760 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



CecbMbeb, ld2l 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



contains thousands of these tiny pollen 

 grains, which, under the microscope, show a 

 particular shape for every variety of plant. 

 This fact sometimes furnishes useful in- 

 formation in the analysis of honey. The 

 color of pollen also varies much, but -yellow 

 seems to be the most common. Once I saw 

 even black pollen — black as ink — which 

 contrasted singularly with the snowy white 

 of the new comb in which it was found. 



Some pollen is quite dry; but generally it 

 is more or less moist, and in some cases even 

 quite sticky. In a park in Buenos Aires I 

 once had a chance to observe a typical ease 

 of sticky pollen. A tree of the hot northern 

 forest regions, of the variety CJiorisia iii- 

 signis, was just in bloom, and visited by a 

 few bees. The blossoms were very numer- 

 ous, white, and large, resembling the garden 

 lily. On account of the unusual stickiness, 

 a bee after visiting such a blossom re- 

 mained suspended in the air at the same 

 spot, about two inches from the flower, con- 

 stantly rubbing its legs as it gathered its 

 baskets full of yellow pollen. The bee re- 

 mained in this attitude about half a minute, 

 which at first raised the question whether it 

 was not a syrphus fly; but being only about 

 three feet from my eyes, I could convince 

 myself that it was really a bee. 



In some parts of Europe the hazel, a wind- 

 fertilized plant, furnishes the bees with the 

 earliest pollen in spring. This pollen is very 

 dry, containing only about 5 per cent of 

 water. The albuminous substances amount 

 to only 30 per cent, while about 60 per cent 

 is composed of carbo-hydrates (among wliich 

 are starch, 5 per cent, and cane sugar, 15 

 per cent). There are also resinous sub- 

 stances, fat, pigments, ash, and other in- 

 digestible matter, such as the shell of the 

 pollen-grain. 



The pollen of the common pine is much 

 less valuable, with only 16 per cent of al- 

 bumen, while the indigestible shell repre- 

 sents 21 per cent. As is seen from this, the 

 pollen-grain is provided with a shell, and it 

 is only after being crushed by the mandibles 

 and by the action of the chylus-stomaeh 

 that the nitrogenous constituent is released. 



Many beekeepers have a mistaken idea 

 that the white jelly with which the larvae 

 are fed is only a mixture of pollen, honey, 

 and water. In reality this jelly, or at least 

 the greater part of it, is a direct product of 

 secretion by certain organs of the nurse 

 bees, and can, therefore, be compared to 

 the milk of mammals. The laying queen 

 also requires for her function a compara- 

 tively great quantity of albuminous food 

 (not found in honey), so there is no doubt 

 that at least a part of the food given her 

 by the bees is prepared jelly — bee-milk. 



Very interesting investigations along this 

 line were made by the late Dr. A. von 



Planta, a scientist accustomed in his re- 

 searches to close observation and painstak- 

 ing care. In fact, he was not only guided 

 by the scientific interest, but just as much 

 also by his love for the little busy worker; 

 for during 20 years, till his death, he had 

 been vice-president of the Swiss Beekeepers' 

 Association. He found that some pollen is 

 only added to the jelly (chyle) given to 

 drone-larvae from the fourth day; while 

 from the fourth day, for the worker-larvae, 

 the jelly is weakened by the addition of a 

 little more honey, but no pollen. The royal 

 jelly, on the contrary, is of the same com- 

 position for the whole period — pure predi- 

 gested jelly (chyle). 



The dry substance of royal jelly consists 

 of 45 per cent albumen, 14 per cent fat, and 

 20 per cent sugar. 



A normal queen-cell usually requires 

 about 14 times more dry substance than a 

 drone-cell, and about 90 times more than is 

 given the worker-larva. 



The amount of liquid jelly required for 

 the different cells has been found to be: 

 queen-cell, 0.2 gram; drone-cell, 0.01 gram; 

 worker-cell, 0.002 gram. 



On the average the royal jelly contains 69 

 per cent water and 31 per cent dry sub- 

 stance. Drone and worker jelly contains 

 72 per cent of water and 28 per cent of dry 

 substance. Ernest Tschudin. 



Buenos Aires, Argentine. 



30^ca= 



COLLEGES AID BEEKEEPERS 



State Agricultural Colleges Ready to Help Beekeep- 

 ers by Giving Practical Instruction 



Many beekeepers, it seems, either do not 

 know of or do not appreciate the service 

 available thru the state agricultural col- 

 leges. 



It was only recently that I learned from 

 our gardener (with whom I was talking 

 over a bee problem that was puzzling me) 

 of the New York State School of Agricul- 

 ture, located about 15 miles from here on 

 Long Island, at Farmingdale. I called the 

 school on the telephone to inquire if they 

 had a department of apiculture. They re- 

 plied in the affirmative and said they would 

 gladly give me information regarding bees 

 any week day between the hours of eight 

 a- m. and four p. m. 



Whether or not other state agricultural 

 schools offer the same service I cannot say; 

 but if they do, it should be known to every- 

 one interested in bees, and especially to be- 

 ginners, to whom a little practical instruc- 

 tion from one thoroly versed in apicul- 

 ture would give confidence in handling their 

 bees. Magdalen Sproull. 



Freeport, L. I., N- Y. 



