GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1917 



March. 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



201 



ONE thing that the great gi-eenhouse 

 experiment has definitely established 

 as a fact, beyond all doubt, is the 

 value of a substitute for pollen in stimulat- 

 ing brood-rearing. Some good authorities 

 have seriously questioned whether a pollen 

 substitute, altho the bees worked on it, was 



CAN THI 



fn oftk 

 Substitute in 



'"S of B; 



Basket at each end of the building holdii 

 feeder and a comb of honey. 



of any real advantage. This 

 has been a difficult matter 

 to prove, for so frequently 

 there are a few cells of 

 natural pollen in the combs 

 that are unnoticed, or else 

 the bees have access to 

 fresh pollen from obscure 

 early blossoms in the field. 

 As explained in the last issue, the one c 1 

 in the large greenhouse was destitute of non' 

 The combs were looked over again and as 

 but no trace of it could be found. There 

 nothing at all except syrup and sealed honp; 

 The queen had stopped laying, and was ereatl 

 reduced in size. Rye flour was thoroly dusts 

 over the bees and combs. Altho the bees di 

 not pack this into the cells (probably beeau; 

 not enough of it was given beyond the actua 

 Jieeds), the queen almost immediately begai 

 laying. This brood developed normally, was sea 

 ed over, and afterward hatched. Since ther 

 \yas nothing but lettuce in the greenhouse at th 

 time, there was no possible way in wliieh the bee 

 could have secured nitrogenous food except b' 

 means of this rye flour. 



After the brood that had been started froi 

 feeding the rye flour had been sealed over, 

 much of it at least, two combs of natural poUei 

 taken from another colony outside the buildiii| 

 were provided. The bees then, being assured a 

 a good supply, began feeding the queen in earnest 

 and as a result in about two weeks' time she hat 

 sealed brood in three combs and had started lay 



' ^ \ -^ \ V ^ 



BE DONE? 



alue of a 'Pollen 

 lulating the '^ar- 

 . Chapter III 



Editors 



ing in a third one, skip- 

 ping the comb next to the 

 three combs of worker 

 brood. 



On January 31, with 

 the idea of keeping the 

 worker brood compact, in 

 order that the colony might 

 build up as strong as pos- 

 sible, the drone comb and the outside comb of 

 young unsealed brood were interchanged so that 

 the drone comb would be just outside the worker 

 brood. 



On February 6 the queen again extended the 

 brood-nest, jumping past the drone comb, and 

 began laying in another worker comb next to 

 it. The pollen in the two combs was nearly ex- 

 hausted ; therefore another comb of pollen was in- 

 serted at the side of the hive. We are expecting 

 to get word almost any day that the queen has 

 started laying drwie eggs in the drone comb; but 

 if she does not, we have made arrangements for 

 getting combs of sealed drone brood from the 

 South, so that there will be drones in time for the 

 young queens that will be flying probably in April. 

 A feeder containing syrup and a comb of honey 

 were hung at each end of the building, nearly 

 300 feet away from the bees. On January 30 

 the greenhouse apiarian wrote as follows: 



As I stood for a time watching them, altho the day was 

 somewhat cloudy, the bees would come from the hive, and, 

 without an instant's hesitation, turn, some going to the east 

 and some to the west, and, with a speed too great for my 

 eyes to follow, start for the feed. Those returning made no 



stop, but went directly into the hive. Ton see. 

 when they come out of the hive, below them liee a 

 field, practically an acre, of vegetation, and there is 

 a genial spring atmosphere. Why thouldnt Ihey fly » 



Each day cucumber seeds are being sown. 

 The young plants are transplanted into pots 

 and, later, set in the large building. 



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 ^'ill,///// 



