THE AMERiCAJM BEE JOURNAL. 



695 



weiglied them again wlicii I put them 

 out on Av)ril 1"). ISSS. Xo moUl or 

 dampness I'ouhl be seen, tlie combs 

 were as bright as they were during 

 the summer, tlie coUniies seemed to 

 be stronirer tlian thev were in the 

 fall, and not a handfu'l of dead bees 

 could be seen in the bee-house. 



The next winter I put them and 

 their increase (74 colonies) into the 

 same bee-house, but I did not take off 

 the honey-boards. During that win- 

 ter all but 4 became diseased, and by 

 spring died. I could not account for 

 that. 



Since then I have never tried to 

 winter my bees as I did the 24 colo- 

 nies spoken of. but I will try it again 

 with some of my bees during the 

 coming winter. 



In my earlier days of bee-keeping, I 

 did not read any bee-periodicals ; but 

 since I do read them I see many ways 

 in which bees are wintered. Some of 

 the writers of the Bee .Journal 

 must have different bees than mine 

 are, when they can stand (irp to 9(P 

 above zero in their winter confine- 

 ment. Mine do best at 42° above 

 zero ; that is, they are the most silent 

 at that point. The farther above or 

 below 42^, the stronger the noise be- 

 comes in the bee-house. This has 

 been my 'experience for the past ten 

 years. 



Theilmanton, Minn. 



For the AmerlcaD Bee Journal. 



Bees and Flower Petals. 



CLARENCE M. WEED. 9 



Eminent botanists believe that 

 many ages ago there were none of the 

 large-petaled, parti-colored flowers 

 that now give such touches of grace 

 and beauty to our landscapes. Then 

 flowers consisted only of the essential 

 pistils and stamens, as is the case of 

 the inconspicuous blossoms of our 

 hickory, oak, and other trees of the 



E resent day. These flowers must 

 ave been almost wholly wind-fertil- 

 ized, but with the introduction of 

 insects, and especially the bees and 

 wasps, it became desirable for some 

 species to be fertilized by other means 

 than the very wasteful process of 

 wind-fertilization. The way in which 

 the showy parts were evolved is sup- 

 posed by our greatest botanists to 

 have been somewhat as follows : 



Every gardener is familiar with the 

 fact tl)at plants, under certain condi- 

 tions, will vary, or sport as it is called, 

 from the one which produced the seed 

 from which it sprung. This often 

 occurs, not only in our cultivated 

 plants, but also in many of our wild 

 flowers. It is by some such process 

 as this that the first petals are sup- 

 posed to have been developed. Some 

 of the outer stamens on a primitive 

 flower became flattened, thus making 

 the blossom more attractive than its 

 less-favored, non-sportive neighbors. 

 As it was more conspicuous, it would 

 be more freely visited bv bees and 

 other insects, and, hence, would be 

 more certain of fertilization by pollen 

 from another plant ; because of which, 

 as was so clearly proved by the illus- 



trious Darwin, the seeds produced by 

 the flower would be better developed 

 and produce stronger plants than the 

 others. The.se plants would, in turn, 

 produce flowers having similar pecu- 

 liarly-developed stamens, which would 

 again be more freely visited by insects, 

 and consequently develop thriftier 

 seeds. .\nd so the process would go 

 on until a row of the insect-attract- 

 ing petals would be developed, as in 

 the case of our apples, pears, and the 

 great majority of our common flower- 

 ing plants. 



While writing, I have before me 

 one of our beautiful white water- 

 lilies which admirably illustrates the 

 evolution of petals. Toward the cen- 

 tre of the flower are a large number 

 of the yellow stamens with the polleu- 

 bearing anthers upon their summits. 

 A little farther out, some of these 

 staniens have become flat, with the 

 anthers only partially developed, 

 while still farther out are stamens 

 wholly flattened and with no trace of 

 anthers, only ditferiugfrom the petals 

 by their smaller size and yellow color. 

 Here we have, as Grant Allen, the 

 English naturalist, expresses it, ''stere- 

 otyped as it were, the mode of evo- 

 lution of petals from stamens.'' 



Michigan Agricultural College. 



Kiir tno American Bee JoumaL 



Wabash Co , Ind., Convention. 



The Wabash County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in the Court House 

 at Wabash, Ind., on Oct. 4, 1884. The 

 meeting was called to order at 11 

 a. m., bv President Singer. As there 

 were only a few of the members pres- 

 ent, the reading of the minutes was 

 deferred until the afternoon session. 

