June, lOl' 



GLEANINGS IN B K E IT L T U K E 



453 



M 



C 



ur 



AY is in- 

 deed t li e 

 month of 

 apple - blossom. 

 Commencing in 

 April in the 

 South, it lasts 

 till June in the 

 far North. What 



could be more fitting than to give a picture 

 of the beauty of blooming apple-trees in 

 colors on the cover page of Gleanings for 

 May? How true to nature, with the green 

 grass and shadows below, the blue sky 

 above, and the white and pink blooming 

 trees between ! I thought 1 could see two 

 birds in the front tree, and it required no 

 great stretch of imagination to hear the 

 merr}' hum of the bees. 



* * * 



One of the neatest tools we have found 

 recently is an electric wire-imbedder. It 

 puts the wire right down in the center of 

 the foundation and covers it with wax so 

 you can hardly tell from Avhich side it was 

 imbedded. There may be others as good as 

 this one put out by the Dadants, but I 

 have not seen it. 



* * * 



I was much interc.led in E. T. Atwater's 

 " Shaken-swarm plan perfected," as given 

 on page 352, placing the brood-chamber over 

 an empty one to prevent absconding. If 

 it will work as well in other sections and in 

 other hands it will remove one of the serious 

 objections to the shaking plan of manage- 

 ment. 



* «■ * 



At how low a temperature can combs be 

 handled without injury to unsealed brood? 

 Some claim it injures a colony even lo lift 

 one corner of the packing in early April. 

 I find some beekeepers object to an inspec- 

 tor opening their hives unless the tempera- 

 ture is near 70°. It seems to me this is be- 

 ing over particular. 



* * ■* 



The article by Le'>vis P. Tanton, page 335. 

 May, on destructive spraying, is open to 

 criticism. While I agree with him that too 

 early spraying might kill the pollen grains 

 or the delicate organs of flowers, .yet if 

 delayed until the calyx closes and turns 

 down it seems too late, as it is dilTicult at 

 this stage to spray so as to reach the bass 

 of the calyx where the larva of the codling 

 moth is supposed to swallow its fatal dose 

 of poison. I believe also that the calyx 

 and base or flower does not grow after the 

 fruit has become fertile. When fertiliza- 

 tion is completed the function or use of the 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



1 



lU 



calyx is at an 



encl, and it slow- 

 ly dries up. We 

 find the calyx of 

 a mature apple 

 scarcely 1 a rger 

 than when it 

 held the pistil 

 and stamens in 

 in its bosom. It is only the ovary of an 

 ap]"»le blossom that swells and develops into 

 a fruit. 



I see our friend E. G. Baldwin is still 

 of the opinion (page 292, April) there is 

 nothing more wholesome for a newly in- 

 troduced queen than a good " licking." It 

 reminds us of a man whose wife pounded 

 him. His friends remonstrated; but he 

 said, " Let her alone, for it amuses her, and 

 doesn't hurt me." So this " licking " of 

 the queen amuses the workers, and doesn't 

 hurt the queen ; indeed, it jjroves a most 

 admirable way of introducing a stranger. 

 * * * 



That article on bees and fruit on page 

 332, May, by E. R. Root, reminds us that 

 more and more the value of bees in the 

 production of fruit is appreciated. We are 

 having more and more calls for bees for 

 this purpose. But let us be careful not to 

 assert that fruit can not be produced with- 

 out the agency of insects. There appears 

 to be a great variation in the ability of fruit- 

 trees to fertilize their own flowers. Some 

 seem to require insects on their blossoms, 

 while others require pollen to be brought 

 from some other variety. 



WHY THEY DIED. 



The best time to study the wintering 

 problem is in the spring. Every colony 

 that has died should be examined with great 

 care and the cause ascertained, every comb 

 being removed to make sure of the cause of 

 the trouble. Of 13 colonies placed in the 

 cellar, one was found dead Avhen taken out 

 this spring. On examining the combs they 

 were found bare of honey. The cause and 

 remedy for such is apparent. Of some 180 

 in our home yard wintered out of doors on 

 their summer stands one was found queen- 

 less and dead. Another had almost en- 

 tirely new white combs; and the bees, be- 

 ing unable to keep up the temperature, 

 had dysentery and died. Another had made 

 the winter nest at one side of the brood- 

 chamber, and starved with an abundance of 

 honey on the other side. Still another had 

 changed its queen in late summer, and had 

 too few bees to withstand the long winter. 



