60 



and in prosperous condition, they took the food rapidly and built comb 

 readily. The result gives a less amount of honey as necessary to be 

 fed the bees in order to have 1 pound of wax secreted than was obtained 

 in this experiment last year. This was to be expected because of the 

 more favorable and exact conditions. Two colonies were taken which 

 I have designated as Nos." 1 and 2. No. 1 was given a virgin queen 

 and no comb or honey. No. 2 was given a virgin queen and empty 

 combs. It was noticed that the bees did not fly from either of these 

 hives as vigorously as from the others of the apiary, and that No. 1 

 was the more quiet of the two. Twenty-four and a half pounds of food 

 were given, and almost exactly 1 pound of wax was secreted by No. 1. 

 By weighing the combs both before and after being melted and taking 

 the difference, the amount of pollen was ascertained. In both colonies 

 the young queens had begun to lay, having been fertilized during the 

 ten days the experiment was in progress. I now feel confident that 

 more careful work on the part of others who have undertaken to solve 

 this question will give practically the same results as are summarized 

 below : 



Wax Secretion. 



Colony No. 1. 



Colony No. 2. 



Weight of bees 



Gross weight, Aug. 2, with bees 



Gross weight, Aug. 12, with bees 



Gross gain in weight 10 days 



Feed given 



Minus lioney extracted 



Leaves honey consumed 



Honey consumed by No. 1 in excess of No. 2 : 12—4=8 pounds. 



AVax 'secreted by No. 1 



Pollen in combs' at close 



Honey, wax, and pollen removed (8 pounds honey consumed 

 in secreting 15£ ounces of wax 



Lbs Oz. 

 7 5 



15| 



1 8 



14 15J 



Lbs. Oz. 



Lbs. Oz. 

 7 3 



27 8 

 42 10 

 15 2 



24 8 

 20 8 



4 



Lbs. Oz 



34 4 



5G 8 

 22 4 



PLANTING FOR HONEY. 



There were in bloom at the station this season three acres of Sweet 

 Clover (Melilotus alba) sown in June, 1891. It was sown upon rather 

 poor clay soil, yet it made a fair growth last fall and came through the 

 winter in good condition. It began to bloom July 8, and continued in 

 bloom until the 20th of September. The period of greatest bloom and 

 honey secretion was from July 20 to September 1. It grew rapidly and 

 was very rank, reaching a height of about six feet. The amount of 

 bloom was great and the bees were continually busy upon it, yet during 

 the period from July 24 to August 10, while it was in full bloom and 

 while all other natural sources were absent, no honey of any apprecia- 

 ble extent was gathered and the hive upon scale lost in weight. Prob- 

 ably some honey was obtained during the season from this sweet clover, 

 but in such limited quantities as to make any estimate of the value of 

 the plant as a honey producer impossible. At the present time the 



