THE AMERICAJS BEE JOURNAL. 



471 



rarely appears nearer the root than 

 the seventeenth leaf. Instead of 

 having a long stem to support it, this 

 flower opens close down to the junc- 

 tion of the leaf-stalk with the vine. 

 It has a small globular formation 

 beneath it, which is the eml)ryo of 

 the future squash. If the structure 

 of the blossom is examined, it will be 

 found to differ from the tall, male 

 flower, in having the central cylinder 

 divided at the top into several i)arts. 

 These are what botanists call the 

 pistils, and it is necessary that the 

 tine yellow dust of the male flower 

 should touch iliem, to fertilize them, 

 that seed may he produced and a 

 squash grow. This may be proved by 

 so conlining a blossom that no pollen 

 can gain access-to it, when the blos- 

 som will wilt, and the embryo squash 

 turn yellow and decay. 



When the conditions are most 

 favorable, the flower sends out a 

 fragrance which attracts the bees. 

 Prof. Gray calls this perfume the 

 flowers' advertisement. The bees 

 instinctively read therein that they 

 are welcome to all the exuding nectar 

 they bear away, if they will carry the 

 pollen on their legs and bodies to the 

 pistils. It has been suggested that 

 honey is placed in the flower to at- 

 tract the bees. After a bee has found 

 honey in one flower it will be very 

 likely to examine others of a similar 

 appearance. In the spring, when the 

 blossoms first open, many of the bees, 

 very likely the young bees that have 

 never before seen a flower, will be 

 seen examining the leaves, branches, 

 and even rough wood of the trunk of 

 a tree, until they find just where the 

 coveted treasure is located. After a 

 bee has dived deep into one blossom 

 and tasted the nectar, it knows where 

 to look the next time. It is plain to 

 be seen that flowers were not given 

 their bright colors simply that we 

 might feast our eyes upon their 

 beauty. 



Nature, that most careful econo- 

 mist, not only deals out honey in 

 small doses, but she places it in the 

 most cunning nooks and corners that 

 the bee may be obliged to twist itself 

 into all possible shapes, around and 

 among the stamens, until the pollen 

 is most surely dusted all over its body 

 and legs. Within the flowers of the 

 barberry there is a contrivance by 

 which on the touch of the proboscis 

 of the bee the stamens spring forward 

 suddenly and shower the insect plen- 

 tifully with pollen with which it may 

 fertilize some other barberry blossom. 

 The flower secretes no honey until the 

 pollen is ripe and ready to do its work; 

 then the honey slowly exudes into the 

 nectaries, so that the bees may be 

 kept coming and licking it out, in 

 every hour of the day, and the flow of 

 honey ceases just as soon as the pollen 

 is ripened and gone. Mr. A. I. Root 

 says : " The Catawba is a very desir- 

 able variety of grape, as is also the 

 Delaware ; but the former is very 

 small. Dr. Grant originated the 

 lona, by fertilizing the blossoms of 

 one with the pollen of the other ; but, 

 in his flrst attempt, he failed repeat- 

 edly, because the bees were sure to 

 upset all his experiments by their 



covering the flowers from which he 

 wished to produce the hybrid seed, 

 with lace or something of a similar 

 nature to keep the bees away, he 

 succeeded at once ; and we now have 

 the lona as the result, a grape that is 

 just about half way between the 

 I^ehuvare and GatawOa, having very 

 distinctly the flavor of each." 



It has very frequently been urged 

 that bees injure fruit and grain by 

 taking honey froui the blossoms ; and 

 I believe the. matter was carried so 

 farina town iu Masachusi tts, that 

 an ordinance was passed obliging a 

 bee-keeper to remove liis bees to 

 another locality. After a year or two 

 bad passed, the fruit-growers decided 

 that they would rather have the bees 

 brought back, because so little fruit 

 set on the trees, in proportion to the 

 number of blossoms that appeared. 

 As it was a fruit growing district, it 

 was a matter of considerable impor- 

 tance, and the bees were brought 

 back. Of course with the bees came 

 fruit in abundance, for many kinds 

 of fruit absolutely depend upon the 

 agency of bees to fertilize the flowers, 

 thus enabling theui to produce fruit. 

 It has been stated that unless we 

 have a few hours of sunshine when 

 early cherries are in bloom, we shall 

 have no cherries at all ; and we occa- 

 sionally have a season when cold rain- 

 storms so prevent the bees from get- 

 ting out that not a cherry isproduced. 



