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VOL. LXV
INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 27, ?   ^J.
NO. 35
THE HABITS AND USEFULNESS OF
THE HONEY BEE.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The life of a honey bee is a very
short one, and a very busy one, too.
Very few of them live to exceed the
age of forty-five days, except during
their time of hibernation in winter; yet
In this short period much Is accomplished. The flrst two weeks of a
bee's life Is spent almost entirely inside of the hive nursing the larvae,
building comb and doing housework in
general, taking only a short flight on
sunny afternoons to strengthen its
wings and mark the location of its
home. The next three or four weeks
are spent in roaming the fields in quest
of honey, pollen and propolis and
carrying them to the hive. They are
busy incessantly and soon wear out
themselves by constant toil. By excessive flying their wings become
shredded and they drop to the ground
while journeying to and from the fields,
where they crawl about and soon perish; very few bees indeed die inside of
the hive.
The honey-bee has numerous habits,
some of which are good and others are
not quite so good. Still I myself am
glad for one that every female bee is
equipped with a good sharp sting. If it
were not so how could such small,
helpless creatures, protect themselves
and their homes from man and beast?
The race would soon be extinct for the
honey bee has many enemies. It
would also be necessary for the keeper of bees to keep a constant watch on
his hives to prevent them from being
looted. As it is, the bees themselvs
do their own sentinel duty, and no one
yet has found them all asleep. After
a hard day of toil the bee-keeper can
lay his weary self down to rest and
feel quite confident that the bees will
hold the fort until morning.
It is well known that some bees are
more inclined to swarm than others.
We can control this to a greater extent
than formerly, but too large a percentage, if in the least neglected for room
or ventilation, swarm or get the
swarming impulse. Probably the thing
most annoying to the beekeeper is the
swarming habit. If the bees did not
persist in dividing their forces so frequently much more surplus honey
could be obtained, and the bee-keeper
himself would feel more easy about his
bees. In producing comb honey in
one-pound boxes it is necessary to actually crowd the bees into the section
boxes, for they seem loathe to begin
work in such small divisions, and this
crowding is one of the incentives which
creates the swarming fever. When
producing extracted honey abundant
room can be given, and the swarming
impulse is greatly checked. Therefore
if bees are to be kept far from the
house, and can not be given much attention, it is advisable to produce only extracted honey, which is done by
giving the bees large combs and plenty
of room, for it matters not whether the
combs are entirely completed or not as
the honey is taken from them and the
combs retained  to  be  used  again.
Bees gather three products: Honey,
pollen and propolis. Honey is their
•taft of life. It is estimated that a colony of bees require about seventy-five
pounds of honey for food in a year.
They are capable of gathering twice
this amount and more.     Therefore, all
the honey the bees store above what
they are able to consume is useless to
them, and is the beekeepers share of
the spoils. I myself have taken as much
as 109 pounds from one hive in a single
season. When bees secure honey rapidly, each bee takes all it can into its
honey-sac then throws it out again,
and so on to evaporate the watery part
of it; for all nectar when gathered is
so thin that it needs much reducing before it is of the right consistency to be
stored in the cells and sealed over.
Bees also gather pollen and propolis.
Pollen is the farina, which is common-
6*_>-
is common kno -c'aC, -, that anything
wet dries on V V xposed to the air.
The housewif? t s use of this principle in hang' ^r c the clothes to dry.
It is as well ki. n that oil moves up
through a. wick, and that if the wick
is cut the oil can not pass over the
gap. Water will act the same as the
oil and it moves through the soil in the
same way that it does through the
wick. Keep in mind that a wet soli
exposed to the air will give up its
moisture to the air; that water moves
from the wetter portions to the drier
soil   if   the   soil   is   compacted,   which
ly called bee bread. It is mixed with
honey and fed to the larvae, or immature bee. Propolis is a resinous substance which is gathered from trees
and shrubs and is used in gluing tightly all cracks and crevices in the hives.
Bees also carry considerable water to
their hives during the breeding season.
The bee as a pollenizer of the blossoms is one of the greatest of our natural benefactors. The nectar hidden
in the well of the flower is but the bait
that lures the bee unwittingly to perform a vastly more important function
than gathering and storing honey for
either itself or man. The amount of
nectar in each blossom is so small that
the bee is obliged to visit blossom after blossom in order to secure its load.
In this way the pollen is carried from
blossom to blossom, from tree to tree,
and from one variety to another.
