1014 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



the hive against the front of my person, and 

 walk off with the hive If I took the hive 

 up by the end holes, holding the side of the 

 hive against my person, there would be a 

 swinging of the frames at every step I took. 

 I have seen a novice take up a hive in that 

 manner, and there was a 'clack,' 'clack,' 

 'clack,' of the frames at every step he took." 

 The above is very true. If there were no 

 bee-space above the frames, the queen-ex- 

 cluder or cover of the hive would prevent 

 the swinging of the frames. Where colonies 

 have to be moved about much I very much 

 prefer this latter method of spacing. In car- 

 rying a hive I prefer holding the cover of it 

 against my person. In moving about as I 

 do, and having employed many men in team- 

 ing, etc., I find that, after showing men this 

 method, they much prefer it to resting the 

 back of the hive against the body. The 

 weight is better distributed, and. the hive 

 does not require to rest in part against the 

 muscles which move the legs in walking. 



Converts Q^j'ons rJ^" 



with DoolUtle^:^ 



•l3i«o%wr_^^ 



HOW TO TELL WHEN BEES ARE GATHEKING. 



"Hello, Doolittle! How are the bees do- 

 ing this year?" 



•' Well, Smith, the bees have .done very 

 little so far, and it is now July 10. Our ap- 

 ple-bloom wa* an entire failure, owing to the 

 bad weather. Then we had lots of rain till 

 within a week, since which the bees have 

 been getting little more than a living, though 

 for the past live days very thin nectar can 

 be shaken from the combs in the afternoon 

 of the warmer days." 



'•Is your clover in full bloom yet?" 



"Well, hardly. Everything is about two 

 weeks late I was noticing the buds on the 

 basswood this morning, and I should say 

 that it would be July 30 before the very ear- 

 liest wouki open." 



"Well, that is late. How late did you ev- 

 er know it before?" 



"July 16; and all the way from that to 

 July 1 as the earliest." 



"Quite a variation, surely. Have you a 

 little time for talking to-day?" 



"I will take a little time if you wish. 

 What is on your mind at this time?" 



"I have been told that a person can tell 

 when bees ai'e gathering honey and when 

 they are not by simply looking at the bees 

 at the entrance of the hive; but I must con- 

 fess that 1 can not to any satisfaction. Will 

 you tell me how it is done?" 



"This is somewhat hard when very little 

 nectar is coming in; but when the bees are 



gathering freely any one should be able to 

 tell by simply looking at the entrance." 



"I have looked, and am not able to tell. 

 Tell me how to look." 



"Well, when the bees are heavily loaded 

 or gathering freely they will fall short of the 

 entrance when coming in with their loads. 

 Jn other words they will drop before they 

 reach the alighting board; and if the yield of 

 nectar is profuse they will drop all about, on 

 top of the hive, down in the grass, etc., and 

 often live to ten feet from the hive. This is 

 especially true with a profuse yield from 

 basswood during the early morning hours." 



"But I had supposed that these early bees 

 which dropped down were carrying water." 



"Bees carrying water do sometimes fall 

 short of the hive; but it is seldom that more 

 than two or three bees are seen falling when 

 carrying water, while with plenty of nectar 

 from the basswood the ground about the 

 hive will be covered with them speaking ap- 

 proximately." 



"I see. I will bear that in mind in the 

 future. But how can I tell when nectar is 

 coming in slowly?" 



"Wait till about three or four o'clock in 

 afternoon, at which time, as a rule, the bees 

 will be at work the strongest, and the sun 

 will be shining at the rignt angle, if your 

 hives face the south, so that you can see right 

 through a bee, as it were, when, by placing 

 the eye close to the ground, you will discov- 

 er that the bee which is carrying nectar looks 

 transparent compared with those which are 

 carrying nothing." 



"How about the water-carriers?" 



"They will be still more transparent; but 

 as the water carriers are few in number be- 

 side those that carry nectar, when any nec- 

 tar is to be had, you should not be fooled 

 by these. Now, if you will put one of your 

 colonies ona pair of scales, one that has a 

 pointer that marks off the pounds and ounces, 

 and then make your observations at a time 

 when the scales tell you that a little honey is 

 coming in, and from that to a good yield, 

 you will soon see how you can tell at any 

 time about what the bees are doing." 



"I had not thought of that. Do you have 

 a hive on scales?" 



"Not of late years. I used to keep one 

 thus, and this had much to do with my judg- 

 ing from outside appearances; but of late 

 years it has not been difficult for me to tell 

 what the bees are doing." 



"It is quite easy to tell when bees are 

 gathering pollen." 



"Yes, but not so easy always to tell what 

 source all the pollen gathered comes from." 



"It is easy to tell dandelion pollen." 



" Yes, from its color, resembling the color 

 of the bloom. But all flowers do not give 

 pollen of the same color as the blossom." 



'''I supposed they did. I have seen bees 

 gathering pollen from Indian plantain and 

 from corn tassel, and the bee-gathered pel- 

 lets were of the same color as the bloom." 



"Yes, you are perfectly right there; but 

 did you ever note the color of pollen coming 

 from white clover?" 



