AUGUST 15, 1916 



put them in the spaces made ready to re- 

 ceive them in cell-building colony No. 1. 

 This puts the cells near the center of the 

 hive, and along the center of the combs as 

 they should be. 



The board described above is perfection 

 in the way of a queen-cell frame, having no 

 objectionable features whatever. Last sum- 

 mer I discovered the plan of waxing the 

 edge of the cell-boai'ds and cell-blocks as a 

 means of fastening them together, making a 

 cheaper and more satisfactory fastening 



than any T have ever used. There is no 

 danger whatever of cells coming loose if 

 ordinary care is taken in putting them on, 

 especially if the board is allowed to lie in 

 the sun for five minutes just before. A 

 cell-frame of this kind eliminates the objec- 

 tionable features cf having comb built in it. 

 or having bees cluster in it in a way that 

 makes it awkward for the queen-breeder to 

 handle the celLs and frame to the best ad- 

 vantage. 



Rcswell, N. ]\I. 



WHITE -CLOVER POLLEN 



BY JOHN H. LOVELL 



FOinr OF THE POLLEN GRAINS. 



Tlie pollen grains, when examined under 

 a high magnifying power, are shown to be 

 oblong, cylindrical, rounded at each end, 

 with three longitudinal slits or grooves on 

 the sides, and the bands or spaces between 

 the slits finely roughened with many shallow 

 pits or depressions. A knowledge of the 

 form of the pollen of white clover is very 

 essential in order that it may be recognized 

 with certainty when taken from the pollen- 

 baskets of bees or from the hives; otherwise 

 expressions of opinion become largely if not 

 wholly guesswork. The color of the pollen 

 in the anthers is yellow. 



THE COLLECTION OP WHITE-CLOVER POLLEN 

 ST BEES. 



There are five petals. The upper petal, 

 called the standard, is much the largest; the 

 two lower partly cohere to form a sac called 

 from its forrn a carina, or keel; the two 

 lateral petals, called the alae or wings, are 

 attached to the keel, and a-et as levers to 

 depress it. The stamens and pistil are com- 

 pletely enclosed in the keel, and ordinarily 

 are not visible. A bee cannot collect pollen 

 from white clover as it does from a ro.se. 

 because there is none in sight, and it is not 

 directly accessible. Bees never visit the 

 flowers for the purpose of gathering pollen 

 only, and in all mj' observations I have 

 never seen a bee trying to obtain the pollen. 



There are ten anthers, each of which pro- 

 duces a small amount of pollen ; but it is 

 yellow, not brown, as stated by Dr. Miller. 

 The filaments Cstems of the stamens) unite 

 to form a tube, at the bottom of which the 

 nectar is secreted. Tlie superior stamen is, 

 however, free, leaving two small openings 

 at the base of tfie staminal tube thru which 

 a bee may insert its tongue to obtain the 

 nectar. It is manifest at a glance that the 

 individual florets of a white-clover flower- 



cluster are far too small to hold a honeybee. 

 The bee clings with its legs to several flow- 

 ers, and only its head rests on the flower 

 from which it is sucking nectar, "\\nien a 

 bee pushes its head beneath the standard, 

 the keel and wings are forced downward, 

 the anthers and stigma emerge, and, if the 

 former have opened, a little pollen is depos- 

 ited on the under or inner side of the head. 

 In a bee before me the whole under side of 

 its head is covered with a laj^er of moi=t 

 pollen. If a pointed leadpeneil is thrust 

 into a mature flower, when it is withdrawn 

 a little mass of pollen will be found on the 

 under side. As soon as the bee moves to 

 another flower, the elastic petals cause the 

 anthers to return again within the keel. 

 The collection of pollen is, therefore, an 

 incidental result over which the bee has no 

 control. While it is visiting white-clover 

 flowers, more or less pollen is necessarily 

 rubbed on the under side of the head; but a 

 part of it is again rubbed off on the stigmas 

 of the flowers subsequently visited, effecting 

 cro-ss-poUination, for the stigma stands 

 slightly in advance of the anthers. A part 

 of this pollen may be also transferred to the 

 pollen-baskets, where it appears as little 

 brown balls varying in size from a shot to 

 an almost inappreciable amount. On many 

 bees at Avork on white clover I could see no 

 trace of pollen in the pollen-baskets, neither 

 could I see any pollen on the thighs of 

 many bees coming into the hive. 



Several of these little brown balls were 

 removed from bees captured on the flowers 

 of white clover; the mass was conmiinuted, 

 and portions of it examined with a high 

 magnifying power. The form and structure 

 of the grains, as described abo\e. showed at 

 once that it was white-clover pollen, altho it 

 was slightly modified by the moisture. The 

 little balls of pollen appear brown instead 

 of yellow, tlie color of the pr-llen iu the 



