GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Wesley Foster, Boulder, Colorado 



January, 1918 



T^i-oflL". AMONG THE ROCKIES 



ey has cut 

 down the local 



consumption at least one-half. Calls are 

 quite frequent; but three times out of four 

 the price spoils the sale. Nearly all the hon- 

 ey being sold at retail by the grocers is go- 

 ing at less than it is worth in car lots. Our 

 local consumers have been spoiled Dy the 

 low prices at which some of our off-grade 

 honey is sold, and also by the farmer-bee- 

 keeper trading his honey for groceries and 

 taking any price offered for his product. 

 Local advertising would help greatly, how- 

 ever, and it should be done by every beeman, 

 for the local market is often a very present 

 help in time of trouble. 



* * * 



In Colorado comb honey sold at the be- 

 ginning of the season at $3.50 per case in car 

 lots. It ended the season at $4.00 to $1.25. 

 Extracted honey sold in ear lots at 11 to 16 

 cents per pound in car lots, the latter price 

 being secured for some of the best honey 

 sold. There has been a steady advance in 

 honey prices since early in the season; and 

 with the continued calls for honey, prices 

 should hold up another season provided the 

 war continues; and even if the war ends, 

 prices will not drop for some time. Bee- 

 keepers can safely plan to increase their pro- 

 duction in extracted honey and comb honey 

 also will doubtless command a high price. 



* * * 



Beekeepers in s-omc parts of Colorado tack- 

 led winter protection with Z3al. Various 

 methods are being used, yet ve:y few are 

 going to tho expense of constructing quad- 

 ruple cases. Some are packing colonies sin- 

 gly, some are putting nine together. Straw 

 seen's to be the principal available packing 

 ]natfrial. Since few are securing all the 

 conditions necessary under Dr. Bhillips ' rec- 

 ommendations, the results will be problem- 

 atical. With the prices secired for honey 



89 



it might seem 

 that beekeepers 

 should be able to 

 purchase the 

 best of equipment for winter protection, but 

 it will take several prosperous seasons for 

 some to get where they can afford the quad- 

 ruple cases, and by that time a cheaper and 

 better method may be available. 



* * « 



We need not worry about tin cans for the 

 coming crop. We worried last season to no 

 purpose. There were lots of cans at a con- 

 stantly increasing price. Now that ,the 

 government has fixed the price on tinplate 

 we are assured of a stable price lower than 

 the highest price of last season; but we 

 may experience some difficulty in getting the 

 cans when we want them, so it is good policy 

 to o-rder early. Five-gallon cans have drop- 

 ped from about $46 to $37 per hundred. 

 They may go lower, but probably will go little 

 if any higher. [These prices on cans do not 

 prevail in the East at present. — Ed.] 



* * * 



Next season will see the passing of Colo- 

 rado as a cou'b-honeyproducing state. Comb 

 honey will be produced; but three-fourths of 

 the total crop will be extracted if present 

 indications are to be relied upon. Honey 

 prospects are good, so far, altho bees have 

 consumed a great deal of their stores on 

 account of the warm weather. The past 

 week, December 10, has seen a change, how- 

 ever, and we are having a real winter now. 



* * * 



Here is one defender of the shallow ex- 

 tracting super, even if it is only half depth. 

 The uncapping can be rapidly done, and 

 there is little if au}^ difference in the amount 

 of honey that can be extracted in a day. 

 Then they are more easily handled; and, if 

 wired, are less likely to break out than the 

 full-depth combs. Comb-honey producers 

 can well afford to purchase shallow extract- 

 ing frames for their supers. They are a 

 decided success. 



A -warning to be heeded a few months hence. This apiary, owned by John Wallace, of Grand 

 Junction, Colorado, was badly decimated a year or so ago by fruit-tree spraying. 



