158 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



mosquitu-bai- we counted the blossoms on 

 the limb and found that there were just 876. 



The branch was left covered until all of 

 the blossoms had fallen. All the other 

 branches on the tree, as might be expected 

 in case of a Northern Spy tree, bore a good 

 crop. When we removed the mosquito-bar 

 we counted the apples on this one branch, 

 but it did not take as long as it did to count 

 the blossoms, for there were just five. Lat- 

 er on, three of these fell off before they 

 became ripe. From the 876 blossoms, there- 

 fore, we secured but two good apples. 



The wind plays a part in distributing the 

 pollen and fertilizing the blossoms, and no 

 doubt the circulation of air within the bag 

 was not quite as brisk as that outside, and 

 yet grains of pollen are almost microscopic 

 in size; and if the wind had a very impor- 

 tant part in the pollenization of blossoms it 

 surely seems more than five of these should 

 have set fruit, for the open-mesh mosquito- 

 bar would not amount to much of an ob- 

 struction to the passage of the pollen, espe- 



cially since the tree in question was on the 

 southwest corner of the orchard, and the 

 covered branch on the south side of the 

 tree. 



It seems to us that no one should question 

 the value of bees and other insects in pol- 

 lenizing fruit-blossoms. Since there are 

 usually ten or more bees to one other kind 

 of insect, may we not claim that the bees 

 are largely resiDonsible for the distribution 

 of the pollen ? 



If there are enough bees in the locality', 

 each orchard need not necessarily have 

 bees; and yet, if the weather happens to be 

 cold during the blossoming period, the bees 

 will not go as far from their hive as usual, 

 and consequently the iDollenization is not 

 complete by any means. The largest fruit- 

 growers are well aware of this, as evidenced 

 by the determined effort on their part to 

 get the bees. No beekeeper need pay rent 

 for a location if there are progressive or- 

 chardists in his vicinity who know the value 

 of the bees. 



WINTERING OVER EMPTY COMBS 



BY T. RAYMENT 



This practice is not at all uncommon in 

 Australia, where some of the largest hon- 

 ey-producers consider that the proper place 

 for combs at all times of the year is on the 

 hives. Of course, one is constrained to 

 admit that the rigorous winters of the 

 northern states of America are not encoun- 

 tered in the great sunny commonwealth, 

 tho the climatic changes experienced in 

 Australia are probably just as detrimental 

 to life — that of insects in particular. The 

 thin-blooded creatures of the tropics pain- 

 fully endure a degree of cold that would 

 be quite unnoticed by the inhabitants of the 

 colder zones. 



In those seasons when a severe winter 

 threatens, it is no great stunt to forecast 

 such a contingency in North Gippsland, 

 Victoria. It is better to remove all surplus 

 honeycombs from the hive. This procedure 

 is not primarily to reduce the size of the 

 hive, but to obviate any subsequent food 

 trouble due to the honey absorbing exces- 

 sive moisture from the atmosphere. Gener- 

 ally, however, it is quite safe to place a 

 body of empty combs under a well-stored 

 brood-nest. 



The writer has in mind a certain autumn 

 when the wax-moths were exceptionally 

 troublesome; and to minimize labor two 

 supers of dry combs were placed under 

 each brood-nest, without any apparent det- 



riment to the welfare of the bees. To illus- 

 trate the conditions that exist in hives so 

 ti-eated, let us take, for analogy, an ordi- 

 nary living-room. As the temperature out- 

 side drops down with the advance of eve- 

 ning, if we successively rise to higher levels 



Super larger than the brood-chamber, and with 

 combs crosswise of those below. 



