1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



883 



"Yes, ihat is right, only you have missed 

 some (»f the sources of honey." 



'•1 guess not. What have I missed?" 



"First, the wild mustard. This often gives 

 a greater yield in this locality than white 

 clover." 



"How is that? How do you lind out all 

 of these things?" 



' ' By using a little time and my eyes. Have 

 you never noticed tields of grain yellow with 

 the wild-mustard bloom just before the blos- 

 soming of white clover?" 



"Yes; but I did not suppose the bees got 

 any thing but pollen from that source." 



"Did you ever go to these fields and watch 

 the bees at work on them?" 



"No." 



"Had you done so you would have seen 

 that the bees were lapping up the honey or 

 nectar, rather than gathering pollen. But 

 you must have noticed that some of your sec- 

 tions which you supposed were being filled 

 with clover honey were quite dark after be- 

 ing finished, when you held them up before 

 a strong light." 



"Yes; but that darker honey came from 

 the alsike clover." 



' ' Oh, no ! It was the mustard honey that 

 gave the dark look. This I know, not only 

 by causing the bees to give up their loads of 

 nectar when working on the mustard, but 

 by sections tilled from this source when the 

 clovers were not yielding nectar." 



"What else is there which gives nectar that 

 I did not mention?" 



"Chestnut and whitewood (or tulip, as 

 some call it); cultivated teasel, the second 

 crop of red clover, and occasionally honey- 

 dew, so called, coming from certain aphides. ' ' 



"How did you find out about all these?" 



"By following the bees till I found out 

 these different Sowers. One Sunday morn- 

 ing in the fore pai't of September, when I 

 first awoke a little after the break of day I 

 heard through the open window a great 

 noise of bees in flight. My first thought was 

 that 1 had left some sweet exposed, and a 

 general robbing was going on, for the bees 

 had been doing nothing for several days. I 

 dressed quickly and inished out, supposing I 

 had a very undesirable job to look after be- 

 fore breakfast. Upon reaching the hives 

 there was no sign of robbing, but the bees 

 were pouring out and in, a large part of those 

 coming in being so loaded that they fell short 

 of the entrance. Before noon the work had 

 ceased, and nothing more was done that day. 

 The next morning I was astir with the first 

 streak of daylight in the east, and, almost as 

 soon as the bees could see, the excitement be- 

 gan, and the bees loaded with nectar came 

 in as before. I started out and made a cir- 

 cuit of the apiary to find out which direction 

 the bees went. Nearly all went in one direc- 

 tion, swinging round the house and shop 

 ( they were southwest of the house) ; they pass- 

 ed out over the lawn and road, going off to 

 the northeast. A large piece of woodland 

 lay in this direction, about three-fourths of a 

 mile away in a direct line. I hitched up the 

 horse, and started out; first east, passing under 



the line of flying liees; then at the next turn of 

 the road I went nurth, and again passed un- 

 der the Ijees. Again I turned east, and the 

 third time passed beneath the bees, many of 

 which were tiying toward home with their 

 loads only just above the buggy-top. I now 

 drove through a lot to the woods, upon reach- 

 ing which I found them working on the hick- 

 oiy-trees, and only on these. Climbing one 

 that was low at "the edge of the woods I 

 found the upper sides of the leaves all sticky 

 with sweet, which was thrown off by the aph- 

 ides, which were feeding on the under side 

 of the leaves above. After the sun had shown 

 out for a spell the aphides seemed to cease 

 throwing otY this sweet or else the sun dried 

 it up so the bees got nothing, while during 

 the night, through the moisture, or a throw- 

 ing-oft' of more, the leaves would be covered 

 the next morning again, thus giving the bees 

 work for a week, when a big rain came on, 

 after which nothing more was obtained. But 

 during that week the hives increased from 

 15 to 25 pounds each, which was the largest 

 yield of so-called honey-dew I ever knew." 



"And this is the way you find out what 

 the bees are at work on?" 



"Yes. That is something like the way I 

 have tracked out all the sources from which 

 bees gather nectar and pollen in this locality. ' ' 



' ' Uo you think you ai*e any better off for 

 knowing all the sources your bees secure 

 honey and pollen from than you would be 

 if you were ignorant of these matters?" 



"I think this: If you would succeed, it is 

 your business to know from just what plants 

 and fiowers your bees gather pollen and nec- 

 tar, so you can put your maximum amount 

 of bees and your honey-yielding flowers to- 

 gether. Then you have success; and the look- 

 ing after the pollen bloom, as a source toward 

 that maximum of bees on the stage of action, 

 at the right time, bears no trifling relation to 

 the matter. A thorough knowledge of your 

 location is second only to having your bees 

 in sufficient numbers to take advantage of 

 the honey harvest when it comes." 



FIVE-BANDERS NOT HARDY. 



Mr. F. a. Lookhart, of Lake George, N. 

 Y., in referring to the recent very unfavorable 

 spring, draws attention to the fact that his 

 five-banders sufl'ered the most heavily of all. 

 F. A. Salisbury, in the same mail, writes that 

 his extra yellow stock are all "gone up." 

 N. E. Cleaver, of Emporium, Pa., tells prac- 

 tically the same story. We have observed 

 time and again that the five-banded or very 

 yellow bees do not seem to be able for some 

 reason to stand a severe winter or a bad 

 spring, like the leather-colored stock. It 

 has been suggested that this exti'a yellow 

 blood is a sport from the Italians of south- 

 ern Italy, and that the leather- colored Ital- 

 ians that do not sport to yellow ai'e from 

 northern Italy or Switzerland. If this be 

 true, the tropical ancestry of the one and 

 the cold mountainous environment of the 

 other may account foi' the ditt'erence in har- 

 diness. 



