336 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Oct. 



l)etter ponder on the wonderful agency whicli 

 those simple grains of pollen exert on the 

 plant life that is yet to come, years per- 

 haps, after we have faded away and gone. 



POLLEN IN SECTION BOXES AND COMB 

 HONEY. 



I do not mean to convey the idea that we 

 should be satistied with pollen in our honey, 

 for a very good and useful tiling is some- 

 times a very J):ul one, if out of place. When 

 pollen or meal is brought into the hive, it is 

 taken, at once, very near to the brood; in 

 fact, it is placed in the comb opposite, if 

 possible. When opening hives in the spring, 

 we find pollen scattered all throu^'h the 

 brood combs to some extent, but the two 

 combs next to the two outside brood combs 

 are often a solid mass of pollen. Should a 

 few stormy days intervene, however, this 

 will disappear so quickly, that one who has 

 not witnessed the rapidity with which it is 

 used in brood rearing, would not know how 

 to account for it. When it is gone, of 

 course, the brood rearing must cease, 

 although the queen may continue to lay. 

 Tlie amount of brood that may be reared by 

 keeping a stock supplied with pollen artifi- 

 cially, during such unfavorable weather, is a 

 very important item, where rapid increase 

 of stock is desired. 



Usmg the candy slabs with 1-4 or 1-5 

 wheat flour, is perhap^s the surest way of 

 doingthis. See candy for bees. 



A friend has a house apiary, where the 

 combs are pretty deep, and no upper story 

 is used. His comb honey was all secured in 

 frames containing sections, at the side of the 

 brood. When asked if the bees did not de- 

 posit pollen in the sections when used in 

 tliat way, he replied, "Not if a comb is in- 

 terposed between the brood and the hon- 

 ey." This is because they always want the 

 ])ollen next the brood. Now, Ave can get 

 more comb honey by having it near the 

 brood than in any other way ; what shall we 

 do to keep out the pollen, and to keep the 

 queen from laying eggs in oifr surplus honey 

 sections? The remedy I have adopted, and 

 advised through this work, is the use of the 

 tin separators, with the small 1 lb. section 

 boxes ; for it is well known that the queen 

 is averse to using small pieces of comb, or 

 comb near much wood. In oiu" own apiary, 

 I have never known the queen to deposit 

 eggs in tliese sections, when tlius prei)arod, 

 even if tliey are placed next the brood 

 combs; but others haAe Avi'itten that they 

 are, at limes, filled with both brood and pol- 

 len, even when thus prepared. If I could 



see the hives, I think I could find the trou- 

 ble, yet there may be exceptional cases. The 

 frames or sections used in the lower story 

 are more likely to be filled witli pollen than 

 those in the upper story; for if the broad 

 frames and sections are so made that but 

 about i incli space is left for the bees to go 

 up into them, tlie queen is very unlikely to 

 attempt to go up. An occasional cell of 

 pollen will sometimes be found, which I re- 

 gret the more, because such combs are much 

 more likely to contain worms, if taken out 

 in warm weather. If it were not for this 

 small, accidental quantity of pollen, I am 

 not sure we would ever find worms in the 

 comb honey. See bee moth. 



PillOFOiLalS. This is the gum or var- 

 nish that bees collect for varnishing over 

 the inside of their hives, filling cracks and 

 crevices, cementing loose pieces of the hive 

 together, and for making things fast and 

 close generally. It collects, in time, on old 

 hives and combs, so as to add very material- 

 ly to their weight. It is not generally gath- 

 ered in any great quantity, until at the close 

 of the season, and it seems to be collected 

 in response to a kind of instinct that bids 

 them prepare for cold weather. I wish I 

 were able to tell you more definitely where 

 they get it ; it has been suggested that it is 

 collected from the resinous buds of the balm 

 of gilead, and trees of a like nature ; but to 

 tell the truth, I do not know that I ever saw 

 bees collecting fresh propolis at all. I see 

 them almost every day, collecting propolis 

 from old hives, old quilts, and pieces of 

 refuse wax, when we are so wasteful and 

 untidy as to leave any such scattered about. 

 That the principal part of it comes from 

 some particular plant or class of plants, or 

 tree, I am pretty well satisfied, for almost 

 the same aromatic resinous flavor is notice- 

 able, no matter what the locality, or season 

 of the year. Bees gather propolis with their 

 mandibles, and pack and carry it precisely 

 as they do pollen. It is never packed in the 

 cells however, but is applied at once to the 

 place wanted. It is often mixed with wax, 

 to strengthen their combs, and is applied to 

 the cells as a varnish, for the same purpose. 

 In the absence of a natural supply, the bees 

 frequently resort to various substances, such 

 as paints, varnishes, resins, pitch, and the 

 like; and the superstiton, popular in some 

 sections, that bees follow their owner to the 

 grave, after his death, probably obtained 

 credence from seeing the bees at work on 

 the varnish of the coflin. To save the bees 

 the trouble of Jwaxing up the crevices in 



