lEntered as aeuond-class matter July 30, 1907, at the Post-Offlco at Chicago, 111., under Act ul March J, 18;a.) 

 Pnblished Monthly at 75 cents a Year, by George W. York & Co., 118 West Jackson Boulevard. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ELL. DECEMBER, 1908 



VoL XLVni— No, 12 



^WSR^^W* 



di€oHa!\>No€es 

 and CommeTits 



Uoiuitiful Crops and Low Prices 



The following conundrum has been 

 thrust at us: 



"On page 335 Mr. Hershiser says: 'If we 

 are to drop the price from 8 cents in the 

 normal year to 6 cents in the bountiful sea- 

 son, when there is an increased crop of 50 

 percent, we have lost every advantage t'lal 

 was ours.' Please giva us an example, and 

 tell us how you figure that out. He also ad- 

 vises when one has too much honey and too 

 little price to carry over to a year of scarcity. 

 How can that be done with comb honey?" 



As an example, suppose in a normal 

 year one has 10,000 pounds of honey 

 and sells it at 8 cents, it will bring him 

 $800. If his crop is 50 percent larger 

 it will be 15,000 pounds, which at 6 

 cents a pound will bring him $900, mak- 

 ing a gain of $100 over the normal year 

 with its higher price. Mr. Hershiser 

 was no doubt speaking in general terms 

 and in round numbers, not taking the 

 trouble to make the exact price of 5 1-3 

 cents instead of 6. Or, possibly, there 

 was a mistake in figures, 9 and 6 being 

 intended. 



.\s to carrying over to a year of 

 scarcity, he was no doubt speaking of 

 extracted honey. Yet even comb honey, 

 according to some authorities, may be 

 held over if kept in a place sufficiently 

 warm. 



Holding Over Comb Honey 



The man who has a lot of e.xtracted 

 honey when prices arc low, if there is 

 a prospect of better prices a year later, 

 has no hesitancy in keeping it over, for 

 extracted honey is not a quickly perish- 

 ing product. With comb honey the case 

 is different. When cold weather comes, 

 honey granulates in the comb, and freez- 

 ing cracks the comb across the face of 

 the sections. Either one of these makes 



the honey unmarketable. Yet it is pos- 

 sible to keep comb honey over in fine 

 condition. It is simply a matter of heat. 

 If it can be kept where the tempera- 

 ture stands at 50 degrees, there will 

 be neither granulation of the honey nor 

 cracking of the comb. It will also stand 

 occasional severe freezing if part of the 

 time the temperature be up to 90 or 

 more. A small amount of comb honey 

 can be kept in the kitchen. Notwith- 

 standing the steam of the kitchen and 

 the freezing at nights, the heating it 

 gets in the day will make it keep all 

 right. The higher up in the kitchen the 

 better, because the heat is greater. Be- 

 side a furnace in a cellar it may keep 

 fairly well, although in the average cel- 

 lar without a furnace it will become 

 watery and "weep'' over the surface of 

 the comb. 



.\ few have reported fine success in 

 keeping honey in the attic. That seems 

 about as cold a place as one could de- 

 sire, yet the honey was placed there as 

 soon as taken from the hives, and with 

 the hot sun upon it. it got such a roast- 

 ing as to make the honey so thick be- 

 fore cold weather that freezing did not 

 affect it. 



Queenless Colonies 



About this time of year some beginner 

 is pretty sure to be anxious as to a 

 colony that is queenless. or that he sus- 

 pects is queenless because he finds pres- 

 ent no eggs or young larvse. There is 

 nothing abnormal in the absence of eggs 

 or brood. In the natural course of 

 events the queen ought to have stopped 

 laying some time ago, and it is generally 

 unadvisable at this time to disturb a 

 colony by making any inspection. Hard- 

 ly worth while to look for the queen. 



-She is now small and hard to find. Of 

 course, if you happen to see her you 

 may feel relieved, but if you don't see 

 her you will not dare to take any steps, 

 for you cannot be certain that a queen 

 is not present. If the colony is in good 

 condition, let it alone till spring, and 

 then you can tell by the presence or ab- 

 sence of eggs and brood whether any- 

 thing is to be done. Of course, if you 

 knoiu that you have a queenless colony, 

 better unite at once with some other 

 colony. This vou can do by simply plac- 

 ing in the queen-right colony the combs 

 containing the bees of the queenless col- 

 ony. 



Care of Combs 



The Canadian Bee Journal gives some 

 advice as to this which has the merit 

 of being more specific in detail than such 

 things sometimes are. One is just a bit 

 inclined to raise the question whether 

 comb-lionev supers are really meant, or 

 extracting-supers. Certainly the latter 

 •Generally need the greater care, there 

 being less danger of trouble coming to 

 whatever may be left in the former. .M 

 any rate the advice is good for either. 

 Here is the item: 



"When putting away your comb honey su- 

 pers disinfect them with "^bo" >=;f 'j"*!; 'S 



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Michigan's Raspberry Pastures Are 

 Burned 



Under the above heading the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review contains 4 Pages of in- 

 tense interest, albeit the editor paid a 

 high price for the material with which 

 to write the sketch. If any bee-keeper 

 has felt envious of his brethren vvithin 

 reach of the fine raspberry lands ot 

 Northern Michigan, he will feel little 

 of envv after reading the terrific strug- 

 gle Editor Hutchinson and his brother 

 had with the forest fires. It seems there 

 was an unusual combination of circuni- 

 stances this year : first, "a long drouth, 

 then a spell of very hot weather, and, 

 lastly, what might almost be termed an 

 electrical condition of the atmosphere. 



