10 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1918 



ordering for a month or two may get his 

 supplies too late for the season. As the 

 war continues, the congestion of freight 

 will be even more acute; and supplies de- 

 livered as late as April and May may not 

 give the beekeeper time to nail them up and 

 have them ready. 



As to what goods he should order, we may 

 bo able to give a hint. The demand is go- 

 ing to be ten to one for extracted honey as 

 against comb. Yes, it may be even a hun- 

 dred to one. While comb honey will bring 

 a higher price than extracted, there have 

 been some instances where extracted has 

 brought as much or even more. It is well to 

 bear in mind that comb honey in large lots 

 must be sold before freezing weather sets in. 

 Extracted can be sold at any time of the 

 year, thus enabling the producer to get the 

 best price available for the whole season. 

 Comb honey is not in demand for export, 

 while extracted is. 80 we would say to the 

 large producer who expects to sell in a 

 large way, when you make up your bill of 

 requirements for supplies, bear these chang- 

 ed conditions in mind. The small producer 

 of comb honey who is assured of a good 

 market at good prices (probably local) 

 should consider well before changing over to 

 the Droduction of extracted honey. This may 

 apply in a few cases to some large pro- 

 ducers of comb honey. In either case the 

 beekeeper will need all the bees that he is 

 able to winter. Even if he winters them all, 

 there will be an enormous demand for bees 

 in package form; and the beekeeper who ex- 

 pects to get bees from the South should place 

 his order a1 once. It is not always wise to 

 buy from those who quote the lowest prices, 

 foT the man who quotes too low is apt to 

 be swamped with orders that he cannot fill 

 till too late, and, in addition, may send stock 

 that is dear at any price. 



Be sure to specify that bees are to bo 

 delivered not later than a certain date; and 

 it may be necessary to enforce this demand 

 by depositing your check with a local bank 

 of the shipper, with instructions not to honor 

 the check till the bill of lading is turned 

 over showing that the bees have been ship- 

 ped. It would be well to stipulate also that 

 the check is not to be paid unless the bees 

 are shipped on or before a certain date. In 

 most cases the Northern beekeeper wants 

 his bees shipped in early spring or not at 

 all; and this plan of procedure will keep 

 the money in the bank till the bees are on 

 the way and insure good faith on the part 

 of the shipper. 



MANY BEEKEEPERS, whose bees have 

 gone into winter quarters with doubtful sup- 

 plies of stores, are con- 

 Eugar for Feeding fronted with this very 

 Next Spring serious question : If 



I need it, can I get 

 sugar to feed my bees? 



It will be remembered that last fall the 

 U. S. Food Administration took over control 



of the sugar supply and directed that a fam- 

 ily could get only two pounds at a time. 

 Very 'recently the Food Administration has 

 cut the sugar allowance for domestic uses 

 down to three pounds per month per person, 

 which is only a little more than one-third 

 the normal fjcr capita consumption of sugar 

 per annum. 



Many beekeepers last fall found their 

 colonies short of food, and, expecting to 

 feed, were unable to do so on account of 

 sugar shortage. The result was they let their 

 colonies go into winter quarters short of 

 stores, hoping that they would be able to get 

 sugar next spring. 



The beekeepers who attended the various 

 conventions of state associations recently 

 held expressed considerable anxiety at these 

 conventions as to whether they would be 

 able to get any sugar next spring. Some 

 expressed the fear that thousands and thou- 

 sands of colonies would die from starvation. 



Mr. B. F, Kindig, secretary of the Michi- 

 gan State Beekeepers ' Association, found in 

 his state that many colonies were put up for 

 winter short of stores, and he wrote us, ask- 

 ing us to get in touch with the powers-that- 

 be at Washington, to the end that sugar 

 might be obtained for the beekeepers. Ac- 

 cordingly, we addressed a note to Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, of the Bureau of Entomology, in- 

 closing Mr. Kindig 's letter, suggesting that 

 he go in person before the Food Administra- 

 tion and explain the situation. We gave it 

 as our opinion that every pound of sug^r 

 given to the bees would enable them to turn 

 back 10 lbs. of honey; and we hoped that 

 he would explain to the Food Administration 

 that thousands of colonies would die unless 

 they could have sugar the coming winter and 

 spring. As the time was getting late we 

 asked him to wire us the result of his in- 

 vestigation, as we were about to go to press 

 with this issue. This he did as follows: 



Washington, D. C, Dec. 16, 1917. 



Food Administration, realizing importance of sav- 

 ing bees, have ■willingly endeavored to help bee- 

 keepers to secure sugar in urgent cases reported, 

 but no announcement of this was made, as shortly 

 after Jan. 1 sugar should be generally available. 

 Beekeepers can save colonies by using hard candy 

 or svrup fed on warm days. 



Phillips. 



The Israelites of old could not make bricks 

 of clay without straw; neither can the bee- 

 keepers make bricks of candy without sugar! 

 But, we infer from this telegram that the 

 Food Administration has in some cases di- 

 rected that beekeepers, who have written, 

 be allowed sufficient sugar to feed their bees. 

 O. L. Hershiser, of New York state, whom 

 we met at the Toronto convention, said he 

 had no difficulty in getting a permit from 

 the Food Administration to get all the sugar 

 he needed for his bees to keep them from 

 starving. All that Mr. Hershiser had to do 

 was to present a letter from the Food Ad- 

 ministration to any grocer or wholesale 

 house, who was thereby authorized to give 

 hi?i) the sugar he needed. ->' 



We have no doubt, from what Dr. Phillips 



