1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



307 



bloom. There had been for some days a 

 very good flow of nectar— 6, 8, 9, 12, and 

 one day it ran up to 15 pounds gain, the 

 greatest of the season. It was one of those 

 soft balmy days, the temperature just right 

 for comfort, the wind south, the sky a little 

 hazy, the outlines of the distant mountains 

 indistinct. The conditions seemed nearly 

 perfect for the flow of honey or nectar. 

 During the night that followed there was a 

 change. The next day the wind was north; 

 the sky clear and blue; the air more bracing 

 than the previous day, although not cold; 

 the outlines of the mountains east and west 

 were sharp and clear; the bees could fly 

 from morning till night. Surely the bees 

 ought to gather a large amount on such a 

 beautiful day. Imagine my surprise to find 

 that night they had gathered only three 

 pounds. What made the difference? There 

 were just as many flowers, the same bees. 

 The instincts of the bees had not changed, 

 nor was there anything to prevent the bees 

 gathering nectar but the lack of it, so far 

 as I could see. 



A very wet season is generally considered 

 very unfavorable for a good yield of honey; 

 and yet the two wettest seasons I have 

 known in the past fifty years both gave 

 most excellent crops of honey, much above 

 the average. 



I have found it a rule that honey is more 

 plentiful when the wind is south than when 

 in the north. I live between two mountain 

 ranges, and we have very little west wind. 

 In a season when there is a large flow of 

 nectar we may get better results with north 

 wind than with the south wind in seasons of 

 scarcity. I was told, when I began keep- 

 ing bees, that showery weather is favorable 

 to honey-gathering; and if we watch the 

 bees come in just before a shower we may 

 come to that conclusion ourselves. But if 

 we stop to think we may remember that as 

 many bees as would ordinarily come in in 

 one or two hours rush to their hives in per- 

 haps ten minutes or less. One hive on scales 

 on such a day will show no increase over 

 others ; and if the shower is a thunder-show- 

 er, the following day is quite sure to show 

 a decrease in the amount gathered. 



Not only do thunder-storms appear to be 

 deleterious to the flow of nectar, but often 

 almost fatal to securing a good crop of hon- 

 ey. My attention was called to this some 

 years ago during clover bloom. The season 

 was rather late; but early in July the fields 

 were white with clover, and bees were stor- 

 ing honey rapidly. One day I went to one of 

 my outyards when I found the bees idle, 

 nothing doing. Indeed, I have sometimes 

 thought that, had a fire passed over the 

 range of this yard of bees, the fiow of nec- 

 tar could hardly have been more quickly or 

 completely cut off. I found, on looking it 

 up, that a severe thunder-storm had passed 

 over the range from which this yard of bees 

 gathered their stores, two or three days 

 previous to my visit. I noticed another 

 thing quite as surprising— that my other 

 yards of bees gathered little honey after 



this time, although they seemed to work 

 more than the one in the immediate track of 

 the storm. Was it possible that a heavy 

 thunder-shower would not only affect the 

 flow of nectar in its own track, but also 

 some distance from it? It certainly looked 

 that way. My attention was called to this 

 subject a few years later when I noticed a 

 great decrease on one day below the previ- 

 ous day, without any apparent reason for it; 

 but on looking over a daily paper it report- 

 ed an unusually severe electric storm as 

 passing some thirty miles to the north of 

 where I live, on the fi.rst of the days men- 

 tioned. 



The flow of honey the past season was one 

 of unusual interest from a scientific stand- 

 point. There was a very good flow from 

 clover for about three weeks, when it dried 

 off and basswood bloom came in. As often 

 happens, the basswood gave little nectar at 

 first ; but after a few days it began to yield 

 fairly well, at first slowly, soon increasing 

 to nine pounds in one day from hive on 

 scales. "Now," I said to myself, "we shall 

 at last get a fine crop of basswood honey, 

 which we have not secured for several 

 years ; ' ' but, alas for human expectations ! 

 The day following a yield of nine pounds, 

 there was a gain of only five pounds, and 

 the next of only two ; and then a loss, the 

 colony on scales not even gathering enough 

 to live on, although very strong in numbers, 

 and basswood at its best so far as amount 

 of bloom goes, and the weather such that 

 bees could fly most of the time. 



What could be the cause of such a com- 

 plete failure from basswood, for the yield 

 after this was very light, although the 

 bloom lasted for many days ? 



After former experiences I accounted for 

 it in this way : On the day of the largest 

 yield there was a severe electric storm a 

 few miles to the northwest from here, doing 

 much damage. This appears to have cut 

 down the yield here nearly a half the next 

 day, when, near night, we had a storm 

 where my yard was located, when on the 

 following day there was another reduction. 

 In fact, this same showery weather contin- 

 ued for several days, although bees could 

 fly most of the time the flowers refused to 

 yield their nectar. 



Thunder-storms do not appear at all times 

 to be equally injurious, and at times the 

 flowers will in two or three days resume 

 their normal condition after a storm, while 

 at other times they seem to lose their power 

 or disposition to furnish nectar for the rest 

 of the season. 



I should not like to say that thunder- 

 storms are the cause of the decreased flow. 

 It may be that the conditions favorable to 

 the development of storms may be unfavor- 

 able to the production of honey, although 

 the decrease of honey occurs after the 

 storm rather than the same day. 



Where a thunder-storm occurs with a 

 heavy rainfall, followed by a north wind 

 and a lower temperature, there is almost 

 sure to be a decrease in the honey-flow. 



