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Most ViewedAn Experiment 2An Experiment Time Of Greatest Irritability Expense Of Renewing Combs Burying Bees Remedial Experiments Bees Do Not Increase If Full After The First Year In Same Hive Bee Pasturage One Like Common Hive Preferred Not Properly Understood Least ViewedAn Experiment 2An Experiment Time Of Greatest Irritability Expense Of Renewing Combs Burying Bees Remedial Experiments Bees Do Not Increase If Full After The First Year In Same Hive Bee Pasturage One Like Common Hive Preferred Not Properly Understood |
Singular Fatality Attendant On SilkweedCategory: BEE PASTURAGE. Silkweed (_Asclepias Cornuti_) is also another honey-yielding perennial, but a singular fatality attends many bees while gathering it, that I never yet saw noticed. I had observed during the period this plant was in bloom, that a number of the bees belonging to swarms, before the hive was full, were unable to ascend the sides to the comb; there would be sometimes thirty or more at the bottom in the morning. On searching for the cause, I found from one to ten thin yellow scales, attached to their feet, triangular, or somewhat wedge shape, in size about the twentieth part of an inch. On the longest point or angle, was a black thread-like point, from a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch in length; on this stem was either hooks, barbs, or a glutinous matter, that firmly adhered to each foot or claw of the bee, rendering it useless as far as climbing the sides of the hive was concerned. I found also among bees clustered outside of full hives, this ornament attached, but to them it appeared no inconvenience. Among the scales of wax and waste matter that accumulates about the swarms to the amount of a handful, I found a great many of these scales, which the bees had worked from their feet. The question then arose, were these scales a foreign substance, accidentally entangled in their claws, or was it something formed there by nature, or _rather_ an unnatural appendage? It was soon decided. From the number of bees carrying it, I was satisfied that if it was the product of any flower, it belonged to a species somewhat abundant. I set about a close examination of all such as were then in bloom. I found the flowers of the Silkweed, (or Milkweed, as some call it,) sometimes holding a dead bee by the foot, secured by this appendage. Both sepals and petals of this flower are re-curved, that is, turned backward towards the stem, forming five acute angles, or notches, just the thing for a trap for a bee with _strings_ of _beads_ on its toes; when at work they are very liable to slip a foot into one of these notches; the flower being thick and firm, holds it fast; pulling only draws it deeper into the wedge-like cavity. The bee must either perish or break loose; their instincts fail them in this emergency; they know nothing about getting it out by a gentle pull the other way. I never saw one do it except by accident. By examining the buds of this plant just before opening, I found this fatal appendage, by which great numbers of our bees are lost.[10] When I point out a loss among our bees, I would like to give a remedy; but here I am at a loss, unless all these plants are destroyed, and this is impracticable in many places. After all I am not sure but honey enough is obtained by such bees as do escape, to counterbalance what we lose. This would depend on the amount of honey yielded by other flowers at the same time. [10] In Wood's Class-book of Botany, "Order CII.," in a plate showing the parts of this plant, it is thus described: "Fig. 11, a pair of pollen masses suspended from the glands at an angle of the antheridium," &c. One, when reading this simple botanical description, and seeing the plate, or the Botanist with his glasses, when he minutely inspects the parts, would not suspect anything fatal to bees about it. Whitewood (_Liriodendron Tulipifera_) yields something eagerly sought for by the bees, but whether honey, or pollen, or both, I have never been able to ascertain. All the flowers of this kind, with us, are too high. It is very scarce, as well as Basswood, (_Tilia Americana_,)--that in some places is abundant, and yields honey clear and transparent as water, superior in appearance, but inferior in flavor to clover; it also appears much thinner when first collected. Next: Large Yield From Basswood Previous: Catnip Mother-wort And Hoarhound Are Sought After
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