76 



SEVENTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



tie, and that upon a board with saw- 

 cuts and one thing and another in it, 

 so that there are a great many places 

 where the bees can go and get that 

 water. 



The President: The distance has 

 something to do with it, also. On ac- 

 count of the neighbors nearby having 

 wells, and for the reason that I do 

 not want my bees annoying them I 

 have had a feeder for years; I have 

 have put that in an especially sunny lo- 

 cation; and when the bees cannot fly 

 five rods without becoming chilled 

 they will visit that feeder even in the 

 cold, chilly days of spring. I have 

 found fifty colonies would take out two 

 gallons per day. 



Mr. Hershisher: It is the opinion of 

 Mr. Holterman and the President that 

 the warming of that water would have 

 any effect upon spring dwindling? 



Mr. Holterman: Yes. 



The President: Decidedly. I warm 

 the water by a tea kettle of warm 

 ^ater every cold, frosty morning. 



Mr. Hummel: I have a small stream 

 of running water within 100 yards of 

 my apiary and the bees gather there, 

 thousands of them, but the proper way 

 is to have small troughs and a little 

 salt in them. 



Mr. Moe: Let me ask just a question 

 or two in the line of this paper, and also 

 on the buckwheat question. The im- 

 pressions there do not correspond with 

 my observation. I would like to ask 

 these scientific men if pollen is dry or 

 viscid — that is, will it have to be car- 

 ried by the bees? Does the pollen 

 ripen about the same time as the pistil 

 does or at different periods? I am in 

 a buckwheat region, in the state of 

 "Wisconsin, and while I have raised 

 buckwheat, and while I have had the 

 finest seed and the best yield, the bees 

 worked very little on the field. The 

 season differs with me both in regard 

 to the honey and in regard to the yield 

 of seed. Another season when the 

 seed was fine there was about two days 

 that I discovered the bees working on 

 the field of buckwheat. The yield of 

 wheat was all right. 



The President: Mr. France, our 

 general manager, said it was enough; 

 two hours will fertilize the blossoms 

 for one day. I agree with him. 



Mr. Moe: The bees simply worked 

 in the morning for a little while. The 

 fertilizing on one day won't ripen pis- 

 tils that come the next day or the next 

 week or after that; the buckwheat 



continues for three or four weeks to 

 bloom. 



The President: Do I. understand you 

 the bees worked tout one day? 



Mr. Moe: About two days. 



The President: We know many 

 kinds of blossoms are fertilized by the 

 wind, notably Indian corn, and it is 

 possible that buckwheat is. 



Prof. Surface: I can only give my 

 opinion and my impression, I cannot 

 state with certainty; although I did 

 not see the pollen carried as, for ex- 

 ample, that of timothy or corn, I think 

 it is not a dry or wind carried pollen. 

 I think the buckwheat blossom is self- 

 fertile, and that the bee is not a posi- 

 tively essential -agent in setting the 

 seed. I think the seed will set with- 

 out the agency of the bee, but that the 

 bee is an aid to insure an abundant 

 setting of the seed. 



The President: Cross fertilization 

 there is the point gained. 



Mr. Hershisher: I want to say in 

 order to centralize what Mr. Moe has 

 said, that this gentleman that expressed 

 some doubt as to w.hether ibees would 

 benefit buckwheat also stated later this 

 fall, after the buckwheat was threshed, 

 that last year before my bees were in 

 the locality they had a bad crop of 

 straw and a comparatively small crop 

 of buckwheat, while this year it was 

 vice versa, and that he now regarded 

 the bees as a benefit. 



Mr. Holterman: I think we should 

 be very careful not to go beyond what 

 is legitimate and right. You may get 

 a eery good crop without the bees, 

 but as Prof. Surface has said, there 

 are many instances where you would 

 get a good crop when the ibees are 

 there, when otherwise you would not. 



The President: I have never exam- 

 ined the blossom microscopically, but 

 it may be possible it is a perfect blos- 

 som. 



Mr. Pressler: I would like to ask 

 Prof. Surface if it would be possible 

 to have this plate of plums photo- 

 graphed, which he has shown here, to 

 show that it was actually in the hive, 

 and have it form part of the general 

 report which was sent out. 



Prof. Surface: I am willing to pho- 

 tograph it showing it right in the hive 

 and photograph it at close range 

 showing the details, if desired. 



Mr. Root: I want to ask Prof. Sur- 

 face one question. I understand that 

 Paris Green is an agent that will poi- 

 son bees -and will only do it when the 



