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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



I think that ventilation from the bottom is 

 much better than at the entrance, because 

 there will be more light there than at the 

 bottom, and the bees would naturally come 

 to the light in trying to get out. I have 

 known them to cluster at the entrance so 

 close as to cut off all ventilation, and smoth- 

 er to death the whole colony. 



HONEY PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 



"I think I read in one of the bee-papers 

 lately that the first pollen in Doolittle's local- 

 ity was from the skunk-cabbage. Is this 

 right, Mr. Doolittle?" 



"Yes, Mr. Smith, that is right." 



"Now don't think me impudent; but I want 

 to ask how you know. I have hunted all 

 about to see where my first pollen comes 

 from, and I am inclined to think it is from 

 the pussy willows." 



"What makes you think it is from the wil- 

 lows? You live so near me that it would 

 seem that your bees would get their first pol- 

 len from the same source mine do." 



"Yes, and that is why I thought you were 

 mistaken." 



' ' But you have not answered my question 

 regarding what made you think that your 

 first pollen comes from the willows." 



"My reason for so thinking is that this 

 first pollen is of the same color as the bloom 

 on the pussy willows." 



" You are right as to the color; but did you 

 find the pussy willows opened when this first 

 pollen came in?" 



"No. Neither did I find any other flowers 

 open; but from the color of the pollen I judg- 

 ed that the pussy willows must be in blossom 

 in some early-sheltered place." 



"Do you have any skunk-cabbage?" 



"Yes, it is quite plentiful over in my back 

 lot, down on the swampy end of it. I went 

 over there one day later on, but it was not 

 even leaved out then. This was a week aft- 

 er I saw this first pollen coming in; and this 

 was another reason why I thought you must 

 be mistaken." 



"Well, now, next spring when you see 

 this first pollen coming in I want you to go 

 over there and look for a little reddish-pur- 

 ple-colored hood-shaped thing from 2 to 2.J 

 inches high; and when you have found one, 

 just peer inside of this hood, when you will 

 see a little round yellow ball, about the size 

 of a marble, this ball being covered with lit- 

 tle spikelets from which the pollen hangs; 

 and if the day is favorable you will find from 

 one to three bees in each of these little hoods 



gathering the pollen; and if you doubt that 

 such is the blossom of the skunk-cabbage, just 

 break off one of these purple hoods and smell 

 of it. In looking in you will note that the 

 space about this pollen-ball, between it and 

 the hood, is very little more than that requir- 

 ed by the bee, so that in gathering pollen 

 from this source the bee becomes more or less 

 dusted over with the pollen, often having 

 about as much on its body as in its pollen- 

 baskets. Did you notice whether the bees 

 bringing the first pollen were dusted over or 

 not? 



"Yes. I noticed that very many of them 

 were." 



"Exactly; and when you knew that the 

 bees wei'e working on pussy willow, did you 

 ever notice their bodies covered with yellow 

 dust?" 



"Really, come to think of it, I do not so 

 remember, which makes me think that you 

 are right and myself wrong, after all. But 

 the pussy willow comes on nearly as soon, 

 does it not?" 



"That depends on the weather. If it con- 

 tinues warm, then in a very few days the 

 willows will open, and almost on their heels 

 come the soft maples and the elms. But if 

 cool weather comes on it may be two or three 

 weeks after the skunk-cabbage before any 

 more pollen is gotten. This cabbage is so 

 early that it often gives the bees pollen be- 

 fore the snow is fairly gone." 



" What flowers give the first honey?" 



"The first nectar gathered comes from sap 

 from the hard maples, from where the trees 

 have been injured by frost, squirrels, or 

 otherwise during the winter. If this injury 

 is on the south side of the tree, the sap flows 

 down over the bark, and the sun partially 

 evaporates it till it is boiled down enough so 

 the bees have quite a feast. Some years I 

 go through the woods with a pole having a 

 sharp spike on it and strike this into the 

 trees on the south side some eight on ten feet 

 from the ground, when, if the weather is 

 right, the bees have a good time gathering 

 this sweet, which helps much about early 

 brood-rearing. ' ' 



"Well, that is quite a scheme. I never 

 thought of doing that. But about the flow- 

 ers?" 



' ' Before the sap scheme is fairly over, the 

 woods flowers begin to open, such as the ad- 

 der-tongue, liverwort, bethroot, etc., from 

 which the bees get a little nectar, which helps 

 a little on brood-rearing, but they never se- 

 cure enough from any of these sources to 

 store much in the combs. The first source 

 of nectar which is gathered in sufiieient 

 quantities so we really get any honey from 

 it comes from the white and golden willows, 

 which intermingle their nectar with that 

 from the hard maples, at which time, if the 

 weather is right, a gain of from ten to fifteen 

 pounds per colony is made, and the bees 

 start out for the season in earnest." 



" After these come the fruit bloom, black 

 locust, raspberry, white and alsike clover, 

 basswood, buckwheat, and fall flowers, in 

 the order named." 



