GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1920 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



gave an insulation to cold that rivals "The 

 Hive with an Overcoat." I turned one of 

 them over and the bees were clustered in 

 the top. In spite of the extreme* coldness 

 of the weather they seemed quite comfort- 

 able, and were even lively enough to resent 

 our visit. This style of hive, as near as I 

 was able to make out, was originated by 

 the Belgians and seemed to serve the pur- 

 pose for these poor people as well as the 

 modern hive serves our purpose. I secured 

 a picture of the owner 's whole fiamily, 

 wooden shoes and all, posing in their apiary 

 (Fig. 3). I couldn't help but wonder if that 

 nice white honey we had been getting at 

 the store came from that kind of a hive. 

 Of course, these old-fashioned hives that I 

 have mentioned are not used by the more 

 modern beekeepers in France, but I never 

 got the chance to find one of the more mod- 

 ern outfits. Donald F. Bell. 

 Camp Verde, Ariz. 



SURPLUS FROM JEWELWEED 



Unusual Yield. Bees Gather Nectar Under Ad- 

 verse Conditions 



At our Minnesota State Fair last fall a 

 number of well-known beekeepers desired to 

 know the name of the flower from which 

 their bees were gathering nectar, when they 

 returned to the hives with their backs white 

 with pollen. From the description given I 

 knew at once that it was the jewelweed, or 

 touch-me-not (Impatiens Mflora), a flower 

 adapted to pollination by bumblebees. 



That season my bees were in a locality 

 in which more jewelweed grew than I had 

 ever seen before in one place. When I saw 

 the young plants growing up I said, ' ' Oh, if 

 jewelweed were only a honey plant!" This 

 plant grows in moist meadows, or along the 

 borders of streams. The pendulous yellow 

 flower spotted with reddish brown forms a 

 conical sac with a strongly inflexed spur, 

 capable of holding considerable nectar. The 

 ripe seed-pods burst when touched and expel 

 the seeds several feet, whence the plant is 

 sometimes called touch-me-not. The anthers 

 and stigma lie on the upper side of the flow- 

 er, and when a bee seeks the nectar it must 

 enter far into the dilated sac and necessarily 

 dust its thorax with the white pollen. Al- 

 tho honeybees nearly disappear from sight 

 they are probably not able to drain all the 

 nectar from the spur, which is about half 

 the length of the sac. 



The jewelweed is in bloom for a long 

 period beginning early in August and 

 continuing to bloom on into the month 

 of September. I have been interested 

 to notice that bees were able to work on 

 this plant when rain or dew rendered it too 

 wet to gather nectar from other plants. Ow- 

 ing to the nodding position of the blossom 



it is impossible for rain to wash the nectar 

 out of the spur, and a bee can enter within 

 the sac and gather the sweet spoil without 

 getting wet. My bees would start out soon 

 after a rain or heavy dew and come home 

 with their loads of honey, when it would 

 have been far too wet for them to visit 

 other plants. 



Later in the season, after the flowers had 

 seen their best days, altho they still yielded 

 some nectar, and the roadsides and waste 

 places were bright with goldenrod, the bees 

 would go out, after a rain or on dewy morn- 

 ings, and bring home their loads of jewel- 

 weed honey; but when the sun had dried 

 the flowers they would turn to the goldenrod 

 ■ — ^not because they liked it better but proba- 

 bly because it yielded nectar more freely 

 than jewelweed. I know that the nectar is 

 very sweet, for I have broken open the spur 

 and robbed it many a time. I do not know 

 the flavor of the honey. But the greater part 

 of my fall honey is from jewelweed, with 

 some admixture from fireweed and goldenrod. 

 Florence Eleanor Lillie. 



Wayzata, Minn. 



BROOD HATCHED IN THE CELLAR 



It is Not Lost by Dysentery for Want of a Cleans- 

 ing Flight 



Dr. Phillips tells us that brood which 

 hatches in the cellar is lost, because young 

 bees must have a cleansing flight; and that 

 if they do not, they will die of dysentery. 

 I cannot agree with him on this point, as I 

 have, on two different occasions, proved to 

 my satisfaction that this cleansing flight is 

 not necessary. 



Three years ago this fall we had an apiary 

 of about 80 colonies that had been drawn 

 on quite heavily in filling late orders, and 

 were but little better than two-frame nuclei 

 with very little feed; but each one contain- 

 ed a choice young queen which we wished to 

 winter over for filling early orders. These 

 were put in the cellar about Dec. 1, and 

 two or three weeks later they were each 

 given a cake of hard candy. This started 

 the queens to laying, and during the latter 

 part of January we observed brood in all 

 stages, and young bees hatching. In the 

 spring, when they were taken from the 

 cellar, they were stronger than they were 

 when put away for winter, and only three 

 or four colonies showed any signs of dysen- 

 tery. 



At another time we dequeened a colony of 

 black bees and gave them a young Italian 

 queen just before putting them in the cel- 

 lar. This hive was plainly marked, with a 

 view of making a note of its condition in 

 the spring, at which time we found that at 

 least half of its bees were Italians. 



Medina, O. Mell Pritchard. 



