THE BEE-KEEPE;RS' review. 



17 



freely than others upon red clover. It 

 does indicate verj- strongly that the dif- 

 ference in tonjiue-leiii^th has little or 

 nothinji to do with the tendency of bees 

 to work upon red clover. In fact I have 

 received bees from colonies that were 

 said to work freely on red clover, and 

 along with them bees from other colonies 

 in the same apiary that were said not to 

 work upon red clover, and have been un- 

 able to find any difference in tongue- 

 length in favor of the clover workers. 



It will he noticed in the table that the 

 few tongues of bumble bees that were 

 measured are very much longer than the 

 tongues of any of the honey bees, the 

 shortest being .45 and the longest .58 of 

 an inch. The average length is almost 

 twice the average length of the tongue of 

 the honey bee. 



The specimens of Apis dorsata came 

 from Mr. Iv. R. Root and were in alcohol. 

 They were placed in water and boiled 

 until the tongues seemed perfectly flexi- 

 ble and to extend to full length. It will 

 be noticed that the length barely exceeds 

 that of the Italians. 



I d(j not wish to carry the impression 

 that I think it would not be to the ad- 



vantage of a honey bee to have an in- 

 creased tongue-length, but I can hardly 

 understand how the addition of one or 

 two hundredths of an inch is going to 

 help very much to gather honey from red 

 clover. The length of the corolla tube 

 through which the tongue must reach, in 

 the heads of red clover that I have ex- 

 amined, have varied between 34 and 37 

 hundredths of an inch. The extreme 

 reach of the tongue beyond the mandi- 

 bles in any bees I have measured, has 

 been .23 of an inch. It makes me won- 

 der if it is possible that those who think 

 bees have gathered honey from red clover 

 can be mistaken and that they visit the 

 blossoms of this plant for pollen only. 

 This is only a suggestion, but someone 

 who has the opportunity should settle it 

 for a certainty. 



Neither would I leave the impression 

 that I think it impossible to breed up a 

 race of genuine long-tongued bees, but I 

 am very strongly of the opinion that it 

 can only be brought about by a long pro- 

 cess of careful selection and breeding. 

 They will not spring into existance all 

 at once. 



AG'iy CoixEGK, Ft. Collins, Colo. 



WEATHER-PROOF HIVE COVERS. 



BY M. A. GILL. 



How to Make a Ventilated Cover That 



Will not Leak, Warp, nor Split 



In Any Climate. 



Cover inv defenseless head. " 



EDITOR Review: As yf)U have asked 

 me to describe the hive cover I use, 

 why I use it, and how it is made, I will saN , 

 without committing the error of "riding a 

 hobby," that I have, for vears, been doing 

 a great deal of experimenting with hive 

 covers, as I could not buy anything that 

 suited me, and I have never made one 



that gave satisfaction until I made the one 

 I shall describe. 



I wish to say right here, that of all the 

 covers put upon the market during the 

 past twenty-five years, the old, flat cover, 

 "s of an inch thick, painted on both sides, 

 and made reversible, is, in my opinion, 

 the cheapest and best. 