While the honey-bee is regai-ded by 

 the best-informed horticulturists as a 

 friend, a strong prejudice has been 

 excited against it by many fruit- 

 growers, and, in some communities, a 

 man who keeps bees is considered as 

 bad a neighbor as one who allows his 

 poultry to despoil the gardens of 

 others. Even the warmest friends of 

 the bee may be heard lameuting its 

 propensity to banquet on their beau- 

 tiful peaches and pears, and choicest 

 grapes and plums. But it should be 

 remembered that the jaws of the bee, 

 being adapted chiefly to the manipu- 

 lation of wax, are too feeble to enable 

 it to readily puncture the skins of 

 even the most delicate grapes. If it 

 were otherwise, whole crops of fruit 

 would be destroyed by bees whenever 

 a period of protracted drouth cut off 

 their supplies of honey. Wasps and 

 hornets, which secrete no wax, being 

 furnished with strong, saw-like jaws, 

 for cutting the woody fibre with 

 which they build their combs, can 

 easily penetrate the skin of the 

 toughest fruits. After the mischief 

 has been begun by other insects, or 

 wherever a crack or a spot of decay 

 is seen, the honey-bee hastens to help 

 itself. In this way they undoubtedly 

 do some mischief; but before war is 

 declared against them, let every fruit- 

 grower inquire if, on the whole, tliey 

 are not more useful than injurious. 

 If the horticulturists who regard the 

 bee as an enemy, could exterminate 

 the race, they would act witli as little 

 wisdom as those who attempt to 

 banish from their inhospitable premi- 

 ses every insectivorous bird, which 

 helps itself to a small part of the 

 abundance it has aided in preserving. 



Rogersville,c$ Mich. 



i*"«jr tho Anierlcuii lli-i- .Journal. 



BiiMliiE Droiie-Comt), etc, 



Jilts. MAHAf-A n. CIIAUDOCK. 



The following letter of inquiry was 

 sent me by the editor of the Ameri- 

 can J5ke .J()iJK>fAL, with the request 

 that I reply to it : 



" I see that Mrs. Ohaddock has 

 been hiving bees in empty hives and 

 getting a 'splendid lot of drone-comb.' 

 Will she please give the particulars V 

 How many frames were given ? \Vliat 

 was the size of the frames? Were 

 the bees admitted to the surplus 

 apartment at the time of hiving? 

 Were the queens old or young ? \Vere 

 — well, anything else she can think 

 of." — W. Z. Hutchinson, Roger.sville, 

 Mich. 



I used Simplicity hives; hived the 

 bees on (i frames, one containing 

 brood, the others empty ; no starters. 

 I shut them in with division-boards, 

 and prt propolized muslin over the 

 empty spaces to keep the bees from 

 going down from the sections. I have 

 no honey-boards. I put on a honey- 

 box that; belongs on the Gallup hives, 

 because the section-cases that I have 

 for the Simplicity hive do not tier up. 

 This honey-box holds from 33J^ to 38 

 pounds of honey when fllled. It was 

 fllled with foundation in two-pound 

 sections. On top of this honey-box I 

 put the section-case that had teen on 

 the colony before it swarmed. It was 

 half full of honey. I hived (> swarms 

 in this way, the only difl:'erence being 

 that some of the top-cases were fuller 

 of honey than others. 



One of the queens was one year old, 

 two of them were two years old, and 

 the other three were three years old. 

 The bees would not stay in the hive, 

 but clustered all the time on the out- 

 side. Some of them worked, how- 

 ever, for they carried in honey very 

 fast. After they had been hived two 

 or three days, I examined them. The 

 one-year-old queen had all worker- 

 comb ; the two-year olds had about 

 half worker-coml), and the three- year- 

 olds had all drone-comb. I took out 

 the division-boards, put another Sim- 

 plicity hive vvith 10 empty frames on 

 top of the brood-nest, the sections on 

 top, and they all went to work. 



Of course I know that as soon as I 

 took out tlie division boards and gave 

 them the whole Simplicity hive for a 

 brood-nest, and then doubled the 

 capacity of that, that there was no 

 " Hutchinson " about it any more. 

 It was Chaddock's idea to give them 

 all the room she could Hnd, and let 

 them build drone-comb to their 

 heart's content. 



I know that Mr. Hutchinson will 

 say that I did not give them room 

 enough in the sections. I think if I 

 had put on ten section cases, all the 

 bees would have worked ; but whether 

 it would have made a difference in 

 the drone-combs I cannot say. In 

 two days after 1 gave them the " big 

 room," they builtnotbingbut worker- 

 comb. After that I hived the rest 

 without contracting the brood-nest, 



