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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



Gold is yellow; but place a thin sheet of the 

 metal to the light and the transmitted light 

 is green. So with this honey— gold in color 

 or green in color, according to the light. 

 Liquid sumac honey half hlling a tin pail 

 will look like paraffine oil or yellow vaseline, 

 having a peculiar sheen. The honey has no 

 noticeable odor except the bitter one spoken 

 of; and after that is gone, little odor is left. 

 When properly ripened the honey is very 

 heavy, and, like apple-blossom honey, waxes 

 instead of candies. Neither of these honeys 

 in absolute purity would probably grain, but 

 would become thickly gummy; therefore su- 

 mac honey has excellent keeping qualities, 

 comb honey being appai'ently as good the 

 second season as the first, if pi-operly kept. 

 I have never seen a single cell of this honey 

 candied, though I practice keeping unfinish- 



FIG. 5. — CLUMP OF SUMAC THREE WEEKS AFTER BLOSSOMING. 



The seed clusters are numerous. Near the upper central part is a year-old 

 seed-cluster, with a white sheet of paper placed back of it. 



ed sections over from one season to be com- 

 pleted the next. Except for more stain on 

 wood and comb these sections could never 

 be detected from the others. 



It is safe to say that much of Connecticut 

 would be woi'thless for bee-keepers but for 

 this plant. Here it can be relied on to yield 

 every year, not, of course, with perfect uni- 

 formity, for, like other honey-plants, the su- 

 mac is dependent on the weather. If July is 

 abounding in good hay weather, our colonies 

 will store from 40 to 100 pounds each; but if 

 there is but little good hay weather during 

 July we may not average 20 pounds to the 

 colony. Fortunately, July is not often free 

 from good hay weather. 



The photographs can scarcely convey very 

 vivid ideas of the plant, since the bloom is 

 so minute. I should have stated before that 

 the flowers are dioecious. Both kinds of 

 bloom yield honey, and the bees seem to 

 work impartially. The staminate bloom is 



more widely branched, and is looser than 

 the pistillate. Soon after blooming, not on- 

 ly all blossoms of the staminate, but the side 

 branches of the panicle as well, fall and the 

 Hower-stalk is left naked and black with a 

 curled tip which soon breaks off. The pis- 

 tillate bloom acts far differently. It is com- 

 pact to begin with, and as soon as fertilized 

 becomes still more compact, the branches 

 hugging closely to the main stalk. The seed- 

 vessels, each containing a seed not unlike 

 the stone of a " choke-cherry, ' ' form a com- 

 pact rigid bunch which stays on after the 

 fall of the leaves, and even survives into the 

 second season. These clusters of seeds, be- 

 cause of their crimson color, are striking ob- 

 jects after the fall of the leaves. The color 

 is due to little hairs on the seed-vessels, which 

 hairs are very sour to the taste, and the 

 plant is sometimes called 

 the "vinegar-bush." 



The bloom is rich in 

 pollen, and during a slow 

 How the bees bring in 

 huge loads of yellow pol- 

 len. Even during the 

 best yields the bees gath- 

 er pollen during the 

 morning hours before the 

 sun has warmed the nec- 

 taries. Later in the day, 

 however, the pollen loads 

 become less frequent. 



I have already spoken 

 of the rapidity of the 

 flow, and those who are 

 familiar with heavy flows 

 from other sources need 

 no further description ; 

 but it may interest oth- 

 ers if I add a few words 

 here. About ten o'clock 

 on July 18th, let the day 

 be a hot one, the pollen 

 loads cease to go in, and 

 the distended abdomens 

 of the ingoing workers 

 tell one that the flow is 

 By noon the 



on. r5y noon tne en- 

 trance is one rushing stream of anxious bees, 

 every home-coming bee so heavy that it more 

 often than not falls short of the entrance, 

 while the out-going bees are so hurried that 

 they have not rid their bodies of the pollen 

 dust accumulated during the previous trips. 

 This activity continues, and the honey by 

 two or three o'clock so crowds the capacity 

 of the hive that the honey-curing bees hang 

 on the outer walls with bodies painfully dis- 

 tended with the new honey. Inside, comb- 

 building proceeds with the greatest activity. 

 and the field bees keep right on bringing in 

 the nectar. Open the hive and it will be 

 seen that not only eveiy open cell but every 

 depression of any sort glistens with honey. 



It is at this stage that the strength of the 

 combs is severely tried. With the thei-mom- 

 eter 96 in the shade, the bees and combs 

 loaded with honey, the softened wax will 

 give way, even sliding down over the wires 

 of the frame. 



