Al>KIL, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



231 



Tower, ill Porto Rico Circular 13, calls at- 

 tention to the value of the common honey- 

 bee to coffee-growers in cross-pollinating 

 coffee, especially in seasons when there is 

 considerable rain at blossoming time. 

 Pollination of Buckwheat. 



In Farmers' Bulletin 1062, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Clyde E. Leighty, 

 Agronomist in Charge of Eastern Wheat In- 

 vestigations, has the following to say on the 

 pollination of buckwheat: 



Commercial beekeeping in buckwheat-growing 

 sections is advisable, as bees can make use of the 

 flowers produced and may in turn be of use in fer- 

 tilizing the flowers. Many buckwheat-growers, in 

 fact, believe that the weight per bushel of the seed 

 is heavier where the crop has been worked largely 

 by the bees. 



Pollination of Alsike Clover. 



It has long been recognized that the hon- 

 eybee is the most important agent in the 

 fertilization of alsike clover, ^though actual 

 figures showing their value to the grower of 

 alsike clover seed are by no means plenti- 

 ful. 



Dr. Ernest Kohn made some observations 

 on this subject in the alsike clover seed- 

 producing district of northwestern Ohio in 

 1919, which were recorded in this journal in 

 April, 1920, as follows: 



I have made a complete survey of the township 

 and got all the information from threshers and 

 other sources, concerning about 80 square miles, 

 giving the location of bees, with number of colonies, 

 and the location of alsike clover fields with acreage 

 and yields. 



The accompanying map shows in circles the loca- 



tion of bees, with the number of colonies. The nu- 

 merator of the fractions represents the numl)er of 

 acres of alsike, and the denominator denotes the 

 number of bushels threshed. The yield was not 

 heavy at any place, as drought shortened the nec- 

 tar flow at least three weeks. It w^ill be noticed, 

 however, that near a large number of colonies the 

 yield is three to four bushels per acre, while two 

 miles or more from bees the yield is not more than 

 one bushel per acre. * * * The farmers near 

 the bees received more cash per acre from the seed 

 than they did from any other crop produced, and 

 at the same time they were storing fertility in 

 their soil. 



No doubt the honeybee is responsible for 

 most of the alsike clover seed produced in 

 ■ this country; for, as Dr. Kohn explains else- 

 where in this article, the fields of alsike clo- 

 ver more than two miles from bees were not 

 worth threshing. 



Pollination of Red Clover. 

 Red clover, which is known to be practic- 

 ally self-sterile making it necessary that 

 pollen come from a separate plant in order 

 to effect fertilization, was long -thought to 

 be pollinated by bumblebees only, but bee- 

 keepers have for years noted some evidence 

 that the honeybee is an important agent in 

 the pollination of this plant. Practically 

 every year I have found the bees working 

 freely on red clover blossoms in the vicinity 

 of my apiaries in Indiana not only on the 

 second crop but on the first crop as well. 

 When the weather was dry and otherwise 

 favorable for nectar-secretion I have seen 

 fully as many honeybees working on the 

 first croj) of red clover during a heavy honey 

 flow as on white clover and alsike clover. 



The circl 



show the location of the colonies. The iniineratdi-s of the frar-tions represent the number of 

 acres of alsike and the denominators the number of bushels threshed. 



