AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



217 



Wavelets of News. 



Sweet Corn as a Honey-piant. 



I have been watching with interest 

 tlie bees working upon the tassels of the 

 corn, and I have come to the conclusion 

 that they gather honey as well as pollen, 

 for they dive deep into the bloom, away 

 from the pollen dust. Cornfields will be 

 quite an attraction this Fall for bees, as 

 the rains have brought up Polygonum 

 2)ennsylvanicuin since the last plowing, 

 and also where early potatoes have been 

 dug. Some seasons this plant yields 

 white honey abundantly of a pungent 

 flavor, disagreeable to some persons. A 

 few years since, the Sny levees in the 

 western part of the State, bordering the 

 Mississippi Eiver, were overflow^ed in 

 June, and the crops destroyed, when 

 this plant, which some persons call 

 smart-weed, took possession, and thou- 

 sands of acres were waving like billows of 

 the sea. Messrs. Dadant, of Hamilton, 

 Ills., moved their bees thither, and were 

 well paid for their work. — Mrs. L. IIar- 

 EisoN, in the Prairie Farmer. 



Lifetime of the Bee. 



Some think that bees that have a queen 

 do not live more than 45 days, during 

 the swarming season. Old bees may not 

 live more than 45 days. If, however, 

 we set a comb of hatching Italians, that 

 will come out inside of five days, in a 

 black or Carnolian colony, they are not 

 likely to die in 60 days. 



Some seasons bees die more rapidly 

 than at others. It depends greatly on 

 the amount of labor necessary for them 

 to perform their ordinary duties. For 

 instance, in very windy weather, or in a 

 windy locality, bees wear out much faster 

 than they do when the air is still. The 

 same thing is true if they have a long 

 way to go to gather their stores. 



What veteran bee-keeper has not fre- 

 quently noticed how quickly the hives 

 will depopulate on windy days in Spring ? 



The bees become worn out when they 

 have to put on extra efforts to fly against 

 the wind ; and this is a point that should 

 guide people in situating their apiary. 

 As far as possible they should select a 

 sheltered locality, and the shorter the 

 distance the bees have to go to gather 

 Their stores, the longer they live. 



Take two colonies of equal age and 



rength, one having to gather its stores 

 rom two to four miles in an unprotected 



'cality, while the other is situated in a 



protected spot, and gathers its stores 

 around in a radius of a mile, the one 

 would live about a third longer than tin- 

 other. 



The amount of exertion the bees have 

 to make indicates, to a great extent, the 

 time they will live, and the less work 

 they have to perform the longer their 

 vitality lasts. For instance, when bees 

 live six or seven months in winter quar- 

 ters, and when set out be apparently as 

 young and lively as when put in, in the 

 Fall. Locate your bees as favorably as 

 possible, and they are likely to live a 

 great deal longer. We believe fifty 

 colonies favorably situated, will producf;- 

 as much as 100 unfavorably situat'-d. — 

 Canadian Bee Journal. 



Sweet Prospects. 



Last season was a discouraging i.th- to 

 the bee-keeper in this part of the country. 

 It is, therefore, a matter of more than 

 usual interest to record that the present 

 year cheers us with a lively hope of a 

 fair harvest at least. 



The fine weather in early Spring, with 

 abundant fruit and dandelion bloom, 

 caused the bees to build up rapidly. 

 Sufficient and timely rains gave us the 

 best growth and bloom of white clover 

 we have had for several years. A con- 

 stant succession of other honey-yielding 

 flowers kept the bees well' supplied, and 

 thus encouraged they began swarming 

 early in June and were well nigh over 

 the swarming fever before the blooming 

 of basswood. 



This is our best honey plant, and while 

 it lasts the bees store rapidly, if strong 

 enough to enter the surplus boxes. Bass- 

 wood opened this year about July S. 



There are certan conditions of the 

 atmosphere — electrical or otherwise — 

 favorable to the secretion of nectar in 

 flowers. Blossoms alone are not proof of 

 the presence of honey. 



Some seasons nectar secretion is inuch 

 more abundant than others, when to the 

 eye no reason is apparent. 



This year the conditions seem to be 

 favorable. 'If the Fall flowers yield as 

 i abundantly as those already in bloom, or 

 past, we shall exhibit to our friends a 

 less elongated expression of countenance 

 than in the Fall of 1890.— Eugene 

 Secor, in loua Homestead. 



We Club the American Bee Journal 

 and the Illustrated Home Journal, one 

 year for SI. 35. Both of these and 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture, for one year, 

 forS2.15. 



