734 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



DO WITH UNFINISHED SECTIONS 



BY A. C. GILBERT 



Undoubtedly there will be more partly 

 filled sections, or sections of uncapped hon- 

 ey this season than for years past in conse- 

 quence of the poor season. After extracting 

 the honey from all such it is a good plan to 

 save all the clean ones containing nice white 

 combs for baits another season. After ex- 

 tracting the honey from them some beekeep- 

 ers do not advise letting the bees rob tlDe 

 honey still left in them. As a general rule 

 they contain more honey than ever thought 

 of. Just set two dozen on the scales before 

 and after feeding out, and note the differ- 

 ence in weight. It is surprising to see the 

 amount of honey some contain. To keep 

 such sections until they are needed, without 

 turning more or less damp and dripping, 

 is imjaossible unless kept in a very dry room 

 kept warm most of the time. Not every 

 beekeeper has such a desirable place, and 

 consequently it is far the best practice to let 

 the bees rob out whatever honey they may 

 contain, then they will keep in any ordinary 

 room or honey-house without being kept 

 warm. When not fed out I have seen some 

 sections turn so wet that the wood becomes 

 damp. Nectar stored in such would not 

 keep like that in nice dry combs. 



There is not the least danger of starting 



robbing if the feeding is done carefully and 

 in the right way. I think the best way is to 

 close the entrance so that only one or two 

 bees can pass at one time. The hives or 

 supers containing the sections should be 

 somewhat isolated from the apiary. Strange 

 as it may appear, one or two colonies gen- 

 erally do the robbing when only a couple 

 of stacks of supers are placed out. Such 

 colonies should be watched as the combs will 

 soon become clogged with honey from one 

 hive. I took out half the combs containing 

 the least brood, and placed frames of foun- 

 dation in their places. The foundation was 

 drawn and filled with thick honey, mostly 

 capped, as white as snow. The second set 

 of frames of foundation was drawn and 

 filled completely, and as white as the nicest 

 combs during a shower of white clover or 

 basswood honey. Have the sections so that 

 the bees can have access to all parts. It is 

 a good plan to set them in supers a little 

 distance apart on slats or cleats ; then if any 

 honey happens to be on any part while ex- 

 tracting it will all be cleaned off, and the 

 job will be complete and satisfactory every 

 way. 



Honeoye Falls, N. Y., Aug. 20. 



AN IMPORTANT HONEY=PLANT OF KENTUCKY 



Axter lateriflorus var. thyrsoideiis (Gray), Sheldon, mistaken for white-flowered jroldenrod, Solidago birolor 



BY BURTON N. GATES 



This showy aster, whose name is some- 

 what in dispute, although given by Gray as 

 it appears above, is credited as being found 

 fiom New England to Ontario, Montana to 

 Tennessee. It is now reported by Mr. James 

 S. Johnson, of Langnau, Ky., who .'^ent the 

 writer early in September, 1913, a specimen 

 for analysis. A determination has been 

 made by Prof. A. V. Osmun, of the Botani- 

 cal Department of the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural College. It should be stated that 

 this plant was described by Mr. Johnson as 

 a particularly important honey-plant which 

 he called Solidago bicolor, in his previous 

 ai'ticle, mentioned below. It is, however, 

 not a goldenrod or Solidago, but an aster. 

 The varietal form spoken of here is one of 

 the many varieties of Aster lateriflorus (L), 

 Britton, which abounds in fields and thickets 

 commonly fi'om Nova Scotia to Ontario and 

 southwest, blooming from August to Octo- 



ber. It is extensively variable. Mr. John- 

 son mentions in Gleanings for 1912, pages 

 798-800, some of the more important fea- 

 tures of this plant as a honey source. In 

 recent communications he adds that he has 

 sent specimens of the plant to almost every 

 State, to Mexico, and Canada, believing that 

 it may be valuable to the beekeeper who 

 desires a late nectar-flow. He mentions the 

 vigor of the plant despite the continued 

 drouth of about four months in Kentucky, 

 and gives full details in his recent article, 

 p. 465, June 15. In his locality the plant 

 begins to yield nectar about the 15th of 

 September, lasting almost until November. 



Beekeepers in the range of this plant 

 might well determine whether their bees can 

 utilize it. Coming so late in the season, and 

 being a free nectar-yielder brings it into 

 prominence for apiculture. 



Amherst, Mass., Oct. 3. 



