805 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



135 



ous implements for the successful management 

 of bees. Prof. W. had tried to work a colony of 

 bees in this attic; but as they had to fly up 

 some twelve feet to the cupola above for an 

 exit, and would just as often fly still further up 

 and dash their brains out against the skylight, 

 their usefulness was much curtailed, and the 

 plan abandoned. Prof. W. will next make a 

 platform in the cupola, and conduct the en- 

 trance through the slats. In this way the bees 

 will have a fair field all to themselves, and 

 escape the dangers of the skylight. 



The department in which Prof. W. labors is 

 readv and willing to aid bee-keepers in the way 

 of experiments or the naming of various honey- 

 plants now unknown to bee-keepers. The bee- 

 keepers of the State are alone to blame if the 

 University does not seem to make much ad- 

 vancement. With a proper backing by the 

 fraternity, great results might be expected from 

 the State University. 



Prof. W. kindly escorted and introduced us 

 to the various features of this great I'niversity. 

 The great oaks, among which the buildings are 

 located, and the multitude of other trees and 

 shrubs from every clime the sun shines upon, 

 make this feature alone one of deep interest. 

 The honey- bee can here revel in blossoms, the 

 native home of which is in the tropics, thou- 

 sands of miles away; remote islands also con- 

 tribute their floral treasures. We felt as though 

 several days might be spent here profitably in- 

 stead of a paltry hour or so. The professor 

 returned to his duties; and as the shades of 

 night were falling, we roamed over the hills 

 again to the Pryal home. 



EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING BACK. 



By R. L. Tuyhir. 



Ed. Oleayiings: — At your suggestion, that I 

 give my viewsof your comments in Jan. 15th No., 

 page 64, upon the results of my experiments in 

 feeding back, I will attempt to point out some 

 of the things which you appear to have strange- 

 ly overlooked in your criticisms, and which, it 

 seems to me, have led you to arrive at faulty 

 conclusions. 



As to the market price of the kinds of honey 

 under consideration, you say: "According to 

 the Honey Column in this issue, extracted hon- 

 ey of good quality brings at wholesale 7 cts.. 

 and comb 13." Now turn to the Honey Column 

 of that issue and you will find that, in the mar- 

 kets most accessible to us, viz., St. Louis, Chi- 

 cago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Cincinnati, the 

 best comb honey ranges in price from 14 to li; 

 cts., and white extracted from 5}4 to 7 cts. 

 Now, you must admit that it would be fair, for 

 the purposes of the calculation, either to take 

 the highest price of each kind or else the lowest 

 price of each kind. It evidently would not be 

 just to take the highest price of one and the 



lowest price of the other to work out the com- 

 parison. But you by some oversight have done 

 even worse than that, for you have taken 7 

 cts.. the highest price of extracted in these 

 quotations, and 12 cts., not the highest nor even 

 the lowest quotation, of white comb honey, but 

 2 cts. below the lowest for the price of comb 

 honey. 



Your second error appears in your valuation 

 of the sections which were given to the bees to 

 finish. You say they ought to bring 8 cts.; but, 

 consider that in five cases 140 of them weighed 

 but 41 lbs. less than one-third full, and you will 

 see that they are not only not salable but actu- 

 ally worth less than extracted honey for the 

 purpose of extracting, on account of the labor 

 and loss in weight that must be incurred if 

 that course is taken with them; so I have put 

 them at 6 cts., when 7 cts., the highest price of 

 extracted honey, is taken; but when the lowest 

 price, .5>2' cts., is taken for extracted, I have let 

 the sections go in at the same price. 



Now, taking the figures of the same hive 

 which you considered, let us make the calcula- 

 tions, both with the highest market and the 

 lowest market prices, and see how far I was 

 wrong when I said the profit was more than ,50 

 per cent. 



41 lbs. sections at 6 cts., 12.46; 106f5i' extracted 

 honey at 7 cts., $7.48; a total of $9.94; llO^i lbs. 

 finished comb honey at 16 cts., $17.72. Dividing 

 ?«17.72 by 9.94 we have a quotient of 1.78+, 

 showing a profit of 78 per cent. 



Again, taking the lowest market prices we 

 have 147;?4 lbs. given the bees at 5}.f cts., 88.13; 

 110?4 lbs. comb honey at 14 cts., $5.51. Dividing 

 $15.51 by 8.13 we have a quotient of $1.90. or a 

 profit of 90 per cent. So when I said .50 per 

 cent, I might reasonably have put it 50 per cent 

 higher, unless there is something valid to be 

 found in the further objections you make. 

 You think the labor of feeding would largely 

 offset the 233.2 per cent gain you figure. But, 

 notwithstanding what you say, will not the im- 

 proved condition of the colony more than offset 

 the labor? I think so. I do not know how 

 much this hive gained in weight; but in my e.x- 

 periment, made in 1893, seven colonies gained 

 on an average about SK; lbs., which alone would 

 repay the labor. Then you object to the 

 greatly increased amount of brood as being 

 probably of no use. Consider at what time of 

 the year this additional brood will hatch — in 

 the latter part of August and the first of Sep- 

 tember, just when they are wanted to get the 

 colony through the winter in the best possible 

 condition. In my estimation this would pay 

 for the labor again. 



Y'ou are of the opinion that, in my experi- 

 ment, the conditions were more than ordinarily 

 favorable. In fact, they were quite the con- 

 trary. The colony was far from strong— hardly 

 up to the average— as at no time during the 

 season had it more brood comb that the equiv- 