Many men have an aversion for bees,
but the fruit grower should not, for to
him bees are of great assistance. The
value of their work in cross-fertilizing
the blossoms of different varieties of
fruit cannot be easily estimated. Some
seasons the time in which pollination
may be done is short because of unfavorable weather.        F. G. Herman.
Meadow View Apiary.
SAVE THB MOISTURE.
Editors  Indiana Fanner:
Save the moisture and increase the
crop. Enough is now known of the
principles of soil moisture conservation
that each one can be in possession of
the secret. Then again there is nothing difficult or mysterious about it.  It
condition compares to the lamp wick;
a loose soil compares to the lamp wick
that is cut and so the moisture can not
move through it.
The plant needs the moisture in the
furrow slice as that is where it A0-3
most of its feeding. Notice the plant
growing in the dead furrow. It has
its roots in the subsoil. The moisture
conditions should be better there than
in the surface soil yet the plant does
not do well, and due to a lack of available plant food". This means that a
deep furrow slice will offer more feeding room for the roots than a shallow
one. The furrow slice should be packed firm against the bottom so as to
furnish the means for the moisture to
pasa from the subsoil to the surface
soil 'as the plant needs it. To keep
the moisture from passing to the surface, and evaporating, the .surface soil
should be kept loose, a condition known
as the soil mulch. Another reason for
the deep plowing is to furnish a large
reservoir to take up the rainfall readily. Shallow plowing can not take ln
rain as fast or as much of it as deep
plowing, so the result is more run off.
W. C. Palmer.
Agricultural College, N. D.
STJMMER  GARDENING.
Editors  Indiana  Farmer:
While the heaviest work of the garden is done, there must be constant
vigilance on the part of the gardener,
or it all goes to naught. Weeds and
insects grow fast, and the wise housewife studies how easiest to outwit
them.
I say housewife. Perhaps you think
the garden is a part of the man's work,
—and in many instances it should be.
But where a woman has some leisure
and a reasonable amount of strength,
the pleasure and good health which
gardening promote should be an incentive for her to assume at least a
part of this work. It coaxes her out
into the open air, and is less irksome
than continual kitchen drudgery. More,
it lightens the latter by supplying in
lieu of so much pastry the more delicious and wholesome vegetables.
If drought threatens be chary of the
hose, but use the hoe. If you must
water, do it thoroughly once a week,
and then rest in the meantime. A little surface water calls the rootlets that
way, and they are thus rendered more
susceptible to future dry weather. But
if the soil is kept light and porous by
frequent stirring, all the atmospheric
moisture will be appropriated, and the
plants will thrive despite lack of rain.
Do not put Paris Green on the cabbage, even if they are not yet commencing to head. There are plenty of
other ways just as effective and not
dangerous. Sprinkling them with salt
and water ls fatal to worms and promotes solid thrifty heads. Soap suds is
also sure death to the enemy. Wood
ashes Or flour sprinkled over the plants
when wet with dew or rain will rid
them of the pest, though if the former is used care must be taken not to
get it between the leaves of the young
head.
One of the best ways to thwart the
cabbage worm is to keep the plant
growing fast. They prefer to work
among loose leaves. If the soil is so
well enriched that the heads _re solid
from the flrst no real harm can result,
even if they do annoy a little on the
large outer leaves. Good fertilizer is in
a sense the best insecticide, and there
is little danger of overdoing the matter
in the case of the cabbage.
Keep the cleanings from the poultry
house worked into the garden during
the whole summer. Dig large holes between each four hills of cucumbers and
melons, put half a pailful in each hill,
mix with the soil and then cover. This
will give the necessary food to keep
the plants bearing all summer instead
of producing small, bitter fruits, as are
so often found in late summer.
They may also be worked around the
roots of cabbage and tomatoes if the
caution is used to thoroughly mingle
them with the soil.
This is the secret in using so concentrated a fertilizer; yet the precaution
taken, nothing else will give such results among the species mentioned. Of
course not all plants will thrive under
the high feeding process, but these will
only attain the highest point of excellence   by   persistent   fertilization.
B. L. P.
■  »  ■
THE OliD RELIABLE POTATO BUG
REMEDY.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I am surprised to see so many potato
patches almost entirely et.ten up by the
bugs, when it is so easy to keep them
off by dusting with flour and Paris
green from a duster made from a tin
can with a handle—make holes in
the bottom with nails. There is nothing better for melons, cucumbers and
cabbage plants. J. Scholl.
Fayette Co.