GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York, 



BEES AND APPLE-BLOSSOMS. 



" I see that Doolittle lays considerable 

 stress on the pollen and nectar which come 

 from the early bloom, and especially that 

 from the willows and hard maple. How 

 about the ai^ple-blossoms ? Are they not of 

 equal help to tlie bees with those of an 

 earlier blossoming'? I had supposed that 

 the nectar the bees gather from apple-bloom 

 is the greatest factor of all the year in 

 stimulation of brood-rearing in time for an 

 army of bees for the white-honey harvest." 

 1 consider your supposition as regards 

 the " greatest factor " correct, providing 

 the bees have gotten well under headway 

 with their brood when the bloom from the 

 apple appears. But to have this bloom of 

 the greatest value, brood should be started 

 so that 8000 to 12,000 bees are nearing 

 maturity when the apple-bloom begins to 

 open. I consider the great value of nectar 

 from apple-bloom to lie in its stimulating 

 quality, toward plentiful brood-rearing, and 

 in producing stores to tide over the period 

 of scarcity which immediately follows this 

 bloom for a time approximating twenty to 

 twenty-five days. 



More than half a century ago our beloved 

 M. Quinby penned these words : " In good 

 weather, a gain of 20 pounds is sometimes 

 added to the liives during the period of 

 apple-blossoms. But we are seldom fortu- 

 nate enough to have continuous good weath- 

 er, as it is often rainy, cloudy, cool, or 

 windy, all of which are very detrimental. 

 A frost will sometimes destroy all, and the 

 gain of our bees is reversed ; that is, their 

 stores are lighter at the end than at the 

 beginning of this season of flowers. Yet 

 this season often decides the prosperity of 

 the bees for the summer. If there is good 

 weather now, we expect our first swarms 

 the fore part of June; if not, no subse- 

 quent yield of honey will make up the 

 deficiency." And no truer words were ever 

 uttered, as applied to central New York: 

 and what applies to this locality will apply 

 quite generally to the Northern States. 



From this we see that the apple-tree 

 bears no mean relation to the person inter- 

 ested in apiculture, outside of the fruit it 

 yields. Apple-blossom honey is somewhat 

 rank and strong when first gathered ; but 

 after staying on the hive till thoroughly 

 ripened, it assumes a nice spicy flavor, 

 though when at its best it can hardly be 

 said to equal that from clover or basswood. 

 I believe that, if we could have the same 



number of bees in the hive in ap2)le-blossom 

 that we do in basswood, and if the weather 

 could be equally good, the yield from this 

 source would be nearly or quite as good 

 while the bloom lasts; but the trouble is, the 

 bloom comes so early in the season that we 

 do not have the bees; and, still worse, the 

 weather is usuajly such that the bees do not 

 have an opportunity every year to work 

 more than enough to encourage brood-rear- 

 ing, and sometimes not even that. For this 

 reason I have found that it does not pay 

 to try to work the colonies up to an unu- 

 sual strength with the hope of securing a 

 surplus in comb honey from this source. 



It is quite amazing what a good colony 

 which has wintered well will do where there 

 is continuous good weather when the apple- 

 trees are in bloom. In 1877 we had a good 

 yield from this source — so much so that 

 many colonies stored, capped, and finished 

 from five to twenty pounds of surplus in 

 the section supers, besides storing in every 

 available cell below not occupied with brood 

 or pollen; and the result from tlie apiary 

 that year was the highest ever obtained by 

 the writer, which was an average of 166 2-3 

 ])ounds from each old colony in the spring. 

 Another year, when we had continuous good 

 weather throughout the whole bloom, a hive 

 on the scales made a gain of 31 pounds 

 during the bloom. 



1 well remember trying a guessing exper- 

 iment that year. I counted the bees as they 

 came in at the entrance loaded with nectar. 

 Tliey were well at work at about seven in 

 the morning, and the first count showed 42 

 loaded bees coming in during one minute: 

 the next minute, 46; the third, 41; the 

 fourth, 44. At about ten o'clock I counted 

 again, and the average at this time was 49 

 to the minute on five counts, while at one 

 o'clock the average was 51 per minute, and 

 at five o'clock the number of loaded bees 

 entenng the hive proved to be nearly the 

 same as the first count in the morning. I 

 figured that each bee carried a drop of 

 nectar; then estimated the number of drops 

 it would take for a pound, calling nine 

 pounds as the weight of a gallon of this 

 nectar as it came from the fields. Then I 

 " struck an average " to get the number of 

 bees per minute for the whole day, and 

 multiplied this number by the number of 

 minutes worked, and decided that the result 

 of that day's work would be 71/2 pounds. 

 T had weighed the hive in the morning. 

 l)efore any bees went to work, and the 

 Continued on next page. 