 The programme of questions was next 

 read by the Secretary. The first 

 question taken up for discussion was, 

 "Does hee-keeping as a business 

 payV" 



Mr. Singer said that his bees netted 

 him over $2 per colony, the present 

 poor season, and he thought that in a 

 good season beekeeping would pay 

 well. Mr. Cripe said that he realized 

 $8 for comb honey from his best col- 

 ony, without any feeding or special 

 care. Mr. Coffman thought that this 

 was the poorest season since he began 

 to keep bees, which has been over 40 

 years. All agreed with Mr. Coffman 

 that this had been a very poor season. 

 The most of the members were of the 

 opinion that, in a good season, bee- 

 keeping pays well, compared with 

 other pursuits. 



" Does it pay to use comb founda- 

 tion ? If so, at what price V" 



Mr. Singer said that if a colony of 

 bees was provided with foundation, 

 it would give all its energies to gath- 

 ering honey, instead of building comb. 

 Consequent*ly the bees would enter 

 the sections sooner. Mr. Hess said 

 that when a swarm issued it was pre- 

 pared to build comb; but had not 

 enough wax secreted to fill an ordi- 

 nary hive with the necessary combs. 

 He says that all swarms should be 

 provided with some foundation. Mr. 

 Singer said that when bees were secret- 

 ing wax, they would cluster in large 



bunches, and if a swarm was hived on 

 full sheets of foundation, it would 

 break the cluster, and would imme- 

 diately sto|) secreting wax. The ma- 

 jority of the members agreed that 

 foundation was profitable even at $1 

 per poiuid. For sections, flat-bottom 

 foundation was preferred. 



" Which is preferable, natural 

 swarming, or increasing by divison V" 



Mr. Cripe had had some experience 

 in dividing colonies, but prefen-ed 

 natural swarming. Mr. Singer had 

 increased his number of colonies by 

 division, and prefers the method when 

 working for increase only. It was 

 decided that natural swarming is the 

 best way, if producing comb honey. 



" Will bees swarm when they have 

 plenty of room in the hive i"' 



Mr. Cripe said that if plenty of 

 room were given them early in the 

 season, they would not be so likely to 

 swarm. Mr. Hess said that bees were 

 not likely to swarm when in large 

 hives, as he formerly used very large 

 hives and had had no swarms. Ad- 

 journed to 1 p. m. 



At the afternoon session the min- 

 utes of the previous meeting were 

 read and adopted. The discussion 

 began with the following question : 

 " How shall we prepare bees for 

 winter ?"' 



Mr. Whitlow described his method 

 of packing them in sawdust, about 4 

 inches deep all around the hive, and a 

 chaff cushion on top, and had lost 

 only one colony in 4 years. Mr. Singer 

 crowds his bees to one side of the 

 hive, by means of a division -board, 

 and packs chaff in behind them. He 

 puts his hives in a row and boards up 

 at their sides and backs, and fills in 

 with chaff or fine straw, leaving the 

 front open. So far he had lost none 

 by this method. Mr. Gray objected 

 to the use of fodder for a protection, 

 as he had used that last winter, and 

 had much bother with mice getting 

 into the fodder, and also into the 

 hives. Mr. Maures packs his bees in 

 chaff, being something similar to Mr. 

 Singer's plan, with the exception that 

 he packs in front of the hives also. 

 Mr. Coffman winters his bees without 

 much protection, except chaff cush- 

 ions on top. 



The feeding of bees was next dis- 

 cussed. Mr. Coffman feeds his bees 

 in the open air, late in the evening, 

 iuid says that they take the feed up so 

 quickly that his neighbors' bees have 

 no chance to rob. When he prepares 

 his bees for winter, he takes frames 

 of honey from his best colonies and 

 gives them to the weaker ones, thus 

 giving all plenty to winter on. Mr. 

 Fulton feeds his bees inside the hive, 

 and prepares the food by taking cof- 

 fee A sugar, dissolving it in water, as 

 much as the water will dissolve ; he 

 then puts it in glass cans or bottles 

 and sets it in the sun until it is quite 

 warm, after which it is ready for use. 

 Mr. Hess prepares his feed in a simi- 

 lar manner, except that he uses gran- 

 ulated sugar. Nearly all of those 

 present favored inside feeding, and 

 thought it ranch the safer plan, on 

 account of the danger from robbing, 

 and no strange bees would be fed iu 

 that way. Mr. Singer feeds his bees 



