cut two bee-trees on his 

 land the day before, and said the bees were 

 left in good condition, and I could have 

 them if I wanted them. He keeps a few 

 colonies too. The next morning I hitched 

 up my team, drove to his home, put the 

 team in his barn, and we went to the woods. 

 In a short time I had them in my boxes, 

 and under the buggy-seat. I reached home 

 before noon. One of these swarms was 

 black and the other Italian, so I killed the 

 black queen and put all together in a ten- 

 frame hive and fed them oO lbs. of good 

 syrup. Last year they made 100 lbs. of 

 honey, and this year an equal amount, be- 

 sides casting a large swarm. 



Even if it did not pay to save the bees, 

 there should be a law in every State in the 

 Union with a penalty of $5.00 fine and costs 

 for each offense of robbing a bee-tree and 

 killing the bees or leaving them to perish 

 from starvation and cold. I have cut trees 

 and have saved the bees as late as the 24th 

 of November, and have carried them and 

 their honey, my ax, and saw, home on my 

 back, walking a distance of two miles. 

 Here was a case where I really felt that it 

 was a dearly bought swarm, but they made 

 it right the next summer. 



Union Center, Wis. 



DOES IT PAY TO HUNT BEE-TREES AND TO 

 SAVE THE BEES? 



BY ELIAS FOX. 



W. C. Mollet, of West Virginia, Oct. 1, p. 

 590, says the trouble and expense of bee- 

 hunting amounts to n:iore than the bees are 

 worth. In the last few years I have saved 

 from trees (principally of my own finding 

 and cutting) 22 good swarms, and in most 

 instances have had to feed them over win- 

 ter. Up to the present time I have taken 

 from these and their increase at least 5000 

 lbs. of choice honey; and two years ago one 

 of them gave me 450 lbs., and I had enough 

 left to winter the bees. Some of the others 

 have yielded 150 to 200 lbs. 



Bees do Not Seal Poisonous Substances in their 

 Combs. 



In the Aug. 1st Issue for 1909. page 476, mention Is 

 made of poisonous hone.v. In December. 1900, I 

 visited a missionary In Siklvin. a native state in the 

 Himalaya.s. A preacher was just recovering from 

 a severe sickness caused by poisoning from eating 

 honey. My friend told me it was quite common 

 there: and as she described the symptoms, they 

 seemed the same as poisoning from belladonna or 

 datura, commonly known among us as jimson 

 weed. The night-shade is also common here, yet I 

 never heard of poisonous honey here in Colorado. 



When I came home I inquired of a bee-man as to 

 why honey from these flowers is not poisonous, and 

 he said bees never seal any poisonous substance 

 in their cells, and that doubtless the honey the na- 

 tives of the Himalayas use is wild honey, and they 

 gather it without regard to whether the cells are 

 capped. I am sure that the honey the native 

 preacher ate was wild honey, and I think the other 

 cases my friend mentioned were also caused by 

 eating wild honey. 



La Junta, Col., Aug. 19. E. F. Edgekton. 



