226 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1922 



of hone3^ A study of their activities will 

 soon show how much ventilation and ripen- 

 ing are taking place. During honey flows 

 these two processes go hand in hand, and 

 in the evenings, this evaporation practice, 

 indicated by the roar of the bees, is an ex- 

 cellent indication, to one who is familiar 

 with this phenomenon, of the amount of sur- 

 plus stored during the day. Bees fanning 

 in very hot weather, and when there is usu- 

 ally no honey flow, should never be molested. 

 A normal colony can maintain a cooler tem- 

 perature within than that which exists with- 

 out the hive, but if either smoked or 

 opened during such a hot spell, it may never 

 be able to regain the necessary colony tem- 

 perature which prevents the burr and brace 

 combs in the upper story from melting. 

 Melt-downs originate in just this manner. 

 The phenomenon of (15) clustering outside 

 the hive may be due to excessive heat, to a 

 preponderance of honey gatherers at a time 

 when there is no nectar secretion, or to a 

 honey-bound condition within the colony. 

 Occasionally upon the return of a swarm, all 

 or a part may cluster without. The action 

 of (16) robbers is, we are sure, understood 

 by all of us and this propensity of the bee 

 need hardly be mentioned. Prevention! 

 Keep everything covered, contract entrances 

 of weak colonies, use a robber tent, or do 

 anything that spells prevention. Above all, 

 never smoke a colony that is being robbed. 

 By so doing, the guards become disorganized 

 and the effect of the smoke upon the robbers 

 is negligible. 



In the fall of the year (17) propolizing 

 bees may be confused with robbers. Crev- 

 ices between supers, and between super and 

 tops are often propolized, and the action of 

 bees during this kind of work often resem- 



bles robbers nosing about for an opening. 

 (18) Crumbs of wax strewn about the hive 

 entrance is usually a sign of wholesale rob- 

 bing. Open up the hive and look for scales 

 of American foul brood. If none are found 

 an expression of relief is surely in order. 

 Otherwise, constant inspection must be re- 

 sorted to throughout the season. Sometimes 

 bits of wax (cappmgs) are found about the 

 entrance. • Their presence may mean noth- 

 ing more than the consumption of stores 

 from within, as the removal of stores re- 

 mote from the cluster to cells surrounding 

 the winter nest is of common occurrence 

 during the inactive season. 



Bees affected with (19) paralysis are eas- 

 ily distinguishable about the entrance, and 

 all of us are hoping that the Bureau of 

 Entomology at Washington will soon tell 

 us what we have when we talk about paraly- 

 sis. Occasionally we see bees carrying (20) 

 out dead larvae or pupae; this act may be 

 caused by acute starvation, chilling of the 

 outer part of brood-nest, or by the brood 

 having become overheated. 



The above observations are helpful in col- 

 ony diagnosis and they can be made doubly 

 advantageous if they be used from a com- 

 j)arative standpoint. 



Lastly, after the day's manipulations in 

 the apiary have been concluded, we make 

 it a point to examine carefully the en- 

 trances of every colony that has been han- 

 dled. (If we feel that there is any likeli- 

 hood that queens may be balled, this ob- 

 servation is made during the day.) 



Our purpose in doing thjs is to, observe 

 whether or not the colonies are queen-right, 

 and also to notice how mischievous robbers 

 have become. 



Big Sur, Calif. 



THE relation 

 of the hon- 

 eybee to the 

 production of de- 

 ciduous fruit is 

 a question that 

 interests both 

 the beekeeper 

 and the fruit- 

 grower. In the 

 early days of horticulture nearly every farm 

 kept a few bees as a sideline, but of late 

 years this practice has almost entirely dis- 

 appeared. The fruit farm with a number of 

 colonies of bees is now the exception rather 

 than the rule. Sporadic attempts have been 

 made from time to time to interest orchard- 

 ists in general in keeping bees, but almost 

 invariably they have resulted in failure. 

 The orchardist was a fruit-grower and not 

 a beekeeper; hence he soon lost interest 

 when he began to lose SAvarms and his colo- 

 nies became diseased. Steadily diminishitig 

 crops in manj^ of the highly specialized fruit 



WONDER WORK OF BEES 



They Make Millions for the Fruit 

 Growers, ^ees that Returned to the 

 Orchardist O'ver $ioo per Colony 



By A. H. Hendrickson 



College of Agriculture, University of California 



sections have 

 caused a wide- 

 spread interest 

 in anything that 

 will bring up the 

 yield. Attention 

 has been re-di- 

 rected to the 

 humble bee as 

 t h e conecting 

 link between trees and fruit. 



Actual experiments with honeybees in or- 

 chards were carried on over 30 years ago. 

 Professor A. J. Cook, who was our State 

 Commissioner of Horticulture for several 

 years, while stationed at the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College, proved the value of bees in 

 ajyile orchards. He gave substantial figures 

 to back his claims. In 1893, at a 'California 

 state fruit-growers' convention, several ob- 

 servers reported on the value of bees in 

 their respective districts. As early as 1894 

 a government report showed that the cherry 

 crop in a large orchard near Vacaville was 



