GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



a surprisingly short time. Accompanying 

 incubation and brood-rearing, the tempera- 

 ture was gradually raised and became equal- 

 ized tlirough the hive; and when once well 



established il was maintained during the 

 summer. Although the transition was abrupt, 

 it would be expected to vary with the colo- 

 ny, and even be prolonged in bad weather. 



NO HONEY IN MINNESOTA 



BY J. ALF. HOLMBEEG, 

 State Inspector of Apiaries 



The season of 1914 in Minnesota may be 

 said to be almost a failure. This is due to 

 the fact that the spring was wet and cold, 

 and then the hot weather came on so sud- 

 denly the bees had vei'y little chance to get 

 any surplus honey. Tn my visits through 

 the State this summer I saw any amount of 

 flowers, but the bees would not work on 

 them at all. In only one place have I 

 sampled basswood honey, and this is very 

 seldom the case in this State. Feeding will 

 be necessary in many places. 



I expect to see a real bumper honey crop 

 next season, as all conditions seem favor- 

 able; and if the spring opens up right, I 

 don't see why honey should not be plentiful. 



Foul brood, which has been very threat- 



ening in this territory for a good many 

 years, is now well under hand, and I see no 

 reason why it may not be overcome com- 

 pletely if the beekeepers will only co-oper- 

 ate. I do not blame the beekeeiDer for being 

 the careless one ; but it is the man who keeps 

 bees and is not a beekeeper who really starts 

 the trouble. I have visited many places 

 where I have had to plead with the man 

 before he would allovi? me to examine his 

 bees to see whether they were in perfect 

 condition so that his neighbor, making his 

 living on bees, might rest assured his bees 

 would not become infected through the care- 

 lessness of his neighbor. 

 St. Paul, Minn. 



Make in a 

 it Take to Fetch One Load ? How Long Doe^ 



1 Trips? 



BY J. A. HEBEELE, B.S. 



in 



An interesting article by Walter Lunden 

 is making the rounds of the German bee- 

 journals. In this he describes an experi- 

 ment designed to answer the above ques- 

 tions. The problem is complicated, and 

 difficult to solve. The answers will be as 

 varied as the conditions. Especially impor- 

 tant is the distance of the source of nectar 

 and the abundance of it in the flower visited. 



In the afternoon of July 14, 1913, Mr. 

 Lunden caught bees from a good colony 

 that was conveniently located for observa- 

 tion, and marked the bees, six in all, on the 

 thorax — white, yellow, orange, green, blue, 

 and red. Gold, silver, and copper bronze 

 were not used the first day. He found that 

 marked bees behaved no differently from 

 the others. 



On the 15th of July the observation began 

 at 6 A. M. The weather was fine, the honey- 

 flow from clover. 



A colony on the scales showed at 10 a. m. 

 a loss of 900 grams, which he attributed to 

 the bees flying out to the field for nectar 



and pollen. In his calculation he takes the 

 weight of one bee at one-ninth of a gram, 

 and concludes that about 8000 bees had 

 gone out foraging. Between 10 and 11 a. 

 M. the weight remained about the same. The 

 bees flying out were balanced by the incom- 

 ing nectar. At 2 p. m. the 900 grams, the 

 weight of the field bees, was equaled by the 

 stored nectar. At 6 P. M. tlije increase in 

 weight was 2300 grams; 700 grams were 

 lost by morning through evaporation, mak- 

 ing a net gain of 1700 grams — nearly 4 lbs. 

 A thunderstorm between 4 and 5 p. m. cut 

 off the flow. The best day had been 2900 

 grams net; 2100 grams, or 4 2-3 lbs., the 

 following morning. 



Mr. Lunden stayed at bis post of obser- 

 vation till 7 P. M., making it 13 hours, with- 

 out interruption. His meals were brought 

 to him. A few times marked bees were seen 

 going out or coming in, and were marked 

 with an interrogation-point. Green had 

 been oftener overlooked, because this color 

 is not so easy to notice as some of the 



