•Inly, 191^ 



American l^ee Journal 



cars tagged as not fit for grain are 

 moved into coal territory. 



Having had some 13 years' experi- 

 ence at competitive points, I do not 

 think they are favored over non-com- 

 petitive points, bnt, as a rule, a station 

 with two roads is larger, and does 

 more business than the noncompeti- 

 tive points, and has more cars to load 

 or to unload. 



Why not have a rate department to 

 the National ? There are several in- 

 stitutions in the United States which 

 have men traveling over the country at 

 a large expense, gathering up old 

 freight bills to be examined by an ex- 

 pert. The usual terms are half and 

 half. The National would save the 

 traveling expenses, and I should think 

 every member would be willing to 

 mail all his old freight bills to them. 

 The only objection I have to this is, it 

 seems hardly fair to try and find mis- 

 takes only where the railroad company 

 has made an overcharge. I never heard 

 of any other kind being reported. 



Cowley, Wyo. 



I Mr. Smith gives us the railroad's 

 side of the question with fairness. But 

 " the character of a railroad is deter- 

 mined by the men who represent it, 

 and the character of any other business 

 is judged in the same way." This is 

 quoted from the speech of Hon. O. F. 

 Berry, chairman of the Illinois rail- 

 road and warehouse commission of 

 Illinois, before the National Industrial 

 Traffic League. In numerous instances 

 non-competitive points do not have the 

 treatment accorded to competitive 

 points, either in facility of securing 

 cars or in rates. 



Demurrage, mentioned by Mr. Smith, 

 will not be entirely fair to all until it is 

 " reciprocal." Railroad lines lose op- 

 portunities by having their cars used as 

 warehouses on side tracks, but they 

 get $1 00 per day for the use of the car, 

 which is at least some compensation 

 for the loss. But shippers have no 

 compensation either for being unable 

 to get cars or for having their goods 

 longer on the way than is reasonable 

 or necessary. If a company holds our 

 goods 10 days, 30 days, (! months be- 

 yond the time actually needed, we have 

 no recourse but a claim or a lawsuit. 

 European regulations recognize recip- 

 rocal demurrage, and hold both shipper 

 and carrier to certain fines, payable at 

 once, for delays beyond a stated limit. 

 We will have to come to such a meas- 

 ure here. 



Let us second Mr. Smith's sugges- 

 tion. The National Association should 

 take all these matters in hand and work 

 towards better' conditions, fair alike to 

 shipper and carrier. — Editor ] 



What Yields the Dandelion 

 Honey ? 



BY E. .S. MILES. 



IN NO VOCATION or walk of life, 

 perhaps, is the truth absolutely 

 clear and unmixed with error. 

 Perhaps as our lovely clover or 

 basswood honey may /ook all 

 clover or all basswood, and pass for 

 unmi.xed article among people usually, 

 yet on a chemical e.xamination it may 

 show a mi.xture, a certain percentage 

 of something else not true clover or 

 basswood nectar. 



So it seems to me, in bee-keeping we 

 have what passes among the rank and 

 file for absolute truth, yet a close ex- 

 amination will show more or less error 

 in most of it. This, and the difference 

 in "locality," and the different view 

 points of different men. caused by 

 the difference in mental make-up, is 

 enough to account for a large part of 

 the abundance of material that is ever 

 present for discussion between bee- 

 keepers. 



The particular truth, as generally ac- 

 cepted, that I wish to show for west- 

 ern Iowa at least, largely an error, is 

 this : It is generally believed that the 

 dandelion is a honey-plant; but years 

 of close observation have convinced 

 me that the zi'i//ozl' should be given 

 credit for the honey that the dandelion 

 is supposed to furnish. The dandelion 

 furnishes plenty of pollen, and possibly 

 a little nectar, but the native " creek 

 willows " are the chief producers of 

 the "dandelion " honey. 



I was first led to notice this by ob- 

 serving heavily-loaded bees entering 

 the hives late in the afternoon when 

 the dandelions were closed. While 

 watching thus, with the thought that 

 perhaps there were dandelions in damp 

 or shady places that stayed open until 

 evening, I noticed that the pollen the 

 bets carried, as well as the dust on the 

 underside of them, was of a slightly 

 different shade of yellow from the pol- 

 len gathered from the dandelion. The 

 latter is of a darker shade of yellow 

 than the flower; whereas the pollen 

 from willow is exactly the color of the 

 flower of the dandelion. 



As soon as I noticed this, I recalled 

 hearing the peculiar hum bees make 



going in large numbers to a certain 

 foraging ground which I had noticed 

 that day while plowing between the 

 apiany and a creek where a number of 

 these willows grew. I also remembered 

 Mr. Doolittle saying the willow was a 

 very abundant yielder of nectar, so I 

 went immediately to the willow trees, 

 and sure enough they were full of 

 bloom, and bees with the identical 

 kind of light yellow pollen I had seen 

 going into the hives. 



The first year I noticed this there 

 was an extra good willow bloom, also 

 a good heavy crop of dandelions. The 

 scale hive showed a gain of 4 pounds 

 one day, and for several weeks showed 

 more or less gain. The entrances were 

 all yellow from the bright dust of the 

 willow bloom. There were plenty of 

 bees on the dandelions for an hour or 

 two in the forenoon, but there was no 

 slacking off when they closed about 

 noon, as they do on good, warm days. 



But the additional evidence that fully 

 convinced me was that no matter /lozc 

 /hii- the dandelions were, or /io7l' g-ood 

 the weather, /A there was a poor bloom 

 on the willows, and bees did not work 

 on them, there was never any dande- 

 lion honey, nor any gain in the scale 

 hive weight from them. But I have 

 never seen a failure of honey coming 

 in every good day if there ;ras a good 

 bloom on the willow, no matter whether 

 dandelions were good or not. 



I do not say dandelions are worth- 

 less, as bees get some pollen, and a 

 good colony miglit, with l'a;'oi-able 

 wcallicr, make a living from the dande- 

 lions. But I do claim the willow gives 

 the bulk of the honey credited to the 

 dandelion, and a good colony, with 

 favorable weather, will build up strong 

 and seal the tops of the brood-combs 

 with willow honey frequently. 



This may not be true in other locali- 

 ties, but it is true for western Iowa. 

 ^'et I have met old bee-men here who 

 accepted the orthodo.x view. It matters 

 not so much ichich yields so the bees 

 get the honey. Yet some appreciate 

 what the poet says : 



"Truth springs like liarvest. from the well 

 plowed fields. 

 Rewarding patient toil, and faitfi and /.eal. 

 To ttiose thus seeking her. slie ever yields 

 Her rirliest treasures for their lasting 

 weal." 



Dunlap. Iowa. 



Dr. Miller*s ^ Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the ofSce of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. III. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Moths — Keeping Comb Honey 



fu ttiis country we are troubled a lot with 

 moths, and in a very short space of time 

 anything exposed in the way of comb honey 

 or wax will be entirely destroyed. We have 

 produced nothing in a commercial way but 

 extracted honey in the oast, but the country 

 is becoming settled with a better element 



that can afford the luxury of comb honey. 

 I would like the simplest and best way to 

 store section honey to keep out the moths 

 and other insects, moisture, or. in fact, any- 

 thing that is most likely to spoil its sale. 



Cuba. 

 Answer— Years ago I had lots of trouble 

 with sections becoming wormy, the eggs of 



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