92 



space. While, of course, it is supposed to 

 go into the hive itself, yet if it leaks and 

 travels all around the four hives, a consid- 

 erable portion of the benefit of the packing 

 would be lost. 



The large quadruple cases of the gener- 

 ally accepted type are expensive enough; 

 and it is our opinion that it would actually 

 cost more in the aggregate to naake the 

 cases with an inner as well as an outer wall. 

 As a matter of fact, there is no advantage 

 in the inner wall after the bees are packed, 

 because the wall of the hive itself is suffi- 

 cient. There is nothing like having the 

 packing come in direct contact with the 

 hives themselves. There is then no oppor- 

 tunity for circulating currents around the 

 hives. 



The Number of Colonies Needed to 

 Pollinate Properly a Citrus Orchard 



On page 1000 of our issue for December 

 1st we made the statement in reply to Mr. 

 Paul J. Davis, Glenn, Cal., that a much 

 ATnaller number of bees are required to 

 pollinate a citrus orchard, either in Cali- 

 fornia or Florida, than an apple, peach, 

 pear, or cherry orchard in the North. We 

 have used the estimate of about a colony to 

 the acre in our northern orchards, and this 

 number in numerous recorded instances ap- 

 pears to have been sufficient to secure rec- 

 ord-breaking crops of fruit. Considering 

 the fact that there are only two or three 

 days out of the whole blossoming time when 

 the bees can mingle pollen, and sometimes 

 not over two or three hours, it is apparent 

 that we need many more bees in the North 

 than in the South, where the blossoming 

 time extends over two or three months, and 

 where the weather is always favorable ex- 

 cept for occasional rains. We are remind- 

 ed that E. G. Baldwin, of Stetson Univer- 

 sity, Deland, Fla., who wrote an article on 

 Florida beekeeping for one of the Florida 

 papers, estimated that five colonies are 

 needed to the acre in a citrus grove. See 

 Gleanings, page 216, March 15th issue. 

 He may be right; but if one colony per 

 acre of trees in the North will do the work 

 it would seem that one-tenth of that num- 

 ber would be sufficient in a southern grove. 

 We have gone thru a large number of citrus 

 groves in Florida and in California, and 

 asked the proprietoi-s if they had any bees 

 there. 



" None whatever." 



" Are there not some in your locality ? " 



" Not that we know of." 



And yet the significant fact was they 

 were securing good crops of fruit. We 

 have generally told these people that th^re 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



were more bees in their localities than they 

 supposed, and have never y 't failed to find 

 bees on the blossoms in orchards where it 

 was claimed there were no bees. These bees 

 were probably wild, or in the hands of 

 some person unknown to the owners of the 

 grove, and yet the number was sufficient to 

 do the work because the yields were good. 



As nearly as we can estimate, one or two 

 colonies could, in some localities, some sea- 

 sons, take care of a hundred acres of citrus 

 groves. Of course it would be advisable 

 to have many more. 



If we are wrong in our estimate of the 

 number of bees required in citrus groves, 

 it is important that we be corrected as 

 speedily as possible in the interest of more 

 and better fruit. The question of how 

 many bees are needed in fruit orchards is 

 being agitated not a little. We should be 

 glad to get expressions from our friends — 

 particularly from Prof. Baldwin, who has 

 given the matter not a little study. 



Later. — Since writing the foregoing the 

 following has come to hand: 



Lack of Pollination in Orange-groves 



The following clipping from the Hemet 

 News, Hemet, California, was sent in by a 

 correspondent. As we believe it statfis an 

 absolute truth we are glad to place t before 

 our readers. 



BEES IN ORANGE-GROVES. 



Otto Lowentrout, deputy county clerk and 

 long-time orange-grower, says in the Elver- 

 side Press: 



"I believe that one of the chief causes 

 why many of the Riverside orange-groves 

 have gone back is because we no longer 

 have bees here. It will be remembered, " he 

 said, "that when it was found necessary to 

 prop the heavily laden orange-trees all thru 

 the valley, bees were kept at many points 

 thru the city. Then an ordinance against 

 beekeeping in the city was passed, and orch- 

 ardists who had kept bees as a profitable 

 side line sold their apiaries. We have been 

 told that the orange-blossoms are self -pollen- 

 izing; but until there is actual proof of this 

 fact it would seem the part of wisdom to 

 keep the bees inside the city. I do not be- 

 lieve that all orange blossoms pollenize 

 themselves, and I feel sure that an investi- 

 gation would show that our decreased orange 

 crops are due in no small measure to the 

 fact that bees no longer draw their honey 

 store from our orange blossoms. ' ' 



While we have said before that orange- 

 groves do not need as many bees per acre 

 as apple-orchards in the North, yet when 

 there are no bees present it is very plain 

 why the yield per acre drops down as stated 

 in this clipping. 



