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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. 1 



Siftings 



By J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt. 



Mr. Townsend's wax - separator appears 

 well worth adopting, and far better than 

 any strainer so far used. We find it very 

 difficult to strain honey left on hives until 

 all sealed and taken ofif with bee-escapes, p. 

 402, July 1. 



Page 404, .July 1, Dr. Miller says bees were 

 at the point of starvation until June 8, 

 when warm weather came and bees could 

 gather honey. The warm weather did not 

 come here until five days later, when the 

 storm-clouds rolled past and our troubles 

 were over. Then we had five weeks of al- 

 most constant sunshine. 



There has been some discussion of late as 

 to whether bees get any honey frona roses. 

 I believe I have seen them at work very 

 freely on wild or single roses, and I see no 

 good reason why roses should not yield hon- 

 ey, as they belong to the same family as 

 the apple, pear, plum, cherry, raspberry, 

 etc. If one species of a given family of 

 plants yields honey we may expect they 

 will all do so. 



I believe the article by F. J. Root, p. 410, 

 July 1, is of more than ordinary value if 

 bee-keepers will only take his advice. I be- 

 lieve free advertising in the popular maga- 

 zines of the day would add very largely to 

 the consumption of honey. The fact is, a 

 large part of the people know little about 

 honey as an article of food, and more do not 

 buy because it is out of sight and out of 

 mind. Bring it to their attention, and you 

 create an appetite for one of the choicest 

 sweets nature affords. 



Page 423, July 1, Mr. E. B. Mowry tells us 

 why he prefers black bees to other breeds of 

 bees. I say "breeds," for I believe the dif- 

 ferent kinds of bees w^e discuss are only dif- 

 ferent breeds, as are Jersey or Durhani cat- 

 tle, and, in fact, not nearly as great a differ- 

 ence in them as in the various breeds of 

 cattle, sheep, or pigs. Mr. Mowry finds 

 black bees more productive than Italian. 

 Some 27 years ago I bought fifty colonies of 

 black bees, and among them were some that 

 were very great honey - gatherers. I was 

 telling one of my men recently that now I 

 believed if I could get hold of the same 

 strain again I would try to breed from them, 

 as one of them gave me more surplus comb 

 honey than any other I ever had. Recent- 

 ly I went where I bought those bees to see 

 an extensive bee-keeper, and he told me his 

 best or inost productive colony gave him 

 160 lbs., and was black. He said further, 

 the hive was one his father gave him, from 



whom I bought bees 27 years ago, which ■ 

 shows quite conclusively to my mind that ■ 

 we may find some strains among our native 

 blacks that are well worth cultivating. 



The discussion in the May 15th number 

 of Gleanings, on the size of hives, is of a 

 good deal of value to beginners at least. The 

 suggestion that all use a ten-frame size, 

 varying capacity of hive by depth of frame, 

 is a capital idea. It is an easy matter if 

 one is using a ten-frame hive to put in a di- 

 vision-board if he wants only eight frames. 

 One of two frames used outside the board, 

 if filled with honey, is exceedingly handy 

 in such a spring as this to place in beside 

 the brood. Besides, I am coming to the 

 conclusion, after many years of experience, 

 that the larger brood-chamber is more prof- 

 itable. It happened this way: I find my 

 neighbor who uses ten frames gets just as 

 much honey per colony as I do with much 

 less care, and, in addition, does not have to 

 feed nearly as much in the fall for the win- 

 ter. There appears, also, to be less loss in 

 wintering colonies with larger brood-cham- 

 ber because we find swarms will be larger in 

 the fall in such hives than in those with a 

 less number of frames. 



THE REAL PRICE OF BULK COMB HONEY 

 IN SOUTHWEST TEXAS. 



BY OTTO SUELTENFUSS. 



On page 580, under "Bee-keeping in the 

 Southwest," the statement is made, "Sev- 

 eral years ago the reigning prices were 8 cts. 

 for bulk comb honey and 6 fur extracted 

 honey," which is correct; but further down 

 the same writer says, "To-day 10 cts. is the 

 average price for bulk comb honey, and 8 

 for extracted. Some who sell direct are re- 

 alizing even better than this." This tends 

 to give the bee-keeping world an erroneous 

 idea of the prices which the bee-keepers of 

 Texas receive for their product this year. 

 Excepting a few large producers who sell 

 their honey direct, the bee-keepers here in 

 Southwest Texas have received this year for 

 bulk comb honey, in 60-lb. cans, 9 cts. 

 The price for bulk comb honey in 60-lb. 

 cans is mostly taken as a basis. The small- 

 er-sized tins fetch >2 cent more for each size 

 smaller, making it this year 9>^ cts. for one- 

 gallon pails; 10 for 6-lb. pails, and 10>^ for 

 3-lb. tins. The price for extracted honey 

 was 7 cts. in 60-lb. cans. That was in the 

 spring. For the last three months the mar- 

 ket for extracted honey is rather dull, and 

 it is moving very slowly at 6 to 6>^ for wa- 

 ter-white. 



Bee-keepers having a lot of extracted 

 honey on hand yet will do well to keep it 

 until cool weather sets in, as there seems to 

 be a greater demand for extracted honey 

 during the winter months. 



San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 4. 



