470 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



that I allowed to fly from the end of a fish- 

 ing-rod, detained by a fine thread and noose 

 rovmd her body; but a knot has to be made 

 in the noose so that it should not pull tight 

 and injure her. As she flew in the air thus 

 thus detained, it was a curious sight to see 

 the flock of drones that gathered round her. 

 lean not help thinking that in this way some- 

 thing might be done as to special mating." 

 There are many in America who will en- 

 dorse all that has been said in the above of 

 Carniolaus. That experiment with the fish- 

 pole and line bates all I ever heard of. 



SPRAYING FKUIT-TKEES WHILE IN BLOOM. 



J. L. Byer, under "Canadian Beedom," 

 rather boasts that over hei'e in Ontario we 

 have long had a bill to prevent the spraying 

 of fruit-trees while in bloom. It was passed 

 so many years ago that he doesn't know 

 whether the time was before or after he (Mr. 

 Byer) was born, but /am pretty sure it was 

 one or the other. I can, however, go him 

 one better. Fruit-growers now look upon 

 anj' fruit-grower who sprays, or, rather, would 

 want to spray, at such a time, as densely ig- 

 norant of what is best for his own interest. 



It is condemned by every horticulturist in 

 the employment of the various departments 

 of agriculture. The following question ap- 

 pears in the Feb. 21st issue of The Farmer s 

 Advocate, and is answered byH. L. Hutt, Pro- 

 fessor of Horticulture, Ontario Agricultural 

 College, Guelph, Ont. : 



Please tell us in a few words how far the pollination 

 of flowers, fruits, and grains is dependent upon the 

 agency of the bee. C. W. L. 



The pollination of flowers, fruits, and grains is too 

 large a subject to be disposed of with a few words. How- 

 ever, to be brief, I may say that most of the flow- 

 ers and fruits which have large blossoms are largely 

 dependent upon the bee and other insects for distri- 

 bution of the pollen. The common honey-bee is one 

 of the most valuable agents in this work of pollination. 

 I have frequently noticed that some of the most pro- 

 ductive orchards in this Province are those in which 

 the growers make a practice of keeping a few hives 

 of bees, or where bees are kept in the near vicinity. 

 There are, however, many species of wild bees, as well 

 as other insects, which are active in the distribution 

 of pollen. 



With regard to grains, I may say that corn is large- 

 ly dependent upon the wind for distribution of pollen, 

 which falls or is carried by the wind from the tassel 

 at the top of the plant to the silks at the end of the 

 ear. Investigations here have shown that rye is also, 

 to some extent, dependent upon the wind for pollina- 

 tion, whereas most of the other grains, such as wheat, 

 oats, and barley, are self-fertile. The red clover is 

 largely dependent upon the bumble-bee for pollina- 

 tion, although it was claimed by some bee-keepers a 

 few years ago that, with the introduction of the It- 

 alian, Cyprian, and Holy Land races of the honey-bee, 

 these would be able to work upon the deep flowers of 

 the red clover as well as upon the shorter flowers of 

 the white clover, but I doubt if experience has proven 

 that any of these strains of bees have proboscis long 

 enough to reach the deep flowers of average-sized red- 

 clover blossoms. H. L. Hutt. 



The District Bee-keepers' conventicm, held 

 at Brantford during the closing days of Jan- 

 uary, was a very decided success Friends of 

 bee-keeping would like to see half a dozen of 

 such held in various sections of the Pi'ovince 

 during the winter months. There was much 

 instruction for everybody; no rivalry as to 

 any thing; and if more of the grants to local 

 societies were used in this way the Ontario 



Bee-keepers' Association would feel disposed 

 to grant the local societies more money; and 

 the Ontario Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. 

 Nelson Monteith, would feel disposed to give, 

 and I feel sure he would give, the Ontario 

 Bee-keepers' Association more of an annual 

 grant. The time has probably well nigh pass- 

 ed when such money will be used simply to 

 enrich in the local societies each member 

 to the extent of a queen or a subscription to 

 abee-p.aper, as has been done in the past. In 

 Norfolk Co.. among those who did hard work 

 in bringing bee-keepers to the convention we 

 had Messrs. E. Trinder, LeeBeaupre, and Dr. 

 Wm. Burt, all extensively interested in the 

 success of bee-keeping. 



GETTING BEES READY FOR THE HARVEST. 



"You remember, Mr. Doolittle, that the 

 last time I was here we got no further than 

 the first looking-over of the bees in early 

 spring, fixing them so they had stores enough 

 to carry them to the time when pollen be- 

 came plentiful, and now I have come over to 

 have you go on with the matter to where the 

 bees are ready for the honey-harvest from 

 white clover. Let us suppose that pollen is 

 now abundant, and we are ready to work 

 further at the bees, thus starting them on 

 the road to success as much as possible. 

 What is the first work to be done?" 



"The first work is to see that all colonies 

 have plenty of honey and a good queen.", 



"How much would you call plenty of hon- 

 ey when pollen first becomes plentiful ? " 



"1 try to have the amount for each colony 

 twenty pounds at this time of the year; and 

 if some of the colonies have more 'than this, 

 no harm is done at this stage when brood- 

 rearing is to go on rapidly." 



"But suppose some of the colonies do not 

 have that much, how is the matter to be 

 brought about ? " 



"1 bring this about by saving up combs 

 solid full of honey from the season previous; 

 but where a person has not thought of this 

 matter till spring is upon him, then he may 

 have to resort to feeding; but let me assure 

 you that combs of honey are as good for a 

 colony as feeding, if not better, and there is 

 far less work about such feeding than where 

 liquid feed is used. But there need be but 

 one year, and that the first, without these 

 combs of honey; for after that any pei'son 

 can save enough combs of honey during the 

 honey season to use the next spring for this 

 purpose of having each colony rich in stores 

 during April and May. Having the combs 

 of honey, set in what is needed to give each 



