64 ANNUAL REPORTS 01 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 1953 
01 
iger than those in tmheated check hives, and they also had approxi- 
mately 20 percent more sealed brood 21 day- a fter installation. Brood 
counts during the fifth and seventh weeks after installation, however, 
Bhowed do significant differences between the t \\ < > groups. This work 
was done in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant [ndusl ry. Soil-, and 
Agricult ural Engineering and the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment 
Stal ion. 
Direct-Drive Increases Honey Extractor Capacity 
Substitution on a honey extractor of a direct-drive for the conven- 
tional friction-drive power has been found to be a major improvement 
since it permits automatic speed control. A. 50-frame radial exl ractor, 
equipped with such an automatic .-peed control and with metal baskets 
accommodating 80 Standard or 90 shallow frame.-, appears capable of 
e\t ract ing 1,500 to •_'.<)<)(> pound- of honey per hour, as compared with 
3.000 to .'..noil pounds per day by usual commercial methods of extrac- 
tion. This work w;is done in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering and the Wisconsin 
Agricultural Experimenl Station. 
Bees May Reverse Preferences for Alfalfa and Red Clover 
Previous years" observations have disclosed that alfalfa nectar, 
because of its higher sugar content, is more attractive to bees than is 
red clover nectar. During the summer of L952 it was found that this 
l? not always t he case. In one locality red clover at certain t imes was 
more attractive to honey bees than was alfalfa, despite the fact that the 
alfalfa nectar had :i higher sugar concentration. The presence of an 
adequate concentration of bees did not seem to explain why this 
occurred. 
The same kind of competition for bee visits that exists between 
different species of plants also exists between fields of the same species, 
according to work done in L952. Thirty-eight colonies of bees were 
moved into a red clover held of about 17 acres. Because of drought, 
t hi- Held had made a poor recovery a fter removal of the hay crop. In 
only a -mall part of the field was the bloom heavy enough to justify 
harvesting the seed. The average yield was about 7-J pounds of 
per acre. Since the clover in this field was not attract ive to bees in the 
early part of the blooming period, most of t hem neglected it in favor of 
alfalfa in nearby fields. Of greater interest was the fact that they 
also flew to a re< 1 clover field about :; i mile to the west where they 
worked heavily. The resulting seed crop in the latter field was W^'2 
pounds per acre, a good yield for the amount of bloom. 
( )1> ervations covering the entire ,; week 1952 blossoming period of 
red clover showed that 91.7 percent of the flowers appeared within a 
3-week period. Apparently none remained fresh \'^v more than a 
week-. This -how - the import mice of having on hand, especially dur- 
ing bad weather, ;i supply of her- that will be adequate to insure 
pollination in the relatively short period during which the blossoms 
remain open. 
Bees From ;i Different Environment Prove Best Mfalfa Pollinators 
Bees from a locality having a flora different from that in the locality 
to which they are moved limy collect more alfalfa pollen than hee< 
