178 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Maech, 1918 



right in tho com)) for any ])f>ssibl6 emergency, for 

 there is no easier, quicker, and safer way of feedin;,- 

 bees that are short of stores than to give them 

 sealed stores of lioney " 



I think the boys did not do any extracting. 



Langstroth lajs strong emphasis on such advice 

 in his book published over fifty years ago. Combs 

 of sealed honey are the "sheet-anchor" pf success- 

 ful beekeeping. They are like )noney in the bank, 

 or even better. They can be given to a colony 

 short of stores very easily. There is no robbing, 

 and no unsea-sonable disturbance such as liquid 

 foedirg causes. Anotlier thing, those new in bee- 

 keeping and who have not experimented as I have 

 in years past, will find it difficult to say how many 

 pounds of liquid feed, honey, or su^ar syrup, must 

 bo fed to get the spme number of pounds sealed 

 up in the co'nbs. 



O'lr President and his cabinet have, as you 

 probably all Know, urged beekeeping just now in 

 order that honey nay take the place of sugar more 

 largely. " Gather up the fragments that nothing be 

 lost " seems to bo the slogan as I write. 



Well, now, there are tons and ton>s of honey 

 goin^ to waste all over Florida oecanse of the lack 

 of bees to gather it ; and after you once get a start 

 thqre is nothing to be bought in tho shape of high- 

 priced grain or any other feed. Tho day of patent 

 hives has gone by. All you need to buy is cheap, 

 simple hives and give the bees a home. Of course 

 the amount of honey you get will depend a good 

 deal on the season and the locality; but, my dear 

 friend, it depends ever so much more on the man 

 or woman who is 'the owner of the bees. In the 

 height of my enthusiasni, when I was deep in the 

 studias of the potssibilitii's of be<> culture, years ago, 

 I secui'ed a barrel of honey from a single colony 

 of bees in just one summer, but to do it I bent 

 every energy and left no stono unturned to have 

 everything ,iust right. Of course there Avas a tre- 

 mendous flow of honey that lasted a long while, dur- 

 ing that Slimmer of 1868. One single colony, mind 

 you, did this. When I reported in our county 

 paper vv^hat I had done, an old man who had about 

 a hundred colonies in box hives said it was an im- 

 possibility — that T deliberately falsified or else 1 

 had gone crazy. When I took th3 old gentleman 

 by the arm, however, ;,nd led him to my apiarj' 

 and showed him a colony of bees suspended on a 

 spring scale M-ith a dial like those you have seen in 

 tho meat market, he was obliged to own up and 

 apologize. I made him sit down by the hive and 

 watch tho pointer of the scale, with watch in hand, 

 to see how many pounds they would probably bring 

 in in a day. If I remenber correctly, over on the 

 East Coast, Florida, liefoi'e the great free/e of year.; 

 ago, a good-si-;ed apiary once averaged almost, if 

 not q'.iite, a barrel of honey to the hive. Now \vhi!(> 

 we sing 



" Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," 

 shall we not bestir ourselves and be ready to take 

 as a free gift this blessing in the shape of beauti- 

 ful, pure, wholesome honey that takes only a little 

 of our time and attention to secure, without sny 

 regard to the higl; cost of grain and eves' so ni;niv 

 other things ? Can you imagine, my good friend, 

 any shorter cut between "producer and consurnor" 

 than taking the honey from your own hives? 



A. T. ROOT. 



GOATS ANM) GOATS' MILK FROM PAR AWAY 

 NEW ZKALAND. 



Dear Mr. Root : — I have been greatly interested 

 in your articl&s about goats and their value. Ten 

 years ago my wife was suffering with chest trouble 

 when the doctor who was attending her strongly 

 advised me to procure a milch goat and give my 

 wife the milk because, as he said, it was the 

 finest and best milk she could get, and there was 



no chance of tubercular germs in the same. I took 

 the advice and bought a goat for which I paid, as 

 you would say, about 10 dollars. As is well known, 

 any one suffering from tubercular troubles is very 

 touchy about what he drinks or eats ; but in the 

 case of my wife she had nothing but praise for the 

 taste and quality of the nanny milk. Since 

 that time until the present I have never failed to 

 sing the praise of goats' to all my friends and ad- 

 vise them to buy one if possible. 



I have now a good milch goat, two young ones, a 

 doe and a buck, and also a pure-bred Angora, which • 

 is a beauty. The nanny after bringing up two 

 young kids until they were over three months old, 

 now keeps me supplied with splendid milk. Of 

 course, living by myself, a great deal of milk is' not 

 needed ; but for all that I have plenty ; and when 

 my little girl comes each week-end from her aunty's 

 to make a visit with mei she dearly loves porridge 

 for breakfast with goats' milk and honey — two of the 

 finest things to be found anywhere.. 



A friend was visiting me the other evening jujst 

 as I was milking my nanny. When I had finished 

 I offered him a drink of milk; but he said that he 

 did not want one; but as I would not take no for 

 an answer he just took a sip at first, then a little 

 more, which was followed by a real good drink, 

 after which this remark was uttered: "By Jove!' 

 that is splendid. I never thought goats' milk was 

 so nice." 



Mr. Root, I always read your articles with pleas- 

 ure, and not the least of them are the ones about 

 our friends the goats. Keep it going, because the 

 work is good. S. RiNAiiDi, 



Kaiapor, Canterbury, New Zealand. 



POTATOES J^ROM SPROUTS — SOMETHING MORE 

 ABOUT IT. 



Our good friend Chalon Fowls, of Ober- 

 lic, Ohio, clipped the following from their 

 local paper and sends it to us: 



Altho being laughed at by a number of her neigh- 

 bors last spring, an Oberlin lady raised a peck of 

 fine potatoes from sprouts. During the spring her 

 last potatoes were sprouted and she broke them oflt 

 and threw them awaj'. Later she thought she 

 would plant them and put two sprouts in a hill, 

 first puddling the soil. She had twenty hills; and, 

 altho the neighbors used to lean over the fence and 

 tell her she would have some choice green vines but 

 no tubers below, she said nothing, but hoed her 

 rows and chased the friendly potato-bug. No par- 

 ticle of potato was attached to the sprouts when 

 planted. The harvest produced as fine mealy tubers 

 as ever grew; and, altho not so large as many, they 

 ^\ere well worth while. The lady says the value of 

 the potatoes does not compare with the real joy 

 she is having in telling her neighbors how to garden. 



Today, Jan. 10, our garden is picking up 

 finely under the influence of a warm sum- 

 mer shower. Three or foitr rows of beans, 

 a little corn, and some egg plants are all 

 that have entirely " gone dejid." The 

 Chayote is starting up again from the root, 

 in fine shape. 



SOME KIND WORDS FROM A HOMIC MISSIONARY. 



T find a chance to pass your magazine on from 

 time to time to others who are interested in bees, 

 and hope to do good in more ways than one. May 

 God continue to blesfi you in your work, which in 

 the bee line is clean, honest, and upright; and I am 

 sure your work for the Master has been abundantly 

 ble.«sed, for he never forgets. 



Combs, Ark. Rev. J. E. Jeier. 



