THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



213 



We iinc.Tp into a cracker barrel hav- 

 ing six-inch leg^s attached, and stand- 

 ing' over a tub of galvanized iron. 

 Three or four holes are bored in the 

 bottom of the barrel. The cappings 

 can stand and drain for weeks, and 

 when we are ready to render them in- 

 to wax it will be necessary only to cut 

 the hoops, and pull off the staves, and 

 there will stand the big cake of cap- 

 pings all ready to break up and render 

 into wax. 



««^«^^^m.»w 



Would Cellar Wintering be an Advantage 

 in Warm Climates ? 



13. A. Hadsell of Arizona, suggests 

 that cellar wintering might be an ad- 

 vantage even in those locations, like his 

 own, where bees can fly frequently 

 during the winter. He says that this 

 very activity causes late breeding a 

 great consumption of stores, and he is 

 inclined to believe that this would be a 

 great saving in stores if the bees were 

 put into a cellar in the fall, just the 

 same as they are here in the North. 



Of course only actual experience 

 would settle this point, but I should 

 doubt the advisability of putting bees 

 into a cellar until they had at least 

 stopped breeding; and there are some 

 of us here in the North who would 

 gladly allow the extra consumption of 

 stores for the suretj' of safe wintering 

 that comes from frequent winter 

 flights. 



«««<»^u»*^*» 



Let the Truth Regarding the Crop be 

 Published. 



The bee journals and some of their 

 correspondents have been severely crit- 

 izised for publishing the reports of big 

 crops of hone3'. It is said that the 

 dealers get hold of these reports and 

 use them to bear down the price. 

 While there may be some truth in this, 

 I think no harm would result if the 

 poor yields were also given. Some 

 producers seem to think that it would 

 be a nice thing to conceal the fact of a 

 large crop until it could be unloaded 



upon the dealers. Such a course 

 would surely result in harm in the end, 

 even if it could be brought about. 

 Long experience has made dealers 

 wary. They won't "load up," except 

 at a very low jirice, until they are sat- 

 isfied what the crop lias been. Let me 

 give just one illustration: A grocer in 

 our town met me on the street last fall 

 and said: "How is the hone}' crop, 

 Hutchinson? You ought to know if any 

 man does. I had a l,0(iO pounds of 

 nice comb honey offered me last week 

 at a shilling a pound, but I didn't 

 dare to buy it, even at that figure, for 

 I didn't know anything what the crop 

 had been. I offered the man ten cents 

 for it. That was all I dared to give." 

 I told him that the crop, as a whole, 

 all over the country, was very light. 

 It was fair here in Michigan, but 

 much of it would be shipped out, and 

 he would be perfectly safe in paying a 

 shilling a pound for nice comb honey. 

 "Well," he said, "if the man comes in 

 again, I'll buy it, but, not knowing 

 what the crop was, I was afraid of pay- 

 ing too much." You see, lack of 

 knowledge, on the part of the dealer, 

 regarding what the harvest has been, 

 tends to depress the market. If all 

 parties know exactly, truthfully, what 

 the crop has been, it is an advantage 

 to all concerned 



*tP'%W^f tfmf 



One Instance Where Long-Range Bee- 

 Keeping Fell Behind. 

 We have already had one illustra- 

 tion of what may happen when bees 

 are left for a long time to care for 

 themselves. When the bees were dug 

 out of the clamps where Mr. Cavanagh, 

 or his man, buried them last fall at 

 South Boardman, we discovered that 

 some of them were short of stores, and, 

 about two weeks later, they were fed 

 loO ponnds of sugar, which we thought 

 would be sufficient to carry them 

 through. I had a sick spell which 

 kept me at home for 3. month, and 

 Elmer was busy picking up and mov- 



